Triceratops Never Existed On Earth – Torosaurus Dinosaur

By: Bill Waters
08/08/2010 07:39 AM ET

Triceratops never existed on Earth. This is because scientists believe it was a younger version of the torosaurus dinosaur. Triceratops were never on Earth because they didn’t have its own distinct species.

John Scannella and Jack Horner have discovered that the triceratops may never have been its own distinct species, but rather the juvenile form of another dinosaur, the torosaurus. “Triceratops had three facial horns and a short, thick neck-frill with a saw-toothed edge. Torosaurus also had three horns, though at different angles, and a much longer, thinner, smooth-edged frill with two large holes in it,” the recent report stated.

“So it’s not surprising that Othniel Marsh, who discovered both in the late 1800s, considered them to be separate species,” the report said. Scannella and Horner feel that there is a clear transition from triceratops into torosaurus as the animals grow older. For example, the oldest specimens of triceratops show a marked thinning of the bone where torosaurus has holes, suggesting they are in the process of becoming fenestrated.

This theory explains why only adult torosaurus fossils have ever been uncovered. According to New Scientist, “torosaurus will now be abolished as a species and specimens reassigned to triceratops.” Just when we thought there was another species.