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Funky Dino
Deep in the heart of Texas, a goofy-looking dinosaur skeleton has been unearthed — and it's got a funny head that makes it look like a dead wringer for Barney, the purple lizard of 90s television fame with the annoyingly cheery voice.
As the Houston Chronicle reports, the dinosaur in question — called Eryops megacephalus — has a wide, grinning smile on a large flat skull that sits on four squat legs. Paleontologist Andre LuJan told the newspaper that he found the skeleton of the semiaquatic ancient amphibian recently in Archer County, in a quarry that dates back to the Permian era, about over 280 million years ago.
"This is an exciting discovery," LuJan told Chron. "It's a well-known animal and not considered rare, but this discovery is significant because even though it's damaged, it is nearly complete, and that is far more uncommon or even rare than finding fragments."
As for its resemblance to certain dinosaurs from the realm of children's fiction... well, come on, just look at the guy, especially with that particular placement of the nose and eye holes:
A skull that resembles Rex from Toy Story has been found in North Central Texas. The nearly complete skull of an over 280 million-year-old amphibian will eventually be displayed at the Texas Through Time Fossil Museum. For more info: https://t.co/YNfEV0f3jw pic.twitter.com/UQlUpJTR85 — IGN (@IGN) June 24, 2025
Texas Size
Rains had uncovered the top of its ridged skull, said LuJan, who showed off a video of the find on Instagram when he first found it in the ground.
What's cool about the dinosaur is that its skull shape suggests that it swallowed up its prey like an alligator or crocodile. Its future home will be the Texas Through Time Fossil Museum, where LuJan is the director and which contains a treasure trove of specimens from long ago, such as more dinosaurs and petrified wood.
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