Triceratops

Hello! My name is Triceratops. My name means ‘three-horned face,’ and it’s the perfect name for me because I have three of them. I have two very long horns right above my eyes and a smaller one on my nose. They were great for protection. I also have a giant, bony shield that spreads out from the back of my head. This is called a frill, and it worked like a big collar to protect my neck from danger. When I was very little, I hatched from an egg. Right away, I was part of a big family. We all lived together in a group called a herd. We would travel and eat together, and it always felt safe to have so many other Triceratops all around me, keeping watch.

I lived a very long time ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 67 million years ago. Triceratops lived in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, inhabiting environments that included forests and floodplains. There were so many yummy plants to eat! I was a plant-eater, which means I never ate meat. My favorite foods were tough, fibrous plants such as ferns, cycads, and palms. I had a very strong mouth that was shaped like a beak, which was perfect for snipping off tough stems and leaves. Life was mostly peaceful, but we always had to be careful. There was a very big predator who also lived in my forest: the Tyrannosaurus rex. When a T. rex came near, my herd and I would stand together. I would point my long horns forward, and my big frill made me look even larger and harder to attack. My horns and frill were my best defense and helped keep me safe.

My time on Earth was wonderful, but my journey came to an end around 66 million years ago. A great big change happened to our world, and it happened very quickly. The sky grew dark, as if a giant, dusty cloud was covering the sun, and it stayed that way for a very long time. Plants need sunlight to grow, so without the sun, many of the ferns and flowers that I needed for food couldn't grow anymore. The world became a much harder place to live. It was difficult to find enough to eat, and this made it very hard for me and many other dinosaurs to survive.

Even though my time was long ago, my story is not forgotten. I lived during the Cretaceous Period. Much, much later, in the late 1880s, people started finding my bones, which are called fossils. The very first horns from a Triceratops were discovered in 1887. Today, you don't have to dig to see me. You can visit a museum and see my giant skeleton standing tall. I am one of the most famous and beloved dinosaurs. My story helps remind everyone of a time when magnificent giants like me roamed the Earth, and I hope it makes you curious about the amazing history of our planet.