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Protoceratops
(pro-toe-SAIR-uh-tops)
Protoceratops means "first horned face"
Protoceratops is the earliest-known member of the Ceratopsian family.
It is a 4-legged plant eater.
Protoceratops was 6 feet long, but weighed 2 tons!
Its head was so long and big that it had to walk on all 4 feet most of the
time.
Protoceratops had a broad bony neck frill,
thickenend bones above the eyes and snout, and a bulky body.
Protoceratops also had a parrot-like beak, several hundred shearing cheek
teeth
and strong face muscles. It could eat almost anything that grew, even wood!
Baby Protoceratops had small neck frills that grew quickly
while they chewed tough plants and exercised its muscles.
Baby Protoceratops were cared fo by its parents in a nest,
just like birds, until it grew big enough to follow the herd.
Also Protoceratops eggs were the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered.
It was then, in 1922, that scientists first learned that dinosaurs laid eggs.
