Pachycephalosaurus facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Pachycephalosaurus
Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous
Skull of Pachycephalosaurus at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Superorder: Dinosauria
Order: Ornithischia
Suborder: Cerapoda
Infraorder: Pachycephalosauria
Family: Pachycephalosauridae
Genus: Pachycephalosaurus
Brown & Schlaikjer, 1943
Species

P. wyomingensis (Gilmore, 1931) (type)

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

  • Pachycephalosaurus scale

    Size comparison of an adult P. wyomingensis (green), potential growth stages, and a human

  • Pachycephalosaur Skull (AMNH 1696)

    Skull AMNH 1696

  • Pachycephalosaurus skull

    The holotype adult skull of P. "reinheimeri" (DMNS 469)

  • Pachycephalosaurus Reconstruction

    Restoration

  • Pachycephalosaurus ontogeny

    Growth series showing reduction of spikes and growth of dome with age, according to Horner and Goodwin

  • Pachycephalosaurus head butting

    Restoration of head butting subadults

  • Pachycephalosaurus cranial lesion

    Depressions on the skull of specimen BMRP 2001.4.1

  • Pachycephalosaurus

    Restoration of a specimen with a cranial lesion

  • Hell Creek dinosaurs and pterosaurs by durbed

    Pachycephalosaurus and other animals of the Hell Creek Formation


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Pachycephalosaurus Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.