Talk:Triceratops

Template:WP1.0

OK, what else to smarten up this page?

Votes on getting the portrait of OC Marsh?

PS: Some of the drawings from the original 1907 monographs would be cool and they'd be way out of copyright.Cas Liber 06:45, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

The image shows horns nearly the length of the man's height. The text describes them as 1m long.

Relation?

Is the rhinoceros a descendant of triceratops?--70.189.248.92 00:46, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

No, Triceratops had no descendants. It was the last of the Ceratopsians, a group of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were reptiles. The rhinoceros is related to tapir-like animals, and is a mammal, jut like you and me. :) --

Firsfron of Ronchester 02:22, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

Recent discoveries show that dinosaurs were NOT actually reptiles. They were warm-blooded and had 4-chambered hearts. (Reptiles, on the other hand, are cold-blooded and, with the exception of some in the Order Crocodilia, have 3-chambered hearts.) We know this because the outline of a Tyrannasaurus rex heart was found in one very well preserved fossil a few years ago. According to Natural History Magazine (and yes it is affiliated with the Natural History Museum), the animals we call birds are not merely descendant from dinosaurs, but ARE in fact present day dinosaurs. So, I think Wiki should check outside sources on that class taxon. Based on that fact from Natural History Magazine, these ancient monsters should be considered early members of the Class Aves. You are right about the part where rhinos are not descended from Triceratops. The Classes Aves and Mammalia diverged separately from the Class Reptilia. Rhinos are mammals, not birds, so you're right on that part. -The Mysterious El Willstro 71.173.60.135 (talk) 04:47, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

N-O! Dora Nichov 09:38, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

I laughed... priceless. Pissedpat 20:54, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

To Do List

Probaly better listed here than on collaboration page as the other is time limited. Cas Liber 03:19, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

• Need bit on posture in paleobiology much discussion on this historically. Cas Liber 03:29, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
• Should we be removing bulleting from 'Depiction in popular media'?

Genders

The female Triceratops has a smaller neck frill than the male Triceratops. Punk18

Cite? ;) Dinoguy2 00:33, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Teeth

There is a mention of Triceratops teeth being among the most abundant fossils in the Late Cretaceous Period of Western North America, I have seen references on Ebay selling triceratops teeth a having been "shed". Has anyone who has studied this dinosaur at a more academic level then ebay (snicker) come across a reference to it shedding teeth once they were wore and growing them back? I have read that many dinosaurs had the ability like many of todays animals to grow back lost teeth, to shedding of worn teeth, has anyone heard of that?Pissedpat 20:54, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Scientists can tell by looking at the dinsaurs teeth, what it ate. Since it was on all fours, that can conclude that it must have eaten low-lying vegatation, like ferns. It seems also that it would have been able to graze on some tough plants because it has a tough beak. I'm wondering(since it lived in the late Cretaceous period) did it get used to the modern-day plants that were evolving with its tough beak that it had? Also, how can scientists conclude what specific vegatation it ate if it had no teeth? What I mean is that with teeth they could conclude specific plants they ate by looking at what kind of teeth it had, if it was really blunt, or a little sharp, but Triceratops had a beak?--Dinonerd4488 (talk) 22:49, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

I too have seen Triceratops teeth on Ebay(what the heck, I might as well buy one!). Yes, Triceratops had a beak and teeth, but I have never heard of them shedding teeth. I can't imagine that the people on Ebay really know what they're talking about, so someone should check. Paleo Kid (talk) 19:05, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Posture

I started a small section on posture, and added a ref in the links section... does anyone have historical references or pictures to clarify? Sphenacodon 9:44, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

By the way, does any research give a hint if Triceratops dragged its tail behind, or kept it clear of the ground (and how high)? Many modern reconstructions of other dinosaur species show the latter, but perhaps T. was different? --62.143.122.76 22:25, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Triceratops is the next collaboration

(Subpage here). Diffs.

• Status: Article status unknown.

Support:

1. M&NCenarius 05:13, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
2. ArthurWeasley 03:28, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
3. Sphenacodon 07:25, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
4. Cas Liber 14:17, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
5. Dinoguy2 22:25, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Comments:

• One of the most famous dinosaurs. M&NCenarius 05:13, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
• Lots of materials. General cleanup and references needed but hey, this is one of the public's favorite! ArthurWeasley 03:28, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
• Everyone likes Triceratops. Plus, there's lots of stuff out there on the animal. Sphenacodon 07:25, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
• A really close decision but I think this is the most able to be brought up to FA standard currently. Cas Liber 14:17, 14 December 2006 (UTC)
• I don't have any papers on it, but there are dozens, and it's one of the most well known dinosaurs, to science and to the public. I'll help out where I cam :) Dinoguy2 22:25, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

To-do list

Above are the comments for the second-time round nomination to hopefully get it up to FA candidacy..Now for a to-do list........Cas Liber 04:27, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

I dunno, but comparing it to Stegosaurus, I think the Paleobiology and Popular Culture sections are robust. The Discovery and History could use beefing up (someone who has Dodson's book could expand on the species and lineage hypotheses of the pre-1980s, and how that got translated to discussions of age, sexual dimorphism, and individual variation). Also, it would be nice to have a sentence or two on the various nomina dubia (what they're based on, formation and location, and that's about it). J. Spencer 17:50, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

The other thing is synthesising a description subheading straight after the intro; this was something I never did when initially expanding dino entries but other FACs have all had them and the reviewers seem to think them necessary.Cas Liber 06:07, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

There are a ton of lists in this article. Since the reviewers hate lists, those have got to be turned into paragraphs of lovely prose. Also, the pop culture section needs some serious pruning. Firsfron of Ronchester 06:53, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

I moved the culture section into a new article. No point mixing fiction trivia with actual information on the dinosaur (c.f. astronomical articles like Vega or Europa (moon)).--JyriL ^talk 22:36, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

OK, a Description seems to have been beneficial, if not essential, to get dino articles to FAs. I have rejigged and made one. Needs some work though Cas Liber 23:56, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I've begun a Classification bit (like on the Stegosaurus page) which shoudl get an origins bit undeneath. Will do more later Cas Liber 07:07, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

References

the book "The Dinosaur Heresies" has some interesting facts and figures about Triceratop's running speed. this can be a good source. however, i do not have this book. i don't know how i can use this as a reference. ISBN is 0140100555 Author: Robert T. Bakker. --RebSkii 16:38, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that. I'm sure one of us has it Cas Liber 19:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Final to-do list pre FAC

OK guys, what now? It is looking alot better. Cas Liber 08:11, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

• Peer Review (?)
• rearrange images (?)

(images): how about a left-right-left-right (so-on and so forth) formating? i'm not a fan of right-only or left-only images format. --RebSkii 17:53, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

• the automated review says no links in headings (nomina dubia subheading) but I feel this is only a subheading and helps explain as the link is nowhere else in the text. What say others? Cas Liber 21:36, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

If we explained it like that, we might be able to get away with it.

In general, the article seems a little short, but darned if I can find anything specifically wrong with it. It hits all the important topics. Maybe this is just the length it's supposed to be. J. Spencer 21:56, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I think we should try to avoid technical terms like nomina dubia in headings. Maybe we could remove it from the heading, and include text immediately afterword to the effect of "the following species are considered nomina dubia ("dubious names"), and are based on remains that are too poor or incomplete to be distinguished from pre-existing Triceratops species." Especially in a featured article, a little blurb like that would help to readers understand some of the reasons these species are not valid. Dinoguy2 22:32, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Brilliant Cas Liber 22:41, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

In terms of lengthening, maybe adding something about some of the fragmentary teeth that were probably Triceratops found before 1889? Cas Liber 22:44, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Length of dino FAS as of Jan 18 2007:

• Triceratops = 27.8 kB (3964 words) - comparison

---

• Stegosaurus = 36.5 kB (5328 words)
• Diplodocus = 30.5 kB (4474 words)
• Tyrannosaurus = 57.0 kB (8268 words)
• Velociraptor = 28.4 kB (4016 words)
• Dinosaur = 67.3 kB (9682 words)
• Albertosaurus = 21.2 kB (2996 words)
• Psittacosaurus = 22.8 kB (3159 words)

---

Note the last 3 were granted FA status some time ago now. Would folks have wanted them longer now? Cas Liber 05:51, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't thnk we should pad it to get to a specified length. The one thing I'd like to see added is a bit on "what" it's thought to have been eating. J. Spencer 05:59, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

subheadings are also headings. i agree with rewording Nomina dubia with a less technical term. also, the caption in one of images says: Juvenile and adult skulls — the juvenile is about the size of an adult human head i only see a single skull in that particular image, does that mean the adult and the young's skull is the same (in size or everything) also, there is a dangling modifier in the statement that followed. Does that mean that the specie (the young ones) is only as small (or big) as a human head? i'll try to reword it if no one objects. --RebSkii 16:39, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you may be missing something there--the juvenile skull is directly in front of the frill of the adult skull. It's a bit more brownish in color and has those stubby little horns. Dinoguy2 16:52, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

seen it. thanks. --RebSkii 18:22, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

OK - have added a bit on diet - the last bit of the function of frills and horns subheading bugs me but I can't visualise how to write it currently.Cas Liber 19:27, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Comment on references: Some of the references seem to be formatted slightly differently than others. For example, on the years:

^ Marsh, O.C. (1889b). Notice of gigantic horned Dinosauria from the Cretaceous. American Journal of Science 38:173-175.

^ Ostrom, J. H., and P. Wellnhofer. 1986. The Munich specimen of Triceratops with a revision of the genus. Zitteliana 14: 111 - 158.

I know some of these are books, some journals, but this shows both books and journals with the year following the author's name in parenthesis. Firsfron of Ronchester 23:49, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

OK, all years parenthesized and all vols bolded. Never know hwat to do with the page 'pp' thingies....Cas Liber 00:15, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. I would have done it myself, but wasn't exactly sure it really was right. I didn't want to mess anything up, ya know! :) Firsfron of Ronchester 00:31, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

So whaddya reckon- have a tilt now or can you see other things to fix......Cas Liber 00:33, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I've just finished fixing some italics/puntuation issues, but the article looks fine to me. Firsfron of Ronchester 00:42, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

On a second glance, the lead is still a little short. Does our current lead really summarize the entire rest of the article? It doesn't really look like it. Firsfron of Ronchester 00:45, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I was starting to think that on a final look. Do you wanna have a play with it or shall I...(gotta make some lunch now)Cas Liber 00:47, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll work on it. Happy lunching! :) Firsfron of Ronchester 01:11, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Right. It's a bit longer now, with stuff that wasn't summarized now included. J. Spencer helped me refine it a bit. What do you think? Firsfron of Ronchester 02:54, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

OK - I just tweaked the last bit of the horn/frill function subsection. There is one isolated sentence hanging about sound amplification which I can't figure where to put - its just sort of hanging there. Otherwise I'm happy with the intro and the rest. Its comprehensive, easy to read, well laid out and (obviously) neutral....Cas Liber 05:08, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Right - had another look and was able to combine the sentence on noise with thermoregulation as a preamble to talking about display. I'm happy now - let's nominate Cas Liber 05:15, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

In popular media

This whole section is inadequate, covering only the last couple decades. In its current form, it's just better to remove the entire section, rather than claim that the section is representative of "the depiction of triceratops in popular media". — BRIAN0918 • 2007-03-20 13:40Z

I disagree. The section is just that: a section: a full article is elsewhere. There is no "claim" that the section is a comprehensive representation of Triceratops in popular culture, since the main article is on a separate page. Firsfron of Ronchester 17:18, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

For giggles, but also as a caveat, you may with to see the "unicorn" entry on Conservapedia. It may appear familiar. Palmd001 03:14, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Lead sentence

Shouldn't it be "The Triceratops was a..." instead of just "Triceratops was a..." While perhaps, grammatically correct, the current version sounds awkward. Aaron Bowen 01:58, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Triceratops is a genus-level animal, just like Homo. It sounds a bit strange to me to say "The homo sapiens was..." Firsfron of Ronchester 02:02, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

It seems like "The ____" is used mainly with common names. For example, Rhinoceros is both a genus name and common name. Its article opens with "The rhinoceros", lower case. I agree that "The Rhinoceros" sounds and looks a little odd (it's kind of an archaic usage, I think), so I'd say the same applies for fossil genera. Dinoguy2 02:51, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

If this was an article about one Triceratops, then yes, that would make more sense. :) Sheep81 04:39, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Naming explanation

I'm surprised this has made featured article. The leading paragraph goes over the name twice straight after each other. Surely this is overkill and unecessary - once should be enough for anyone.

Perhaps it would read better as:

It was discovered in late 1893 by esteemed and world renowned paleontologist Robby Lewis. Bearing a large bony frill and three horns on its large four-legged body, and conjuring similarities with the modern rhinoceros, Triceratops is one of the most recognizable of all dinosaurs. Triceratops was named after the three horns on its head. The name literally means "three-horned face", and is derived from the Greek tri/τρι- meaning "three", ceras/κέρας meaning "horn", and -ops/ωψ meaning "face".[2]

Question

I have a question. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.218.156.193 (talk) 13:57, 21 March 2007 (UTC).

The answer is 42. Raul654 14:08, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

what if his question was "why did the dinosaurs die out" and that is clearly "Because you Touch ourself at night" but seriously, what be thy question.--DiogenesTheHobo 03:44, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

Fix this

im not sure how to do it, but can someone remove the bob was here!!!!!!!! thing found under Description i can't find where it is int he page source, and it's annoying —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.151.13.8 (talk) 16:15, 21 March 2007 (UTC).

Deleting unscientific external link

Done very well, but one thing isn't of prime quality: the link called "Dinosaur skull picture" which leads to mantyweb.com. They plea for young earth creationism and pretend the triceratops (alongside other dinosaurs) was "alive sometime in the last 6000 years". As this article on triceratops is a scientific and not a religious one, I'll now stop buking and laughing simultaneuosly and simply delete this link. I dont have an english wikepedia account yet: [1] on the german wikipedia. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.65.172.73 (talk) 16:24, 21 March 2007 (UTC).

"Ceratopsid" v "ceratopsian"?

E.g., in "one of the last ~s to appear before the X extinction event," the one in the summary has it one way, and the one later in the article has it the other way. Obviously article titles in references should be as they are in the original, but for the many mentions in this article, which is appropriate? I'm thinking ceratopsid, based on "ceratopsidae," and the fact that the more-visible summary bears that version of the word. 71.191.51.134 02:48, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Ceratopsian refers to the infraorder Ceratopsia, which includes more than just the Ceratopsidae, a family. Either work, because it was one of the last dinosaurs in either classification. We may want to standardize, though. Using ceratopsians is a bit more dramatic because it's a larger group. J. Spencer 04:23, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

"Clarification"

I changed the "It was one of the last dinosaurs to appear before the great.." to "This genus was one amongst the last dinosaurs to appear before the great..." because it confused me to no end - it appeared to me as if suddenly article is about a species, not a genus. If somebody thinks I'm in the wrong, please correct me. Thank you. --Branislav Jovanovic 12:02, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

The word species wasn't mentioned, so I'm not sure why there would be confusion at all. I'm also not sure "one amongst the dinosaurs" is grammatically correct. Firsfron of Ronchester 19:15, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

At the time of the FAC, I also voiced concerns about it switching from discussing species to genus. Looks like I wasn't entirely unjustified. Circeus 20:51, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Concern was justified as it is unclear how many species are in the genus. However, the change as written by User:BraneJ was awkward so I simply added "genera" after "dinosaur" to clarify the sentence. Sheep81 04:37, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Image

Permission has been granted for this image by Karen Carr; famous wildlife and natural history artist. If you are interested. --Random Replicator 23:31, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

File:Triceratops and nest.jpg

Species in description

Could it be possible to have a description of both species in the description/anatomy section and more specifically, what (we think) differentiated them from each other? Shrumster (talk) 06:08, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Evidence of Combat in Triceratops

Article currently states: "In addition to combat with predators using horns, Triceratops are classically shown engaging each other in combat with horns locked. While studies show that such activity would be feasible, if unlike that of present-day horned animals,[45] there is no evidence that they actually did so."

But now there appears to be, and we can use the images from there in the article as well: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004252 FunkMonk (talk) 20:11, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

About what is said about The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs programme

While the "Functions of the horns and frill" section makes an excellent case against the reliability of the Triceratops crash test, it also contains an utter lie about what was done with T.rex skull:

The fact that the show also justified the bite strength of a Tyrannosaurus rex by constructing a replica skull out of steel rather than the pseudo-bone resin of the Triceratops skull with piston driven jaws further casts doubt on the experimental viability of the entire programme.

In the programme, T.rex's bite force was calculated first and only after was realized the necessary strength of the bone which nowadays could only be replicated by using steel. In other words, the program justified the steely skull by the bite strength and not the other way round. Thus the whole "further casts doubt on the experimental viability of the entire programme" is an unjustified generalization, and I would have it changed.

, Please.

All right; it's removed. J. Spencer (talk) 02:31, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Torosaurus section

There is now a section about the proposed synonymy of Triceratops and Torosaurus, but shouldn't this wait until the actual paper is published so there is something valid to cite? FunkMonk (talk) 03:50, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

While I think it's preferable to cite the published paper rather than a news article reporting the paper's findings, in this case I think the ScienceDaily article was pretty accurate (few glaring errors stuck out to me). Once the paper's out we should cite it; meanwhile I've completed the reference. Firsfron of Ronchester 05:24, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

.As noted on Dinoguy's blog[2], the AMNH Triceratops is a chimaera of Torosaurus and Triceratops (or rather missing parts have been restored to look like Triceratops), so shouldn't the image be removed or have an explanation in the caption? It seems that the skull in the taxobox and the skeleton at the Senckenberg Museum are based on this mount too, is that correct? FunkMonk (talk) 00:35, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

The Senckenberg mount does look like it may be a cast of the AMNH mount, at least the skull. The one in the taxobox though looks like a different specimen and is a bit more Triceratops like in the frill. Though it may be reconstructed based on the AMNH skull's frill, but it's hard to tell at this angle. It isn't very wide;y flaring but also doesn't have the heart-shaped 'kink' at the top.

I don't think we should perform any OR in regards to the jumbled skull reconstructions pulling bits and pieces from different ontogenetic stages of Triceratops/Torosaurus just yet. But I certainly wouldn't use the AMNH skull as a scientific example of the species. It's an historical reconstruction, like the Brontosaurus with the blunt skull or the furcula-less, wide-shouldered T. rex. Really, I suspect far more mounts have little problems like this than we think. Virtually all museum mounts are composite specimens and/or extensively reconstructed based on educated guesses, often the educated guesses of the early 1900s. Dinoguy2 (talk) 15:50, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

This has been talked about on science daily, so I think that it should be made known. Paleo Kid (talk) 19:00, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, the paper is out now. MMartyniuk (talk) 23:53, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

I sense heated controversy among my own paleo friends outside of Wikipedia-- This being an encyclopedia, it would make sense to consider both viewpoints. Do Scannella and Horner say this is a theory or do they claim it as "fact"? If they claim it as fact, we may need to duke it out between ourselves and decide who is correct or compensate, but if it is merely a suggestion, I say we leave the article "as is", stating that's it's a theory. Bob the Wikipedian ^{(talk • contribs)} 22:54, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

There's no such thing as a "fact" in science, so I'm not sure what you mean... people produce an hypothesis, present their evidence for it, then it's up to others to either support or refute it. The paper just came out a few days ago, so clearly nobody has had a chance to respond. All we can do is report who said what. It's not our job to take sides either way. If several new papers come out supporting the hypothesis, or accepting it without comment, we can take more action. But it's two soon to tell how widely accepted this will become. As for other viewpoints, nobody has published any yet, so for our purposes they don't exist, only the older sources treating them as distinct species without question. MMartyniuk (talk) 23:39, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Ah, so there's no "debate" until an opposing viewpoint gets published, then. Makes sense to me. So at this point, what action gets taken? I stopped by the juvenile pachy pages and noticed they said very little about the recent findings and seemed to imply the genera were still valid, so is that what will happen with [i]Torosaurus[/i] and [i]Nedoceratops[/i]? Bob the Wikipedian ^{(talk • contribs)} 23:44, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, I went ahead and added them as possible synonyms, and began discussing the paper in the Torosaurus section. If someone wants to flesh out the arguments Scannella presents, that would be good too. I can do it later if I have time. As for the pachies, that's probably how it should be right now. I don't think any further papers reviewing pachycephalosaur diversity or ontogeny have been published since Horners, so they're in the same place as they were a year ago. Who knows how long it will be until a consensus emerges. Science moves slowly ;) See also Baryonyx/Suchomimus/Cristatusaurus/Suchosaurus, which are all almost certainly the same thing and that's been suggested in print, but with no frther support or refutation so far. MMartyniuk (talk) 23:47, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

If there is some kind of consensus in the end, all agree on merging the articles, right? By the way, does the paper touch on the prorsus/horridus distinction? FunkMonk (talk) 19:21, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Touched on , yes. Thy retain both as distinct species and hint the two are chronologically separated. But it will be addressed more fully in a future paper. MMartyniuk (talk) 04:32, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

In the event of scientific consensus (which is unlikely in the near future), SUPPORT. I would imagine it should; I wish I had it at my disposal. Bob the Wikipedian ^{(talk • contribs)} 00:57, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

Herbivory

Changed reference in lead to T. as omnivorous to herbivorous, in accordance with article text. No reference to possible non-herbivory in article. AFAIK, the standard consensus is currently that T. was herbivorous. If anybody wants to add mention of hypotheses to the contrary, please cite. Thanks. -- Writtenonsand (talk) 21:21, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Skin

Looks like "bristly" skin has been discovered. Anyone know the details? kwami (talk) 23:16, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

There is a Triceratops mummy being worked on, but probably won't be described for a while yet. The belly scales are wide, squared-off bands like the belly of a croc. The back has small scales normal to dinosaurs interpersed with larger ones that bear central nubs. One speculation not really supported by anything as of now is that these nubs represent the base of quills like in Psittacosaurus. But it's only speculation right now. Dinoguy2 (talk) 23:23, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Wow...can't wait till something's published... :) Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:01, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't know much about the bristles myself, but the community I spend most of my time discussing such matters with has been strongly advocating these bristles now for about a year and a half now. We usually refer to and portray them as "quills", mildly comparable to those of a porcupine, but a soft sort of quill. I'll have to ask the guys and see what other information they can volunteer on the subject. Of course, the information hasn't been published, to my knowledge...one of the guys claims a paleontologist gave him the scoop a few years ago. Like I said, I'll ask around. Exciting, really. Bob the Wikipedian ^{(talk • contribs)} 23:51, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Why would someone strongly advocate for something based on nothing but a two-line rumor posted on the internet? ;) It is on interesting possibility but personally, I'd like to see or hear about some kind of actual evidence first. MMartyniuk (talk) 02:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)

A decent question deserves a decent answer-- the community I belong to is the Spore "Lords of the Past" community, where members design dinosaur models for the Spore video game. You'll find most ceratopsians produced by our members have quills. Anyway, you can see our discussion of it here if you'd like to learn what we've learned about it (posts 3-11 are irrelevant to the discussion, but it gets back on topic after that). The paper hasn't been published yet. (You changing your name, Dinoguy?) Bob the Wikipedian ^{(talk • contribs)} 17:45, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Yup, can't think of any reason not to use my real name ;) MMartyniuk (talk) 23:18, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Lead image

Wouldn't it be better to use an image of a complete skeleton rather than just the skull in the taxobox? I just cropped this one from an existing diorama image, for example, which gives a good view of the skull profile as well as most of the body.[3]. Some areas seem slightly blurred but it probably wouldn't be evident in the thumbnail version on the page. MMartyniuk (talk) 02:11, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

I agree. FunkMonk (talk) 13:10, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

The image has now been changed again, but it seems that most of the available full body images show incorrect splayed front-leg posture? Are there any Triceratops mounts with correct front legs? FunkMonk (talk) 19:20, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Diceratus

J. Spencer wrote in an edit summary: "does Diceratus need to be in the box? - it's just an unneeded replacement for Diceratops, after all"

Right, but an unnecessary synonym is still a synonym. And synonym A of taxon B becomes a synonym of taxon C if B is sunk into C. In short, there'll all Triceratops, man! MMartyniuk (talk) 07:53, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Reference to broken DOI

A reference was recently added to this article using the Cite DOI template. The citation bot tried to expand the citation, but could not access the specified DOI. Please check that the DOI doi:10.1080/02724634.2010.483632 has been correctly entered. If the DOI is correct, it is possible that it has not yet been entered into the CrossRef database. Please complete the reference by hand here. The script that left this message was unable to track down the user who added the citation; it may be prudent to alert them to this message. Thanks, Citation bot 2 (talk) 19:32, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

 Done The DOI is right but the bot didn't work. Smartse (talk) 19:43, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

BBC documentary

This was in the article, but hidden - it isn't the way to raise a point regarding sourcing, so I'm moving it here. It is talking about whether or not the article should use a BBC article as a source:

If you want to use this 'documentary' as evidence for a certain behaviour then don't leave out the flaws in the experiment. This particular paragraph uncritically uses this 'documentary' as evidence dspite the obvious flaws in the methodology. There is no counter claim against the 'findings' in this 'documentary' and thus can lead the reader to thinking this is an accurate conclusion, which given how it was conducted and the general method of the experiments, is not.

Smartse (talk) 19:37, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Page needs to stay named Triceratops, not changed to Torosaurus

I can't post the link because for some reason examiner dot com is blacklisted, but here's an excerpt:

"Since the name Triceratops is two years older than Torosaurus, and the two genera of dinosaurs are the same, the older name takes priority according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN). In short, the name that was published first is the valid name, if different growth stages are present which one represents an adult form is irrelevant." FinalWish (talk) 02:05, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Where has it been proposed it should be moved? FunkMonk (talk) 02:38, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Didn't Exist

Scientist now think Triceratops didn't exist. Check out news for it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.94.244.79 (talk) 04:40, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Reporters now have no idea what the scientists are trying to tell them. News at 11. MMartyniuk (talk) 05:41, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

Providing a link would help. --Topperfalkon (talk) 13:34, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

http://www.newser.com/story/97112/triceratops-never-existed.html They think it was just a young version of Torosaurus24.94.244.79 (talk) 15:13, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

"Torosauruses"? FunkMonk (talk) 07:36, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

"Read less. Know more." Indeed. mgiganteus1 (talk) 10:57, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

You can't believe everything you read in newspaper headlines. Scientists aren't stupid. If a scientist observes a caterpillar developing into a butterfly, does that mean it's a good idea to write an article that says scientists think caterpillars don't exist?Gary (talk) 17:04, 4 August 2010 (UTC)