The Most Complete Triceratops Dinosaur Fossil Finds Reveals Its Life in the Past All

KOMPAS.com – Fossil dinosaur plant eaters, Triceratops which died 67 million years ago is an important discovery for science, because it has an almost complete skeleton.

The fossil which was later named Horridus It has a more than 85 percent intact skeleton and a nearly complete and well-preserved skull and spine.

This makes the fossil of this iconic dinosaur one of the most complete fossils ever found.

Citing Live Science, Thursday (17/3/2022) Horridus is a herbivore that lived during the Cretaceous period, about 145 million to 66 million years ago.

They are capable of growing to impressive sizes. From the fossils found, researchers revealed there were more than 260 bones and they weighed more than 1000 kilograms. While the length of the body itself reaches 7 meters with a height of more than 2 meters.

Also read: How Long Can Dinosaur Eggs Hatch?

This fossil was discovered on private land in Montana, United States in 2014. Museum Victoria, an Australian organization that operates three museums in Melbourne, acquired the specimen in 2020.

Shipping to Melbourne was not easy because the fossils had to be separated in 8 crates, some of them the size of a car.

Before being exhibited for the first time in an exhibition ‘Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaur‘ at the Melbourne Museum, Australia, fossil builders must measure, label and scan each bone before the skeleton is assembled for display.

“This fossil consists of hundreds of bones including a complete skull and entire spine which will help us unlock the mystery of how this species lived 67 million years ago,” said Erich Fitzgerald, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria in Australia.

Scientists can’t say for sure whether Horridus was male or female, but there is much that researchers can learn from its nearly complete skeleton about the evolution, biology, and behavior of Triceratops.

To quote the New Atlas, fosil Triceratops can be well preserved because the environment in which fossils are found supports preservation.

According to researchers, unlike today’s burning barren land, Cretaceous Montana was a lush swamp forest. This environment is the key to how Horridus can then be well preserved.

Also read: Why Pterodactyls Are Not Including Dinosaurs?

“Triceratops was preserved in an ancient river channel, now part of the Hell Creek Formation,” explains Tim Ziegler, Melbourne Museum’s Vertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager.

But it seems Horridus did not die from the flood because according to Ziegler his bones were not scattered on the riverbed. But instead it was like a poor old animal that had just laid down and went to sleep.

This fossil will be permanently housed at the Melbourne Museum so that this extraordinary fossil can continue to be accessed by science and generations to come.

Also read: Amazing Dinosaur Videos in Mojosemi Magetan, These are 5 Facts about Triceratops Herbivores with a fierce face

Get updates news of choice and breaking news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram group “Kompas.com News Update”, how to click the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must first install the Telegram application on your cellphone.–