Light & Verity

Got his mojo working

Nicholas Longrich

Nicholas Longrich

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By the time you discover your fourth dinosaur, those Greek and Latin roots start to sound old hat. So Yale paleontologist Nicholas Longrich, who has a knack for finding new species in museum collections (where they had years earlier been lumped with other species), decided on a more playful name for his latest discovery. This ornately frilly-headed plant-eater is now known as Mojoceratops perifania. Since the animal's frill was likely used to attract mates, the reference to mojo—a Creole word often used to describe sex appeal—seemed apt enough to Longrich when it came up over a round of beers with colleagues. 

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