Montana dinosaur had horns that resembled the sword of the Norse mythology god Loki

WASHINGTON: About 78 million years ago, in the then-subtropical coastal plains — the badlands of what is now northern Montana — there lived a four-legged, herbivorous dinosaur that was a bit like a rhino and sported a pair of ornate horns on its head.

The newly discovered dinosaur, named Lokiceratops rangiformis, was about 6.7 meters long and weighed about 5.5 tons, using a powerful beak at the front of its mouth to browse low vegetation such as ferns and flowering plants, scientists said on Thursday (June 20).

Lokiceratops had two curved horns above its eyes that were more than 40 centimeters long, smaller horns on its cheeks, and an extended frill with blades and spikes.

On this shield, it has at least 20 horns, including a pair of asymmetrical curved blade-shaped horns, each about 61 cm long. These are the largest shield horns ever observed on a dinosaur.

The blade-like horns are reminiscent of the weapon wielded by Loki, the Norse god of trickery, from which it gets its name, and also indicate that the fossils will be permanently housed in the Danish Museum of Evolution.

The name means “Rocky’s horned face” and “shaped like a reindeer,” referring to the fact that its frill has horns of different lengths on either side, like a reindeer’s antlers.

It was one of many species of ceratopsians that roamed western North America during the Cretaceous Period, when a huge inland sea split the continent in two.

Lokiceratops pushed the limits of what was possible with bizarre headdresses in ceratopsians, according to paleontologist Joe Sertich of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Colorado State University, co-lead author of the study published in the journal PeerJ.

“The horns and frills of Lokiceratops and other horned dinosaurs were likely used for display. These displays may have been used to intimidate rivals, attract mates, or identify members of the same species,” said Sertich.

Many ceratopsians lack nose horns, which makes it less likely that Lokiceratops used one to defend itself against predators, said Mark Loewen, a paleontologist and study co-lead author at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah.