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> Nedoceratops portrait

Nedoceratops portrait

author: Walter B. Myers/Novapix

reference: t-din03-15332

Image Size 300 DPI: 33 * 25 cm

A two ton, 15 foot long Nedoceratops wonders a Cretaceous forest 70 million years ago in what is today Wyoming. Nedoceratops had two prominent horns above its eyes and a single bump above its nose. Like the better known Triceratops, Nedoceratops was a ceratopsid, a family of large four-legged plant-eating dinosaurs characterized by beaks, rows of shearing teeth in the back of the jaw, and elaborate horns and frills. While they resemble defensive shields, the frills are in fact relatively fragile, suggesting that they may have served a purpose other than protecting against a brute force attack. One possibility is that the frills were employed as visual displays in order to intimidate rivals and attract the opposite sex.

Keywords for this photo:

2010 - ANIMAL - CRETACEOUS - DICERATOPS - DINOSAUR - EARTH - HISTORY OF EARTH - ILLUSTRATION - MESOZOIC - NEDOCERATOPS - ORNITHISCHIA -