Period of life:
76 MYA
Era/period:
Cretaceous
Habitat:
Utah (USA)
Length:
5

Description
Kosmoceratops belongs to the genus of horned dinosaurs that lived in the territory of Utah state, USA, at the end of the Campanian stage of the Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago. Kosmoceratops reached up to 5 meters in length and weighed about 2 tons. It was distinguished by a unique skull shape. Ceratops had a typical three-horned face, but its frill of bone was covered with a large number of growths and horns that curved at the top. This dinosaur possessed the greatest number of horns among all horned creatures that have ever inhabited our planet. The bone tissue of Kosmoceratops had a large number of osteocytes or bone cells and a dense network of blood vessels, indicating their steady rapid growth. Such features also indicate that Ceratopsians had an increased metabolism and were warm-blooded, like modern birds and mammals, and its teeth were adapted to process fibrous plants. Fossils of a Kosmoceratops were discovered in 2007 in the largest American National Park called the Great Staircase. In 2010, the species was described and got its name - "ceratops with ornament".