Huge horned dinosaur skull dug up during fossil search

Researchers dig up rare dino find A team from the University of Calgary has uncovered the skull of a pachyrhinosaur near Drumheller. Kevin Fleming reports.

Researchers at the University of Calgary unearthed a gargantuan pachyrhinosaur skull in Alberta’s badlands during a routine fossil search last fall and experts say the skull is a very rare find.

Darla Zelenitsky, assistant professor at the University of Calgary, and a research assistant found the dinosaur skull last October in an area of Drumheller where a partial skull was collected more than half a century ago.

“It is very rare to find such a complete skull specimen of this size in the region," says Zelenitsky. "Based on our preliminary estimates, the dinosaur's head would have been well over two metres long and was likely of a mature or older individual. The skull of this animal has an enormous bony structure over the snout that would have made for a very strange looking individual."

Pachyrhinosaurs Facts:

Zelenitsky and her team removed five to six tons of rock over 10 days to extract the skull.

They then spent several months preparing the huge specimen in the laboratory so they could carefully remove the rock encasing the bone.

"So far, the upper part of the skull has been exposed and the skull will be flipped over to prepare the lower part, including the jaws," explains Zelenitsky. "There are still many months of work necessary in order to clean the entire skull."

They will study the skull further once it has been completely cleaned and it will eventually go on display at the University of Calgary.

"Our initial goal will be to determine if this specimen represents a new species," adds Zelenitsky. "Following that, the specimen will be measured and scanned to help document how the skull of pachyrhinosaurs changed during growth, particularly in the later stages of life. The nature of this discovery will certainly add to our understanding of the biology of pachyrhinosaurs," concludes the researcher who intends to resume the search for more bones at the site of the find in the coming months.

The find is significant and was picked as one of the 10 best recent dinosaur discoveries by WIRED magazine.

For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.