Alaskacephale
Alaskacephale was a small, dome-headed dinosaur that lived in the cold Arctic of ancient Alaska. It had a thick, bony skull with two rows of bumps along the back of its head. This plant-eater was one of the few dinosaurs that lived near the North Pole.1
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Fun facts
Alaskacephale lived about 70 to 69 million years ago, during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1
Only one fossil of Alaskacephale has been found: a piece of skull bone called a squamosal.1
The skull had two rows of bony bumps that helped scientists tell it apart from other dome-headed dinosaurs.1
Alaskacephale lived in a cold Arctic environment with winter darkness for 120 days and temperatures as low as -2°C (28°F).1
It shared its home with other dinosaurs like the horned Pachyrhinosaurus, the duck-billed Edmontosaurus, and the tyrannosaur Nanuqsaurus.1
Alaskacephale was about half the size of its relative Pachycephalosaurus, making it one of the smaller pachycephalosaurs.1
Most asked questions about Alaskacephale
?How big was Alaskacephale?
About 1.5 metres long and 10 kilograms, based on a similarly sized relative. It was one of the smaller pachycephalosaurs.1
?What did Alaskacephale eat?
It was a plant-eater, like all dome-headed dinosaurs.1
?When did Alaskacephale live?
It lived about 72 to 71 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian stage).1
?Is Alaskacephale a dinosaur?
Yes, it is a dome-headed dinosaur (a pachycephalosaur).1
?Why did Alaskacephale have a thick skull?
The thick, bony dome on its skull might have been used for head-butting or for display, but scientists are not sure.1
?Did Alaskacephale have feathers?
Nobody knows for sure. No fossil feathers have been found with Alaskacephale, and it is not known if pachycephalosaurs had feathers.1
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For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Alaskacephale
- Named by
- Sullivan 20062
- Group
- Dome-heads
- Family / clade
- Pachycephalosauridae2
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Pachycephalosauria2
- Age of the rocks
- 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)2
- Rock formations
- Prince Creek2
- Countries
- USA2
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database2
- Discovery
- The only fossil was found in 1999 by a University of Alaska expedition on the Colville River. It was named Alaskacephale gangloffi in 2006 by paleontologist Robert Sullivan, honoring the earlier researcher Roland Gangloff.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure exactly how big Alaskacephale was, because only a skull fragment has been found.1
Where the facts come from
- Alaskacephale (en.wikipedia.org)
- Alaskacephale in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
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