Tylocephale
Tylocephale was a small, dome-headed dinosaur that lived in what is now Mongolia. It walked on two legs and used its thick, bony skull for head-butting fights. This plant-eater had a strange, swollen head that made it look like a tiny, feathered battering ram.12
When did it live?
How big was it?
How long was it?
How heavy was it?
How big was Tylocephale compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
Fun facts
Tylocephale's skull dome was highest at the very back, near the neck, which is different from other dome-headed dinosaurs.2
Its name means 'swollen head' because of the thick, bony bump on top of its skull.1
Tylocephale lived about 72 to 71 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1
The only known fossil of Tylocephale is a partial skull and jaw, found in 1971 by a Polish-Mongolian expedition.1
Tylocephale shared its home with other dinosaurs like the armored ankylosaurs Tarchia and Saichania, and the horned ceratopsid Breviceratops.1
Scientists think Tylocephale may have used its dome for head-butting fights, like modern bighorn sheep, but this is still debated.2
Most asked questions about Tylocephale
?How big was Tylocephale?
It was about 2 metres (6.6 feet) long and weighed around 40 kilograms (88 pounds). That is about as long as a bicycle but much lighter.3
?What did Tylocephale eat?
It was a plant-eater. It had small, ridged teeth for chewing fibrous plants, and may have also eaten leaves, nuts, seeds, and even insects.3
?Did Tylocephale have the tallest dome?
Yes, Tylocephale's dome is the tallest known from any pachycephalosaur. The dome was thick, rough on the outside, and highest near the back of the skull.3
?When did Tylocephale live?
It lived about 72 to 71 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period. That was near the very end of the age of dinosaurs.3
Ask Rex about Tylocephale
Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.
Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.
For dino experts
- Scientific name
- Tylocephale
- Named by
- Maryaลska and Osmรณlska 19744
- Group
- Dome-heads
- Family / clade
- Pachycephalosauridae4
- Classification
- Ornithischia > Pachycephalosauria4
- Age of the rocks
- 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
- Rock formations
- Baruungoyot4
- Countries
- Mongolia4
- Fossil records
- 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
- Discovery
- Tylocephale was named in 1974 by Polish paleontologists Teresa Maryaลska and Halszka Osmรณlska, based on a skull and jaw found in 1971 in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.1
- Still debated
- Scientists still debate whether Tylocephale's dome was used for fighting between males or just for display.2
Where the facts come from
- Tylocephale (en.wikipedia.org)
- PACHYCEPHALOSAURlA, A NEW SUBORDER OF ORNITHISCHIAN DINOSAURS (palaeontologia.pan.pl)
- Tylocephale (en.wikipedia.org)
- Tylocephale 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.
Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex
Pachycephalosaurus
Stegoceras
Prenocephale
Sphaerotholus
Foraminacephale
Brontotholus
Tyrannosaurus
Triceratops
Velociraptor
Spinosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Parasaurolophus