Zavacephale rinpoche
"origin head"
You 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall
Zavacephale 1 m (3.3 ft) long
as long as 2 people standing fingertip to fingertip
- Length
- 1 m (3.3 ft)
- Period
- Early Cretaceous (145–100 Mya)
- Place
- Mongolia
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Zavacephale (meaning “origin head”) is an extinct genus of pachycephalosaurian dinosaurs known from the Early Cretaceous Khuren Dukh Formation of Mongolia. The genus contains a single species, Zavacephale rinpoche, known from a partial articulated skeleton including a nearly complete skull. It is both the oldest definitive pachycephalosaur known, as well as the most complete. Its skull bears a well-developed dome structure, as seen in most members of the clade.
What we know
- Named by Chinzorig et al., 2025.
- Body length estimated at about 1 m.
- Fossils found in Mongolia.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Zavacephale — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.