Triceratops

Triceratops Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 68–65 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
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
†T. prorsus Marsh, 1890
Synonyms
List Agathaumas? Cope, 1872 Polyonax? Cope, 1874 Bison alticornis Marsh, 1887 Sterrholophus Marsh, 1891 Claorhynchus? Cope, 1892 Ugrosaurus Cobabe & Fastovsky, 1987 Eotriceratops? Wu et al., 2007 Nedoceratops? Ukrainsky, 2007 Ojoceratops? Sullivan & Lucas, 2010 Tatankaceratops? Ott & Larson, 2010

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 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]

1. ↑ Greek tri = three + keratops = horned face
2. ↑ Skull of large Triceratops up for auction. [1]
3. ↑ Cite error: The named reference fujiwara2009 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
4. ↑ "Morph-osaurs: how shape-shifting dinosaurs deceived us - life - 28 July 2010". New Scientist. doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.483632. S2CID 86767957. Retrieved 2010-08-03. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
5. ↑ Lambert D. (1993). The ultimate dinosaur book. Dorling Kindersley, New York. pp. 152–167. ISBN 1-56458-304-X.