No doubt everyone remembers the horrid Tyrannosaurus scavenging fiasco that happened way back in 200-something. I won't go into that right now because a) that's not what this post is about, and b) there are far too many flaws in it.
Paleontologist FAIL
Horner's come up with two new hypotheses as of late. One (the one that has actually been published) deals with the synonymization of Pachycehaplosaurus, Stygimoloch, and Dracorex (best name EVAR). This one, having read the paper, sounds right to me. But his other idea... oh boy.
Everyone knows Torosaurus and Triceratops are closely related. Horner took it a step further, and suggested that Toro is simply the final growth stage of Trike. I'm skeptical, as one could surmise by reading the title.
1. Torosaurus averages out at about 25 feet, while Triceratops rounds out to approximately 30 ft. Okay, so Trikes grew huge, and then shrunk 5 feet?*
2. Triceratops must have gone through an awfully big change very late in life...I mean, the horns straightened out, the skull elongated and holes grew in, and all the epoccipital shrunk in.
However, I did notice some odd looking skulls that have features of both Trike and Toro...
Paleontologist FAIL
Horner's come up with two new hypotheses as of late. One (the one that has actually been published) deals with the synonymization of Pachycehaplosaurus, Stygimoloch, and Dracorex (best name EVAR). This one, having read the paper, sounds right to me. But his other idea... oh boy.
Everyone knows Torosaurus and Triceratops are closely related. Horner took it a step further, and suggested that Toro is simply the final growth stage of Trike. I'm skeptical, as one could surmise by reading the title.
1. Torosaurus averages out at about 25 feet, while Triceratops rounds out to approximately 30 ft. Okay, so Trikes grew huge, and then shrunk 5 feet?*
2. Triceratops must have gone through an awfully big change very late in life...I mean, the horns straightened out, the skull elongated and holes grew in, and all the epoccipital shrunk in.
However, I did notice some odd looking skulls that have features of both Trike and Toro...
From the Triceratops Wikipedia page
From the Museum of the Rockies' Website
As you can see the first is the classic specimen on display at AMNH. If it weren't for the solid skull, no doubt this would have been reclassified as Torosaurus (or not, whatever. Taxonomy is confusing), and the second looks much more like a Trike, but has small holes developing.
In conclusion: I DUNNO LOL.
