Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus was a meat-eating dinosaur that lived in North America and Europe during the Late Jurassic Period. It had a distinctive horn on its snout and a row of small, bony armour pieces running along its back.

Scientists have estimated that Ceratosaurus was about six to seven metres long. It seems to have been quite a rare animal – remains of it are much rarer than those of Allosaurus that lived alongside it.

A similarly named dinosaur, Proceratosaurus – meaning ‘before Ceratosaurus’ – was once thought to be related to Ceratosaurus. Today, scientists think Proceratosaurus was actually an early relative of Tyrannosaurus.

Ceratosaurus’ nose horn was likely too small and fragile to be any use in combat.

It was probably used as a display structure, either to attract a mate or to help it identify other Ceratosaurus.

The first Ceratosaurus remains were recovered from fossil sites in the USA – firstly in Colorado and later in Utah.

It wasn’t until later, when another specimen was discovered in Portugal, that researchers realised the dinosaur also lived outside North America.

Other fossils that might belong to Ceratosaurus have also been found in Africa and South America, but most scientists aren’t convinced these are truly the same dinosaur.

The first Ceratosaurus fossil was found in 1883 by a Colorado farmer named Marshall Parker Felch. It was an exciting discovery because the bones were still mostly connected and the skeleton was nearly complete.

The following year, scientist Othniel Charles Marsh studied the bones and named the dinosaur Ceratosaurus, meaning ‘horned lizard’.

The completeness of the specimen meant that at the time Ceratosaurus was one of the best-known dinosaurs in America.

Ceratosaurus was one of the biggest hunters of the Jurassic Period.

Its prey probably included plant-eating dinosaurs, but some scientists have suggested that it may have fed on aquatic animals such as fish, turtles and crocodiles.

Allosaurus remains have also been found with probable Ceratosaurus tooth marks, meaning Ceratosaurus likely also scavenged.

Although Ceratosaurus is sometimes depicted as hunting in groups, there’s no evidence for this. All the known Ceratosaurus individuals were discovered alone.