1/22/2024 0 Comments Saurian dakotaraptor roar![]() Pachycephalosaurus are herbivorous animals, feeding on low-growing vegetation as well as fungi and occasionally insects. Males are fiercely territorial and will engage in head and flank butting contests. These dome-headed dinosaurs mate for life and both parents raise their young for several months. Pachycephalosaurus uses its bone-breaking domed head as a multifunctional tool, being used to defend against as previously mentioned, territorial disputes, and to deflect forest foliage while running. Pachycephalosaurus is a vulnerable prey animal in the Hell Creek, preferring to live in densely forested areas to avoid predators such as Tyrannosaurus, yet is hardy and belligerent and will attack Dakotaraptor or young Tyrannosaurus when provoked. Males of this species have bright red heads. Its' color is gray with brown stripes to match its' habitat and a red face and throat for display and white dome. Based on other pachycephalosaurids, it probably had a fairly short, thick neck, short fore limbs, a bulky body, long hind legs and a heavy tail, which was likely held rigid by ossified tendons.Īs an adult, Pachycephalosaurus is fully scaled with a spiny tail and skin on the legs in the form of uropatagium. While Pachycephalosaurus is mostly known from skulls, based on other pachycephalosaurids, it has been estimated that Pachycephalosaurus was around 4.5 meters (15 ft) long and weighed 450 kilograms (990 lb). This is not unlikley as it would serve as a very prominent piece on it's head. ![]() The new study intimates that the bony crests were meant not only to draw the eye but also to fight for the right to mate. Some scientists had previously theorized that the dinosaurs’ peculiar domes were sex characteristics intended to attract mates, like an elk’s antlers or a peacock’s tail feathers. This suggests not only that head-butting was limited to adult males but also that - if modern animal behavior is any indication - it was likely used by them to fight over females which is most likely. And although pachycephalosaurs with flatter, smaller domes - which paleontologists believe were females and juveniles - were included in the study sample, none of them appeared to have suffered any trauma. However, more recent studies showed that pachys did headbutt, due to the discovery of lesions in the skull which could only be caused by head trauma. A study from Horner suggested that the skull roof could probably not have adequately sustained impact associated with such ramming and would have been risky. Paleontologists have heavily debated for several decades the adaptive significance of pachycephalosaurid domes. The sharp, serrated teeth would have been very effective for shredding plants. ![]() It is assumed that pachycephalosaurs lived on a mixed diet of leaves, seeds, and fruits. Having very small, ridged teeth they could not have chewed very tough, fibrous plants as effectively as other dinosaurs of the same period. Scientists do not yet know what these dinosaurs specifically ate. Pachycephalosaurus was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. It was a herbivorous creature which is primarily known from a single skull and a few extremely thick skull roofs, though more complete fossils have been found in recent years. Remains have been excavated in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Pachycephalosaurus lived during the Late Cretaceous Period (Maastrichtian stage) of what is now North America.
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