Triceratops was a dinosaur with three horns and a large frill, living 68-65 million years ago. It was preyed upon by Tyrannosaurus Rex and likely used its horns for courtship displays. Triceratops had a large skull and a small brain, and is used as a reference in phylogenetics. No complete fossil has been found.
Triceratops (meaning “three-horned face”) is a dinosaur that lived between 68 and 65 million years ago. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to emerge before all non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out in the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, which is thought to have been caused by the impact of a huge (6-10 miles diameter) asteroid on the present-day Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Triceratops was a contemporary of the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is not known whether Triceratops and the T. Rex had epic battles such as those depicted in children’s dinosaur coloring books, although T. Rex is known to prey on Triceratops, as determined by the presence of tooth lacerations on the bones of some Triceratops fossils.
Triceratops has been described by some as the dinosaur analogue of a rhinoceros. It walked on four legs and had large frills to go with its three huge horns. Although the horns are sometimes described as defensive weapons, it is more likely that they were simply used in courtship displays, as are the horns of modern reindeer, mountain goats, or rhinoceros beetles.
Triceratops sizes ranged between 7.9 and 9.0 m (26.0-29.5 ft) in length, 2.9 and 3.0 m (9.5-9.8 ft) in height, and 6.1-12.0 tonnes (13,000-26,000 lb) in weight. Triceratops’ most distinctive feature was its enormous skull, which could be up to 2 m (7 ft) long and be up to one-third the length of the entire animal. The Triceratops’ head is the largest of any land animal, dead or alive.
Triceratops has been used as a point of reference in phylogenetics. “Dinosaurs” were formally defined as all animals that are descended from the most recent common ancestor of Triceratops and modern birds.
No complete Triceratops fossil has ever been found, although many fragments have. The first Triceratops bones were found in Denver, Colorado in the spring of 1887, consisting of two large horns connected to the roof of the skull. At first it was thought that these belonged to an extraordinarily large and extinct bison. After several more skulls were found, it was realized that horned dinosaurs existed and the genus of Triceratops was founded to classify the fossils. Due to the extremely robust nature of the Triceratops skull, many have been found, allowing for comparisons between Triceratops of different ages and regions.
Although Triceratops had a huge head, it had a very small brain, almost as big as a man’s fist. From this, we can make an educated guess that Triceratops was not very intelligent.
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