Dino card No. 1868 of 2,027

Utahceratops

Say it: you-TAH-keh-rah-tops

Name means: “horned face from Utah”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Utahceratops was a big, plant-eating dinosaur with a huge frill on its head and short, blunt horns above its eyes. It lived in what is now Utah, about 76 million years ago, and walked on four legs.1 5

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago5

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Southern Utah, USA, in the Kaiparowits Formation1 5

Food

Plants5 1

Length

4.5 to 5 m1

estimated

Weight

2 tonnes1

Height

2 m3 4

at the shoulder

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How tall was it?

at the shoulder

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1.5 cars

as long as 5 dogs nose to tailas long as 28 bananas end to endas heavy as 67 big dogsas heavy as 400 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Utahceratops compared to YOU?

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

cool stuff

Fun facts

Utahceratops had a frill with a deep notch in the middle, and its brow horns were short, rounded, and stuck out to the sides.2

Scientists found six specimens, including two partial skulls, which together preserve about 96% of the skull and 70% of the rest of the skeleton.1

It lived at the same time and in the same place as another horned dinosaur called Kosmoceratops, which had ten hooks on its frill.2

Utahceratops is closely related to Pentaceratops, which lived in New Mexico, and scientists think different horned dinosaurs lived in different parts of the ancient western landmass called Laramidia.2

Its nasal horn was positioned far back, almost entirely behind the nostril opening, which is unusual.1

Some of the small bones along the edge of its frill were very long, more than 10 centimetres (4 inches) long.1

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

?How big was Utahceratops?

About 4.5 to 5 metres (15 to 16 feet) long and weighed around 2 tonnes (2.2 tons). Some estimates suggest it could be 6 to 7 metres (20 to 23 feet) long and weigh 3 to 4 tonnes.1 3

?What did Utahceratops eat?

It was a plant-eater, a herbivore. It ate plants like ferns and cycads that grew in its wetland home.1 3

?When did Utahceratops live?

It lived about 76.4 to 75.5 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.1 2

?Where was Utahceratops found?

In Utah, USA, in the Kaiparowits Formation. The first fossil was found by Mike Getty in the Grand Staircase, Escalante National Monument.1 3

?Was Utahceratops bigger than Triceratops?

No, Utahceratops was smaller. Triceratops was about 8 to 9 metres long, while Utahceratops was about 4.5 to 5 metres long.1

?Did Utahceratops have a frill?

Yes, it had a large frill on its head with a deep notch in the middle and long, low bones along the edge.1 2

Ask Rex about Utahceratops

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: Utahceratops
Named by: Sampson et al. 20105
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsidae5
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia > Ceratopsidae5
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)5
Rock formations: Kaiparowits5
Countries: USA5
Fossil records: 9 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: Mike Getty found the first skull in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah. Scientists named it Utahceratops gettyi in 2010, honoring Getty.1
Still debated: Scientists are still debating whether different horned dinosaurs lived in separate regions of Laramidia, and Utahceratops is part of that debate.2

Where the facts come from

Utahceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
New Horned Dinosaurs from Utah Provide Evidence for Intracontinental Dinosaur Endemism (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Amazing Horned Dinosaurs Unearthed on “Lost Continent” – UNews Archive (archive.unews.utah.edu)
PaleoCodex :: Utahceratops (paleocodex.com)
Utahceratops 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