Dracorex hogwartsia

Dracorex hogwartsia, a member of the pachycephalosaur family, was unveiled at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis today.

The newly discovered creature is the first dinosaur to be named by a children's museum. The name comes from the Latin words draco (dragon), rex (king), and hogwartsia (recognizing author J.K. Rowling's use of dragons in the Harry Potter books).

"The word just sprung into my mind," said paleontologist Dr. Robert Bakker. "This is the dragon of the Hogwarts Academy -- Hogwartsia!" Dr. Bakker even quoted Hagrid during the unveiling. There was also a written statement from Rowling which was quoted before the dinosaur was revealed.

Author J.K. Rowling wrote: “The naming of Dracorex hogwartsia is easily the most unexpected honour to have come my way since the publication of the Harry Potter books! I am absolutely thrilled to think that Hogwarts has made a small (claw?) mark upon the fascinating world of dinosaurs. I happen to know more on the subject of paleontology than many might credit, because my eldest daughter was Utahraptor-obsessed and I am now living with a passionate Tyrannosaurus rex-lover, aged three. My credibility has soared within my science-loving family, and I am very much looking forward to reading Dr. Bakker’s paper describing ‘my’ dinosaur, which I can’t help visualizing as a slightly less pyromaniac Hungarian Horntail.”

The fossil was discovered by three friends in South Dakota. It took around 2 years for the museum's Paleo Prep Lab to clean and restore the skull. The Dracorex hogwartsia display is currently located on level 2, just outside the elevators. After this summer Dracorex will move to his new home in Dinosphere.



Dr. Bakker speaks at the unveiling.

Kaylee in front of the assembled skeleton. (They put the Dracorex hogwartsia skull onto another pachycephalosaur to complete the body.)

Kaylee in front of the case with the sculpture of what the head may have looked like and the real fossilized skull.

The artists model of the head and the real fossil.


This is what I *love* about The Children's Museum. They work so hard to make everything hands on for the kids. There were interpreters with plastic replicas of the skull walking around for the kids to touch and explore. This guy spent quite a long time talking to Kaylee about the fossils.


Here he is...the king of the dragons! Dracorex hogwartsia was an herbivore about the size of a horse.

Here is what the head might have looked like when Dracorex hogwartsia was alive.

Here are the girls in front of a huge Chinese dragon head that is part of the display.

WRTV6 - 'Dracorex Hogwartsia' Makes Indy Debut - http://www.theindychannel.com/news/9252008/detail.html#

(The girls and I can be seen in the background of the WRTV6 report a couple of times. Ruby is in the stroller and I'm in the pink shirt. Kaylee is hopping around in a pink dress with a white shirt under it.

Indystar.com - New skull is 'dragon' fans to Children's Museum - http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/LOCAL/605220436

Dracorex hogwartsia - http://www.childrensmuseum.org/dinosphere/draco_rex/index.html

(I've actually seen the girls on all three local news channels now, but evidently the noon and 6:00 stories are slightly different so they aren't all available online. Unfortunately, the two where you can really SEE them aren't online right now!)