Head-Ramming Dino Had 'Gears' in Skull

A reconstruction of Texacephale langstoni shows how the dinosaur may have used its head. Nicholas Longrich

From The Telegraph:

The new Texas dino featured a skull with a domed top and side bones that may have allowed its skull bones to mesh on impact.

A new species dinosaur found in Texas featured flanges on the side of its skull that may have allowed its skull bones to mesh like gears -- a useful feature when it likely rammed heads with other dinosaurs, say researchers.

"It's possible that this would prevent the skull bones from dislocating under stresses," speculated Nicholas Longrich, a postdoctoral associate in Yale University's Department of Geology and Geophysics who was project leader for a study about the find published in the latest issue of the journal Cretaceous Research.

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