Dracorex hogwartsia

The curator at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis took the glass case of the plastic mold of this Dracorex hogwartsia so it could be boxed for travel back to the museum. He let me take some pictures while he got its packing crate. It was on display at the local rock show.

One neat side effect from studying fossils is you begin to learn some of the Latin that goes into naming these creatures. Even though I read the Harry Potter books, I did not realize that Draco was Latin for dragon. So when combined with Latin rex (meaning king), this dinosaur was the "dragon king". All the spikes on it make it quite the prickly beast though it apparently ate plants. This type of pachycephalosaur was found in South Dakota and from the Cretaceous Period.








UPDATE: Here is a picture of a casting of the entire fossil and its display at the museum taken 03/13/2010.