Pachycephalosaurus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids PachycephalosaurusTemporal range: Upper Cretaceous
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| Skull of Pachycephalosaurus at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. | |
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Pachycephalosaurus
Brown & Schlaikjer, 1943
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P. wyomingensis (Gilmore, 1931) (type) |
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Pachycephalosaurus was a genus of ornithischian dinosaur which lived during the last five million years of the Upper Cretaceous. It lived in what is now North America. Pachycephalosaurus was a member of the Pachycephalosaurid family. This dinosaur is only known from a single skull and a few extremely thick skull roofs. From this it is estimated that its length was about 4.5 to 5 metres long (about 15 feet). It is the largest known pachycephalosaur.
Scientists do not yet know for sure what these dinosaurs ate. Having very small, ridged teeth they could not have chewed tough, fibrous plants as effectively as other dinosaurs of the same period. It is assumed that pachycephalosaurs lived on a mixed diet of leaves, seeds, fruit and insects. The sharp, serrated teeth would have been very effective for shredding plants.
Images for kids
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Skull AMNH 1696
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The holotype adult skull of P. "reinheimeri" (DMNS 469)
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Size comparison of an adult P. wyomingensis (green), potential growth stages, and a human
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Restoration
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Casts of three skulls, representing possible growth stages, Museum of the Rockies
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Growth series showing reduction of spikes and growth of dome with age, according to Horner and Goodwin
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Depressions on the skull of specimen BMRP 2001.4.1
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Restoration of a specimen with a cranial lesion
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Pachycephalosaurus and other animals of the Hell Creek Formation
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