The Only Dinosaur Known to Have Injured A T. Rex

if you were to ask a random person on the street who the Tyrannosaurus Rex had the most beef with there is a fair chance they would say Spinosaurus this is largely due to Jurassic Park 3 which showed a Spinosaurus offing a T-Rex and because most people are under the assumption that dinosaurs shown in Jurassic Park actually live together it's become somewhat common for people to think that Spinosaurus and T-Rex had death battles on the regular also now that we have this movie some will think jigon noasaurus was rumbling with the T-Rex as well however neither ever saw the Tyrant King nor even came close to seeing that they were separated by well millions of years in reality T-Rex's true Nemesis wasn't a therapod at all rather a herbivore which to date is the only known animal to have ever caused injury to a T-Rex this was the Triceratops if you have any interest at all in dinosaurs or paleontology this name should ring many Bells as over time it has become an icon itself thanks to its unique appearance and mighty size yet ironically despite having a famous name it didn't even start out being called Triceratops due to a major misclassification as paleontologist first thought it was a mammal of all things this happened after a pair of brow horns were discovered in 1887 within Colorado they were eventually sent to famed paleontologist oil Marsh who believed that these horns belong not to a dinosaur but to an ancient bison who hailed from the pia scene and was unique in both shape and size he dubbed this so-called bison bison ala cornis and left it at that one reason why he may have done this is that at the time no one knew ceratopsian dinosaurs even existed a discovery that would actually come just one year after the brow horns were Unearthed when the same paleontologist introduced the world to catops the first horn dinosaur within the same year another Monumental event occurred when a cowboy stumbled upon a monstrous skull sticking out of a ravine it like other horn dinosaur remains were sent to Marsh who designated them as a brand new catop species for one more year after this nothing really changed until that is by sheer luck a well-preserved skull that matched the one belonging to the so-called new catops was located the only difference in this goal was that it had all of its horns which amounted to three leading Marsh to finally acknowledge that the new catop species and his bison were not only all the same animal but also a completely new genus of horn dinosaur which he named Triceratops meaning the three-horned face its Discovery was a huge deal not only because of the press it generated but also the role it played in dinosaur classification with the major group ceratopsia being classified as all margino sallans more closely related to Triceratops than the pisos source within this group Triceratops is thought to fall under the ceratopsid family and more specifically the Triceratops tribe where it is joined by its closest relative the Contemporary toosa surus outside of classification this new dinosaur is a massive hit thanks to his giant skull and strange horns plus it helped that new formations with loads of specimens Like Hell Creek were being discovered which also led to their realization that there had once been more than one species and since the 19th century over 15 species have been described but only two are considered valid today triceratops horis and Triceratops pris from a distance both would have looked superficially the same yet they did have their differences with horis typically having a longer snout and shorter nasal horn while pris had the opposite a shorter snout yet longer nasal horn although one area that they were very similar in was size technically the largest known specimen dubed Big John belonged to a hordis thus giving them a slight Edge but in the grand scheme of things both species were absolute units an adult Triceratops was among the largest non-sar PODS of their time ranging anyone from 8 to 9 M or 26 to 30 ft in length while Weighing on average between 6 and 10 tons exceptionally large individuals were even bigger possibly tipping the scales at 12 tons making them heavier than the Tyrannosaurus itself and a contender for the largest ceratopsian of all time to give a little perspective on how incredibly heavy this is a 12-ton triceratops would be equal to six average sized cars or 120 American men no doubt this kind of size made mature adults fairly safe within their environments but because Triceratops lived during the Age of Dinosaurs and specifically alongside one of the largest theropods we know of size alone sometimes wasn't enough and in turn it had evolved some pretty powerful defenses one of which was its bones many ceratopsians had robust builds yet Triceratops was particularly sturdy having bones that were far more thickened than what's normally seen in dinosaurs and this is nicely demonstrated when you compare Triceratops femur against a femur belonging to an exceptionally large African elephant such robustness would have given it a level of protection against injury and was further enhanced by its position since it had a low down body and therefore lower center of gravity however not even remarkably thick bones came close to topping the Triceratops Ultimate Defense which was pretty hard to miss it's giant skull Triceratops possessed one massive head that can make up more than onethird of a specimen's total length with the largest recorded skulls being 2.5 Metter or 8.2 feet long making them among the largest skulls of any terrestrial animal despite it not being Contender for the title of the largest land animal overall one reason its head was so big was thanks to a widened frill at the top that likely had a multi-functional role playing a part in both courtship display where it might have been colored as well as ling a massive hand in defense against large Predators there is fairly solid evidence that backs the idea of the f acting as a defensive tool as it did Cover the neck a highly vulnerable area and was made up of fiol Lamar bone a special type of bone that is known to rapidly heal once damaged and has the ability to regrow within a short amount of time the sheer size of the frill may have also played a part in preventing successful attacks as it could have acted as a form of intimidation but if the frill failed the Triceratops had one more trick to take out aggressors it's legendary horns these weapons need no introduction as they are the Triceratops signature feature and is attributed greatly to its Fierce reputation and rightfully so considering that all three horns were exceptionally sharp and long with the two situated above its eyes being the largest sometimes measuring 3.77 ft or 1.15 M long equal to the length of two rhino horns stacked on top of one another and this isn't even taking into account that most paleontologists are certain that in life Triceratops horns were covered in sheaths of keratin as seen in modern-day mammals implying that they were actually even bigger over the years numerous ideas on the function of these horns have been proposed with the most popular one being that they were used to combat T-Rex however there is immense debate over this claim and a typically more accepted one is that the horns were mainly designed for battle but not battle against theropods but rather with its own kind these intros specific du would have been Savage with Triceratops charging at high speeds and tussling about with with their horns interlocked fights most likely occurred over mating rights or territory and Studies have found that such combat was the rule not the exception as a review of Triceratops skulls found that 14% had injuries to the Head itself that matched what you would expect from a horn piercing a skull even the most famous Triceratops specimen Big John didn't escape the brutal lifestyle that these ceratopsians lived as his skull had a gaping hole in the frill which is thought to have come from a rival and probably also ended up killing him after the wound became infected clearly despite being portrayed as typically chill herbivores Triceratops could be quite ferocious with their horns and coupled with their frill and size they were one tough cookie even by Cretaceous standards so fierce in fact that they would occasionally use their weapons and defenses against their only known Predator the Tyrannosaurus at the time the Tyrant King was the only carnivore large enough to pose a threat to mature triceratops and we do know that predation definitely happened with certain specimens bearing damage to the skull and body that could have only come from a Rex's tooth however unlike what most people probably think the battles between these two were not always one-sided and to date Triceratops Remains the only dinosaur or animal for that matter known to have injured a T-Rex through fossil Remains the most clear case of this is the fossil known as the dueling dinosaurs an extraordinary specimen that consists of a juvenile T-Rex and an adult Triceratops ATT Tangled together in death it is believed that the two hadn't killed each other at the same time but rather died from external forces but from what is currently unknown regardless both were banged up with the T-Rex actually bearing most of the damage as the majority of its teeth were shattered its finger broken and skull cracked while the Triceratops just had a tooth in it because the Tyrannosaurus was so damaged and a juvenile some speculate that it was the Triceratops who had been the attacker albeit this is heavily debated and interestingly enough another case of potential Triceratops on T-Rex violence may have been again the result of an aggressive Triceratops a large adult T-Rex duly Rex which was 40 ft or 12 M long has an interesting hole to the back of its left femur which resembles a puncture wound because of the shape and size of the injury C paleontologists believe that a large ceratopsian likely a Triceratops due to the area where the theropod was found Ram the T-Rex from the back as it was standing up indicating a sneak attack a true prehistoric case of called the ambulance but not for me furthermore other paleontologists like Peter Dodson believe that in a fair direct confrontation between a bull triceratops and T-rex the fight was actually more in favor of the Triceratops naturally many disagree with this take but whatever the case it still stands that Triceratops was well equipped and pretty terrifying in its own way becoming even more terrifying when you take a peek into its mouth now as you probably know the Triceratops was a herbivore so it didn't have freakishly sharp or large teeth but it did have an unnerving amount of teeth overall like many other herbivorous dinosaurs its teeth were smaller and arranged in Dental batteries that allowed it to Shear through tough vegetation in adult these batteries could have amounted to over 800 teeth at once more than 25 times the amount of teeth we humans have Tri ceratops also had a beak that aided in its feeding with a common idea being that it was used to tenderly strip and pluck leaves and because Triceratops had a low down body paleontologists believed that its diet consisted of a mix of pads Ferns and Palms which had either access directly at ground level or when it couldn't it would use its giant body to force the plants to the ground such a tactic wasn't special among large herbivores at the time yet Triceratops as a package was special and this is reflected by its sheer dominance within its ecosystem often being by far the most abundant animal around sometimes accounting for 69% of the total dinosaur population within certain ecosystems like the upper hell creete formation where in total Triceratops makes up 40% of all skeletons and even in general it's considered one of the most commonly found dinosaurs worldwide a sign that had truly flourished during the late Cretaceous with a dense population like this you'd expect the Triceratops to have been a social creature but according to the most paleontologists it actually preferred its personal space while other horn dinosaurs have been found in large groups that can range anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand the vast majority of Triceratop skeletons are found isolated suggesting that adults spent most of their lives alone this being said there are a few cases where Triceratops have been found together with the largest known group consisting of five individuals so nothing to write home about however it still shows that at least some live together likely forming family units or sticking together in small groups while young as another known fossil site consisted of three juveniles the lack of remains suggesting large herds once again proves that this animal was no joke and didn't have a hard time fending for itself in a world littered with other dinosaurs which included Edmontosaurus torosaurus enosa surus pilosa surus orthaus anzu Draco Rex Alam asaurus and struthio mimus meanwhile Predators consisted of the T-Rex of course as well as a Caro Raptor Dakota Raptor treds and the non- dinosaur Borealis sucus champsosaurus and brai Champa other non- dinosaurs included a variety of turtles mammals fish snakes amphibians insects and parasaurs the reason why there was so much life around Triceratops is that it typically lived in Lush subtrop tropical forests that were covered by swamps lakes and rivers allowing for an abundance of Life the most famous of which was the hell creep formation where Triceratops could have easily been spotted on the regular anytime from 68 to 66 million years ago sadly though not even its near perfect adaptations that allowed it to be a dominating force would help it survive because as you all probably know the Triceratops is one of the Unlucky few dinosaurs who are around for the KT Extinction event that ended both it and the T-Rex finally settling their ancient beef interestingly Triceratops was possibly the last one standing between the two as for now a Triceratops found 13 cm above the kpg boundary is considered the youngest dinosaur known to science one last achievement for this prehistoric icon but the Triceratops wasn't the only animal back then that the T-Rex was wary of as there once existed an animal that even the T-Rex has never been found to attack and if you want to hear more about about that check out the video I made recently about the only dinosaur the T-Rex was afraid of and if you made it this far thanks for watching and until next time on Extinct Zoo

Channel: ExtinctZoo

Views: 449,146

Keywords: triceratops, ceratopsia, ceratopsian, dino, dinos, dinosaur, dinosaurs, t. rex, t-rex, trex, tyrannosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, cretaceous, kt extinction, paleontology, education, paleontologist, ceratopsidae, horned dinosaur, Triceratops, herbivore, biggest, battle, dinosaur battle, fight, fierce, scary, animal, prehistory, science, carnivore, apex, predator, predators, apex predator, Dino, Dinos, Dinosaur, ddinos

Id: yL3Qd9C45k0

Length: 14min 39sec (879 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 08 2024