Dino card No. 1546 of 2,027

Rhinorex

Say it: RYE-no-rex

Name means: “king nose”1

Ate: PlantsDuck-billsLate Cretaceous

Rhinorex was a duck-billed dinosaur with a huge, bony nose that made it look like a giant bulldog. It lived in swampy forests near the coast of ancient Utah about 75 million years ago. This gentle plant-eater used its big nose to impress friends or smash plants, but scientists are still sniffing out the real reason!1 2

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Utah, USA (Neslen Formation, Book Cliffs)1 2

Food

Plants1 5

Length

9 m1

estimate

Weight

3.855 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 2.5 cars

as long as 2 cars parked in a rowas long as 50 bananas end to endas heavy as 130 big dogsas heavy as 770 watermelons

How big was Rhinorex compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Rhinorex's fossil was first dug up in the 1990s, but it sat in storage for years because scientists were more interested in its well-preserved skin impressions than its bones.1

Unlike many other duck-billed dinosaurs, Rhinorex did not have a crest on top of its head. Instead, it had a huge, bony nose that gave it a very unique face.1

Rhinorex lived in an estuary, a swampy area where a river meets the sea, about 50 miles from the coast. This is different from its relative Gryposaurus, which lived further inland.1

Scientists are not sure why Rhinorex had such a big nose. It might have been used to attract mates, to recognize other members of its species, or as a base for a strong, plant-smashing beak.1

Rhinorex is the only complete hadrosaur fossil ever found in the Neslen Formation, making it a very important discovery for understanding Utah's ancient environments.1

The name Rhinorex condrupus means 'king nose' and 'pig-like' in Latin, a funny combination that matches its pig-like snout.1 2

AI-made picture of Rhinorex — An AI-made picture of how Rhinorex might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Rhinorex

?How big was Rhinorex?

About 9 metres (30 feet) long and weighed over 3,850 kilograms (8,500 lbs).1

?What did Rhinorex eat?

It was a plant-eater, using its beak to smash plants.1 3

?Why did Rhinorex have a big nose?

Scientists are not sure yet. It might have been used to attract mates, recognize its own species, or as a base for a strong beak to smash plants.1

?Is Rhinorex a dinosaur?

Yes, it is a duck-billed dinosaur called a hadrosaur.4

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Myth buster

Myth: Rhinorex was a fierce predator with a horn on its nose.

Truth: Rhinorex was a gentle plant-eating hadrosaur, not a predator. Its 'nose' was a bony bump, not a horn, and it used its beak to eat plants.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Rhinorex
Named by: Gates and Scheetz 20145
Group: Duck-bills
Family / clade: Hadrosauridae5
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia > Hadrosauridae5
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
Rock formations: Nelsen5
Countries: USA5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Rhinorex was discovered by two geology students from the University of California, Riverside in 1992 while they were mapping the Book Cliffs in eastern Utah. It was later named and described by paleontologists Terry Gates and Rodney Scheetz in 2014 after they found the fossil in storage at Brigham Young University.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether Rhinorex lived at exactly the same time as its close relative Gryposaurus, or if it lived a bit later. This would change whether they shared the same habitat or if Rhinorex evolved from Gryposaurus.2

Where the facts come from

New Hadrosaur Noses into Spotlight | NC State News (news.ncsu.edu)
New Dinosaur Rhinorex Raises Cretaceous Quandary (nationalgeographic.com)
New dinosaur species with giant nose discovered in Utah - Utah Geological Survey (geology.utah.gov)
Rhinorex (en.wikipedia.org)
Rhinorex 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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