A HORN from one of the last surviving dinosaurs could be evidence that a massive meteor strike ended the extinct reptiles' reign on Earth.

The 45cm-long fossilised browhorn belonging to a family of plant-eating dinosaurs that included the famous three-horned Triceratops was found in south-east Montana, US.

What made this one special was its location, just 13cm below the rock layer that marks the Cretaceous-Tertiary or "K-T" boundary; the point in the fossil record where the dinosaurs died.

This suggests dinosaurs were around right up to the time all traces of their existence disappeared. In other words, they vanished suddenly, as the result of an abrupt global disaster rather than a slow extinction.