| This is just really cool.
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Dinosaur name gets Potter magic
By Jack Malvern
May 25, 2006
A NEW species of dinosaur has been named in honour of J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter books.
The 66 million-year-old dragon-like monster has been given the title Dracorex hogwartsia because it resembles the kind of fantastical creature encountered by the teenage wizard. The nearly complete skull of the previously unknown dinosaur was found by three friends during a fossil-collecting trip in South Dakota in the US.
The dinosaur's name comes from the Latin words for dragon and king and Rowlands's fictional Hogwarts School.
The author said the honour had brought her new credibility with her children, who are passionate about dinosaurs. "The naming of Dracorex hogwartsia is easily the most unexpected honour to have come my way since the publication of the Harry Potter books," she said yesterday.
"I am absolutely thrilled to think that Hogwarts has made a small mark upon the fascinating world of dinosaurs."
Paleontologist Robert Bakker said the beast, now on display at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, would not look out of place in a Potter book: "(It) carried an armour-plated head of almost magical configuration, covered with knobs and spikes, horns and crests. I was staring at the skull last summer and the name just popped into my head, hogwartsia." |
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