During the time that Triceratops roamed the Earth there was a plethora of scavenging dinosaurs and as the end of the dinosaurs drew near this scavenging behavior became more frequent so it was a fairly difficult task to keep a clutch of eggs safe from predators. Triceratops like most dinosaurs are believed to have laid eggs in small clutches in a nest and guarded by the female until they were ready to hatch. Such debate over the Triceratops position within the family tree occurs from the combination of the solid frills around the back of the skull in combination with the long orbital horns which distinguish two separate Ceratopsidae dinosaurs. While paleontologists do not argue that the Triceratops belongs in the Ceratopsidae family their exact location within the family tree is debated. One of the biggest debates over the Triceratops is over its classification within the Ceratopsidae family. Many other varieties of prehistoric life possessed “ frills” such as this although none were solid bone such as that of the Triceratops. Along with these three solid horns the Triceratops is known by paleontologists for having a solid bony frill around the back of its skull. It is these three horns that give the Triceratops its name: tri (three) – keras (horn) – ops (face.) The Triceratops had two horns which adorned the top of its skull and another horn on its nose, however, unlike our modern day rhinoceros these horns the Triceratops horns were composed of bone rather than hair. The Triceratops is often referred to as the prehistoric rhinoceros, so called due to its three large horns. A Prehistoric Rhinoceros? Triceratops: The Three-Horned Dinosaur The Triceratops, one of the largest ceratopsian dinosaurs was one of the very last dinosaurs to be seen by the Earth before the great extinction in the Cretaceous-Tertiary period and made up the bulk of the plant eating population at that time. From analysis of everything from skulls and horns to predator’s teeth and soil we are coming to know just what the Triceratops really was! Triceratops: One of the Last Great DinosaursĦ8 to 65 million years ago our earth was nearing the end of the Cretaceous Period and as such the extinction of the dinosaurs was drawing near however, the late Maastrichtian stage of the Cretaceous period saw the feet of the mighty Triceratops lumber across its plains. While it may seem near impossible to determine anything about these majestic beasts there are actually quite a few facts which can be obtained about this dinosaur even millions of years later! While paleontologists work to discover as much as they can about this huge prehistoric beast the puzzle of how this horned dinosaur actually lived when it roamed the Earth is slowly coming together piece by piece. The herbivorous dinosaur well known for the three horns that adorn its skull, the Triceratops roamed our Earth 68 to 65 million years ago. The dinosaur’s colouring therefore helps confirm what its armoured plates suggest-that, despite its size, it was still a target for predators.To keep the lights on, we receive affiliate commissions via some of our links. But none of them is as big as Borealopelta. Many modern animals employ countershading. That counteracts the extra illumination which the dorsal surface receives from sunlight, and makes the animal harder to distinguish from its background, disguising it from predators. A countershaded animal has a dark dorsal surface and a light ventral one. What makes this specimen particularly intriguing, as Dr Brown and his colleagues report in Current Biology, is that it preserves chemical traces of the brown pigment involved in its camouflaging countershading. Since then, it has been prepared for study by a team led by Caleb Brown of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, in Drumheller, Alberta. It was found in 2011 by a tar-sand miner in Alberta, Canada. Borealopelta itself is from the early Cretaceous, about 110m years ago. It belongs to a group of armoured dinosaurs called ankylosaurs that thrived during the Cretaceous period. THIS fossil dinosaur, called Borealopelta markmitchelli, is about the size of a rhinoceros.
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