Demon Horned Dragon: The horned demon among dinosaurs
<h1>A chance discovery of a national park</h1>
Illustration: The Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument, with its magnificent geological wonders, picture from the network
The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Memorial, located in southern Utah, was designated a National Monument by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Colourful rock formations, majestic boulders, and steep rock walls give the Grand Staircase, the Escalante National Monument, a beauty that does not belong to earth.
Photo note: Paleontologist Donald De Bessy, image from the web
In 2002, the Geological Society of Utah organized a geological exploration at the Grand Ladder-Escalante National Monument, where paleontologist Donald DeBlieux, who participated in the exploration, found a fossil on the ground while strolling through the memorial area. When we conducted experimental excavations and found that the fossil of a large dinosaur was hidden in the ground, paleontologists spent three years excavating the fossil. In order to preserve the fossils in the surrounding rock and transport them back to the laboratory, paleontologists even hired helicopters to transport the rock weighing up to 500 kilograms.
Photo note: Located at the foot of the mountain, the Utah Museum of Natural History, image from the Internet
Museum staff are cleaning up fossils in the surrounding rock, pictured from the web
The fossils wrapped in rocks were sent to the Utah Museum of Natural History, where researchers spent 800 hours cleaning up the rocks so that they could leak out. When the fossils were all cleared out, paleontologists immediately identified it as a horned dinosaur, but the fossils only preserved half of the head. Because the fossil was found next to a small river called "Last Chance", it was given the nickname "Last Chance Horned Dragon".
<h1>The naming of the Demon Horned Dragon</h1>
Image note: The skull and restoration of the demon horned dragon, picture from the Internet
In 2006, the annual meeting of the Vertebrate Paleontology Society was held in Ontario, Canada. At this annual meeting, DeBessy unveiled new species, fossils and restorations found in Utah that aroused interest. In 2010, Debési and James Ian Kirkland, a prominent Canadian paleontologist, published a new basal spinosaurosaurine ceratopsian skulls from the Hoover group (Middle Kampa Steps), the Great Staircase, and southern Utah in New Basal Centrosaurine ceratopsian skulls from the WahweapFormation (Middle Campanian), Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah) paper, in which the demon horned dragon was officially named.
The big horns on the Demon Horn Dragon Head Shield are reminiscent of the horns on the head of a Western demon, and the image comes from the Internet
The genus name " Diabloceratops " comes from the Spanish word "diablo" (meaning "demon") and the Latin word for "Ceratops" (meaning "face of a long horn"), meaning "face with long horns like a demon", because the head shield of the demon horned dragon has two horns on it, which looks like the horns on the head of a demon. The model name of the demon horned dragon is Diabloceratops eatoni, and the species name "eatoni" is dedicated to the paleo-mammalian Jeffrey Eaton, who was a good friend of fossil research and nomenclature.
<h1>Longhorn monster</h1>
Image note: The body size of the demon horned dragon and the rhinoceros is compared, the image is from the Internet
Illustration: Restoration of the dragon skull of the Demon Horn, by Julius Stoney
Demon horned dragons belong to the famous horned dragon class, its body size is relatively large, more than 5 meters long, about 2 meters tall, and weighs less than 2 tons. If you add a head shield, the head of the demon horned dragon is very large, and the front of its head is a beak, much like today's parrot. Compared to other horned dragons, the beak of the demon horned dragon was very short, with a small bulge on its beak, which paleontologists speculated may have been a nose horn. Above the eyes of the demon horned dragon grows a pair of forehead horns, which are about 25 cm long. The Demon Horned Dragon had a short neck and a very strong body, with a short tail behind it. The Demon Horned Dragon walked and ran on all fours with great strength, and it ran like an angry rhinoceros.
Image note: The skull of the demon horned dragon, picture from the internet
Image note: A restoration of the head of the Demon Horned Dragon, pictured from the Internet
The most distinctive feature of the Demon Horned Dragon is the pair of long horns on its head shield, which is its best distinguishing feature. The long horn grew from the top of the head shield, and the two horns curved to the sides, as if they were the horns on the demon's head. Although demon horned dragons look a bit fierce, they feed on plants.
<h1>Unlock the path of evolution of the horned dragon</h1>
Image note: Comparison of the skulls of demon horned dragons with other horned dragons, image from the Internet
Illustration: The evolution of the horned dragon, the picture comes from the network
Demon horned dragons lived in North America 80 to 78 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous, and are the most primitive dinosaurs of the subfamily Dipterosaurus found so far. So far, we've found nearly 40 species of ceratopsid dinosaurs in North America, but almost all of them lived between 78 and 65 million years ago. Kirkland, one of the researchers of the Demon Horned Dragon, points out that the discovery of this dinosaur has some primitive features, such as having an additional head shield hole. Demon horned dragons may have represented the middle stage of evolution to the late horned dragons, after which various famous large horned dragons appeared on Earth.
<h1>Resources:</h1>
1.Kirkland, J.I. and DeBlieux, D.D. (2010). "New basal centrosaurine ceratopsian skulls from the Wahweap Formation (Middle Campanian), Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, southern Utah", In: Ryan, M.J., Chinnery-Allgeier, B.J., and Eberth, D.A. (eds.) New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp. 117–140
2.Glut, D. F., 2012, Dinosaurs, the Encyclopedia, Supplement 7: McFarland & Company, Inc, 866pp.