Glowing Dinosaursby Firoiu Dan Nicolae Reserve a copy
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Triceratops in purple and green with a bone-white skull, three horns and a scalloped frill

N° 078 · IV. Horns and Armour

Triceratops

The Horned Shield

Say it: tri-SERRA-tops

Species
Triceratops horridus, Marsh 1889
Name means
Three-horned face
Lived
Late Cretaceous, about 68 to 66 million years ago
Found
Western United States and Canada
Length
About 9 m
Weight
About 6 to 12 tonnes
Diet
Herbivore

Three things to know

A skull among the largest

Three horns, a parrot-like beak and a bony frill nearly a metre across: one of the largest skulls of any land animal.

Horns made for fighting

A 2009 study found old wounds clustered on the frill, just where a rival’s horns would strike, so it probably locked horns with its own kind.

First taken for a bison

In 1887 a pair of horn cores from near Denver were named as a giant bison. Othniel Marsh later saw his mistake and named Triceratops in 1889.

Every fact on this page is traced to a published source, listed at the back of the book.

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When and where Triceratops lived

Triceratops lived about 68 to 66 million years ago, at the very end of the Cretaceous, in what is now the western United States and Canada. Its fossils are among the most common in the Hell Creek and Lance formations, which record wooded river plains. It lived alongside Tyrannosaurus, its most famous enemy, and was among the last non-bird dinosaurs before the asteroid impact 66 million years ago.

How Triceratops was discovered and named

After his mistake with the bison horns, Othniel Charles Marsh named Triceratops in 1889. His collector John Bell Hatcher then found dozens of skulls in Wyoming, and many more have been dug up since. Because so many skulls are known, from young animals to old adults, Triceratops has become a key case for studying how dinosaurs changed as they grew.

How Triceratops lived

Triceratops was a heavy, four-legged plant-eater about the size of an elephant. Its sharp beak snipped tough plants and rows of grinding teeth sliced them. The three horns and the great frill were probably used against rivals and to show off, as well as for defence against hunters such as Tyrannosaurus, whose tooth marks have been found on Triceratops bones.

Triceratops in Glowing Dinosaurs

Triceratops is entry N° 078 of the atlas, in the chapter IV. Horns and Armour. Its spread follows the same layout as every other dinosaur in the book: on the left, its name and how to say it, the epithet The Horned Shield, the three facts above, field notes and the six signs that show when it lived, how big it was, how dangerous it would have been, where it was found, what it ate and how it fought. On the right is the full glowing plate: triceratops in purple and green with a bone-white skull, three horns and a scalloped frill. Two more plates of Triceratops appear elsewhere in the book, and each can also be ordered as a signed work for the wall, printed on wood or acrylic under glass. In the same chapter you will also find Stegosaurus.

Why Triceratops glows

No dinosaur is known to have glowed, and the book says so plainly. The light is the artist’s way of seeing inside the animal: in the plate of Triceratops, bones, muscles and outline shine through a dark ground, so the shape of the skull, the length of the neck and tail and the build of the legs can be read at once, the way a fossil skeleton is read in a museum hall. The colours are chosen to separate bone from muscle and to make each animal recognisable across the whole atlas, while every fact printed beside the picture is checked against published research.

Questions about Triceratops

How big was Triceratops?

Triceratops measured about 9 m from nose to tail and weighed about 6 to 12 tonnes. The size panel on its spread in the book draws it beside a person, so its scale can be seen at a glance.

When did Triceratops live?

It lived in the Late Cretaceous, about 68 to 66 million years ago. On the timeline in the book, its place is marked between the first dinosaurs, about 230 million years ago, and the end of the age of dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

Where have Triceratops fossils been found?

Its fossils have been found in Western United States and Canada. The map on its spread in the book marks the places where its bones were dug up.

What did Triceratops eat?

Its diet: herbivore. The diet sign in the book shows this with a simple symbol, so young readers can sort the plant-eaters from the meat-eaters.

What does the name Triceratops mean?

The name means “three-horned face”. The full scientific name is Triceratops horridus, Marsh 1889: the genus, the species and the scientist who named it, with the year. It is pronounced tri-SERRA-tops.

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