A large Triceratops that died 67 million years in the past left behind a near-complete skeleton that’s amongst the most intact ever found. Nicknamed “Horridus” after the species title (Triceratops horridus), the fossil, which is about 85% complete, made its public debut on March 12 at Melbourne Museum in Australia in the new exhibit “Triceratops: Destiny of the Dinosaurs,” representatives stated in an announcement.
Horridus was an herbivore, or plant-eating dinosaur, that lived throughout the Cretaceous interval (about 145 million to 66 million years in the past), and it grew to a formidable dimension. The fossil incorporates greater than 260 bones and weighs greater than 2,200 kilos (1,000 kilograms). It measures almost 23 toes (7 m) lengthy and stands over 6.6 toes (2 m) tall.
The cranium, which is 98% complete, is tipped with two slender horns at the forehead and a stubby horn atop the nostril. The neck frill spans 4.9 toes (1.5 m), and the cranium weighs about 575 kilos (261 kg). The fossil was found on personal land in Montana in 2014, and Museums Victoria — the Australian group that operates three state-owned museums in Melbourne — acquired the specimen in 2020, the museum introduced in December that 12 months.
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When Horridus arrived in Melbourne, it was in items in eight crates — some of which have been car-size, museum representatives stated. Fossil preparers measured, labeled and 3D-scanned every bone earlier than the skeleton was assembled for show. Whereas many articulated Triceratops skeletons are exhibited round the world, solely Horridus and a handful of others are made of bones that got here from one particular person animal, stated Erich Fitzgerald, a senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria in Australia.
“This is the Rosetta Stone for understanding Triceratops,” Fitzgerald stated in the 2020 assertion. “This fossil comprises hundreds of bones including a complete skull and the entire vertebral column, which will help us unlock mysteries about how this species lived 67 million years ago,” he stated.
In the exhibit, Horridus stands in a chamber with projections illuminating its bones. Scientists cannot say for certain if Horridus was male or feminine, however there’s a lot that researchers can be taught from its near-complete skeleton about Triceratops evolution, biology and habits, Fitzgerald stated in the assertion.
“Being permanently housed at Melbourne Museum means this remarkable fossil will be accessible to science for generations to come,” he stated.
You possibly can see Horridus in particular person at Melbourne Museum, but when that is too distant you’ll be able to nonetheless look at the large dinosaur’s bones utilizing an interactive 3D digital mannequin on the museum’s web site.
Initially revealed on Reside Science.