| Title | Horned Dinosaurs May Have Had Horns and Frills to Attract Mates | |
| Date | Thursday March 22 2018, @08:13AM | |
| Author | janrinok | |
| Topic | ||
| from the not-much-has-changed dept. | ||
Triceratops may have had horns to attract mates
Dinosaurs like the Triceratops may have had horns and frills to attract a mate, a new study suggests.
Ceratopsian, or horned dinosaurs, were previously thought to have developed this ornamentation to distinguish between different species.
This has now been ruled out in a study published in a Royal Society journal.
Instead, the aggressive-looking armour may actually have evolved to signal an animal's suitability as a partner, known as socio-sexual selection.
"Individuals are advertising their quality or genetic make-up," explained Andrew Knapp, lead author of the research reported in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"We see that in peacocks too, with their tail feathers."
Also at Science Magazine.
Patterns of divergence in the morphology of ceratopsian dinosaurs: sympatry is not a driver of ornament evolution (open, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0312) (DX)
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