Rugops was a carnivore (meat-eater) that lived in
Niger during the
Cretaceous period,
about 95 million years ago.
Rugops was bipedal (walked on two legs), and had only short arms. It was about 24 to 30 feet (7 to 9 meters)
long, and around 8 feet (2.5 meters) tall at its hips.
Although Rugops was a carnivore, it did have a number of unusual features relating to its head
- the bones
of its skull had numerous blood vessels, the skull seems to have had armor or scales,
and the animal's head may well have been topped by a crest or horns (there are two rows of seven holes in
the skull to which the crest or horns may have been attached). These unusual features,
led its discoverer, Dr. Paul Sereno, to suggest its head was not designed for fighting
or bone-crushing - the obvious suggestion is that it may therefore have been a scavenger.
Rugops was a member of the Saurischia ("lizard-hipped") order of dinosaurs. What this means, is that although Rugops was not closely related to lizards, it did have similarly shaped pelvic bones.
Rugops was a Theropod - a member of a group of related bipedal dinosaurs that included the ancestors of birds (although Rugops was not itself an ancestor of birds).
Rugops lived about 95 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
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