Massive skull of 'strange-looking' dinosaur unearthed in Canada

GALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A fossil find in Canada has revealed a "strange-looking" dinosaur with a skull the size of a small car, a paleontologist revealing it to the world said.

University of Calgary paleontologist Darla Zelenitsky, who discovered the skull of the Pachyrhinosaurus in Alberta, said it's one of the most complete ever found and of impressive size.

"It almost looks like some sort of mythical beast," she told CNN. "Because it is so big and (mature), it makes for a very strange-looking individual."

It isn't the first Pachyrhinosaurus skull ever found, but it's remarkably well-preserved, between 75 percent and 80 percent complete, unusual for a dinosaur fossil.

Zelenitsky and her colleagues first spotted in skull in October, but it took an excavation of 5 tons of rock over several months to free the three pieces of the skull that together measure almost 8 feet long.

"It was really exciting because, when we started, there really wasn't much there," she said. "Then, the skull was not really ending it was so big."

Zelenistky said she and her fellow paleontologists will try to determine whether it is part of a separate species or just a big example of one of the three Pachyrhinosaurus species already known.