Pachyrhinosaurus (meaning "thick-nosed lizard") was the largest ceratopsian dinosaur of the subfamily Centrosaurine, a group of ceratopsians defined by their large nose horns and bosses, as well as short frills.
Background
Real life
Pachyrhinosaurus was probably the most unusual and distinctive ceratopsid. It did not have brow or nasal horns; instead it had a thick, bumpy, spongy pad of bone along the upper surface of its flattened face. This bony pad ran from the front of its nose back to above its eyes. The skull of Pachyrhinosaurus was massive; only Triceratops, Pentaceratops, Chasmosaurus, and Torosaurus had larger skulls.
Charles Sternberg named Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis from three partial skulls found in southern Alberta. Other species, such as Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum have been found as far north as Northern Alaska. Pachyrhinosaurus means "thick-nose reptile"; the name refers to the bony facial pad, called the boss. Because skulls of this dinosaur are rare, and because of their odd, gnarled facial boss, some paleontologists thought these specimens were pathological; they thought the facial pad was formed because a nasal horn broke off and then healed over. So they thought the facial boss was a "scar". Paleontologists recently uncovered a large bone bed with many Pachyrhinosaurus specimens in north central Alberta. This proves that the facial pad is a normal feature of Pachyrhinosaurus and not a scar.
The rest of the skull of Pachyrhinosaurus looked very much like that of other Centrosaurine ceratopsians, such as Centrosaurus, Monoclonius, and Styracosaurus. Like them, Pachyrhinosaurus had a short frill, deep face, and short beak. Pachyrhinosaurus was also closely related to Brachyceratops and Avaceratops.
Appearances
Dinosaur
Pachyrhinosaurus is featured in many scenes. One notable scene was when a Carnotaurus attacked, but because the ceratopsian species was unable to run fast like the Iguanodon or Parasaurolophus, a Pachyrhinosaurus ended up as its victim.
Shortly after the attack, another herd of Pachyrhinosaurus were drinking at a river. When an Iguanodon's egg floated by in the water they were drinking, one of the Pachyrhinosaurus moved in to join its herd members for a drink, causing the egg to shift towards the center of the river where it would be picked up by a Pteranodon.
Later, many Pachyrhinosaurus appear in the herd that Kron leads, where one of them rams into Aladar when he first runs into the herd. At the end of the film, they reach the Nesting Grounds with the other dinosaurs, and they live in peace and harmony, joining in the victory roars.
Trivia
- Dinosaur was the first major film to feature Pachyrhinosaurus and make it well-known to the public. It is one of the few theatrically released films to also feature Pachyrhinosaurus, with the other being the 2013 3D film Walking with Dinosaurs. Coincidentally, Walking with Dinosaurs is now owned by Disney following their acquisition of 20th Century Studios (formerly known as 20th Century Fox) in 2019.
- Some scientists and artists have suggested that the nasal boss on the nose of Pachyrhinosaurus was the base huge horn made of keratin (the same material in modern rhinoceros horns). However, no evidence exists for this.
- Despite being shown alongside Styracosaurus in Disney's Dinosaur, in reality, Pachyrhinosaurus lived a few million years later than Styracosaurus and may be its descendant.
- Pachyrhinosaurus has one of the widest ranges of any ceratopsians, being known from Montana to as far north as Alberta, Canada, and Alaska.
- Pachyrhinosaurus has more species in its genus than almost any other known ceratopsian. It is the most speciose (species rich) genus of the Centrosaurine branch of ceratopsians.
Gallery
External links
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