Episode 154 is all about Protoceratops, a ceratopsian whose name means “first horned face.”

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In this episode, we discuss:

News:

The dinosaur of the day: Protoceratops

Ceratopsian that lived in the Cretaceous in what is now Mongolia

Name means “first horned face”

Described in 1923 by Walter W. Granger and William King Gregory

James Blaine Shackelford, a photographer, first found Protoceratops in the Gobi Desert in 1922, as part of an American expedition led by Roy Chapman Andrews looking for the ancestors of humans (they didn’t find any human fossils, but Andrews collected a lot of Protoceratops fossils (as well as Velociraptor, Oviraptor, and Psittacosaurus)

Type species is Protoceratops andrewsi

Species name is in honor of Roy Chapman Andrews

Two species: Protoceratops andrewsi, Protoceratops hellenikorhinus

Protoceratops hellenikorhinus was named in 2001. It lived around the same time and place as Protoceratops andrewsi, but it had a slightly different frill, more robust horns, and was a lot larger. Also had two small nasal horns and no teeth at the front of its snout

Teresa Maryanska and Halszka Osmólska described another species, Protoceratops kozlowskii in 1975, though the fossils they described were from an incomplete juvenile, and is now thought to be synonymous with Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi

At first thought to be the “long sought ancestor of Triceratops”

Part of Protoceratopsidae (early horned dinosaurs)

Had some primitive traits and was smaller than later ceratopsians

About 6 ft (1.8 m) long

Adults could weigh about 400 lb (180 kg)

Many Protoceratops was the same size as modern sheep

Known as the sheep of the Cretaceous, because it was so common (Anthony J. Martin has called them “Mesozoic Mutton”)

Nicholas Longrich said that Protoceratops has often been found in an upright position, so they may have been standing in tunnels when they died (which means they may have burrowed); also would make sense for why so many Protoceratops have been found, being underground meant they were less likely to be scavenged

Roy Chapman Andrews found fossilized eggs in Mongolia in the 1920s that were thought to be Protoceratops, but turned out to be Oviraptor (talked about this in episode 78, Oviraptor, where scientists first thought that Oviraptor ate Protoceratops eggs)

In 1971, a Velociraptor fighting a Protoceratops was found in Mongolia (they probably died by a sand storm or had a sand dune collapse on top of them)

In 2011, a nest of 15 young Protoceratops andrewsi was found in Mongolia (the first Protoceratops nest found); shows that Protoceratops may have cared for their young, at least early on (other ceratopsians may have also cared for their young, since Protoceratops is a basal member)

Probably incubated for at least 83 days, based on studies of the lines of growth in teeth in embryo Protoceratops andrewsi

Protoceratops was the first dinosaur found preserved with footprints (one found in 1965 and studied in 2011), the footprint was right under the skeleton

Quadrupedal, had a large beak, for cropping vegetation

Had pointy cheek bones (epijugals)

Had powerful jaw muscles to slice through plants

Had a large skull

Had large orbits (probably large eyes)

Had sclerotic rings in the eyes

May have been cathemeral

Had a large neck frill, probably used for display (could also have been to protect the neck, anchor the jaw muscles, though the frill was probably too fragile)

Frill had two large holes

The size and shape of the frill differed among individuals (some had short frills, others had frills about half the length of their skulls); possibly due to age and sexual dimorphism

May have lived in herds

Adrienne Mayor, a folklorist and science historian, suggested that Scythian nomads who mined gold may have found Protoceratops and other dinosaurs with beaks, which may have led to the myth of the griffin (lion sized, with large claws, a beak, and laid eggs); Greek writers first described the griffin around 675 B.C. when the Greeks first came into contact with Scythian nomads

Not everyone agrees, since Griffin anatomies are of modern animals (lion and eagle), there’s a variation of Griffin images and maybe written stories, which means there may have been multiple origins, ancient Greek writings don’t seem to have much reference to Protoceratops

Lived alongside Gallimimus, Velociraptor, Oviraptor, Tarbosaurus

Lived in a dry and arid habitat

Fun Fact:

From “The evolution of ornithischian quadrupedality” By Paul M. Barrett, Susannah C. R. Maidment

Within Ornithischia, quadrapedality evolved at least three times: in Ceratopsia, Thyreophora, and Hadrosauriformes. Each time required major anatomical changes to the forelimbs, hips, and hindlimb musculature.

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This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and exhibits. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs