Triceratops (Triceratops prorsus)
Three horns, a giant frill: the last ceratopsian icon of the Cretaceous
Summary
Triceratops is one of the most iconic characters in the dinosaur world. It is known for the "three horns" in its name (Greek tri-keras-ops, "three-horned face"): two long brow horns (~1 m) and a short nose horn. It lived in the Late Cretaceous, at the same time as T. rex, and vanished in the asteroid extinction 66 million years ago.
In depth
Triceratops (Triceratops prorsus) was a giant ceratopsian 8–9 metres long, weighing 6–12 tonnes. One of the last and most successful members of the ceratopsian family, it lived right up to the end of the Cretaceous. Its enormous skull (up to 3 metres long) and thick, bony frill (unlike Styracosaurus's: without spikes, solid and huge) gave it equipment for both defence and display. Because it lived alongside T. rex and scientists think it was one of T. rex's main prey, Triceratops became an essential character in dinosaur pop culture. Triceratops bones with T. rex tooth marks have been found in the fossil record: direct evidence that the two really did meet.
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