NOTE: The first drawing in this post can be found in printable format by clicking on either of two buttons above: Paleontology or All Printables. The recent drawings are always last on the list.
Styracosaurus feeding on ferns
Styracosaurus was a Ceratopsian dinosaur of the Cretaceous Period. The name means "Spiked Lizard." They lived about 70-75 million years ago. They were a branch on the Ceratopsian Branch of the evolutionary tree. We do not think they evolved into another type of Ceratopsian dinosaur...they were just replaced by other Ceratopsians...like Triceratops. Ceratopsians are the horned and frilled dinosaurs. Styracosaurus had one large nose horn that was about 2 feet or .6 meter long. They were about 18 feet or 5.5 meters long. They stood around 6 feet or 2 meters tall. They weighed up to 3 tons. They had a beak and shearing teeth for cropping and eating plants. Probably they were browsers eating shrubs and ferns...maybe even stripping bark off of bushes and trees... ...but they were probably not grazers who eat grass mostly. However, there was grass during that part of the Cretaceous Period so Ceratopsians may have eaten grass as well. The above new drawing has a Styracosaurus feeding on ferns near a river. The below drawing also has it feeding on ferns. Note the spots on the body and eye spots on the front of the frill.
Albertosaurus with leopard pattern
(This drawing was used in a Mother's Day Post)
Triceratops
Styracosaurus lived well before the better known Triceratops. Also, Styracosaurus was big, but quite a bit smaller than the 30 foot (9 meters) long Triceratops.
No comments:
Post a Comment