Dino card No. 1477 of 2,015

Protoceratops

Say it: proh-toh-SER-ah-tops

Name means: “first horned face”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosEarly Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Protoceratops was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in the Gobi Desert about 80 million years ago. It had a parrot-like beak and a bony frill on its neck, but no big horns like its later cousin Triceratops. It walked on all fours and was about the size of a large sheep.1 2

Lived

121 to 72 million years ago3

Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China1 3

Food

Plants1 3

Length

2 to 2.5 m1

Weight

62 kg to 104 kg1

Artist's life restoration of Protoceratops — How Protoceratops may have looked, by PaleoNeolitic. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Scientists still argue about colours and details.

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Protoceratops laid soft-shelled eggs, which is rare for dinosaurs.1

A famous fossil called the Fighting Dinosaurs shows a Protoceratops locked in battle with a Velociraptor.1

Juvenile Protoceratops could walk on two legs, but adults walked on all fours.1

The frill on its neck was probably used for display or to protect the neck during fights.1

Protoceratops had a horn on its nose, and one species, P. hellenikorhinus, had two small horns side by side.1

Its feet had wide, flat claws that were good for digging in sand.1

Protoceratops lived in groups and may have cared for its young.1

Myth buster

Myth: Protoceratops was a direct ancestor of Triceratops.

Truth: Protoceratops was an early relative of Triceratops, but it was not a direct ancestor. It belonged to a side branch of the ceratopsian family tree.1 2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Protoceratops
Named by: Granger and Gregory 19233
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Protoceratopsidae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia3
Age of the rocks: 121 to 72 million years (Aptian to Campanian)3
Rock formations: Djadokhta, Bayan Mandahu, Baruungoyot3
Countries: Mongolia, China3
Fossil records: 38 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Bainoceratops (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Protoceratops was named in 1923 by Walter Granger and William K. Gregory based on fossils found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether the sail on its tail was used for display, swimming, or to help control body temperature.1

Where the facts come from

Protoceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
Protoceratops | Mongolia, Late Cretaceous, Herbivore | Britannica (britannica.com)
Protoceratops 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.