Sexual Signaling, Dino-Style

Sexual signaling back in the day was as subtle as today's Axe body spray: "Do I make you horny, baby?" asks Styracosaurus, whose marvelous multi-horn display is among the most elaborate of the ceratopsians. (Credit Wikimedia Commons/LadyofHats) Triceratops to potential mate: "Hey baby, check out my frill and big horns...you know what they say, big horns, big everything, awwwww yeahhhhh..." Apparently, that's how hook-ups went down in the Mesozoic, at least for the famously horned and frilled ceratopsians. Paleontologists have long debated the purpose of the animals' elaborate headgear, but a study out today, based on a new approach, says the animals' fabulous flair was all about the sexy time. The ceratopsians, one of the most successful of the dinosaur gangs, are also among the most famous in paleontology today, largely due to their show-stopping bony bling. Even the early members of Ceratopsia, such as Liaoceratops, sported modest frills and cheek spikes. And as time and evolution went on, the group's frills, horns, spikes and other assorted pointy bits became ever more ostentatious, culminating in Late Cretaceous lookers such as Regaliceratops, Wendiceratops, Spiclypeus and Machairoceratops. But why? After all, there were plenty of comparatively homely, no-frills herbivores who got along just fine without all the bells and whistles.