Chasmosaurus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chasmosaurus Temporal range: late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Ornithischia
Suborder:	Neornithischia
Infraorder:	Ceratopsia
Family:	Ceratopsidae
Subfamily:	Chasmosaurinae
Genus:	Chasmosaurus Lambe, 1914
Species
C. belli C. canadensis C. mariscalensis

Chasmosaurus was a fascinating dinosaur that looked a bit like a modern rhinoceros. It belonged to a group of plant-eating dinosaurs called bird-hipped dinosaurs. Chasmosaurus was also part of a family of large, horned, plant-eating dinosaurs known as ceratopsians. These dinosaurs often lived in herds.

The name Chasmosaurus means "opening lizard." This name comes from the large openings in its frill. A famous paleontologist named Lawrence Lambe officially named Chasmosaurus in 1914.

These amazing creatures lived between 65 and 100 million years ago. That was during the Cretaceous Period. They were quite large, growing to be about 5 to 6 meters (16 to 20 feet) long. They weighed around 3.6 tonnes, which is about as heavy as a large truck! Chasmosaurus roamed across western North America, from what is now Alaska all the way down to Mexico.

Images for kids

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  George F. Sternberg preparing a C. belli skull in 1914

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  C. russelli at the Royal Tyrrell Museum

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  Holotype of C. kaiseni, a fossil that has been studied closely

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  An artist's drawing of what C. belli might have looked like

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  Where different Chasmosaurus fossils were found in the Dinosaur Park Formation

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  A picture showing large plant-eating dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation, with C. belli on the left

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  A fossil of a young Chasmosaurus

See also

In Spanish: Chasmosaurus para niños