Aquilops looks different than other ceratopsians.

Aquilops was less than a meter (2 feet) long and weighed about 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds)-” about as much as a large bunny rabbit,” according to one paleontologist. Triceratops reached about 9 meters (30 feet) in length and weighed about 6 tons (13,000 pounds)- about the size of a bus. Aquilops is much smaller than most ceratopsians. Triceratops went extinct ( along with about three-quarters of life on Earth!) about 66 million years ago. Aquilops is the oldest ceratopsian discovered in North America, having lived more than 100 million years ago. According to the map, Triceratops and other ceratopsians “appear to have been the most numerous of dinosaurs.” So, what makes Aquilops so special? Review the map legend about ceratopsians, at the top of the map.Photograph by Alina Zienowicz, courtesy Wikimedia. This model of a Triceratops is part of the Jurassic Park Balts, a theme park in Balts, Poland. Photograph by Steve Raymer, National Geographic Why do you think the map nicknames this group of dinosaurs the “Rhino Dinos”?īlack rhinos, like this beauty in Aberdare National Park, Kenya, are critically endangered. Read the map legend about ceratopsians, at the top of the map.As of 1993, when the map was published, there was one other site in southern Montana where Early Cretaceous dinosaurs have been identified.According to the PLoS ONE study, the Aquilops americanus fossil was discovered in southern Montana.Using the same high-res map, where would you place your symbol for the Aquilops americanus fossil? Are there any other fossils from the Aquilops time period nearby?.Fossils from the Early Cretaceous are indicated with a hollow hexagon. The Aquilops americanus fossil was dated to the Early Cretaceous.

What symbol would you use to indicate the Aquilops americanus discovery (really, an identification of an earlier discovery)? Read the Nat Geo article on Aquilops for some help. In particular, take a look at the “Dinosaur Fossil Distribution” legend off the West Coast. Look at our beautiful map of North America 74 million years ago.Life restoration by Brian Engh, courtesy Farke AA, Maxwell WD, Cifelli RL, Wedel MJ (2014) A Ceratopsian Dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Western North America, and the Biogeography of Neoceratopsia. Map by National Geographic Maps Meet Aquilops, the bunny-sized ancestor of the mighty Triceratops. Click to visit our extremely high-resolution version of this classic Nat Geo map! Teachers, scroll down for short list of key resources in our Teachers’ Toolkit. Use this map to learn more about Aquilops and the rest of “North America in the Age of the Dinosaurs.” A tiny horned skull discovered 17 years ago has now been named Aquilops americanus, and marks the earliest arrival of horned dinosaurs in North America.

Rhino like dinosaur