Dino card No. 0657 of 2,027

Ferrisaurus

Say it: FAIR-ih-SORE-us

Name means: “iron lizard”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Ferrisaurus was a small, hornless cousin of Triceratops that lived in what is now British Columbia, Canada. It walked on two legs and munched on plants with its beak-like mouth.1

Lived

72 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada1 2

Food

Plants4

Length

2 to 3 m1

scientists think

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 1.5 bicycles in a rowas long as 17 bananas end to end

How big was Ferrisaurus compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

cool stuff

Fun facts

Ferrisaurus is the first unique dinosaur species ever described from British Columbia, Canada.1

Its fossils were discovered in 1971 by a geologist named Kenny F. Larsen while he was surveying for uranium along a railway line.1

Ferrisaurus lived about 68 to 67 million years ago, during the very end of the Age of Dinosaurs.1

It was a leptoceratopsid, a group of small, hornless ceratopsians that were about 2 to 3 metres long.1

The name Ferrisaurus means 'iron lizard', because the bones were found near a railway line made of iron.1

Its fossils include parts of the shoulder, arm, leg, and foot bones, but no skull was found.1

AI-made picture of Ferrisaurus — An AI-made picture of how Ferrisaurus might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Ferrisaurus

?How big was Ferrisaurus?

About 2 to 3 metres long. That is roughly the size of a large dog.1 2

?Did Ferrisaurus have horns?

No, Ferrisaurus was a hornless ceratopsian. Unlike its famous relative Triceratops, it had no horns and only a short frill.1 2

?What did Ferrisaurus eat?

It ate plants. Ferrisaurus had a parrot-like beak for snipping leaves and other vegetation.3 2

?When did Ferrisaurus live?

It lived about 68 to 67 million years ago, near the very end of the Age of Dinosaurs.1 2

Ask Rex about Ferrisaurus

Rex only answers questions about this page. 3 questions a day.

Rex is an AI and can make mistakes. He runs on servers in the EU and questions are never saved. Never type your name or other personal things.

For dino experts

Scientific name: Ferrisaurus
Named by: Arbour and Evans 20194
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Leptoceratopsidae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia4
Age of the rocks: 72 to 66 million years (Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Tango Creek4
Countries: Canada4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Ferrisaurus was named in 2019 by paleontologists Victoria Arbour and David Evans. The fossils were collected in 1971 by geologist Kenny F. Larsen along the BC Rail line in British Columbia, Canada.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how Ferrisaurus is related to other leptoceratopsids, but they think it was more closely related to Leptoceratops than to Montanoceratops.1

Where the facts come from

A new leptoceratopsid dinosaur from Maastrichtian-aged deposits of the Sustut Basin, northern British Columbia, Canada (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Ferrisaurus (en.wikipedia.org)
Mountain Dinosaur of BC - Learning Portal (learning.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca)
Ferrisaurus in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

Rex is hungry! Dino Wiki is a dad's project for his dino-loving son, free with no ads. Grown-ups can feed Rex a snack to help keep it online.Feed Rex