An Albertaceratops wanders a Cretaceous forest

A 20 foot long Albertaceratops wanders a Cretaceous forest 77 million years ago in what is today Alberta, Canada. Like the better known Triceratops, Albertaceratops was a Ceratopsid, a large four-legged plant-eating dinosaur characterized by beaks, rows of shearing teeth in the back of the jaw, and elaborate horns and frills. While they resemble defensive shields, the frills are in fact relatively fragile, suggesting that they may have served a purpose other than protecting against a brute force attack. One possibility is that the frills were employed as visual displays in order to intimidate rivals and attract the opposite sex. While no color pigmentation has been preserved in the fossil remains of Ceratopsids, it's not unreasonable to suggest that they may have been very colorful, like many reptiles and birds are today

Albertaceratops Beak Centrosaurinae Cerapoda Ceratopsid Colorful Frill Grazing Horned Megafauna Nesmoi Ornithischia Roaming Spiked

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