Aquilops

Aquilops was a small dinosaur from prehistoric North America. It’s known only from a single skull.

It was an early member of the ceratopsian dinosaur group, which would later contain many horned dinosaurs such as Triceratops and Styracosaurus.

The one known specimen of Aquilops is about the size of a house cat. However, researchers think this individual wasn’t fully grown when it died.

The fossil skull was found in Montana, USA, in 1997 by scientist Scott Madsen. To start with, he thought it might belong to a different dinosaur known as Zephyrosaurus, but then realised it was something new.

In 2014, a team of scientists carried out a detailed study of the skull. They decided to call it Aquilops americanus, meaning ‘American eagle face’ in reference to the dinosaur’s bird-like beak.