Animals

New research may show that dinosaurs were combative while in their teenage years. The fossils show that they might have had violent fights in which they butted heads. According to research the bones showed that the skulls of these younger dinosaurs have compressed and rebounded – which can happen after a serious head ram.

This group of relatively small dinosaurs lived from about 80 million to 65 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period mainly in Asia and North America, where they likely grazed on ferns and some flowering plants. Their claim to fame would have to be the dinosaurs’ thick bony caps. The ornate head gear ranged from Prenocephale’s sloping skull, which resembled a sleek bike helmet, to the lengthy horns that topped the skull of Stygimoloch or the more delicate cap worn by Stegoceras, outlined with a fringe of bony knobs.

With such hard heads, the dinosaurs may have butted one another like bighorn sheep, over mates, food or territory, according to researchers Eric Snively of the University of Alberta and Andrew Cox of Villanova University. Or the flashy noggins may have served as mate-bait or for visual communication, said Mark Goodwin of the University of California-Berkeley’s Museum of Paleontology.

“I would still argue that there is no evidence to support head-butting in pachycephalosaurs,” said Goodwin, who was not involved in the current study. Goodwin’s research suggests protective features of pachycephalosaur skulls are just temporary and part of maturing. “It’s a product of fast-growing bone that we hypothesize is used for display and visual communication,” he said.