Triceratops
genus of Late Cretaceous ceratopsids / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Triceratops was a huge herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous. Its name came from having three horns on its head.[1] They were mainly found in North America. As adults, they grew up to 9 m (30 ft) long by 3 m (9.8 ft) tall, and probably weighed around 12 t (26,000 lb). Fully-grown, their skull was enormous (two meters long and nearly a meter wide).[2]
Triceratops | |
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Skeletal mount of a T. prorsus specimen at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Order: | †Ornithischia |
Family: | †Ceratopsidae |
Subfamily: | †Chasmosaurinae |
Tribe: | †Triceratopsini |
Genus: | †Triceratops Marsh, 1889 |
Type species | |
†Triceratops horridus Marsh, 1889 | |
Other species | |
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Synonyms | |
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Triceratops was a low browser with a bony beak in front of its jaws. The jaws had close-set grinding teeth. Its defence had to stand up to attacks from taller theropods, hence the bony shield which covered its neck. Holes made by teeth have been found on the bony frill behind the horns, and on the sacrum (the part of the spine above the pelvis).
Many fossils of Triceratops have been collected since the genus was first described in 1889. There is at least one complete individual skeleton.[3] Paleontologist John Scannella observed: "It is hard to walk out into the Hell Creek Formation and not stumble upon a Triceratops weathering out of a hillside". Forty-seven complete or partial skulls were discovered in just that area during the decade 2000–2010.[4] Specimens showing life stages from hatchling to adult have been found.[5]