Dino card No. 1409 of 2,027

Pentaceratops

Say it: PEN-tah-SER-ah-tops

Name means: “five-horned face”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Pentaceratops was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 76 to 73 million years ago. It had a huge skull with five horns: two long ones above its eyes, a short one on its nose, and two long spikes sticking out from its cheeks. Its head frill was very long and had small triangular hornlets along the edge.1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago2

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, USA; also possibly Alberta, Canada2 1

Food

Plants1

Length

5.5 to 6 m1

Weight

2.5 tonnes1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 3 bicycles in a rowas long as 33 bananas end to endas heavy as 1.5 carsas heavy as 83 big dogsas heavy as 500 watermelons

How big was Pentaceratops compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Pentaceratops means 'five-horned face' because it had five horns: two brow horns, one nose horn, and two long spikes on its cheekbones.1

Its skull could be over 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) long, making it one of the largest skulls of any land animal.1

Pentaceratops lived alongside the duck-billed dinosaur Parasaurolophus and the tyrannosaur Bistahieversor.1

The first fossils were found in 1921 by Charles Hazelius Sternberg in New Mexico. The dinosaur was named in 1923 by Henry Fairfield Osborn.1

One very large Pentaceratops skull was later renamed Titanoceratops because it looked more like Triceratops.1

Pentaceratops is used as a guide fossil: its appearance marks the start of the Kirtlandian land vertebrate age.1

AI-made picture of Pentaceratops — An AI-made picture of how Pentaceratops 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 Pentaceratops

?How big was Pentaceratops?

Pentaceratops was about 5.5 to 6 meters (18 to 20 feet) long and weighed around 2.5 metric tons (2.8 short tons).1

?What did Pentaceratops eat?

Pentaceratops was an herbivore, meaning it ate plants. It likely fed on ferns, cycads, and conifers using its sharp beak and cheek teeth.1

?When did Pentaceratops live?

Pentaceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76 to 73 million years ago.1

?Where was Pentaceratops found?

Pentaceratops fossils have been found in the Kirtland Formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico, USA.1

?Did Pentaceratops have feathers?

No, Pentaceratops did not have feathers. It was a ceratopsian dinosaur with scaly skin, like other horned dinosaurs.1

?Was Pentaceratops bigger than Triceratops?

No, Pentaceratops was smaller than Triceratops. Pentaceratops was about 5.5 to 6 meters long, while Triceratops could reach up to 9 meters.1

?How many horns did Pentaceratops have?

Pentaceratops had five horns: two long brow horns, one short nose horn, and two long spikes on its cheekbones.1

?Could Pentaceratops swim?

Nobody knows for sure, but Pentaceratops was a land dinosaur with sturdy legs, so it probably did not swim often.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Pentaceratops had five horns on its head like a crown.

Truth: The 'fifth horn' is actually a long spike on each cheekbone (the jugal bone), not a true horn on the skull roof.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Pentaceratops
Named by: Osborn 19232
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsidae2
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia > Ceratopsidae2
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)2
Rock formations: Fruitland, Kirtland, Williams Fork2
Countries: USA2
Fossil records: 14 in the Paleobiology Database2
Discovery: The first Pentaceratops fossils were collected in 1921 by Charles Hazelius Sternberg in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. The species was named Pentaceratops sternbergii by Henry Fairfield Osborn in 1923, honoring Sternberg.1
Still debated: Scientists debate whether the species Pentaceratops aquilonius from Canada really belongs to Pentaceratops or is a different dinosaur called Spiclypeus.1

Where the facts come from

Pentaceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
Pentaceratops 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.

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