Large 2.56" Pachycephalosaurus Caudal Vertebrae

This is a vertebrae of the thick skulled, Pachycephalosaurus. It's a massive 2.56" wide caudal (tail) vertebrae and has tiny amount of weathering. It still has a most of the smooth, shiny outer surface of the bone remaining and the processes are completely eroded away. This is very large for a Pachycephhlosaurus and may belong to a different type of animal entirely , but the morphological traits match those of other Pachycephalosaurus vertebrae.

This vertebrae comes from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. The Hell Creek Formation represents a sub-tropical floodplain which would have been similar to coastal, modern-day Louisiana. This area was home to some of the most recognizable dinosaurs in the world including triceratops, hadrosaurs and the king of them all, T-Rex.

Pachycephalosaurus was a bipedal dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period and probably was about 15 feet in length.

Pachycephalosaurus had a distinctive, large, bony, dome on top of it's skull up to 10 inches thick to cushion it's brain from impacts.

Some paleontologists believe this thick skull may have been used for head-butting, much like rams while others contend it may have been a sexual display.

It was one of the last non-avian dinosaurs before the K-T extinction event, 65 million years ago.

There is only one known species of Pachycephalosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis. It's remains have been found in Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming.

It was either a herbivore or an omnivore with small leaf shaped teeth which would have been very effective at shredding plants.