Scientists have discovered the first definite horned dinosaur species in North America, and it's all thanks to a skull they found in Montana.
Andrew Farke and his colleagues at the Raymond Alf Museum of Paleontology describe their findings in a newly published study in the journal PLOS ONE. The species, Aquilops americanus, is an important discovery because the next horned dinosaur species from North America didn't live for roughly another 20 million years.
The Montana skull, which is just 84 millimeters long, has a beak-like, hooked structure. The researchers estimate the dinosaur was roughly the size of a crow. Farke notes that the skull resembles those of Asian horned dinosaurs, suggesting an "intercontinental migratory event between Asia and North America."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The research will allow scientists to better understand the evolution of horned dinosaurs, which have remained, for the most part, a mystery, thanks to a limited amount of fossils. The skull will be housed at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Coloradospeed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's studySpeed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-offSpeed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet underseaSpeed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
New York plans first nuclear plant in 36 yearsSpeed Read The plant, to be constructed somewhere in upstate New York, will produce enough energy to power a million homes
-
Dehorning rhinos sharply cuts poaching, study findsSpeed Read The painless procedure may be an effective way to reduce the widespread poaching of rhinoceroses
-
Breakthrough gene-editing treatment saves babyspeed read KJ Muldoon was healed from a rare genetic condition
-
Sea lion proves animals can keep a beatspeed read A sea lion named Ronan beat a group of college students in a rhythmic dance-off, says new study
