Palaeontologists from North Carolina State University announced the findings on September 17, describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
An illustration of young adults duelling. pic COURTESY/MASAYA HATTORI
A recent discovery in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has provided the most complete and oldest fossil of an iconic ‘dome-headed’ dinosaur to date. This new species, named Zavacephale rinpoche, lived about 108 million years ago. Palaeontologists from North Carolina State University announced the findings on September 17, describing it as a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”
It belongs to the group pachycephalosaurs, dinosaurs known for their unique head adornments, including domes of thickened bone, horns, and bony knobs. Mostly, the fossils are rare and often just fragmentary pieces of skulls. Interestingly, the new fossil belongs to a juvenile dinosaur, but it already had a fully formed head dome.
Researchers said the species used their large head domes for socio-sexual behaviours, such as showing off and competing for mates and not for defending against predators or regulating body temperature.
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