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.