Specialists from the British University of Queen Mary offered their explanation for the fact that the "collars" and horns of some herbivorous dinosaurs were larger than it could be useful for self-defense or any other "applied" purposes. According to scientists, the huge "collars" were designed to attract sexual partners.
Often, when talking about natural selection, people mean primarily evolutionary adaptations to avoid danger or to get food. However, in order to pass on its genes, the animal must not least of all find a mate and leave offspring. This often required the potential partner to appear as attractive as possible, and the changes caused by this desire are due to sexual selection. Perhaps the most well-known manifestation of such selection is the tail of peacocks, however, external attractiveness guided the development of animals in the days of the ancestors of modern birds - dinosaurs, the researchers say.
It is by sexual selection that scientists explain the very large collars of protoceratops. Scientists studied the remains of 37 representatives of this species related to Triceratops, and paid special attention to comparing individuals of different ages. As it turned out, over the years, "collars" became larger and larger and reached disproportionately large sizes by adulthood. From this, scientists concluded that the large collar served a function that is necessary only for adults - that is, it is likely that it served to attract sexual partners and demonstrate its dominance, writes The Washington Post.
However, paleontologists do not claim that their conclusions should be considered final. As before, it cannot be ruled out that collars and, especially, the horns of some dinosaurs were used in battle or helped individuals to recognize each other. It is also possible that the size of the collar in protoceratops made it possible to determine the age of an individual and take it into account when distributing food.
Dmitry Istrov