Fact file: Triceratops
Name: Triceratrops
Meaning: three-horned face
How to say it: tri-SERRA-tops
Where found: USA
Length: 9m
Height: 3m
Weight: 5500kg
How it walked: on four legs
Teeth: shearing teeth and horned beak
Type of feeder: herbivorous
Food: tough palm fronds
Period: late Cretaceous
When it lived: (67 – 65 million years ago)
Other info: Named by Marsh in 1889. The Triceratops had a frill that might have helped to protect its neck, but some specimens show Tyrannosaurus bite marks puncturing the frill, so it wasn’t always enough. The frills could also have been used to attract mates, as a way for members of the same species to recognise each other, or to regulate body temperature.
