PROTOCERATOPS
Protoceratops andrewsi
Meaning: "First Horned Face"
📊 STATS
Size comparison:
About as long as a large motorcycle!
📖 ABOUT PROTOCERATOPS
Meet Protoceratops, the 'First Horned Face'! This plant-eating dinosaur roamed Asia long ago and had a cool frill on its head.
Imagine a dinosaur about the size of a big dog, but with a bony frill sticking out from the back of its head! That's Protoceratops! This dinosaur lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period, munching on plants. Protoceratops was a quadruped, meaning it walked on four legs. It wasn't huge, measuring around 1.8 to 2 meters long and about 0.6 meters tall.
Protoceratops is famous because it was one of the earliest ceratopsians, a group of dinosaurs that eventually evolved into the mighty Triceratops. Its frill, though not as big or elaborate as Triceratops', was likely used for display, maybe to attract mates or scare away rivals. Scientists think they lived in herds, which would have helped protect them from predators. One of the most amazing discoveries was a 'fighting dinosaurs' fossil, where a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops were locked in combat, preserved in time by a sandslide. This fossil gives us a rare glimpse into the life and death struggles of these ancient creatures.
🔬 CLASSIFICATION
- Group
- Ceratopsia
- Family
- Protoceratopsidae
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma)
- Era
- 75.0 - 71.0 million years ago
🗺️ DISCOVERY
- Year
- 1923
- Discovered by
- Walter Granger
- Location
- Gobi Desert, Mongolia
- Fossils found in
- Mongolia, China
🎨 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
Artistic reconstruction of Protoceratops based on fossil evidence
🗺️ WHERE FOSSILS WERE FOUND
Mongolia, China
🤓 FUN FACTS
- ✨ Protoceratops means 'First Horned Face'!
- ✨ They lived in what is now Mongolia and China!
- ✨ Their frills might have been used to show off, like a peacock's feathers!
- ✨ Baby Protoceratops probably looked very different from their parents, with smaller frills!
- ✨ Scientists found a fossil of a Protoceratops fighting a Velociraptor!
💡 DID YOU KNOW?
Get this! Some scientists think that the mythical griffin, a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, might have been inspired by Protoceratops fossils found in the desert!
