28 Days Of Dinosauria - 17

[swordznsorcery]

Day 17: From Mongolia in the late Cretaceous (around 73 million years ago), Protoceratops andrewsii was an early horned ceratopsid. Unlike its cousins, such as Triceratops and Styracasaurus, it was just a little thing, and far less horny. Specimens have had a tendency to be found en masse, which suggests that they were social creatures. They were also very cute. (Or at least, I think so!)

There's a very famous Protoceratops skeleton found apparently locked in mortal combat with a Velociraptor, which suggests that Velociraptor either preyed on Protoceratops, or - probably more likely - tried to attack their nests. This has led to Protoceratops gaining some notoriety in a world that generally prefers large predators over small herbivores.

Here's a picture of a Protoceratops watching over a hatching nest of its chicks, drawn by Rod Ruth.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

Ah, a dinosaur I know! That's a very good picture, thank you.

[swordznsorcery]

I love Rod Ruth's dinosaur paintings. At the time that he was drawing dinosaurs (early seventies), everybody else was drawing these lumbering beasts that could barely stand upright, let alone chase each other. Ruth painted dynamic animals that looked like they could move!

[howsmyenglish]

really nice picture!

[swordznsorcery]

It is, isn't it. :)

[dimity_blue]

Aewe! Poor, devoted Protoceratops! I know them by sight - undoubtedly from some pretty awful dinosaur film. They are rather cute.

Don't mind me. I'm just catching up.

[swordznsorcery]

Read carefully. There may be a test later. ;)

[dimity_blue]

I can't even read my own comments carefully. That weird looking beginning was meant to be Awww.

[swordznsorcery]

That's alright. We'll just blame the whisky. :)