Untitled Document
 Recently, a unique dinosaur
was put on display at a museum
in Canada. The dinosaur is called Eotriceratops xerinsularis. It is
an ancestor of the Triceratops.
The Triceratops was a three-horned plant-eater.
The Triceratops is believed to be 66 million years old. But this specimen goes back 68 million
years.
The specimen was found in 2001 in Alberta, Canada. The parts of the
skull and skeleton were found in a
20-meter-thick layer from an era that doesn't yield a lot of dinosaur bones
in Alberta. "It was an unlikely find," said
Dave Eberth, senior research scientist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum
in Alberta.
The dinosaur's skull is the size of a small car! When found, the skull
was broken into about 45 pieces. It took scientists at Alberta's Royal
Tyrrell Museum five years to assemble the bones.
"It looked a lot like Triceratops, but turned out to be a more
primitive version,"
said Eberth. "It's also bigger than any Triceratops found in
Alberta. And the skull is a 'monster' at three meters long!" |
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