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Unamused featherheads

This article describes Triceratops as it is portrayed in The Land Before Time series and should not be used as a resource for information about the real animal.

Readers who would like to learn about real Triceratops should look to other sources, like the ones listed below:


Triceratops is a type of herbivorous dinosaur depicted in The Land Before Time series. It plays an important role in both the films and television series, as many of the primary and recurring characters are Triceratops. A term used by the characters in the series to refer to Triceratops (and presumably other three-horned ceratopsians) is "threehorn", based on the notable feature of the genus, as well as the ancient Greek definition of its real-world name ("three-horned face").

The most notable Triceratops in the series are Cera,[2] one of the main characters, Topps, Cera's father, Tria, her stepmother, and Tricia, her half-sister. Other Triceratops throughout the franchise include Cera's mother, full siblings, and her niece and nephew, Dinah and Dana[3]. There are many background characters who are Triceratops.

Description

Uniformly, adult Triceratops are large dinosaurs with large heads, short necks and fairly short tails. The species' defining characteristic is its three horns - two above its eyes and one on its snout. Juvenile Triceratops tend to lack brow horns, but some very young threehorns have been observed with them at young ages, some even younger than Cera.[4][5] At the back of their heads, they have large frills adorned with bony knobs.

There are two variants of Triceratops depicted in The Land Before Time series. The first, represented by major characters like Cera, Topps and Tria and as background characters in earlier films, have no real markings, armored backs, somewhat angular neck frills and jugal horns - bony knobs on their cheeks. Tria is somewhat unique among Triceratops of this variety, bearing two extra knobs on her frill and having unique facial markings. The second variant, introduced in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire, are covered in spots and have no armor on their backs; they also have more rounded frills and no jugal horns.

The two variants of Triceratops tend to be fairly uniform in color. The first variant is usually varying shades of gray (barring Tria, who is pink), while the second is usually brown. Both morphs have heads that are of a lighter color than most of their body, though not usually as dark as their underbellies.

List of Triceratops characters

Gallery

References

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