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Description

Requested by Patchi1995

Scientific Name: Triceratops horridus
Pronunciation: try-serr-ah-tops
Meaning in Latin: Three-horned face
Code Name: Trike
Discovered by: Othniel Charles Marsh‭, 1889
Classification: Animalia, Chordata,‭ ‬Sauropsida, Reptilia, Eureptilia, Romeriida, Diapsida, Neodiapsida, Sauria, Archosauromorpha, Crocopoda, Archosauriformes, Eucrocopoda, Crurotarsi, Archosauria, Avemetatarsalia, ‬Ornithodira, Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ Genasauria, Neornithischia, Cerapoda, Marginocephalia, Ceratopsia, Neoceratopsia, Coronosauria, Ceratopsoidea, Ceratopsidae, Chasmosaurinae, Triceratopsini

Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 68 to 66 million years ago
Location: ‬North America (Colorado - Laramie Formation & Lance Formation & Denver Formation,‭ ‬Montana - Hell Creek Formation,‭ ‬South Dakota,‭ ‬Wyoming - Evanston Formation,‭ ‬Canada - Scollard Formation,‭ ‬Alberta,‭ ‬Saskatchewan)
Length: 8 to 9 meters (26 to 30 feet) long
Weight: 5 to 9 tonnes (5.5 to 9.9 short tons)
Diet: Herbivore

With two great horns sprouting from its brow, a smaller one atop its snout and an immense rounded frill masking the back of its neck, this is one of the true icons of the Mesozoic era. Anyone with a passing interest in dinosaurs knows Triceratops, along with a few others: Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Diplodocus, for instance, each of which is easily pictured. But while the familiar image of Triceratops is of a huge herbivore, its mighty skull held high above an adult human's head, it now seems that the fully grown animal was larger still. Othniel Charles Marsh‭ named T. horridus in 1889 and T. prorsus in 1890, but the following year he described a ceratopsid with three differently angled horns placed upon one of the longest known skulls of any land animal, reaching 2.6 meters (8 feet and 6 inches) from the tip of its beaked mouth to the end of its frill, in which he named it Torosaurus. In 2010 the American paleontologists Jack Horner and John Scannella concluded that Torosaurus is Triceratops in its fully mature form; that is to say that the famous Triceratops is merely the juvenile and 'sub-adult' form of this even more spectacular animal.

Torosaurus is notable for the large holes in its neck-shield, and Scannella's closer examination of Triceratops' seemingly solid shield revealed the bone thinning where these gaps would form. If this is the case, it strengthens the notion that Triceratops' frill had little defensive use but was instead for sexual display, the most extravagant examples denoting the alpha males, just like stags with their anthers. Horner and Scannella's conclusions are not universally accepted but, if they are right, the famous Triceratops name would still stay with us: its name takes priority as Marsh named it two years before Torosaurus.

Whatever the name we apply to it today, this animal was one of the most abundant herbivores of the Late Cretaceous. The western USA's Hell Creek Formation rocks are forever yielding new specimens, with 47 Triceratops skulls emerging in the first decade of this century alone. Unlike some other large herbivores there is no evidence that Triceratops herded as the hundreds of specimens known have all been found in isolation with the exception of three juveniles. Its predators are known to have included Tyrannosaurus, as the carnivore's tooth-marks have been found on its skeletons. Still, even a Tyrannosaurus has to be wary and give a wide berth as a minor wound from one of the Triceratops' long horns could prove fatal.

Fossilised skin impressions of Triceratops are known featuring small round holes, which some experts suspect may have sprouted bristles, as in fellow ornithischian and early relative Psittacosaurus.

Triceratops is thought to have endured alongside Tyrannosaurus, Edmontosaurus and a few others, until the great extinction that marked the closure of the dinosaur era.

Model based on: Triceratops from Dinosaur Revolution (2011)
Spore Abilities: Level 4 Sprint, Level 2 Bite, Level 1 Charge, Level 3 Strike, Level 4 Sing, Level 5 Dance, Level 2 Charm

Note: This SPORE model has Creepy & Cute parts. SPORE players downloading this model is required to have the C&C expansion pack in order to access to the model.

Description

Requested by Patchi1995

Scientific Name: Triceratops horridus
Pronunciation: try-serr-ah-tops
Meaning in Latin: Three-horned face
Code Name: Trike
Discovered by: Othniel Charles Marsh‭, 1889
Classification: Animalia, Chordata,‭ ‬Sauropsida, Reptilia, Eureptilia, Romeriida, Diapsida, Neodiapsida, Sauria, Archosauromorpha, Crocopoda, Archosauriformes, Eucrocopoda, Crurotarsi, Archosauria, Avemetatarsalia, ‬Ornithodira, Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, ‬Dinosauria,‭ ‬Ornithischia,‭ Genasauria, Neornithischia, Cerapoda, Marginocephalia, Ceratopsia, Neoceratopsia, Coronosauria, Ceratopsoidea, Ceratopsidae, Chasmosaurinae, Triceratopsini

Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 68 to 66 million years ago
Location: ‬North America (Colorado - Laramie Formation & Lance Formation & Denver Formation,‭ ‬Montana - Hell Creek Formation,‭ ‬South Dakota,‭ ‬Wyoming - Evanston Formation,‭ ‬Canada - Scollard Formation,‭ ‬Alberta,‭ ‬Saskatchewan)
Length: 8 to 9 meters (26 to 30 feet) long
Weight: 5 to 9 tonnes (5.5 to 9.9 short tons)
Diet: Herbivore

With two great horns sprouting from its brow, a smaller one atop its snout and an immense rounded frill masking the back of its neck, this is one of the true icons of the Mesozoic era. Anyone with a passing interest in dinosaurs knows Triceratops, along with a few others: Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Diplodocus, for instance, each of which is easily pictured. But while the familiar image of Triceratops is of a huge herbivore, its mighty skull held high above an adult human's head, it now seems that the fully grown animal was larger still. Othniel Charles Marsh‭ named T. horridus in 1889 and T. prorsus in 1890, but the following year he described a ceratopsid with three differently angled horns placed upon one of the longest known skulls of any land animal, reaching 2.6 meters (8 feet and 6 inches) from the tip of its beaked mouth to the end of its frill, in which he named it Torosaurus. In 2010 the American paleontologists Jack Horner and John Scannella concluded that Torosaurus is Triceratops in its fully mature form; that is to say that the famous Triceratops is merely the juvenile and 'sub-adult' form of this even more spectacular animal.

Torosaurus is notable for the large holes in its neck-shield, and Scannella's closer examination of Triceratops' seemingly solid shield revealed the bone thinning where these gaps would form. If this is the case, it strengthens the notion that Triceratops' frill had little defensive use but was instead for sexual display, the most extravagant examples denoting the alpha males, just like stags with their anthers. Horner and Scannella's conclusions are not universally accepted but, if they are right, the famous Triceratops name would still stay with us: its name takes priority as Marsh named it two years before Torosaurus.

Whatever the name we apply to it today, this animal was one of the most abundant herbivores of the Late Cretaceous. The western USA's Hell Creek Formation rocks are forever yielding new specimens, with 47 Triceratops skulls emerging in the first decade of this century alone. Unlike some other large herbivores there is no evidence that Triceratops herded as the hundreds of specimens known have all been found in isolation with the exception of three juveniles. Its predators are known to have included Tyrannosaurus, as the carnivore's tooth-marks have been found on its skeletons. Still, even a Tyrannosaurus has to be wary and give a wide berth as a minor wound from one of the Triceratops' long horns could prove fatal.

Fossilised skin impressions of Triceratops are known featuring small round holes, which some experts suspect may have sprouted bristles, as in fellow ornithischian and early relative Psittacosaurus.

Triceratops is thought to have endured alongside Tyrannosaurus, Edmontosaurus and a few others, until the great extinction that marked the closure of the dinosaur era.

Model based on: Triceratops from Dinosaur Revolution (2011)
Spore Abilities: Level 4 Sprint, Level 2 Bite, Level 1 Charge, Level 3 Strike, Level 4 Sing, Level 5 Dance, Level 2 Charm

Note: This SPORE model has Creepy & Cute parts. SPORE players downloading this model is required to have the C&C expansion pack in order to access to the model.