Day #21 on our Christmas Countdown is…
Utahceratops!
Utahceratops: the “Horned Face From Utah”
Utahceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now Utah. It shared its habitat with two other horned relatives, Nasutoceratops and Kosmoceratops, and is an excellent example of the variety of their headgear.
Nasutoceratops was a bit smaller than Utahceratops (14 feet vs. 16 feet). It had only a tiny nub of a nose horn, though the “nose” itself is very large, short, and rounded. In fact, its name means “large-nosed horned face” in Latin.
The frill was smaller and rather simple compared to Utahceratops- more like Triceratops- but it makes up for that with huge, curving, bull-like horns above the eyes. A simple but very striking profile indeed.
Kosmoceratops was much fancier, and was even named “ornamented horned face.” The top edge of the frill is lined with spikes that look like they’ve been folded down over the front of the frill. The horns above the eyes are similar to Utahceratops, only more pointed like a bull’s horns instead of the relatively flat curve of its cousin.
The final big difference is the nose horn. Unlike the thin spike of Utahceratops, Kosmoceratops looks like its nose horn was broken off halfway down its length.
So what were all these horns, frills, and spikes for? Defense? Recognition? Fighting with each other?
Since animals will use anything they have for any possible reason imaginable (and sometimes stuff we can’t imagine because we’ve never seen behavior like it before), then it’s very likely ceratopsians were using their head gear for every reason we can possibly think of.
Are those thin frills with weight-saving gaps in the bone the best defense against bone-crunching predators? No, but even chainmail armor isn’t exactly the most effective at stopping an arrow. It just has to be “good enough” at slowing down the arrow and possibly resulting in the person surviving that arrow.
Just like some sort of protection just needs to be “good enough” at slowing down or deflecting the predator’s teeth away from the neck so that it can live to see another day.
Same goes for fighting with each other. Animals have very specific fighting styles depending on the shape of their horns, antlers, or knobs on their heads. Check out the video below if you want to dive down that rabbit hole, especially when he starts talking about horned dinosaurs at about 13 minutes.
If you watch the video above, what sort of fighting style do you think Utahceratops might have? How would it be different or similar to Kosmoceratops’ or Nasutoceratops’ fighting style? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments!
See you tomorrow for day 22 of the Critter Christmas Countdown!
Pete's Paleo Petshop 
I’m so glad you’re finally getting to talk about a marginocephalian. I was waiting for this day, and Utahceratops was a good call. I remember learning about this thing when I was about six or seven; I remember searching its name up and getting a result for a video with the CollectA figure of it in said video.
For today, I will put my focus on Prolibytherium, a different prehistoric animal with unique-looking horns. It was an artiodactyl ungulate from the Middle Miocene of North Africa and Pakistan. It would have resembled a deer or okapi in overall body shape, but with something more flamboyant: dramatic sexual dimorphism. Males had a pair of leaf-shaped ossicones while those of females had more horn-like ossicones.
Its taxonomy is constantly changing. First, the creature was described as being related to the giraffe-relative Sivatherium. Later studies would then regard the animal as part of different families or even a basal member of the order Giraffoidea. A female Prolibytherium was discovered in 2010 would then lead to an indefinite classification as a climacoceratid. As recently as last year, a study found it to be part of its own family: Prolibytheriidae.
Regarding the unique ossicones, their functions may have been similar to the horns and frills of ceratopsian dinosaurs: for display and potentially for fighting.
Name ideas for each:
Utahceratops: Uriah
Prolibytherium: Prosper and Libby (this will be a male-female pair, similar to the Camptosaurus duo Copper and Daisy)
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