Stygimoloch
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| Length: 10 ft. Weight: 55 lbs. Period: Cretaceous |
Muscles strained as the two Stygimoloch males locked horns and shoved fiercely at each other. The two would keep up the fight until one gave in or was knocked to the ground. Might against might, it was a battle for control of the herd.
Bonehead
The Pachycephalosaurians
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Mesozoic Timeline
Stygimoloch was a small, plant-eating dinosaur whose alarming appearance was due to its many horns. This dinosaur lived about 65 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period.
Bonehead
The distinguishing feature of
Stygimoloch was its unique skull. The
skull bone was domed and very strong. Attached
to the skull were a series of spikes, some of which could be 5 inches (13
centimeters) long. Stygimoloch also
had longer horns that grew from the sides of its head.
These horns and spikes were this dinosaur’s best defense from
predators.
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The Pachycephalosaurians
Pachycephalosaurians were
small, bipedal, plant-eaters with very heavy skulls.
The primary characteristic of this family was a thickening of the skull
bones. In some species, the skull
would thicken into a distinct dome. In
others, the skull would become heavy and flat.
Scientists think that male
pachycephalosaurians had thicker skulls than females.
Males used their skulls as weapons when fighting with other males of
their species. Scientists used to
think that pachycephalosaurians butted heads like modern mountain goats.
But research has shown that this kind of fighting would have injured the
dinosaurs’ slender necks. Today,
scientists believe that these pachycephalosaurians locked horns and pushed each
other, or butted each other’s flanks.
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How Do We Know That?
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