Altirhinus
Altirhinus was a big, plant-eating dinosaur that walked on two legs but could also drop to all fours to munch on low plants. It had a tall bump on its snout that gave it its name, and a wide mouth like a duck's bill for scooping up food.1
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Fun facts
Altirhinus had a thumb spike like a sharp nail, which it might have used for defense or to break open seeds.1
Its fifth finger could move a bit like a thumb, helping it grab food while eating.1
The tall arch on its snout was made by the nasal bones, and scientists think it might have been used for cooling, smelling, or showing off to other Altirhinus.1
Altirhinus lived about 125 to 100 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous Period.1
Fossils of several Altirhinus of different ages were found together, including a nearly complete skull and a set of 34 tail bones.1
Altirhinus is a close relative of the duck-billed dinosaurs called hadrosaurids, but it lived a bit earlier.1
Most asked questions about Altirhinus
?How big was Altirhinus?
About 6.5 to 8 metres long and weighed around 1.1 tonnes.1
?What did Altirhinus eat?
It was a plant-eater. It used its wide beak to crop plants and its cheek teeth to chew them, just like cows do today.1
?Why did Altirhinus have a bump on its nose?
Scientists aren't sure. It might have been used for cooling, smelling, making sounds, or showing off to other Altirhinus, like a peacock's tail.1
?When did Altirhinus live?
It lived during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 125 to 100 million years ago.1
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Myth buster
Myth: Altirhinus is the same as Iguanodon orientalis.
Truth: Altirhinus was originally thought to be Iguanodon orientalis, but scientists later realized the old fossils were too broken to tell, and the new ones were a different dinosaur.1
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Altirhinus
- Named by
- Norman 19982
- Group
- Beaked plant-eaters
- Family / clade
- Neoiguanodontia2
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia2
- Age of the rocks
- 110 to 100 million years (Albian)2
- Rock formations
- Khuren Dukh2
- Countries
- Mongolia2
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database2
- Discovery
- Altirhinus was named by British paleontologist David B. Norman in 1998, based on fossils found in 1981 by a Soviet-Mongolian team led by Sergei Kurzanov.1
- Still debated
- Scientists are not sure what the tall arch on Altirhinus's snout was for. It might have helped with cooling, smelling, making sounds, or attracting mates.1
Where the facts come from
- Altirhinus (en.wikipedia.org)
- Altirhinus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.
Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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