Extinct gophers evolved horns on their noses for fighting predators

By Michael Marshall

Tom McHugh / Science Photo Library

The only rodents to ever have horns on their noses called North America home more than 5 million years ago. A new species of these horned gophers has now been discovered, and it suggests that they used their horns to fight off predators.

There are five known species of horned gophers, all of which belong to a group of squirrel-like rodents called mylagaulids. They lived between 16 and 5 million years ago. “The ones with horns are …