page_title: Triceratops
section_title: Dentition and diet
hierarchical_section_title: Triceratops / Paleobiology / Dentition and diet
caption_attribution_description: English: Skull of Triceratops with visible teeth in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Vienna)
context_page_description: Triceratops was a huge herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur from the late Cretaceous. Its name came from having three horns on its head. They were mainly found in North America. As adults, they grew up to 30 feet long by 9 feet tall, and probably weighed around 5,400 kg.
  Triceratops was a low browser with a bony beak in front of its jaws. The jaws had close-set grinding teeth. Its defence had to stand up to attacks from taller theropods, hence the bony shield which covered its neck. Holes made by teeth have been found on the bony frill behind the horns, and on the sacrum.
  Many fossils of Triceratops have been collected since the genus was first described in 1889. There is at least one complete individual skeleton. Paleontologist John Scannella observed: "It is hard to walk out into the Hell Creek Formation and not stumble upon a Triceratops weathering out of a hillside". Forty-seven complete or partial skulls were discovered in just that area during the decade 2000–2010. Specimens showing life stages from hatchling to adult have been found.
context_section_description: Triceratops were herbivorous, and because of their low head, their primary food was probably low growth, although they may have been able to knock down taller plants with their horns, beak, and bulk. The jaws were tipped with a deep, narrow beak, good for grasping and plucking.
  Triceratops teeth were arranged in groups called batteries, of 36 to 40 tooth columns, in each side of each jaw with 3 to 5 stacked teeth per column, depending on the size of the animal. This gives a range of 432 to 800 teeth, of which only a fraction were in use at any given time (tooth replacement was continuous and occurred throughout the life of the animal). The great size and numerous teeth of Triceratops suggests that they ate large volumes of fibrous plant material, such as palms and cycads.
caption: Close up of the jaws and teeth
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