Scientists are saying that the Triceratops dinosaur – you know, the three horned one – was actually a juvenile form of a Torosaurus, the three-horned dinosaur you don’t know. Apparently, dinosaurs’ skulls can shape-shift.
The scientists, John Scannella and Jack Horner, believe that the Torosaurus and Triceratops are actually of the same species. According to the scientists, as a Triceratops aged, its horns and frill became more similar to that of a Torosaurus. Short becomes long, saw-edged becomes smoothed and so on. Having them be the same species would explain why there were never any young Torosaurus fossils discovered.
The duo say 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
Scientists sure enjoy crushing my childhood memory of The Land Before Time (they nixed Brontosaurus a while back). Hopefully they won’t delete Triceratops too. [New Scientist via BoingBoing]
Jim
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 11:00 AMIt struck me a long time ago how Torosaurus looked like a somewhat more massive version of Triceratops.
Normally, whenever 2 named genera are found to be the same, whichever was named first would be assigned to the beast. Perhaps stage of maturity might trump this rule, but I doubt it.
Before determining that they’re the same genus, their respective ranges and time lived should be compared. If they overlap almost completely, then they’re probably the same genus. If there’s a significant difference between the two, then it is likely they are 2 different species if not genera, and one evolved into the other, or they may be related species that had the same ancestor. I know that both lived near the end of the Cretaceous as did a large proportion of the Ceratopsians.
JoSEP!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 1:34 PMTransformers! More than meets the eye!
Cody
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 12:46 AMSo there horns never played with long necks. Ruins The Land Before Time series….this is crappy
JackBells
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 1:03 AMjust listening to bbc world news and Dr Horner is talking about this topic that they are keeping “Triceratops” since “Torosaurus” was named after. so no-ones childhood dreams are being crushed really its still the same species it just changes a little when its older is all.
WHO CARES
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 4:27 AMTHERE ARE NO SUCH THINGS AS DINOSAURS
Culturally Insensitive
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 7:42 AMWell, at least they didn’t say the Easter Bunny never existed…..wait, what do you mean…..noooooooooooooo………
will
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 8:46 PMi think little jack horner should site in a corner, torosaurus never heard of it or read about it and ive read up on all dinosaurs that have been discovered and writen about and it sounds like a lot of bull
Dr Flim-Flam
Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 5:50 PMNone of these dinosaurs ever existed. Their “bones” were planted by Satan to decieve us, as the Earth according to the Bible is only about 15,000 years old, See Bishop of Armaugh.
Claudia D
Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 9:43 PMWell, Poopydrawers! I didn’t have kids either, but i’m real! I will always clap my hands and believe in Triceratops!!
Nunya Bizness
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 2:42 AM“What Bored Scientists ‘Discover’ When They Run Out of Things To Discover”
…
Either that or the researchers who made this announcement were doing some ‘chemical experiments’ while watching Jurassic Park.
Nadine
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 2:49 AMI stopped taking palentologists seriously when i saw one on discovery channel say that small members of the raptor species were ” built like ninjas “…
Michael
Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 5:34 PMBut I thought paleontologist’s had found found baby triceratops in herds with adult triceratops with no torosaurus’s around. Just the babys and the adults and the elderly ones. This can’t be possible.
Maverix
Friday, August 27, 2010 at 9:23 AMNext they will be saying black people are actually monkies that are fully evolved!