Kosmoceratops

What it was like

Kosmoceratops was a horned plant eater with one of the most decorated heads of any dinosaur. The top edge of its frill carried a row of hook-shaped horns that curled forward, and it had horns over its eyes that swept out to the sides and a blade-like horn on its nose.

It walked on four sturdy legs and snipped plants with a sharp beak. Its fancy headgear was probably for display, to impress rivals and mates.

Its world

It lived about 84 to 72 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Utah. Its fossils come from the Kaiparowits Formation, on a strip of land along the western shore of a sea that split North America in two.

It shared that land with another horned dinosaur, Utahceratops, the duck-bills Parasaurolophus and Gryposaurus, and the tyrannosaur Teratophoneus.

How it was found

Sampson and colleagues named Kosmoceratops in 2010, along with Utahceratops. Two finds are known, including an adult skull and part of its skeleton.