Triceratops went head to head with their kin in prehistoric fights, according to new research.

Andrew Farke, of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Palaeontology in California, says exactly how the dinosaurs put their three horns to use has been a matter of some debate. But by comparing damage on triceratops skulls to a related species, centrosaurus, he may have provided an answer.

Writing in PLOS One, Farke and colleagues report that triceratops have significantly more damage to their squamosal bone, part of the frill, than centrosaurus.

“Paleontologists have debated the function of the bizarre skulls of horned dinosaurs for years now. Some speculated that the horns were for showing off to other dinosaurs, and others thought that the horns had to have been used in combat against other horned dinosaurs,” says Farke (press release).

“Our findings provide some of the best evidence to date that Triceratops might have locked horns with each other, wrestling like modern antelope and deer.”

However, Mark Goodwin, of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of California, Berkeley, told Wired he was not entirely convinced. He says differences in the size and shape of the dinos’ frills could explain the damage, as could the type of skin or keratin covering the bones.

“What they showed in their paper is evidence of differential pathologies, not evidence of combat,” he says. “As far as I can tell, there’s no correlative evidence between combat and lesions on the dinosaur skulls.”

However, it’s not all about the fisticuffs. “We’re not suggesting Triceratops was using its horns only for fighting,” Farke told LiveScience. “I like to think of the horns on these animals as kind of like the Swiss Army knives of the dinosaur world. They were using their horns for a variety of functions.”

Kudos to The Times, which managed to shoehorn a reference to Raquel Welch into its coverage of the paper.

Image: copyright Lukas Panzarin, courtesy of Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.