Sunday, April 08, 2012

Horned dinos roaming all over the place

Naish and the Newest Dino Book

When I was a dinosaur-fascinated kid, horned dinos (a group called Ceratospia) came in two variities: Styrackosaurus and Triceratops. You could include Protoceratops kind of out of pity given the suggestion that it might someday develop horns, and I remember Monoclonius poking up in one book. That was it.  Now the horned dino group is enormous (and includes whole lineages that never did develop actual horns).  New species are constantly nosing their way in, some species are the topic of heated disputes, and there is a theory that the long-marginalized Protoceratops might have been a pretty cool-looking amphibious creature.  Dr. Darren Naish, in this review of a book collecting new research, gives us an introduction to just how varied and spectacular the horned dinos were.  

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