Scientists have just unveiled the newest dinosaur discovery: the Wendiceratops Pinhornensis. Named after the legendary fossil hunter from Canada who discovered the fossils in Alberta, Wendy Sloboda, the dinosaur is said to have lived during the Cretaceous Period, 79 million years ago. The scientists who announced the dinosaur discovery in the scientific journal PLOS ONE said that the Wendiceratops weighed a whopping two tons and measured in at about twenty feet long. This new dinosaur is also said to have had two horns rising from its brow and a larger than usual horn on its nose, along with a frill resembling a shield on the back of its head lined with many little hornlets that curved forward, forming hooks.
A New Addition to the Triceratops Family
This newest dinosaur discovery was declared by scientists to be one of the oldest members of the dinosaur family which encompasses the more popularly known Triceratops. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum, one of the co-authors of the study published in PLOS ONE, said that the Wendiceratops, due to its peculiar horn growth, gives researchers much insight into the evolution of the ornamental horns that are iconic to that family of dinosaurs.
The First of its Kind
Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Michael Ryan, co-author of the paper published in PLOS ONE, said that this newest dinosaur discovery provided a window into just how diverse horned dinosaurs are. He stated that the particular combination of horns and frills found in the Wendiceratops had never been seen before, and that it helps researchers understand how horned dinosaurs evolved relative to the way that they used their heads. Ryan and Evans said that the Wendiceratops was one of the first of its kind to have such a prominently displayed horn on its nose, indicating that horns evolved differently for two branches of that dinosaur family, the Wendiceratops and the Triceratops.
Naming the Newest Dinosaur Discovery
In addition to being named after Wendy Sloboda, the woman who discovered the fossilized bones, the Wendiceratops Pinhornensis got its peculiar name from the place where those bones were discovered, an area in Alberta known as the Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve. Sloboda said that every fossil hunter’s dream is to have a species named after them, and usually it’s the second name that is attributed to the person who discovered it. To celebrate the special occasion of not only having a new dinosaur discovery named after her, but having the first name attributed to her, she got an artist’s rendition of the dinosaur tattooed on her forearm. “Wendiceratops” has been defined as meaning “Wendy’s horned face,” something that Sloboda can be reminded of every time she looks at her forearm and remembers that she was the person behind the newest dinosaur discovery.
