Build & Characteristics
- Pachyrhinosaurus, meaning “thick-nosed lizard”, was a ceratopsid dinosaur like the Triceratops.
- The largest species were 26 feet long (8 meters) and could weigh over 8000 pounds (4 tons).
- Instead of horns, their skulls had massive, flattened growths: a large one over the nose and a smaller one over the eyes; and a prominent pair of horns grew from the frill and extended upwards.
- They were herbivores and possessed strong cheek teeth to help them chew tough, fibrous plants much like modern day cows.
- Even though it shares a similar name to the modern rhinos, the two creatures are not related.
- Paleontologists believe they Pachyrhinosaurus used its thick nose to butt one another around for dominance much like modern day rhinos.
- History
History
- Lived in the late Cretaceous period of North America (70 million years ago).
- The environment that they lived was probably woodlands that were bounded by mountains to the west and included water channels that flowed into freshwater ponds, streams, and floodplains.
Discovery
- Fossilized skeletons were found in Alaska and Alberta, Canada in 1946 and named in 1950.
- Due to so many partial skulls and a large assortment of other fossils they weren’t available to study until the 1980s