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Pachyrhinosaurus ( "thick-nosed reptile") is an ornithischian (bird-hipped) dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of North America. The first examples were discovered by Charles M. Sternberg in Alberta, Canada, in 1946, and named in 1950 . 12 partial skulls and a large assortment of fossils have been found in total in Alberta and Alaska. A great number were not available for study until the 1980s, resulting in a relatively recent increase of interest in the Pachyrhinosaurus.
Instead of horns, the skull bears massive, flattened bosses, the largest being over the nose. These were probably used in butting and shoving matches, as in musk oxen. A single pair of horns grew from the frill and extended upwards. It appears that that both the shape and size of the frill was highly individualized, reliant on gender and perhaps other factors. Pachyrhinosaurus is most closely related to Achelousaurus.
Pachyrhinosaurus was 18 to 23 feet (5.5 to seven meters ) long and about six feet (two meters) high. It weighed about four tons. It was herbivorous and possessed strong cheek teeth to help it chew tough, fibrous plants.
