- 2860 - DINOSAURS - more about Triceratops. This dinosaur's had those iconic horns and a spiky head plate. “Triceratops horridus” must have been an intimidating presence as it trampled across western North America in the late Cretaceous period, some 69,000,000 years ago.
--------------------------- 2860 - DINOSAURS - more about Triceratops.
- It is hard to imagine what Earth was like when the dinosaurs were the predominate species. Humans came along much later. What do you suppose is happening in the other 4,000 planets we have discovered circling other stars? And, how many more discoveries are out there?
-
- Despite its fierce appearance, this famous “ceratopsian“, or horned dinosaur, was an herbivore. Triceratops, which is Latin for "three-horned face," was among the last non-avian dinosaurs to evolve before the cataclysmic extinction event that occurred 66 million years ago.
-
- One of the most abundant dinosaurs unearthed by paleontologists, Triceratops has been found all across the fossil-rich Hell Creek Formation in northeastern Montana, where rock layers recorded the final millennia of the dinosaurs’ reign.
-
- Triceratops had an imposing appearance, however, there is no evidence that suggests Triceratops waged epic battles against Tyrannosaurus rex. The massive Triceratops body stretched up to 30 feet long and weighing six to eight tons. Stout legs helped this quadruped support all that weight as it ambled through the underbrush of North America.
-
- Triceratops’ enormous head might have been all it took to send other dinosaurs running. Some recovered skulls measure up to 10 feet long. Its head had three horns, a short one above its mouth and two long ones above each eye. Behind these horns was a head frill made of bone and studded with small spikes called “epoccipitals“.
-
- Early theories that its spiked head may have protected Triceratops from predators or acted as a radiator to help the dinosaur regulate its body temperature have been discredited.
-
- The prevailing theory is that frills may have helped these dinosaurs select their mates. In 2016, one study found that as Triceratops matured, its head frill ballooned in size, suggesting that it became more important later in life, such as during the sexual selection process.
-
- Fossil evidence has helped scientists decode other aspects of Triceratops behavior. While the frills may not have been intended as a defense mechanism, lesions found on Triceratop skulls reveal that these dinosaurs did sometimes fight one another.
-
- Unlike other ceratopsian species, Triceratops fossils are rarely found in groups, suggesting they lived solitary lives.
-
- These herbivores also had beaklike mouths and powerful jaws lined with rows of sharp teeth to shred and grind low-lying vegetation. Evidence suggests that Triceratops teeth were incredibly complex, enabling them to slice through dense vegetation that would have been difficult for other herbivores to consume.
-
- Scientists have long wondered about the evolutionary relationship between Triceratops horridus and its lesser-known relative, “Triceratops prorsus“. While they had much in common, Triceratops prorsus had a longer nasal horn, a shorter snout, and a more upright top horn. Some paleontologists had theorized that the two species were descendents of an earlier dinosaur, in which case they would have lived at the same time.
-
- A 2014 study of more than 50 Triceratops skulls from the Hell Creek Formation found that Triceratops horridus skulls appeared only in the lower layers of rock, while Triceratops prorsus was found only in the upper layers. Skulls in the middle layers had features of both species. This finding suggests that Triceratops horridus evolved into the other species over one or two million years.
-
- No species of Triceratops lived much longer than 66,000,000 years ago. 3,000,000 years after the dinosaur first appeared, a 7.5-mile-wide asteroid slammed into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
-
- The subsequent environmental catastrophe killed off more than three-quarters of all species on the planet, including Triceratops and its fellow non-avian dinosaurs.
-
- Earth was sure different back then. I don’t think we humans would have survived those times? Good thing we came along much later, just 200,000 years ago.
-
-------------------- -- Another review about dinosaurs
-
- 1677 - Dinosaurs in Utah. 90 billion years ago the central part of United States east of the Sierras and west of the Rockies was a swamp land. Utah was more like Louisiana than the deserts we see today.
-
- Of course, the California coast was located in Baja ,Mexico at that time. The drifting continents had a different name and the era was called the Crustacean Period. The drifting continent was called “Laramidia“.
-
- In the Utah desert today scientists are unearthing fossils of plants and animals that are 75,000,000 years old. The continent Laramidia existed for 20,000,000 years. During that time the Earth was warmer and the oceans were higher.
-
- See 1677 to learn more:
-
- October 12, 2020 2860
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Comments appreciated and Pass it on to whomever is interested. ----
--- Some reviews are at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback, corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
--- to: ------ jamesdetrick@comcast.net ------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- --- Monday, October 12, 2020 ---------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment