14 DAY TRIAL // A report published earlier this week in the science journal PLOS ONE announces the discovery of a previously undocumented horned dinosaur species related to the famous Triceratops.
The species, named Wendiceratops pinhornensis by the paleontologists who documented it, lived in North America about 79 million years back. This makes it one of the oldest horned dinosaur species known to science.
Wendiceratops pinhornensis looked quite menacing
Having studied well over 200 fossilized Wendiceratops pinhornensis bones recovered from a site in southern Alberta, Canada, researchers determined that these newly discovered ancient beasts grew to weigh a little over a ton and measure some 6 meters (20 feet) in length.
As shown in the image accompanying this article, Wendiceratops pinhornensis wasn't exactly the best-looking dinosaur of its time. Not when it had hook-like horns encircling its head and others growing smack in the middle of its face.
“The wide frill of Wendiceratops is ringed by numerous curled horns, the nose had a large, upright horn, and it’s likely there were horns over the eyes too,” said paleontologist David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada.
Researchers are pretty sure the horns weren't just for show but were instead often used in combat. More precisely, it is believed Wendiceratops pinhornensis males relied on them to make mincemeat of their opponents when fighting for food, territory or females.
“The locked horns of two Wendiceratops could have been used in combat between males to gain access to territory or females,” explained specialist Michael Ryan of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in a statement.
Scary looks aside, these dinosaurs were vegetarians
Writing in the journal PLOS ONE, paleontologists explain that, although it is very much true that they looked positively terrifying, the fact of the matter is that Wendiceratops pinhornensis were not vicious predatory beasts.
Rather, they were vegetarians and used their parrot-like beaks to gather and eat all sorts of plants. To chew on their meals, the dinosaurs relied on dozens of teeth designed to slice leaves, roots and whatnot.
