Dinosaur - Triceratops

Triceratops

Courtesy of Steve Brusatte

Triceratops as a Pet

Although this dino was definitely not an indoor animal, the Triceratops would have made a great pet. They were big but gentle dinosaurs, and they only ate vegetation. Imagine, you wouldn't have to mow your lawn again - or your neighbors'. Triceratops didn't move too quickly, probably because they were so shortsighted, but that would have made it easier to avoid being poked by their large horns.

Triceratops,What a Large Head You Have

Triceratops, which means "three-horned face," had a single, short nasal horn and two horns as long as hockey sticks projecting above its eyes. Its head, sometimes as long as 10 feet, was one of the largest of any land animal. Triceratops also had large eyes and a large brain.

Triceratops - One Weird Lookin' Reptile

Triceratops had no front teeth so its mouth looked like a turtle's beak. Its powerful jaws packed rows of cheek teeth that slid past each other like scissor blades. Triceratops grew up to 30 feet long and were one of the largest veggie eaters with a beak. They were also one of the last dinosaurs to roam the earth, living in the Late Cretaceous period (65 million years ago). Triceratops, with its large horns, neck frill, massive body and powerful tail, was a mean looking dinosaur. But not mean enough to scare away T-Rex who, given the opportunity, would try to make a meal out of Triceratops.

Triceratops Fossils

Triceratops fossils were first discovered near Denver, Colorado in 1887. At first archeologists thought they were the remains of an extinct species of buffalo and not of a dinosaur. The first Triceratops skull was found in Alberta, Canada by C.M. Sternberg near Big Valley in 1946. Wyoming and South Dakota have made Triceratops their state fossil. No complete Triceratops skeleton has ever been found.