Prehistoric life
Speculation continues over the function of the wicked looking horns and grand neck frill of the larger ceratopsians such as Triceratops. Were they for protection, display or even to control body temperature? The earliest horned dinosaurs were quite small and got about on two legs. The four legged giants that characterise the group came later. Fossil evidence suggests horned dinosaurs originated in what's now Asia during the Cretaceous period, spreading out and thriving as herbivores. Many of the species are recognised from their skulls, which seem to be the part of a ceratopsian skeleton most likely to be preserved.
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Evolutionary arms race
Tyrannosaurs and horned dinosaurs were in a predator prey relationship for over 65 million years.
Tyrannosaurs and horned dinosaurs were in a predator prey relationship for over 65 million years.
Defence or dating?
What were the crests of horned dinosaurs used for?
What were the crests of horned dinosaurs used for?
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Discover the other animals and plants that lived during the following geological time periods.
Cretaceous period
Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinctionCeratopsia or Ceratopia (pron.: /ˌsɛrəˈtɒpsiə/ or /ˌsɛrəˈtoʊpiə/; Greek: "horned faces") is a group of herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs that thrived in what are now North America, Europe, and Asia, during the Cretaceous Period, although ancestral forms lived earlier, in the Jurassic. The earliest known ceratopsian, Yinlong downsi, lived between 161.2 and 155.7 million years ago. The last ceratopsian species became extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, 66 million years ago.
Early members of the ceratopsian group, such as Psittacosaurus, were small bipedal animals. Later members, including ceratopsids like Centrosaurus and Triceratops, became very large quadrupeds and developed elaborate facial horns and frills extending over the neck. While these frills might have served to protect the vulnerable neck from predators, they may also have been used for display, thermoregulation, the attachment of large neck and chewing muscles or some combination of the above. Ceratopsians ranged in size from 1 meter (3 ft) and 23 kilograms (50 lb) to over 9 meters (30 ft) and 5,400 kg (12,000 lb).
Triceratops are by far the best-known ceratopsians to the general public. It is traditional for ceratopsian genus names to end in "-ceratops", although this is not always the case. One of the first named genera was Ceratops itself, which lent its name to the group, although it is considered a nomen dubium today as its fossil remains have no distinguishing characteristics that are not also found in other ceratopsians.
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Deadly dinosaurs
More dinosaurs have been discovered in the last two decades than the past 200 years.
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Predation defence
Herbivorous
Egg layer
Adapted to running