A new dinosaur species now bears the name of a dino-hunter very familiar to the valley.
On July 8, the Royal Ontario Museum announced the discovery of a new Horned Dinosaur named Wendiceratops pinhornensis, named after Wendy Sloboda, who discovered the new species.
Her name is well known in palaeontology circles, first coming into prominence when, as a teenager she discovered dinosaur eggshells at Devil’s Coulee in Southern Alberta. She went on to spend many years searching for dinosaurs and making many discoveries.
“Wendy Sloboda has a sixth sense for discovering important fossils. She is easily one of the very best dinosaur hunters in the world,” said Dr. David Evans, Temerty Chair and Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, who co-authored the study of the discovery.
This most recently announced discovery was found in 2010 in Alberta near the Montana border. The discovery is of at least four individuals; three adults and one juvenile. The adults are about 20 feet long and weighed more than a ton. It is one of the oldest known members of the family of horned dinosaurs that include Triceratops and Ceratopsidae.
“Wendiceratops helps us understand the early evolution of skull ornamentation in an iconic group of dinosaurs characterized by their horned faces,” Evans said. “The wide frill of Wendiceratops is ringed by numerous curled horns, the nose had a large, upright horn, and it’s likely there were horns over the eyes too. The number of gnarly frill projections and horns makes it one of the most striking horned dinosaurs ever found.”
A full sized skeleton of a Wendiceratops is currently on exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum and the dig uncovering the discovery appeared on the History Channel in the documentary series Dino Hunt Canada.
