Hairy Museum of Natural History

Dr. Robert Bakker has graciously forwarded along two more images from the Dracorex hogwartsia description:

Used by permission, © R. T. Bakker 2006

Above: A reconstruction of the presacral spinal column, hips, and skull of Dracorex hogwartsia. The skull and first, fourth, eighth, and ninth cervical (neck) vertebrae are the only known Dracorex bones. These were used to interpolate the missing neckbones. The hips, ribs, and dorsal (back) vertebrae are restored from Stegoceras validum with some proportions taken from Homalocephale calathocercos. Total length of the segment shown here: 1.6 meters.

Used by permission, © R. T. Bakker 2006

Above: The tip of the snout of Dracorex hogwartsia. The upper left drawing is in dorsal-anterior (top-front) view; the bottom drawing is in ventral (bottom) view; and the upper right is a view of the snout on the animal’s left side. Unlike other pachycephalosaurs, Dracorex does not have a cutting edge at the tip of its upper jaw. Instead, the bone seems to be modified into a textured crushing surface similar to (but smaller than) the plant-grinding surface at the tip of a modern manatee snout. Scale bar = 5cm.

—Matt Celeskey.

File under: Cretaceous, Dinosaurs, Recent Discoveries.