6 incredible new dinosaurs we discovered in 2025
Palaeontologists reported some remarkable dinosaur fossils this year, including a Velociraptor relative, a dome-headed pachycephalosaur and one of the most heavily armoured creatures that ever lived
Life
Palaeontologists reported some remarkable dinosaur fossils this year, including a Velociraptor relative, a dome-headed pachycephalosaur and one of the most heavily armoured creatures that ever lived
25 December 2025
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Zavacephale rinpoche
Masaya Hattori
If there’s ever a creature you would not want to bump heads with, it is Zavacephale rinpoche. This dome-headed dinosaur found in Mongolia lived 108 million years ago, making it the oldest of its kind ever discovered. When palaeontologists first saw the fossil skull protruding from the ground, they described it as looking like a “cabochon jewel”. While other species in the group could reach 4 metres in length and up to 400 kilograms, this specimen was a mere teenager and would have been about a metre long, weighing about 6 kilograms.
Spicomellus afer
Matthew Dempsey
When scientists were trying to describe a 165-million-year-old dinosaur fossil found in Morocco, named they were lost for words. The dinosaur, a kind of ankylosaur, may be one of the most heavily armoured creatures that ever lived. According to at the Natural History Museum in London, the creature was so bizarre that there weren’t enough hyperboles to describe it. In the end, the team settled on the word “baroque” to attempt to capture its unique look.
