Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Triceratops
Triceratops, meaning "three-horned face", because it had three horns was a ceratopsid herbivorous dinosaur genus from the Latest Cretaceous period of what is now North America. It lived at around the same time and place as Tyrannosaurus, Ankylosaurus and another well-known ceratopsid, Torosaurus.
Although no complete skeleton has been found, it has been estimated that Triceratops was about 9 m (30 ft) long, 3 m (10 ft) tall, and weighed around 5,400 kg (12,000 lb).
The distinctive skull of Triceratops had a single horn on the snout, above the nostrils and a pair of horns approximately 1 m (3 ft, 4 in) long, above the eyes. The rear of the skull bore a relatively short bony frill. Most other frilled dinosaurs had large fenestrae in their frills, while the frill of Triceratops is noticeably solid.
Related Stories
1
2
Fossils & Ruins News
September 20, 2026
Sep. 14, 2026 Ancient DNA reveals that plague was already killing hunter-gatherers in Siberia 5,500 years ago, long before cities and flea-driven epidemics. The prehistoric strains may have been especially ...
Sep. 13, 2026 Mount Etna’s ancient eruptions followed radically different paths, with some magma lingering near the surface for weeks while other magma raced upward from nearly 30 kilometers deep in just hours. Scientists traced the difference to volcanic gases ...
Aug. 12, 2026 Ancient remains from Vietnam suggest diseases like yaws may have been passed from mother to child thousands of years ago, a form of transmission often assumed to indicate syphilis. The discovery ...
July 22, 2026 Ancient fern savannahs may have transformed parts of Europe into a wildfire-prone inferno during the end-Triassic mass extinction. New fossil evidence suggests the ferns repeatedly regrew after fires, creating fresh fuel that helped prolong the ...
July 12, 2026 Why do beaches today have seashells from clams and snails instead of brachiopods? A new study suggests the answer lies in Earth's greatest mass extinction, when warming oceans and falling oxygen levels wiped out animals that couldn't adapt. Species ...
June 18, 2026 Plague was already a deadly killer 5,500 years ago, long before cities, farming, or the rat-infested conditions usually linked to historic outbreaks. By analyzing ancient DNA from hunter-gatherer cemeteries in Siberia, researchers discovered early ...
June 11, 2026 For nearly 700 years, Indigenous hunters repeatedly used a bison kill site in central Montana—then suddenly stopped, even though bison were still abundant. Researchers uncovered evidence that ...
May 20, 2026 For decades, scientists believed ancient humans avoided dense rainforests, treating them as nearly impossible environments for early survival. But a groundbreaking discovery in West Africa is rewriting that story. Researchers uncovered evidence that ...
May 14, 2026 Scientists analyzing the genomes of thousands of people across Japan discovered evidence for a previously overlooked third ancestral group, challenging the long-accepted “dual origins” theory. The newly identified ancestry appears linked to the ...
May 13, 2026 Humans may have returned to Britain far earlier than scientists once believed — not long after the last ice sheet began retreating. New evidence suggests people were already moving into the British ...
May 11, 2026 The Toba supereruption 74,000 years ago was so massive it may have plunged Earth into years of darkness and cold, leading some scientists to believe humanity nearly went extinct. Yet archaeological ...
May 5, 2026 Long-forgotten ancient tablets have been decoded, uncovering a mix of magic, politics, and daily life from early civilizations. Among the discoveries are rare anti-witchcraft rituals meant to protect ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
Sep. 20, 2026 Researchers may have solved a long-running mystery surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls by proposing that the Qumran sect really did use its distinctive 364-day calendar. Its perfectly ordered 52-week ...
Sep. 20, 2026 Chemical clues preserved inside fossilized T. rex teeth reveal that the dinosaur maintained a body temperature of about 97 degrees Fahrenheit, almost identical to humans. The finding provides direct ...
Sep. 18, 2026 A 150-million-year-old dinosaur fossil from Spain has been identified as the first confirmed Diplodocus ever found outside North America. The giant sauropod measured about 25 meters long and was ...
Sep. 16, 2026 A newly identified 240-million-year-old animal from Tanzania is forcing scientists to rethink the early dinosaur timeline. Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda belongs to a group previously known only from ...
Sep. 15, 2026 Microscopic plant remains are revealing how GunaiKurnai ancestors used Cloggs Cave for ritual practices over thousands of years. People deliberately gathered whole grasses, carried them into the dark ...
Sep. 15, 2026 A 125-million-year-old crocodile fossil has revealed preserved skin, possible sensory organs, sophisticated respiratory structures, and an unexpected pattern on its tail. Ultraviolet light exposed ...
Sep. 11, 2026 A feather discovered inside 66-million-year-old fossilized dinosaur poop may help explain why modern birds survived the asteroid catastrophe. The ...
Sep. 10, 2026 Scientists have used DNA from living descendants to identify four more members of the doomed Franklin expedition, including Harry Peglar, whose identity had remained uncertain for 166 years. The ...
Sep. 10, 2026 While clearing debris to protect ancient Egyptian tombs from flash floods, researchers near Luxor stumbled upon an unknown 3,000-year-old tomb. Its remarkably preserved paintings depict an official ...
Sep. 10, 2026 Ancient human remains from Sulawesi suggest people were habitually using the psychoactive betel nut as far back as 25,000 years ago. Researchers found both unusual tooth wear and traces of arecoline, ...