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ALL ABOUT DINOSAURS!
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HOMALOCEPHALE
"Level-Headed Lizard"

ANATOMY
Homalocephale was a thick-skulled, plant-eating dinosaur. Its flat head housed a very thick skull, a tiny brain, and large eyes. The skull consisted of porous, non-rigid bone interlaced with blood vessels.

Homalocephale grew to be about 5 feet long (1.5 m) and weighed about 95 pounds (43 kg). Homalocephale probably had a good sense of smell. It had bumpy knobs on its snout and along the rear of its skull. It had leaf-shaped teeth, short forelimbs and a stiff tail.

HOMALOCEPHALE BEHAVIOR
Homalocephale may have been a herding dinosaur that lived in small groups in coastal and upland regions, but this is not certain since no bonebeds of Homalocephale have been found.

Running and flank-butting (ramming into an enemy's body with the head) were probably the first line of self-defense.

It had long been thought that Pachycephalosaurid' thick skulls may have been used for ramming rivals during mating and dominance combat, for attracting mates, and as a last-ditch self-defense against predators (this idea was first presented by Ed Colbert in 1955). Paleontologist Mark Goodwin of the University of California at Berkeley has analyzed many pachycephalosaur skulls (including those of Pachycephalosaurus), finding no evidence of healed scars. Also, under close analysis, the thick skull bone is not rigid and solid, but porous and fragile when put under extreme pressure. ``It's time to kill the myth ... It certainly wouldn't be in their own best interests to ram heads in a fight,'' said Goodwin ``They would have killed each other, and a couple of bowling balls would hardly make good targets.'' It is more likely that Pachycephalosaurus butted other animals sides (flank-butting), rather than their heads. This would inflict damage on the other animal and not injure the Pachycephalosaurid.

WHEN HOMALOCEPHALE LIVED
Homalocephale lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 80 to 70 million years ago, toward the end of the Mesozoic, the Age of Reptiles. Possible predators of Homalocephale include: Adasaurus, Alioramus, Anserimimus, Avimimus, Borogovia, Conchoraptor, Chingkankousaurus, Deinocheirus, Elmisaurus, Gallimimus, Hulsanpes, Ingenia, Maleevosaurus, Saurornithoides , Shanshanosaurus, Therizinosaurus, T. rex, and Velociraptor (medium to large theropods from Mongolia during the late Cretaceous period).

DIET
Homalocephale was an herbivore, eating soft plants, fruit, and seeds. Its teeth were small and leaf-shaped.

LOCOMOTION
Homalocephale walked on two legs, and was not a very fast dinosaur. When it walked or ran, it probably held its back level to the ground. It may have gone on all fours to forage for low-lying plants.

DISCOVERY OF FOSSILS
An almost complete skeleton of Homalocephale was found in Mongolia in 1901 and named by paleontologists Maryánska & Osmólska in 1974.

CLASSIFICATION
Homalocephale belonged to the:






Information Sheets About Dinosaurs
(and Other Prehistoric Creatures)

Just click on an animal's name to go to that information sheet. If the dinosaur you're interested in isn't here, check the Dinosaur Dictionary or the list of Dinosaur Genera. Names with an asterisk (*) were not dinosaurs.
How to write a great dinosaur report.

For dinosaur printouts, click here.

For brief dinosaur fact sheets, click here.




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