Fossils of Xenoceratops Found

Xenoceratops (meaning “alien horned-face”) had massive spikes at the top of its head, two hooks jutting from its forehead, and a ruffled shield around its neck.

Palaeontologist in Canada found fossils which belongs to a 1814.37 kg, 6.096 meters dinosaur, the Xenoceratops. A distant cousin of Triceratops, the dinosaur’s name means ‘alien hoened-face’. It was named such because of its strange pattern of horns on its head and above its brow. Such horned dinosaurs are very rare in this part of the fossil record. 

The creature which roamed the Earth about 80 million years ago is one of the oldest specimens known to date of the Ceratopsid group.

Xenoceratops, a newly discovered Cretaceous-era dinosaur,likely grazed on cattails and ferns in a primeval forest in what is now Canada.

“It seems to have the general types of ornamentation that we see taken to even greater extremes in later Ceratopsids. That suggests the elaborate headgear evolved earlier.”” said David Evans, a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum.