Triceratops Battle Scars Found on Skull

-Triceratops's horns have long been theorized by palenontologists to have been used to lure members of the opposite sex. Now new data reveals that they were used to fight, a January 2009 study suggests.

Researchers examined the skulls of 53 of the beasts and found ten times more damage to a single bone in the frill at the rear of the skull when compared to a species of similar dinosaurs with less harmful horns.



In this picture of the squamosal, a bone that makes up part of the frill, abnormal bone lesions suggest ancient fights, a January 2009 study says.



Researchers have long theorized that Triceratops used its horns to show off to members of the opposite sex. A January 2009 study of 53 skulls suggests that the horns were also used to fight other Triceratops. The plant-eaters roamed part of what is now the U.S. West, between 65 and 144 million years ago.