By Mark Brown, Wired UK

Researchers at the University of Calgary have used bones, CT scans and computer simulations to settle the argument as to which animal — living or dead — would win in a head-butting contest.

Biomedical engineering research Eric Snively performed CT scans on the skulls of a variety of modern animals and one of the world’s best preserved dinosaur fossils — Stegoceras. He then used this data to make a virtual simulation where these beasts could go head-to-head.

Snively found that the Stegoceras has a far stronger bonce and a more protected brain than modern day dome-knockers like North American bighorn sheep and Arctic musk ox.

Most head-butting animals have a stiff rind on the outside of the dome, with a spongy energy-absorbing material beneath that an another dense coating over the brain. It stops them knocking themselves out, like giraffes sometimes do when they clash noggins. The Stegoceras, however, had an extra layer of dense bone in the middle, giving it a more formidable dome than any modern-day animal.

The dinosaur lived in prehistoric North America during the Late Cretaceous period, and was a genus of herbivore pachycephalosaurid. Despite its incredible head-butting ability, it was no bigger than a German Shepard dog.

It’s thought that the male dinosaurs butted heads to show off in front of the ladies. Ladies love a good head-butter.

Source: Wired UK

Image: Internal densities of bone in a Stegoceras skull. (PLoS ONE)