South+Dakota


 * Marcelina Puc **
 * State Name: ** South Dakota


 * State Fossil: ** Triceratops


 * Binomial Nomenclature: ** // Triceratops horridus //


 * Description: ** The triceratops was a three-horned plant-eating dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period.

"The triceratops had three 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 two longer horns (over 3 feet or 1 m long) above its eyes probably provided protection from predators. The horns were possibly used in mating rivalry and rituals. It had a large skull, up to 10 feet (3 m) long, one of the largest skulls of any land animal ever discovered. Its head was nearly one-third as long as its body. Triceratops hatched from eggs. Triceratops was about 30 feet long (9 m), 10 feet tall (3 m), and weighed up to 6-12 tons. It had a short, pointed tail, a bulky body, column-like legs with hoof-like claws, and a bony neck frill rimmed with bony bumps. It had a parrot-like beak, many cheek teeth, and powerful jaws."


 * Pictures: **


 * Time Existed: **

" Triceratops lived in the late Maastrichtian Period at the end of the Cretaceous Period In what is now North America (roughly 68 to 65 million years ago.) The Cretaceous Period was fairly warmed and the vegetation was filled with tall trees and adaptable plants- full of plant life and wide range of it."

"The sedimentary rocks that preserve the bones of Triceratops are typical of coastal lowlands similar to that ranging from the present southeastern Atlantic Coast and the Gulf Coast of the United States- it is replacement or perminerilization."
 * Preservation: **

"The first skeletal specimen of the Triceratops, the Triceratops fossil was discovered in the year 1887, near Denver, Colorado in the United States. Othniel Charles Marsh, who studied the fossil, initially confused it with a bison's fossil. In 1888, with the discovery of a similar fossil in the creek, known as 'Lance Formation', Mr. Marsh accepted the former as one of the ceratopsian and named it Triceratops. Few more Triceratops fossils were found in the South Dakota and Montana states of America. Fossils of the Triceraptos have also been discovered in Canada. These were found in the Saskatchewan and Alberts provinces. Till the year 1905, not a single, complete skeleton of the Triceratops was discovered. On March 9, 1913, people thronged the Natural History Museum in Paris to have a look at a Triceratops fossil, found in the Rocky mountains. It is the state fossil because it took the place of the Cycad which was the original fossil."
 * Who Found the Fossil/ Why is It the State Fossil: **

Sources: Author unknown.(2010).Triceratops horridus"Horrible Three-horned Face".Retrieved from: []