Zuniceratops
Zuniceratops christopheri
Pronounced:
Zoo - nee - Sair - o - tops
Diet:
Herbivore (Plant-Eater)
Name Means:
"Zuni Horn Face"
Length:
10 feet (3 m)
Height:
4 feet (1.3 m)
Weight:
450 pounds (200 kilos)
Time:
Late Cretaceous - 90 MYA
Fossil remains for this Dinosaur have been found in Western United States
This is the
oldest known
member of the
horned dinosaur
family to
actually have
horns over its
eyes.
Christopher
Wolfe, the
9-year-old son
of scientist
Doug Wolfe,
found this
rather small
ancestor of
Triceratops. It
was a
plant-eater
which probably
lived in herds.
This dinosaur is important
for a number of reasons. It had
small brow horns and is a nice
example of an evolutionary
transition between the earlier
frilled dinosaurs such as
Protoceratops, which it closely
resembles, and the later, larger
ceratopsians that had some very
large horns and frills. It also
supports the theory that the
ceratopsian dinosaur lineage may
have a North American origin.
It was found in the Zuni
formation, named for a Native
American tribe. This North
American formation has yielded a
number of very important
Cretaceous fossils. |
