Styracosaurus
With a horned frill: the walking fortress of the Cretaceous
Summary
Styracosaurus was a horned dinosaur that lived in North America in the Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago). With a 60 cm horn on its nose and 4–6 long spikes jutting from the "frill" around its neck, it was a relative of Triceratops.
In depth
Styracosaurus ("spiked lizard") is one of the best-known members of the Ceratopsia (the "horned faces"). Adults were 5–5.5 metres long and weighed about 2.7 tonnes. It was a herbivore with a powerful, parrot-like beak for tough plant stems and leaves. The bony frill around its neck was probably both a defensive shield and a signal for mating and social display. The long spikes around the frill (each 50–55 cm) are the defining feature that sets it apart from the smooth frill of Triceratops. It is thought to have lived in herds, which could have helped keep large predators at bay.
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