FOSSIL HUNTERS HAVE unearthed two remarkable new species of horned dinosaurs in southern Utah in the United States – one of which had staggering 15 horns on its head.

The 15-horned giant plant-eater has been named Kosmoceratops; it was shown to have one horn over the nose, one atop each eye, one at the tip of each cheek bone, and ten across the rear margin of the bony frill—making it the most ornate-headed dinosaur known.

ThE Kosmoceratops was the smaller of the two species discovered by scientists from the Utah Museum of Natural History and the University of Utah.

The other creature, the Utahceratops, was the largest of the two newly discovered species. Its head has been likened by one researcher to that of an “oversized bison” rather than that of the creature’s more famous horned-headed cousin, the Triceratops.

The Utahceratops had a large horn over the nose, and short and blunt eye horns that projected sideways.

Both species are believed to have lived during the same period, about 76 million years ago.

Both species are believed to have been inhabitants of the “lost continent” of Laramidia. For millions of years during the Late Cretaceous Period, the continent that is modern-day North Amercia was split in two by a shallow sea: one side was called Appalacia, the other was the swampy, subtropical Laramidia.

Utahceratops stood an estimated 6 feet tall at the shoulder, 18 to 22 feet wide and would have weighed about 3-4 tonnes. Kosmoceratops is thought to have been about 15 feet long and 2.5 tonnes.