Name:
Habitat:
Historical Period:
Size and Weight:
Diet:
Distinguishing Characteristics:
About Pachycephalosaurus:
As befits a dinosaur named after its massive skull--which was 10 inches thick on the front and forward side of its head--most of what we know about Pachycephalosaurus is based on skull fossils. Still, that hasn't kept paleontologists from making educated guesses: it's thought that Pachycephalosaurus had a squat, thick trunk, five-fingered hands, and an upright stance.
Why did Pachycephalosaurus have such a thick skull? As with most such anatomical quirks, the accepted explanation is that the males of this genus(and possibly the females) evolved big skulls because they head-butted each other for dominance and the right to mate. Whatever the case, this dinosaur's block-shaped bean clearly didn't protect it from extinction; Pachycephalosaurus was one of the last of its kind roaming the earth when a meteor impact 65 million years ago rendered its breed extinct.
