Q 01/05

What does the name Triceratops mean?

A) Three-horned lizard

B) Three-spiked shield

C) Three-horned beast

D) Three-horned face

Answer · why

D) Three-horned face

Three-horned face comes from the Greek tri, keras and ops. The same 'ops', which can also mean eye, gives the one-eyed Cyclops his name.

Q 02/05

Which famous dinosaur had already been extinct for more than 70 million years when Triceratops appeared?

A) Tyrannosaurus

B) Stegosaurus

C) Ankylosaurus

D) Pachycephalosaurus

Answer · why

B) Stegosaurus

Stegosaurus died out about 145 million years ago and Triceratops arose about 68 million years ago. That gap is wider than the 66 million years between...

Q 03/05

In the 1988 animated film The Land Before Time, what is the name of Littlefoot's stubborn three-horned friend?

A) Ducky

B) Petrie

C) Cera

D) Spike

Answer · why

C) Cera

Cera belongs to what the film calls the three-horns. She first refuses to travel with Littlefoot because her father has taught her that three-horns ne...

Q 04/05

Triceratops looks like a giant rhinoceros, though the two are unrelated; what is such a resemblance called?

A) Batesian mimicry

B) Common descent

C) Convergent evolution

D) Artificial selection

Answer · why

C) Convergent evolution

Convergent evolution gives unrelated animals similar bodies for similar lives, as with the wings of bats and birds. Rhinos are mammals, so the horn an...

Q 05/05

The frill of Triceratops was long seen as a neck shield; what does the prevailing theory say it was mainly for?

A) Shedding body heat

B) Anchoring jaw muscles

C) Amplifying its calls

D) Attracting mates

Answer · why

D) Attracting mates

Attracting mates is the leading idea. As a shield the frill fell short: some fossil frills carry the punctures of Tyrannosaurus teeth.