Dino card No. 1913 of 2,027

Wendiceratops

Say it: WEN-dee-SER-ah-tops

Name means: “Wendy's horned face”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Wendiceratops was a plant-eating dinosaur with a huge bony frill on its head and a big upright horn above its nose. It lived about 78 to 79 million years ago in what is now Alberta, Canada. This dinosaur is one of the oldest horned dinosaurs with a tall nose horn ever found.1

Lived

84 to 72 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Pinhorn Provincial Grazing Reserve, south of the Milk River, Alberta, Canada1

Food

Plants4

Length

4.5 to 6 m1

estimate based on partial skeletons

Weight

1 tonnes to 1.5 tonnes1

Height

1.5 to 2 m1

at the hips

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 hips

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 1 cars

as long as 6 dogs nose to tailas long as 33 bananas end to endas heavy as 50 big dogsas heavy as 300 watermelonsabout as tall as a door

How big was Wendiceratops compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Wendiceratops had a frill decorated with many curved, forward-pointing spikes that made it look very fancy.1

Its name honors Canadian fossil hunter Wendy Sloboda, who discovered the bonebed where this dinosaur was found.1

Over 200 bones from many different Wendiceratops individuals were found together in one bonebed, making it one of the best-known early horned dinosaurs.1

Wendiceratops lived about 78 to 79 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.1

Scientists think the tall nose horn of Wendiceratops evolved separately from the nose horns of later horned dinosaurs like Triceratops.1

The ischium, a hip bone, of Wendiceratops had a wide, rectangular end, which is a unique feature not seen in other horned dinosaurs.1

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

?How big was Wendiceratops?

Wendiceratops reached about 6 metres (20 feet) in length and weighed about 1.5 metric tons (1.7 short tons).2

?What did Wendiceratops eat?

Wendiceratops was a herbivore, eating low-lying plants. It cropped them with a parrot-like beak and sliced them with leaf-shaped teeth.3

?Why did Wendiceratops have a nose horn?

The tall nose horn was likely used for display or defense, but scientists aren't sure exactly. It evolved separately from the nose horns of later horned dinosaurs like Triceratops.3

?When did Wendiceratops live?

Wendiceratops lived about 78 to 79 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.3

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Myth buster

Myth: Wendiceratops had a long nose horn like a rhino.

Truth: Wendiceratops had an upright nasal horn, but its exact shape is unknown because the nasal bone is incomplete.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Wendiceratops
Named by: Evans and Ryan 20154
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsidae4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia > Ceratopsidae4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 72 million years (Campanian)4
Rock formations: Oldman4
Countries: Canada4
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database4
Discovery: Wendiceratops was named by paleontologists David Evans and Michael Ryan in 2015 based on fossils from a bonebed in Alberta, Canada. The bonebed was discovered by fossil hunter Wendy Sloboda, and the dinosaur was named in her honor.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly how tall or curved the nose horn of Wendiceratops was, because the nasal bone is not completely preserved.1

Where the facts come from

Cranial Anatomy of Wendiceratops pinhornensis gen. et sp ... (journals.plos.org)
Wendiceratops (Wikipedia) (Wikipedia)
Introducing Wendiceratops: A remarkable new horned dinosaur | Royal Ontario Museum (rom.on.ca)
Wendiceratops in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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