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Did Ceratopsids rut with their horns?
Topic Started: Aug 15 2015, 06:40 PM (689 Views)
J3st3r56
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Unicellular Organism
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Did Triceratops rut with their horns? I know there have been fossil findings relating to injuries on the faces that suggest were inflicted by ceratopsids in wrestling matches, but a lot of people suggest otherwise and that they were only used for display to ward off rivals for mates and predators. I can understand why some, such as Chasmosaurus, couldn't rut as their horns were too small relative to their size, but it isn't hard to imagine Triceratops getting involved in shoving matches or Styracosaurus locking their nose horns together and having a tug of war.

I dunno, I'd like to hear other opinions on the matter. (I'm in favour of ceratopsids getting into these brawls, just because I think they must of evolved horns for a reason on top of display.)
Edited by J3st3r56, Aug 15 2015, 06:46 PM.
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Jinfengopteryx
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Aspiring paleontologist, science enthusiast and armchair speculative fiction/evolution writer
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You can be happy, the data appears to support horn-combat in Triceratops:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004252
Most of the ideas of the horns being mere display were before there was a rigorous analysis (such as the above).
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J3st3r56
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Fantastic! I'm really glad this has been discovered.
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DinosaurFan95
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Horn shape most likely corresponded to their purpose, the large, forward pointing horns of Triceratops could easily have been used for rutting, but the short, stumpy horns of Chasmosaurus probibly ment that frill displays were more important than physical confrontations when it came to establishing dominance.
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