Fun Sinoceratops Facts For Kids

The Sinoceratops dinosaur belongs to the genus of Ceratopsidae that existed during the latter part of the Cretaceous period in the present-day location of the Shandong province of China about 73 million years ago. Fossils were discovered in Zhucheng, China, and are therefore named Sinoceratops zhuchengensis, which means Chinese horned face from Zhucheng.

Xu Xing, in the year 2012, named the dinosaur after discovering three skulls in the Zhucheng location. Fossils were discovered in the Xingezhuang formation, deposited during the late Cretaceous period.

The holotype material of the species consisted of a partial skull and also a braincase. The upper and back part of the skull was recovered in 2008 at the Xingezhuang formation of the Wangshi group in Shandong, China. The material was in solid format and was deposited during Campanian-Maastrichtian stages of the late Cretaceous period.

The genus name Sinoceratops was kept as it was discovered in China. The Greek word 'sina' means the country where it was discovered, and in this case, it was discovered in China, while 'keras' means horn and 'ops' means face.

This discovery was quite significant for paleontologists as this was the first Ceratopsid known from China and possibly the first Ceratopsid ever to be from Asia.

Another Ceratopsid has been discovered called the Turanoceratops, but its identification is questionable. All other related Ceratopsids ever to exist alongside, like Centrosaurines and Chasmosaurines, were found in North America.

Scroll down to read about the Sinoceratops' life, what they fed on, their habits, and other exciting details! If you want to discover more like the Sinoceratops, take a look at Metriorhynchus and Incisivosaurus facts.

Sinoceratops Interesting Facts

How do you pronounce 'Sinoceratops'?

The Sinoceratops pronunciation is quite easy, and it is 'si-no-cera-tops'.

What type of dinosaur was a Sinoceratops?

The Sinoceratops herbivore dinosaur was medium-sized and belonged to the extinct genus of Ceratopsidae that existed during the latter part of the Cretaceous period in the present-day location of the Shandong province of China about 73 million years ago.

In which geological period did the Sinoceratops roam the Earth?

This dinosaur species belonged to the late Cretaceous period and was discovered in China.

When did the Sinoceratops become extinct?

Dinosaurs, in general, went extinct almost 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, after living on the Earth for about 165 million years. But this species existed during the latter part of the Cretaceous period about 73 million years ago and therefore became extinct way before the total extinction.

Where did a Sinoceratops live?

This medium-sized dinosaur was a herbivore and therefore resided in areas with forests or dense vegetation. They weren't tall and therefore chose areas that had smaller trees and bushes so that they could reach foliage for food.

What was a Sinoceratops' habitat?

The creature resided in Asia and specifically in areas of China. Fossils were recovered from the Xingezhuang formation of the Wangshi group in Shandong, China, but the first fossil to be ever found was in Zhucheng, China.

Who did a Sinoceratops live with?

Fossil evidence points out from both the bone bed and trackways that Sauropods were gregarious animals who lived and moved in herds. Mostly all herbivorous dinosaurs stayed in herds to protect themselves from predators.

How long did a Sinoceratops live?

There isn't a definite time frame of the life span, but it has been estimated that they lived for almost 75 years.

How did they reproduce?

Ceratopsid dinosaurs, much like other reptiles, mated with each other during the breeding season, and in the case of this breed, the female Sinoceratops laid eggs. Eggs hatched after a certain period of time, and newborn dinosaurs came out. Adult dinosaurs took care of newborns until they could move with their parents or go along with their new family.

Sinoceratops Fun Facts

What did a Sinoceratops look like?

The description of this creature says that it was medium-sized, averagely-built, ground-dwelling, and quadrupedal. It was on the larger side of Ceratopsid members, and it also belonged to the Ornithischian group, having the same pelvic structure.

The Chinese horned face creature had small hooked horn features on its nose called the nasal horn and had no brow horns above its eyes.

It had short neck frill features followed by a string of hornlets (curving forwards), giving the frill an appearance like a crown. This is the first horned dinosaur to have this feature of low bumps on the top of the frill inside the row of hornlets.

It is a member of the short frill Ceratopsid dinosaurs, Centrosaurines. Sinoceratops skeleton parts like the skull and part of the braincase were about 71 in (180.3 cm) in length, which makes it one of the first largest Centrosaurine skulls to be ever discovered.

The autapomorphy which made Xu Xing realize that this species were Centrosaurines was their almost 10 robust, strongly curved hornlike processes along the rear margin of combined bones in the skull, along with the four hornlike processes on the combined skull bone.

They also had a large opening in front of the head in the skull near the eye sockets, unlike any other Centrosaurines. The external margin of parietals of the head had weak frill-like waves or curvatures like the frill, and there was also a board base of distinctive bone features found lining frills of Ceratopsians.

Sinoceratops skins were scaly and bumpy like any other dinosaur, but the color is still an elusive discovery as skin is one such feature that is never found in fossils.

How many bones did a Sinoceratops have?

Bones of this species have not been discovered as of yet and the only part to be excavated is the skull and the braincase.

How did they communicate?

There is no specific mention of how they communicated, but they definitely didn't have modern means of communication. Like any other animal, dinosaurs also communicated by making sounds and using their body language. Sinoceratops sounds might have included hoots and hollers.

How big was a Sinoceratops?

Members of the Ceratopsid genus were medium-sized in length, and the accurate Sinoceratops size was 236.2 in (6 m) in length and 78.7 in (2 m) in height. This makes it almost two times bigger in length than the sun bear, which is 60 in (1.5 m).

How fast could a Sinoceratops move?

The Sinoceratops belonged to the smaller-sized herbivore kingdom and therefore had smaller legs and couldn't run as fast as other Sauropods or carnivorous dinosaurs. They were fast but not as fast as the Amazonsaurus.

How much did a Sinoceratops weigh?

The Sinoceratops weight was significant, and it was almost 4,409.2 lb (2,000 kg) in weight. This makes it about three times heavier than the kodiak bear which is 1,500 lb (680.4 kg) in weight.

What were the male and female names of the species?

There is no specific name for male or female dinosaurs of this species. They are commonly known as the Sinoceratops and the Sinoceratops zhuchengensis. Search for more fossils is still going on, and only after the complete discovery of significant fossils can males and females be differentiated.

What would you call a baby Sinoceratops?

The newborn dinosaur was known as a hatchling or a nestling. This was common for most dinosaur species. There is no specific information on names of newborns for this dinosaur as of now.

What did they eat?

The Sinoceratops diet consisted of plants and fruits found in jungles and woodlands. They weren't tall and therefore chose areas that had smaller trees and bushes so that they could reach their food source.

How aggressive were they?

Based on research, dinosaurs are divided into two groups, where Sauropods were herbivores and didn't attack each other or other dinosaurs, while Theropods were meat-eaters and attacked each other and other dinosaurs as well. This species, being a Sauropod, was quite friendly and wasn't aggressive at all.

They stayed together in harmony with other Sauropod dinosaurs. The Sinoceratops lived alongside Chinese dinosaur members like the Shantungosaurus, the Zhuchengceratops, the Zhuchengtitan, and the Zhuchengtyrannus in Asia.

Did you know...

This species was shown in the famous film franchise Jurassic World residing in islands of Isla Nublar. Jurassic World shows that the park was abandoned, and even then, some species survived even after the eruption of the Sibo mountain.

In the Jurassic world film, many Sinoceratops that got destroyed were transported from Isla Nublar to the Lockwood Estate in Northern California. It was the intention of the bad guys to auction them off on the black market.

But the main characters of Jurassic World, Claire Dearing and Owen Grady, managed to stop the auction, and several dinosaurs that survived in the Jurassic world were let free into the wild jungles of Northern California.

What dinosaurs lived with the Sinoceratops?

The Sinoceratops lived alongside the Shantungosaurus, the Zhuchengceratops, the Zhuchengtitan, and the Zhuchengtyrannus. Sinoceratops were small herbivorous animals and lived with their own kind and other herbivores, but other carnivores existed in the same area that they inhabited.

How many horns did a Sinoceratops have?

This Ceratopsid dinosaur had one short, hooked horn on its nose called the nasal horn. Other than that it had no horns, but instead had a frill on its neck region.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly dinosaur facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other creatures from our Harpactognathus facts or Tupuxuara facts for kids.

You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable dinosaur color by numbers coloring pages.

Main image by Nobu Tamura