Ceratosaurus Nasal Horn

 
 
Ceratosaurus   >   Nasal Horn

   



Ceratosaurus Nasal Horn

Cast of fossil Ceratosaurus nasicornis skull in American Museum of Natural History:
Cast of fossil Ceratosaurus nasicornis skull in American Museum of Natural History
One of the most unusual and distinctive features of Ceratosaurus is the horn on its nose. Indeed, "a narrow rounded horn core centrally placed on the fused nasals" has been described has been described one of the distinguishing features of the genus.

An important question is what purpose did this horn serve during the animal's life?

Othniel C. Marsh who in 1884 discovered, named, and scientifically described Ceratosaurus, considered the nasal horn to be "most powerful weapon", and thought it likely that the animal used it both offensively and defensively. This opinion was also supported by Charles W. Gilmore, who wrote his own description of Ceratosaurus in 1920.

Since the 1980s however, another view has begun to prevail. British paleontologist, David Bruce Norman suggested in 1985 that the purpose of the horn was "probably not for protection against other predators", but instead used in intraspecies contests between males for breeding rights. Gregory Scott Paul (1988) also suggested it was used in intraspecies breeding contests, and depicted the horn being used this way, and T. Rowe and J. Gauthier (1990) suggested that the horn served no role in physical contests but was "probably used for display purposes alone".

If, as modern researchers suggest, the horn may have served a display function, it seems likely that it would have been brightly colored. Of course, we do not know this to be a fact - since fossils do not generally preserve evidence of their original coloring.







Linking to This Page

We do hope that you find this site useful. We welcome people linking to this website or citing us.

The URL of this web page, is:


If you want to link to this web page from your own web site, you can use the following HTML code:





 
      Ceratosaurus Information:

   Books

   Classification

   Facts

   Fossils

   Name

   Nasal Horn

   Pictures

   Size

   Timeline

   Toys



Links:

Dinosaur Coloring

Dinosaur Hangman

Dinosaur Jokes

Dinosaur Museums

Dinosaurs News

Dinosaurs Parks

Dinosaur Types

Science Downloads

Science eBooks



Educational Products

Education Downloads

School eBooks

Science eBooks

Science Project Downloads



More Types of Dinosaurs

Ankylosaurus

Kentrosaurus

Pachycephalosaurus

Protoceratops

Spinosaurus

Styracosaurus

Tyrannosaurus rex
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Copyright © 2008-2024, Answers 2000 Limited

Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.

Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.

Contact Us   Privacy   Terms of Use   Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.


In Association With Amazon.com
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
In Association With Amazon.co.uk
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.
As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.


All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
All third party content and adverts are copyright of their respective owners.

Some graphics on our web sites are Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Hemera Technologies Inc., and used under license. All such pictures are provided for viewing purposes only and are not to be saved or downloaded. All such pictures of recognizable individuals are models and used for illustrative purposes only, and not meant to imply any association or endorsement of said individual with any product or service.