Triceratops

Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur which lived during the Late Cretaceous period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaurs to live before the great extinction event at the end of the period.

Portrayal in the series
Bearing a large bony frill and three horns on its large four-legged body, and conjuring similarities with the modern rhinoceros, Triceratops is one of the most recognizable of all dinosaurs and the best known ceratopsian. It shared the landscape with and was preyed upon by the fearsome Tyrannosaurus, though it is less certain that the two did battle in the manner often depicted in traditional museum displays and popular images.

Individual Triceratops are estimated to have reached about 7.9 to 9.0 m (26.0–29.5 ft) in length, 2.9 to 3.0 m (9.5–9.8 ft) in height, and 6.1–12.0 tonnes (13,000–26,000 lb) in weight. The most distinctive feature is their large skull, among the largest of all land animals. The largest known skull (specimen BYU 12183) is estimated to have been 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) in length when complete, and could reach almost a third of the length of the entire animal. It bore a single horn on the snout, above the nostrils, and a pair of much larger horns approximately 1 m (3 ft) long, with one above each eye. To the rear of the skull was a relatively short, bony frill, adorned with epoccipitals in some specimens. Most other ceratopsids had large fenestrae in their frills, while those of Triceratops were noticeably solid.

The skin of Triceratops was unusual compared to other dinosaurs. Skin impressions from an as-yet undescribed specimen show that some species may have been covered in bristle-like structures, similar to the more primitive ceratopsian Psittacosaurus.

Another part of spending their lives was jousting with one another. That's what Triceratops did in the wild. Triceratops obviously had jousting tournaments in nature, even during breeding season, and they injured their frills and necks when they fought, thought this is debated.

In 2009, researchers under supervision of Jack Horner argued that Triceratops was actually an immature form of Torosaurus. The massive frill of Triceratops would grow longer and thinner in time, until it may have had the same holes as seen in Torosaurus (see []). However, this evidence has been disputed. On top of that, Triceratops was named before Torosaurus, so, based on the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), Triceratops would remain the valid genus name. However, by 2022, this theory was heavily implied to be false by a group of researchers led by Jordan C. Mallon.

T-Rex Returns
A large herd of Triceratops was seen visiting a river to drink and feed. Nigel Marven watched them for a short period before leaving to find a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Nigel later returned to find that the Triceratops herd was still there but then, a pack of Tyrannosaurus that Nigel was monitoring came. The herd noticed the threat and dispersed in all directions. In the chaos, a baby Triceratops unintentionally ran in front of a Tyrannosaurus and got attacked. An adult Triceratops intervened and stabbed the attacker with its horns. Moments later, the same Tyrannosaurus went to kill a young Triceratops hiding behind some bushes. Nigel managed to lure the Triceratops into the time portal but wasn't able to get the Tyrannosaurus through too. Head keeper Bob Arthur was pleasantly surprised at Nigel bringing back a Triceratops instead of a Tyrannosaurus. Head vet Suzanne McNabb was excited that it was a Triceratops that was the park's first dinosaur. The Triceratops (now named "Theo") was then moved to its enclosure, Triceratops Creek.

Later in the episode, Bob noticed that Theo had been acting strangely and was ramming a small tree in his enclosure and alerted Suzanne. When she arrived, she noticed Theo's frill had changed color, and suggested that he was undergoing some testosterone surge. Bob thought of an idea.

Later, when Nigel came back from the Cretaceous, Suzanne told him about Theo's change in frill color and aggression. Nigel then compared Theo to a time when he hand-reared a male fox that got aggressive as it matured, and confirms to Suzanne that her earlier speculations were right; Theo has matured. Suddenly, Bob comes in riding his modified tractor made to look like a rival Triceratops, and told Suzanne to open the gates. Nigel hopped in and they enter the Triceratops Creek. Theo constantly charged at the vehicle, taking his aggression out on it. Later, he was able to calm down and started to truly settle in.



Between A Mammoth Undertaking and The Bug House
Between the events of A Mammoth Undertaking and The Bug House, Theo the Triceratops was shown to have settled in peacefully and was completely healthy.

Supercroc
In Supercroc, Theo was not focused on much, but was still doing well. He did not participate in the Mass Break-Out. However, Theo was feeding until he noticed Nigel being chased by Matilda the Tyrannosaurus. He then continued feeding.

Behind the Scenes

 * The name 'Theo' was inspired after Nigel's Son, Theo Marven, whose favorite animal is the Triceratops.

Trivia

 * Theo is the first animal to be rescued from extinction in Prehistoric Park.
 * Five Triceratops appeared in the park in the opening titles even though Nigel never brought more than one back. This may be due to the following point.
 * Originally, a herd of Triceratops were going to be rescued and only one Ornithomimus, but the roles were reversed later on.

Errors

 * Triceratops likely had bristles on its body in real life, unlike in Prehistoric Park.
 * Triceratops juveniles would have had short, backward, stumpy horns and not the long horns shown in the program.
 * The species of Triceratops that appeared in series was identified as Triceratops horridus. However, T. horridus was already extinct by the time of the KT-Extinction event took place, having evolved into Triceratops prorsus.

Gallery

 * See also: Images of Triceratops