Triceratops Horridus

"Horrible Three-horned Face"

Was a rhinoceros-like dinosaur. It walked on 4 sturdy legs, had 3 horns on its face along with a large bony plate projecting from the back of its skull (a frill). One short horn above its parrot-like beak and 2 horns over 3 feet long above its eyes probably provided protection from predators. It had one of the largest skulls (10 feet) of any land animal ever discovered. Its head was nearly 1/3 as long as its body. Triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous Period about 72 to 65 millions years ago, toward the end of the Mesozoic Period. It was among the last of the dinosaur species to evolve before the Cretaceous-Teritery extinction. The head of the mosaic was made from an Oregon agate that included the eye. The horns are made of petrified wood.