MONOCLONIUS
crassus
Monoclonius was a medium sized, early ceratopsian and an ornithischian
dinosaur, the order of bird-hipped dinosaurs. It was first described in
1876. The name Monoclonius means "thick single sprout" and refers to the
single root of the teeth. Its intelligence was intermediate among the
dinosaurs.
It was a herbivore, it probably ate palms, cycads and other plants. It could chew them well with its cheek teeth. Monoclonius was probably a
herding dinosaur and it was quite a slow-moving animal.
This one-horned animal walked on all four short legs with hoofed toes. It had a bulky body and a short thick tail. Its head was huge, with a small
frill on it, a single nose horn and two smaller horns over its eyes. Males
may have had larger frills than females; the frill may have been used for
mating purposes. Monoclonius held its head close to the ground. One nose
horn pointed to upwards. It had a short snout ending in a parrot-like. Its
tough, hook-like beak was toothless, but it had many cheek teeth.
LENGTH: 16.5-19.5 feet (5-6 m) long
WEIGHT: about 4780 pounds (2170 kg)
TIME
- Late Cretaceous - 76-73 MYA
RANGE -
USA-Montana & Canada-Alberta
SIZE
- 17 feet (15 meters)
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