Dino card No. 2023 of 2,027

Zuniceratops

Say it: zoo-nee-SER-ah-tops

Name means: “Zuni horned face”1

Ate: PlantsHorned dinosLate Cretaceous

Zuniceratops was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 90 million years ago. It had a pair of long brow horns and a frill on its head, but no nose horn. It is one of the earliest horned dinosaurs to show how bigger, later horned dinosaurs like Triceratops evolved.1

Lived

94 to 90 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Moreno Hill Formation, west-central New Mexico, USA1 3

Food

Plants3 1

Length

2.2 to 3.5 m1

Weight

175 kg1

Height

1 m1

at the hips

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

as long as 2 bicycles in a rowas long as 19 bananas end to endas heavy as 6 big dogsas heavy as 35 watermelonsup to the handle of a door

How big was Zuniceratops compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Zuniceratops was discovered in 1996 by eight-year-old Christopher James Wolfe, the son of a paleontologist, while exploring in New Mexico.1

Young Zuniceratops had single-rooted teeth, but as they grew older their teeth became double-rooted. This change with age is unusual among horned dinosaurs.1

Zuniceratops lived alongside other dinosaurs like the tyrannosaur Suskityrannus, the big-clawed Nothronychus, and the ankylosaur Jeyawati.1

Fossils of several Zuniceratops individuals have been found together in a bonebed, suggesting they may have lived in groups.1

Zuniceratops had no nose horn, but it had well-developed brow horns that look like those of later, bigger horned dinosaurs.1

Zuniceratops is an important piece of evidence that horned dinosaurs may have evolved in North America, not Asia.1

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

?How big was Zuniceratops?

Zuniceratops was about 2.2 to 3.5 meters (7.2 to 11.5 ft) long, 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall at the hips, and weighed around 175 kilograms (386 lb).1

?What did Zuniceratops eat?

Zuniceratops was a plant-eater (herbivore).2

?When did Zuniceratops live?

Zuniceratops lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 90.9 to 88.6 million years ago.1

?Who discovered Zuniceratops?

Zuniceratops was discovered in 1996 by eight-year-old Christopher James Wolfe, son of paleontologist Douglas G. Wolfe.1

?Did Zuniceratops have horns?

Yes, Zuniceratops had a pair of well-developed brow horns, but it had no nose horn.1

?Is Zuniceratops a dinosaur?

Yes, Zuniceratops is a dinosaur. It is a ceratopsian, a group of horned, plant-eating dinosaurs.1

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Zuniceratops
Named by: Wolfe and Kirkland 19983
Group: Horned dinos
Family / clade: Ceratopsoidea3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ceratopsia3
Age of the rocks: 94 to 90 million years (Turonian)3
Rock formations: Moreno Hill3
Countries: USA3
Fossil records: 3 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Zuniceratops was named in 1998 by paleontologists Douglas Wolfe and James Kirkland. The first fossils, including a skull and bones from several individuals, were found in the Moreno Hill Formation in New Mexico in 1996. The species name, christopheri, honors the discoverer, Christopher James Wolfe.1 3
Still debated: Scientists are still debating exactly how Zuniceratops is related to the later, larger horned dinosaurs called ceratopsids.1

Where the facts come from

Zuniceratops (en.wikipedia.org)
enchantedlearning.com (enchantedlearning.com)
Zuniceratops 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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