(goat sounds)
Hey there, Brad, if these guys crashed together
like goats, wouldn't they, like, stab each
other in the heads?
Well, yes, there are some Triceratops skulls with
fossil evidence of scars on the face from
fights with other Triceratops.
Any got any holes in the heads, there, though?
What kind of holes do you mean?
Between the eyes, man! Like a bad dude went,
"BOOM! I rule the herd now!"
Uhh, no.
For real?! All those Triceratops that lived
over millions of years and nobody went for
the brain stab?
Well, I can't say that none of them tried,
but there's no fossil evidence of that exact
method.
I don't know, there, Brad, I think it might
be worth investigating.
How do you suggest we carry out this investigation?
Get yer safari pack, cuz we're going into
the wilds of the natural history museum.
(Uncrated theme)
Do you want to look behind the scenes
Of an art, history, or a science museum?
Join in with Odis who's here to say,
"Let's uncrate an adventure today!"
This is incredible! There's some big horns
up there, and a lot of them have those holes
I was talking about.
They have holes, but those holes aren't battle wounds. Scientists
think that those may have helped lighten the
skulls because they were so massive.
Oooh! That makes sense.
Yeah, and they think maybe there were membranes
of skin that covered the whole frill with
blood vessels near the surface for communicating
to each other so they could tell other members
of their species that they were in danger
or pick up a mate.
So, the frill is kinda like a billboard, but
instead of saying "Eat at Jack's Crab Shack
Exit 224" it says, "Hey, get away from my
herd, you T. rexes!"
Yeah, that's the basic idea.
So, why do all those Triceratops look so different?
Like, some got big horns, and some almost
have no horns, and some of the horns aren't
even facing the right way!
Yeah, that's a good question, Odis. What are
those horns for if they're pointing backwards?
I can help answer that question.
Whaaa! Where did you come from?!
Hey, look, it's our friend, Josh Mathews,
who's the Director of Paleontology here at
the Burpee Museum.
Oooh, hey there, Josh, I'm Odis, it's nice
to meet ya.
Good to meet you, too. I heard you guys talking
and I thought I'd help explain a few things.
Please.
Each one of these skulls up here are a unique
species from the group of horned dinosaurs.
So there's nine types of horned dinosaurs
in here?
Ten, including my buddy, Homer. These are
just a few from the group of dinosaurs called
the "ceratopsians", or the horned dinosaurs.
So, I have a question. Since this whole family
of dinosaurs is named after their horns, they
must be really important features. But we
couldn't figure out what some of them are
used for if they're pointing backwards.
Let's think about what modern animals do,
who have horns and antlers. Bison, deer, elk,
are they using them to stab predators?
No! They use those to get each other's attention
like we talked about with the colored frills.
You got it, Odis. Seems like the horns and
frills were more likely used for communication
and identification, rather than like a sword
and shield. But if they needed to serve a
defensive purpose, I'm sure they wouldn't
hesitate to use their heads.
Well, what about those skulls over here? You
tell me if I'm wrong, but I think those actually
look like they're all Triceratops.
Correct again, Odis! Let's go take a look.
Alright, I'm on a roll!
So, this is what we call a growth series.
Where each skull on here represents a different
stage of growth of Triceratops.
So, what ages are represented by each growth
stage?
We don't have a really good grasp on the aging
of Triceratops at this time, but we generally
refer to them as a toddler, a youngling, a
teenager like Homer here, and an adult.
Their horns are all different shapes. What's
up with that?
Well, as Triceratops grow, their horns undergo
drastic changes. They start off as tiny little
nubs, and as they grow they begin to curve
backwards.
That's awesome! It looks like Loki's helmet!
You know Loki, right?
Always causing trouble for Thor and the Avengers,
that Loki. But as they continue to grow, they
start to reorient forward to where eventually
they can cause a lot of trouble for potential
predators. In fact, a recent study on Tyrannosaurus
rex suggests that T. rex used the frill as
a lever to rip the head off exposing that
tender neck meat.
Wow! Then those dinosaurs with the little
horns on the frills really are protecting
their necks?
They really are. If you look closely at this
little guy over here, you'll see tiny little
bones triangles along the margin of the frill.
As that animal grew, those triangles began
to flatten out to where you can hardly see
them in an adult, like over here.
Aww, that's so nice of evolution to help the
little guys!
I got another Triceratops skull in collections
much smaller than Homer. You guys want to
go check it out?
Yeah, let's check it out!
Let's go!
(Uncrated theme)
