Triceratops (T. horridus 'Three-horned face') is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the Maastrichtian Age of the Late Cretaceous, approximately 68–66 million years ago.
Triceratops is characterized by having 3 horns on its skull, a parrot beak and a large bone frill on its neck; the horns could have been used to defend against attacks by Tyrannosaurus and other predators of the time.
Triceratops was a browsing herbivore and may have played a role as a pollinator of angiosperm plants, disintegrating their seeds.
Triceratops could have reached 30 feet in length and weighed about 10,000 pounds.
Today only two species of Triceratops are contemplated (T. horridus and T. prorsus)
The natural habitat of Triceratops was in North America, in what is now the western United States and Canada. It inhabited the prairies and plains stretching from present-day Alberta, Canada to New Mexico, USA.
The climate of the time in which the Triceratops inhabited was hot and humid, similar to the climates we find today in the tropics. The environment in which it lived was full of forests and large grazing areas for herbivores such as Triceratops.
Approximate measurements of the Triceratops:
- Scale 1:72 - 105 mm large
- Scale 1:35 - 227 mm large
