TOROSAURUS
Torosaurus latus
Meaning: "Perforated Lizard"
📊 STATS
Size comparison:
As long as a large school bus!
📖 ABOUT TOROSAURUS
Meet Torosaurus, the 'Perforated Lizard'! This plant-eating dinosaur had a huge frill with giant holes, making it look like it was wearing a super cool crown!
Imagine a dinosaur wearing a massive, bony crown with holes in it! That's Torosaurus, a late Cretaceous herbivore that roamed North America. Its name, "Perforated Lizard," comes from those distinctive holes in its frill. This frill, one of the largest of any known land animal, wasn't just for show. Scientists believe it might have been used to attract mates, show off to rivals, or even help regulate body temperature.
Torosaurus was a quadruped, meaning it walked on four legs. It was a member of the Ceratopsidae family, which also includes the famous Triceratops. These dinosaurs were all plant-eaters with horns and frills. Torosaurus used its beak-like mouth to munch on plants like ferns and cycads. It lived alongside other amazing dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Ankylosaurus, making the Late Cretaceous a truly awesome time to be a dinosaur fan! Fossil discoveries in the USA and Canada give us clues about this incredible creature.
🔬 CLASSIFICATION
- Group
- Ceratopsia
- Family
- Ceratopsidae
- Period
- Late Cretaceous (100-66 Ma)
- Era
- 68.0 - 66.0 million years ago
🗺️ DISCOVERY
- Year
- 1891
- Discovered by
- Othniel Charles Marsh
- Location
- Wyoming, USA
- Fossils found in
- USA (Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Texas), Canada
🎨 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
Artistic reconstruction of Torosaurus based on fossil evidence
🗺️ WHERE FOSSILS WERE FOUND
USA (Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Texas), Canada
🤓 FUN FACTS
- ✨ Torosaurus had one of the biggest skulls of any land animal, measuring up to 2.7 meters long!
- ✨ Those holes in its frill probably made it lighter, so Torosaurus could move around more easily.
- ✨ Scientists used to think Torosaurus and Triceratops might have been the same dinosaur at different ages!
- ✨ Torosaurus lived right up until the end of the dinosaur age, about 66 million years ago.
- ✨ The first Torosaurus fossil was found in Wyoming back in 1891!
💡 DID YOU KNOW?
Get this: Torosaurus's frill was so big that it could have acted like a giant solar panel, soaking up the sun's warmth!
