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Paleontologists Discover World's Horniest Dinosaur

Posted by samzenpus on from the overcompensatesaurus dept.

Ponca City, We love you writes "The Guardian reports that paleontologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient beast called Kosmoceratops richardsoni that stood 16 feet tall with a 6-foot skull equipped with 15 horns and lived 76 million years ago in the warm, wet swamps of what is now southern Utah. 'These animals are basically over-sized rhinos with a whole lot more horns on their heads. They had huge heads relative to their body size,' says Scott Sampson, a researcher at the Utah Museum of Natural History."

26 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. "Misleading Title... by Rinnon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Paleontologists Discover World's Horniest Dinosaur" I was really disappointed when I realized what they meant by "horniest"

    1. Re:"Misleading Title... by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Informative

      Pics or it didn't happen.

      No seriously, where's the picture of the actual skull? I want to see it.

      (Even more seriously though, the picture of the skull itself can be found here)

    2. Re:"Misleading Title... by ascari · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not misleading! You'd be horny too if the rest of your species are extinct.

    3. Re:"Misleading Title... by guyminuslife · · Score: 4, Funny

      I also fantasize about dinosaurs fucking.

      Maybe there are others like us. I should start a website.

      --
      I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
    4. Re:"Misleading Title... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      34

    5. Re:"Misleading Title... by hydrozen · · Score: 5, Funny

      I believe THIS is the horniest dinosaur! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MUJA-Tyrannosaurus.JPG

    6. Re:"Misleading Title... by guyminuslife · · Score: 2, Informative

      Goddamn, I Googled it and it's true.

      --
      I don't believe in time. It's a grand conspiracy designed to sell watches.
    7. Re:"Misleading Title... by SlappyBastard · · Score: 2, Funny

      Where are my mod points when I need them??!?!?111?!

      --
      I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
    8. Re:"Misleading Title... by sortadan · · Score: 5, Funny

      My first thought was of Hugh Hefner...

    9. Re:"Misleading Title... by RivenAleem · · Score: 4, Funny

      The Tranny saw us Sex?

    10. Re:"Misleading Title... by laejoh · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was thinking of Cobol developers...

  2. Early form of Wireless? by jd · · Score: 2, Interesting

    There were elephants with four tusks, where the extra tusks offered virtually no advantage as far as anyone can tell. The horns on a dinosaur were of dubious defensive or offensive value and may well have been to improve cooling (greater surface area to radiate from) or for display. It would have made dealing with thick vegetation a problem - more ways to get tangled up. Ok, so if we go with improving cooling, in order to provide any serious advantage there has to be a significant source of heat that the triceratops did not face. Perhaps this dinosaur moved faster, or was more active in general.

    Ever since paleontologists discovered proteins inside dino bones and even found a fossil that partially preserved the colour of the skin, the understanding of dino lives has changed dramatically.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  3. Paleontology to paleo-organic-chemistry by zooblethorpe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I can only imagine what the reaction must have been when the team accidentally broke that T. rex femur -- probably going from "oh, shit" when it first broke, and then to a very different sort of "oh, shit!" when they realized it still had the marrow in it.

    Cheers,

    --
    "What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
    "A four-foot prune."
    1. Re:Paleontology to paleo-organic-chemistry by jd · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Oh yeah. And before anyone points out that people have suggested that the protein was contamination, there was enough to see things that looked suspiciously like blood vessels and the protein resembled what would be found in chicken bones - which the hollow T. Rex bone strongly resembled. Similar results were apparently found in other T. Rex bones, but owing to the extreme rarity of T. Rex fossils in the first place, never mind the extreme reluctance of museums to go sawing their prize pieces in half, it's unclear if this is ever going to be "reproducible" to the point of anyone's complete satisfaction. (Actually, MRI should be able to see through stone ok, so long as it's not iron-bearing.)

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  4. The Onion by xbeefsupreme · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is similar to another recent discovery: http://www.theonion.com/video/paleontologists-discover-skeleton-of-natures-first,14320/

  5. That IS horny! by sharkey · · Score: 2, Funny

    Possibly even hornier than the dickwolves.

    --

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  6. First the BBC, now Slashdot by mbone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Jee, is everyone writing on the web 13 years old ?

  7. Somewhere in England.. by sakonofie · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...there is a Guardian copy editor who is going home proud of themselves for a job well done.

  8. The Weekly World News Called by istartedi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Weekly World News called. They want their headline back.

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    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  9. Re:For the love of God! by RaymondKurzweil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Was Mexico kicked out for not being white enough or something?

  10. Better link to article by actionbastard · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/22/horniest-dinosaur-kosmoceratops-utah/print

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  11. Title Fail by beatle11 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Really? I'd like to know how many people actually knew what they were talking about when they saw the title.

  12. Re:The correct term is "most horned", not "hornies by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Funny

    I take all the fun out of stuff.

    No, you're just missing the point. It may be hard, but don't let the puns get a rise out of you. They'll never erect a statue in honor of you horning in on the conversation.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  13. No no no... by schon · · Score: 4, Funny

    I believe this particular one will be called the "hefnersaurus"

  14. Re:oh gee by hydrozen · · Score: 2, Informative

    there you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MUJA-Tyrannosaurus.JPG

  15. Screw the rocks! What a GREAT Publication Site! by Toad-san · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now THAT site is what scientific publications should be all about. No steenking membership. No steenking expensive annual fees.

    You go there, you look around, you get to read abstracts _and_ the full damned paper (with ALL the images, hooray!). Great stuff.

    Every scientific publication (or at least the ones being funded by OUR tax dollars) should work that way!