CERATOSAURUS
Ceratosaurus nasicornis
Meaning: "Horned Lizard"
📊 STATS
Size comparison:
About as long as a large school bus!
📖 ABOUT CERATOSAURUS
Meet Ceratosaurus, the 'Horned Lizard'! This Jurassic carnivore had a cool horn on its nose and sharp teeth for munching on meat. Roar!
Ceratosaurus was a fearsome predator that roamed the Earth during the Late Jurassic period, about 153 to 148 million years ago. Its name means 'Horned Lizard,' and you can probably guess why – it had a prominent horn on its nose! But that wasn't all that made Ceratosaurus special. It also had bony ridges above its eyes and a row of small plates running down its back. These features might have been used for display, helping them attract mates or scare off rivals.
This dinosaur was a mid-sized theropod, meaning it walked on two legs and ate meat. Ceratosaurus was about 5 to 7 meters long, which is longer than most cars! Its strong legs helped it run at speeds up to 30 kilometers per hour, perfect for chasing down prey. Scientists believe Ceratosaurus ate a variety of dinosaurs, possibly including ornithopods and even smaller theropods. Its powerful jaws and sharp teeth, with a bite force of 2500 N, made it a formidable hunter. Fossils of Ceratosaurus have been found in the USA, Portugal, and Tanzania, giving us clues about where this amazing dinosaur lived.
🔬 CLASSIFICATION
- Group
- Theropoda
- Family
- Ceratosauridae
- Period
- Late Jurassic (163-145 Ma)
- Era
- 153.0 - 148.0 million years ago
🗺️ DISCOVERY
- Year
- 1884
- Discovered by
- Othniel Charles Marsh
- Location
- Colorado, USA
- Fossils found in
- USA (Colorado, Utah), Portugal, Tanzania
🎨 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
Artistic reconstruction of Ceratosaurus based on fossil evidence
🗺️ WHERE FOSSILS WERE FOUND
USA (Colorado, Utah), Portugal, Tanzania
🤓 FUN FACTS
- ✨ Ceratosaurus's nose horn wasn't very strong, so it probably wasn't used for fighting!
- ✨ Some scientists think Ceratosaurus might have been a scavenger, eating already dead animals.
- ✨ Ceratosaurus had four fingers on each hand, but only three of them had claws!
- ✨ The bony plates on its back were called osteoderms, and they were embedded in its skin.
- ✨ The first Ceratosaurus fossil was found in Colorado in 1884!
💡 DID YOU KNOW?
Want to know something super cool? Ceratosaurus had teeth that were longer and more blade-like than Allosaurus, another famous Jurassic predator!
