A new dinosaur from the heterodontosaur (small, fanged dinosaurs) family has been discovered! It’s been named Pegomastax africanus, which means “thick jaw from Africa.”
These dinosaurs were only two feet long and had fangs even though they were plant-eaters. Paleontologists believe the fangs were used for self defense and fighting for mates, similar to modern day fanged deer. The P. africanus also had teeth in its upper and lower jaws which were used for cutting up plants to eat.
The P. africanus was meticulously reconstructed to give us an idea of what it looked like and how its jaws worked. Check out this cool video on its reconstruction process:
(Photo and video credit: Tyler Keillor)