Doggy’s Daily Dino Fact: We’ll Triceratops’ ancestors look a little different than you’d think

RAWR!

Q: Who is the first ceratopsian that first appear? Irvine

A: Good question Irvine! As you know, ceratopsians only lived during the Cretaceous perod. Still, their history is a little fuzzy because of an incomplete fossil record. Ceratopsians are very well known for being the most “all-american” dinosaur. That is, the vast majority of their fossils come from North America, and a few in Asia.

As far as paleontologists can tell, the earliest known ceratopsian dinosaur is Psittacosaurus. Unlike other ceratopsians, these guys were bi-pedal (walked on two feet) dinosaurs and were about the size of a gazelle. Psittacosaurus is a genus of dinosaur, and known for having the most species of dinosaurs than any other genus even though it is not as famous as the Triceratops. They first showed up on the earth during the Early Cretaceous around 130-100 million years ago.

Their sharp beak is perhaps the most significant characteristic it shares with other ceratopsians. The rest of it doesn’t look too similar to a Triceratops though!

-Rex

Hope you enjoyed this Dino Fact!

~Doggy

Doggy’s Daily Dino Fact: “I’m a real Triceratops!” No, you aren’t

Doggy posting,

Hey Dino’s!!

What’s the good word guy’s?! Well this is another dino fact posted by rex! Enjoy! I am starting to make a tag for Rex on his dino facts and my dino facts because he inspired me to do these.

The Pinocchio of Ceratopsians "I'm a REAL Triceratops!" No, no you're not

Q: What did the Ceratopsian Einiosaurus use its bizzare looking horns for? – Einiosaurus

A: Great question Regisaurus! Before we get into the horns lets talk about little Einiosaurus here. I call him a little guy but he was a medium-sized Ceratopsian who grew to be about 20 ft (6m) long (Compare to Triceratops who grew up to 30 ft – 9m long). Still.. the funny proportions of his body make him look like a screwed-up Triceratops mini-me. Einiosaurus lived in the Late Cretaceous and fossils have been found almost exclusively in modern day Montana.

As for his horns… who really knows? Ceratopsians were all over the place. So many different species of random frills and horns and armor. Paleontologists are all over the place about what these could have actually been used for. Some say that maybe they weren’t even used for defense! Triceratops could easily have ripped in a hole into a large predator, but other ceratopsians have such strange horns that they couldn’t have been used to deal damage.

Others say they could have been used as a mating device, or a way to determine dominance in the herds. What do you think they were used for?

-Rex

lol, funny triceratops or uh ceratopsians 😀

~Doggy

Doggy’s Daily Dino Fact

Doggy posting,

Hey Dino’s! What goes on? I got another dino fact for you guy’s, Check it Out! (Rex did this one today)

Rex’s words are in Bold text 🙂

Skull from the largest triceratops ever found - Royal Tyrrell Museum

Q: What was the biggest ceratopsian? -Doulas1

A: Ah, the ceratopsians. Big frills, big horns and big attitudes. The ceratopsians were like the armored cows of the Mesozoic, except they were way waaaaay cooler than cows. The most famous of the ceratopsians also happens to be the biggest, generally speaking. Reaching lengths of 30 ft (9m), Triceratops is regarded as the largest ceratopsian of them all.

Back in 2001, paleontologists found the remnants of the skull of an old relative of Triceratops (called Eotriceratops) in Canada. It took them five whole years to piece it back together. You can see in the picture above how massive this head was, measuring about 10 ft (3m) long. That is almost twice the size of an average human being! Paleontologists say the entire dinosaur was probably around 40 ft (10m). Do you know how big that is??? Let me show you.

About this Big

Wow! That is one dinosaur you don’t want to be standing in front of. Whoever said the T-Rex had it easy?

-Rex

Rock on dino dudes!

~Doggy