In 2022, my team and I were conducting a paleontological survey in the Hell Creek Formation of eastern Montana. We were hiking along a steep ravine when I noticed a small, broken bone sticking out of the ground. I carefully excavated the bone and found that it was part of a horned dinosaur skull.

I was immediately excited by this find. Horned dinosaurs, or ceratopsians, are a group of dinosaurs that includes Triceratops and Styracosaurus. They are known for their large, bony frills and horns. The bone I had found was unlike any ceratopsian skull I had ever seen before. It was small, and the horns were short and straight.

I called over to my colleagues, and we began to carefully excavate the rest of the skull. As we worked, we realized that we had found a completely new species of ceratopsian. We named the dinosaur Aquilops americanus, after the Latin word for "eagle" and the Greek word for "face".

Aquilops americanus was a small, bipedal ceratopsian. It was about 2 meters (6.5 feet) long and weighed about 25 kilograms (55 pounds). It had a short, blunt snout and a large, rounded frill. The horns on its head were short and straight, and they pointed forward.

Aquilops americanus lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 68-66 million years ago. It was found in the Hell Creek Formation, which is a well-known fossil site that has produced many important dinosaur fossils.

The discovery of Aquilops americanus is significant because it provides new information about the evolution of ceratopsians. Aquilops is one of the earliest known ceratopsians, and it shows that the group originated in North America. The discovery of Aquilops also helps us to understand the diversity of ceratopsians that existed during the Late Cretaceous period.