Centrosaurus

What it was like

Centrosaurus was a horned dinosaur that grew to about 6 meters (20 feet) long, with a single long horn curving up from its nose and a pair of smaller hooked spikes along the edge of its bony frill. Its name refers to this pointed horn. Centrosaurus moved on four legs, cropped plants with a sharp beak, and ground tough vegetation with rows of shearing teeth further back in its jaws.

Its world

Centrosaurus lived across what is now Alberta, Canada, and neighboring parts of Montana and Colorado in the United States, from about 84 to 72 million years ago. Vast numbers of its bones have been found together in single bonebeds, suggesting that herds sometimes died together, perhaps while crossing a flooded river. It shared its world with hadrosaurs such as Corythosaurus, the armored Euoplocephalus, and predators including Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus.

How it was found

Lambe named Centrosaurus in 1905, and it is now known from about 57 separate fossil finds, making it one of the best represented horned dinosaurs. It is closely related to other large-horned ceratopsids such as Styracosaurus and Chasmosaurus.