images of the insides of Stegoceras' fossilised skull, which reveal two layers of dense bone that encase a spongy sinus held apart by tiny struts, has led some scientists to doubt this interpretation. Stegoceras likely ran at each other at 15 miles per hour. Hoping to clear up the controversy, biomedical engineer Dr Eric Snively wandered down the corridor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada to enlist the help of colleague Dr Jessica Theodor, a vertebrate palaeontologist. The duo performed computer tomographic (CT) scans on the skulls of Stegoceras, along with a variety of modern animals, and used these bone density measurements to create 3D models of the animals' heads. The team was then able to exert virtual stresses to test how the different skulls held up. Compared to some of today's big hitters, such as the Northern American bighorn sheep, the Arctic musk ox and African duiker, Stegoceras ' head was able to withstand the most stress. "The argument that they couldn't withstand the forces of head-butting seems to have been refuted by this evidence," said Dr Theodor. - Fossil Huntress

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