Fun Centrosaurus Facts For Kids

Centrosaurus belongs to the phylum Chordata, clade Dinosauria, order Ornithischia, suborder Ceratopsia, and subfamily Centrosaurin. The Centrosaurus remains are some of the best-attested remains of a ceratopsian in the world. The first fossil was discovered by Lawrence Lambe in Alberta, Canada, just like Pentacerotops and the Chasmosaurus. The meaning of the name Centrosaurus means ‘pointed lizard,’ and have are a series of small horns on the margins of their large frill. They often get confused with the Stegosaur and the Kentrosaurus because of the frill and horns on them. Its bone beds were found in the Dinosaur Provincial Park in a large number of individuals from juvenile to adult. According to scientists, that would have been caused by the floods. Unlike other ceratopsians, which had multiple horns, this dinosaur had only one horn.

Got an interest in dinosaurs? You can also read about Xenoceratops and Pentaceratops to get more insight into them.

How do you pronounce 'Centrosaurus'?

The pronunciation of this one-horned ceratopsian is 'cen-troh-sore-us.' The legs of Centrosaurus were strong and stout. The back feet had four developed toes, and the front feet had five toes and one rudimentary toe.

What type of dinosaur was a Centrosaurus?

The Centrosaurus was a horned dinosaur that, unlike other ceratopsians like Triceratops, Chasmosaurus and Pentaceratops, had just one horn on the snout.

In which geological period did the Centrosaurus roam the Earth?

The Centrosaurus used to live in the Late Cretaceous period, which was about 65-98 million years ago.

When did the Centrosaurus become extinct?

This one-horned dinosaur became extinct with many ceratopsians around 79-75 million years ago. This period lies in the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous period. This is evidence that these dinosaurs became extinct before the Cretaceous Paleogene.

Where did a Centrosaurus live?

Centrosauruses were those dinosaurs who used to live on land and plains. One of their first frills was found in the Judith River Formation in Alberta (Canada) in 1904. In 1980, another 15 skulls and several skeletons were found in southern Alberta.

What was a Centrosaurus' habitat?

The areas of low-lying vegetation and ample water like grasslands, wetlands, woodlands, shrublands, and semi-arid regions were used to be their habitats.

Who did a Centrosaurus live with?

The information about the social behavior of the Centrosaurus is very little, but like Pentaceratops, Triceratops, and Chamosaurus, they used to live in small groups of three dinosaurs. They used to roam in groups to relocate themselves to other regions for sufficient survival needs and resources. However, they had a fighting history with the predators involving their frill.

How long did a Centrosaurus live?

These animals of order Ornithischia became extinct before the Cretaceous Paleogene about 66 million years ago from the Campanian age of the Cretaceous.

How did they reproduce?

The Centrosaurus dinosaur had one horn and also had two other horns originating from the frill, which might have played a role in conveying sexual displays to the female dinosaurs and also to attract them.

What did a Centrosaurus look like?

This dinosaur, Centrosaurus apertus, is another member of the Ceratopsian and possesses almost the same features as that of other ceratopsians in the history of horned dinosaurs. The Centrosaurus had a large parrot-like beak that was toothless and had a hard covering which helped this dinosaur to graze. The teeth they had made them efficient for grinding and chewing hard plant materials. They had a ball and socket-type joint, which allowed them a free neck movement of their huge head. The skull ornamentation was used to reduce as these animals age. The skull length was longer than the frill length and the frill could attain a maximum length of 19 in (48.26 cm) in large adults. They had very strong legs, and the tips of the toes of feet were hooflike claws. The tail was very light weighted and short and did not touch the ground. The Centrosaurus were discovered in the Late Cretaceous period in history.

How many bones did a Centrosaurus have?

The number of bones that a Centrosaurus skeleton had is still unknown, but they possessed one horn and two other horns originating from its frill, which were arched upwards.

How did they communicate?

These animals might have used their heavy sounds and frills to communicate or, moreover, to show anger and dominance towards their territory. The bone beds of Centrosaurus, which were uncovered in Red Deer River Valley in Alberta (Canada), are evident in the herding behavior of these dinosaurs.

How big was a Centrosaurus?

The length of this one-horned frilled species was about 236 in (6 m) like most members of this lizard-looking tribe Centrosaurini and close predators.

How fast could a Centrosaurus move?

These Centrosaurus dinosaurs were very good runners because of their strong front and hind legs. They used to attain a speed of 20 mph (32 kph), making them one of the fast-running dinosaurs.

How much did a Centrosaurus weigh?

The weight of Centrosaurus is 1.19 tons (1079.7 kg). The close species of this dinosaur are Styracosaurus and the Monoclonius. Its bonebeds were found in the Dinosaur Provincial Park.

What were the male and female names of the species?

There are no specific names for the male and the female of this dinosaur species of North America Centrosaurus (Centrosaurus apertus) of order Ornithischia. Understanding the sexual dimorphism of this dinosaur is very tricky as there were hardly any noticeable differences.

What would you call a baby Centrosaurus?

The baby of this herbivore dinosaur species does not have any particular name to get called by. They were called 'baby Centrosaurus.' The baby also used to develop a significant horn on the snout after attaining a growth of five to six weeks and showed resemblance to an adult.

What did they eat?

These dinosaurs come under the category of herbivorous animals, and hence their diet included flowers, leaves, twigs, grasses, and fruits.

How aggressive were they?

The account of their aggression has just been seen with the enemy species of Tyrannosaurus and Ceratosaurus, who used to get indulged in death fatal fights with Centrosaurus. Territorial fights with the predators were very common.

Did you know...

There were around 46 different specimens found by the scientists.

Triceratops is considered a close relative of this dinosaur species as both these dinosaurs had one horn on the snout. Evidence shows that an astroid's impact caused the extinction of dinosaurs which also included the Centrosaurus.

Who discovered the Centrosaurus?

Lawrence Lambe, who discovered many ceratopsians like Pentaceratops and others, discovered this one-horned dinosaur as well and later was put under the genus Centrosaurus and the family Ceratopsidae. Lawrence Lamb was a member of the Geological Survey of Canada at Berry Creek and the first Centrosaurus fossil was found along the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada. The genus of this dinosaur can get confused with Stegosaur and Kentrosaurus, who also got their name from the same Greek word.

What does 'Centrosaurus' mean?

The word Centrosaurus means 'a sharp-pointed lizard'. They were called so because their skull structure is pointed and has a horn and a frill. Its bonebeds were found in the Dinosaur Provincial Park.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other dinosaurs from our Chasmosaurus facts and the Sauropelta facts pages.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable Centrosaurus skeleton coloring pages.