A group of Canadian scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur, they have horns. The species was identified from fossils collected in 1958. Known as Xenoceratops Forwardensis, Measuring approximately 6 meters tall and weighing more than two tonnes, researchers also say that the dinosaur was herbivorous and represents the oldest horned specimen in Canada.

“Emerging 80 million years ago, the horned dinosaurs of North America underwent an evolutionary explosion,” said the study’s author and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Natural History. Cleveland, Dr. Michael Ryan. “Xenoceratops shows us that even the oldest ceraptors (a group of large dinosaurs) had giant horns on their heads and that skull ornamentation would only become more elaborate as new species evolved,” he says .

The name given to the species, Xenoceratops means “alien with horns on its face” and refers to the unusual distribution of horns on the animal’s head as well as the rarity of fossils of these horns in the archive of found material.

The fossil is kept at the Ottawa Natural Museum in Canada. This discovery is the latest in a series of findings already uncovered by researchers Michael Ryan and David Evans as part of the Southern Alberta Dinosaur Project, which was developed to gather more information on the knowledge of prehistoric reptiles, as well as to study their evolution.

“The discovery of previously unknown species highlights the importance of having access to scientific collections,” says Kieran Shepherd, co-author of the study and curator of paleobiology at the Canadian Natural Museum. “These collections offer the potential for many new discoveries,” he adds.