All about Horridus

Meet the Melbourne Museum Triceratops, one of the most complete Triceratops fossils ever found.

Unearthed after 67 million years, our Triceratops belongs to the species Triceratops horridus, but is affectionately known as Horridus.

Get to know every bone in Horridus’ body. There’s over 260 of them!

View Horridus in 3D

Did you know?

When the first Triceratops fossil was discovered in 1887 scientists thought the horn must belong to some sort of bison. Today, those mighty horns and distinctive frill make Triceratops one of the most recognisable dinosaurs to have walked the planet.

Triceratops was big — over 2 metres tall and up to 8 metres long.

That’s as tall as a Melbourne tram and over one quarter the length!

Artist’s representation of Triceratops. Artist: Raul Ramos

How much did a Triceratops weigh?

Add a car to find out.

One car

Not even close. Add another one.

Two cars

Keep ‘em coming.

Three cars

You call that heavy?

Four cars

Now we’re talking. Add another car!

Five cars

For a creature that ate plants, Triceratops sure was heavy.

Six cars

Almost there!

Seven cars

An adult Triceratops weighed between 6 and 12 tonnes, about as much as 7 small cars!

Horridus was alive during the Late Cretaceous, about 67 million years ago.

The species Triceratops horridus went extinct at least 500,000 years before an asteroid hit the Earth, causing mass extinction.

Horridus was found in what is now Montana, USA and must have died in or near a river.

The body was then quickly buried before scavengers had a chance to move in and carry the bones away. And that’s where Horridus remained until 2014, when the specimen was discovered under 3.5 metres of sandstone.

Montana, USA

Horridus was discovered here in 2014 when part of the pelvis was spotted protruding from the surrounding sandstone. Only once Horridus was fully uncovered could palaeontologists confirm this was one of the most complete Triceratops ever found!

In transit

The specimen was prepared in the city Victoria, which is on Vancouver Island in Canada, before being packed into seven large crates for the long journey to Australia.

Melbourne, Australia

On arrival in Melbourne the crates were unpacked and every bone in Horridus’ body had to be measured, labelled and 3D scanned before the specimen could be put on display.