Triceratops is one of the most well-known herbivorous dinosaurs. It measured around 8 meters long and ate plants. It roamed the forests of western US, co-existing with giants like Tyrannosaurus and Edmontosaurus.
Currently, only two valid species are recognized. One is T. horridus, which lived in early Hell Creek, and its supposed descendant, T. prorsus, which lived right at the end of the age of the dinosaurs. Including T. maximus.
T. horridus possessed a long snout, with a very small nasal horn that was typically located in the middle of the snout, pointed upwards. In T. prorsus, the snout was shorter, with a larger, forward protruding horn which was located right behind the beak. T. maximus is a rare species of Triceratops. Skin impressions are known in this genus. It preserves scutes on its underside (unpublished), with large hexagonal shaped scales, having bigger spike-like scales scattered, and potentially a facial plate. Though, there is evidence against this as some Triceratops fossils have been stated to have scaly frills, which is yet to be published.
The Ghost of Slumber Mountain (1918)[]
Triceratops vs T. rex
Species
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role In this movie an male T. horridus it is shown grazing in the dense undergrowth in search of food and then being attacked by the most sceared carnivore on the earth only to be killed. Before his fight with a similar one.
Cultural Significance
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Monsters of the Past (1923)[]
History
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The Lost World (1925)[]
Species The species shown is T. horridus as he fights with a T. rex to protect his family.
History and Design The bull Triceratops which emerges from the undergrowth behind Stegosaurus, is based on the appearance of Styracosaurus and Agathaumas, both lived in North America during the Campanian.
Inaccuracies
Role An family of Triceratops she is shown grazing palcidly on the plain, only to be taken by surprise by a T. rex that the mashio manages to chase away. Another Triceratops as large as a Mammoth with a longer nasal horn, is also attacked by the T. rex which, with its horns and oseeo collar, manages to make it beat in retreat. However, the predator with his cunning jumps from behind him and bites him in the neck, killing him.
Cultural Significance
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Kaijuverse (1933-1998)[]
Species In King Kong of the 30s, and in the movie of Mothra, many versions of the T. horridus appears as secondary characters.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role 4 in King Kong, 1 in Son of Kong, 15 or 20 in Rebirth of Mothra III.
Cultural Significance
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King Kong (franchise 1933-2000)[]
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History and Design
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One Million BC (1940)[]
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Fantasia (1940)[]
Species The species shown in this Disney classic is T. horridus of which a mother and her cubs are shown heading towards a swamp. Then another specimen makes its debut as it escapes along with other dinosaurs from the infamous T. rex and then watches as an unfortunate Stegosaurus is killed and eaten by this ravenous predator. Then with the extinction of all the dinosaurs, a Triceratops appears in search for water and food heading with the other dinosaurs.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role A mother Triceratops with its two calves are shown heading towards a swamp. An male appears as it escapes from the infamous T. rex. In the end an male appears with the other dinosaurs in search for food.
Cultural Significance
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The Lost Continent (1951)[]
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The Animal World (1956)[]
Species
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role It was one of many dinosaurs that appeared in the film. It only appears in the Cretaceous Segment of the film and battled a Tyrannosaurus rex and perished by trapping itself into a tar pit, it and along with the other dinosaurs perished afterwords.
Cultural Significance
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The Lost World (1960)[]
Species An future species named Ceratopspinus with her young, they are represented as distant descendants of the T. horridus.
History and Design
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One Million Years B.C. (1966)[]
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When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)[]
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The Land that Time Forgot (1974)[]
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The Last Dinosaur (1977)[]
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Planet of Dinosaurs (1978)[]
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'Gallery
Age of the Great Dinosaurs (1979)[]
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64,000,000 Years Ago (1981)[]
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Transformers (franchise) (1984-2022)[]
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Cultural Significance
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The Flinstones (franchise 1985-2022)[]
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'Gallery
Dinosaur (special) (1985)[]
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Dinosaurcers (1987)[]
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (franchise) (1987-2020)[]
Species An alien dinosaur named Triceraton are inspired of an evolved race of the T. horridus represented as enemies and / or allies of the Ninja Turtles in all series.
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Dino Riders (TV Series and Toys 1988-2020)[]
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The Land Before Time Franchise (1988-2016)[]
Species Cera, Topsy, Tria, Tricia, Cera's family and Cera's grandchildren of the first movie belongs to the species of T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
- The adult Triceratops in The Land Before Time series have their brow horns on top of their heads in a similar arrangement to cattle horns. Real Triceratops brow horns we’re actually situated above the eyes similarly to those of a Carnotaurus.
- When angry or when seeing an herbivorous dinosaur of a different species in The Land Before Time series, Cera and the other Triceratops including her father Topps are heard growling, often frightening the other dinosaurs. Real Triceratops lacked vocal cords including a syrinx. Instead, they mostly likely bellowed or hissed. Cera and her father Topps should have hissed like swans instead of growled in The Land Before Time series.
- The Land Before Time series portrays Triceratops as having sprawling front limbs instead of erect limbs like in life. In addition, The Land Before Time’s Triceratops charge like bulls and rhinos, something which real Triceratops couldn’t do in life.
- Triceratops may have been covered in quill-like feathers, but this is still debated, and this wasn’t even known at the time of The Land Before Time’s heyday.
- The Land Before Time Triceratops have alligator-like ridges on their backs as adults, but this skin impression is now outdated.
- Like all of The Land Before Time’s herbivorous dinosaurs, the Triceratops only eat plants, but there is evidence that they occasionally ate meat, whether it was from a deceased dinosaur or a live animal. However, this wasn’t known at the time of the original Land Before Time’s production.
- In The Land Before Time series, baby Triceratops including Cera are depicted having only nasal horns, when it is more likely that baby Triceratops would have had brow horns and nasal horns like the adults.
Role A young female Triceratops named Cera and her father are two of the characters seen throughout the franchise with the Triceratops family only in the first film, Dinah and Dana in sixth, Tria in the eleventh, Tricia in the twelfth with many other similar ones in the series as well.
Cultural Significance
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Stanley and The Dinosaurs(1989)[]
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Paleoworld (TV series 1991-1997)[]
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Adventures in Dinosaur City (1991)[]
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Dinosaurs TV Series (1991-1994)[]
Species An character named Bradley P. "B.P." Richfield belongs to the species of T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role Bradley P. "B.P." Richfield is one of the supporting characters that manages the WESAYSO Development Corporation where he oversees the Tree Pushers.
Cultural Significance
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Rugrats (1991-2004)[]
The Dinosaurs! (1992)[]
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Planet Of Dinosaurs (Il Pianeta Dei Dinosauri) (1993)[]
History and Design
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Power Rangers (franchise) (1993-2022)[]
Species Many zords that have appeared in this franchise, belong to the species of the T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role In the first two seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, in Power Rangers Dino Thunder and etc, there are several zords that mark the Triceratops with a female specimen that an alien dinosaur named Keeper in Power Rangers Dino Charge to whom he gives one of the precious energyems that 65 million years later will be found by one of the future Power Rangers.
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Jurassic Park franchise (five appearances 1993-2022)[]
Species The species shown in the franchise is likely based on Triceratops prorsus, due to the position and size of the nasal horn.
History and Design In the original Jurassic Park film, the adult Triceratops was originally painted a black with faint green spots, but when shooting its scenes in Hawaii, mud was put on it to make it look brown as Stan Winston observed that elephants and rhinos were usually covered in dirt due to their environments.[1] Its coloration would change again in Jurassic Park III (2001) with an olive green color while Jurassic World (2015) gave it a gray skin tone, before returning to a lighter olive green in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018).
Inaccuracies The adult Triceratops are shown to have triangular epoccipitals on their frills and jugal cheek horn.
Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery: Triceratops Jurassic Park Franchise/Gallery
We’re Back! A Dinosaur Story (1993)[]
Species The species of Woog's character is T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story has Woog the Triceratops eating hot dogs along with Dweeb the Parasaurolophus. While real Triceratops did eat meat on some occasions, it was a strict vegetarian.
Role In this movie a male T. horridus called Woog is sent into the 21st century to give children the experience of knowing a real dinosaur.
Cultural Significance
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Eyewitness: Dinosaur (1994)[]
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Dinosaurs on Earth, Then...& Now (1995)[]
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Extreme Dinosaurs (1997)[]
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T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (1998)[]
Species An skeleton of the T.horridus appears exhibited in a natural history museum, as one of the favorite prey of the T. rex.
History and Design
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The Lost World (1998)[]
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History and Design
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Cultural Significance
Walking with... franchise (1999)[]
Species The species shown in this series as carcass is T. prorsus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role A male Tyrannosaurus killed a young Triceratops offscreen and used its carcass to attract a mate.
Cultural Significance
Dinozaurs (2000)[]
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Dinosaur Adventure (Cartoon movie 2000)[]
History and Design
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When Dinosaurs Ruled - The Real Jurassic Park (2000)[]
History and Design
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When Dinosaurs Roamed America (2001)[]
History
Example
Inaccuracies
The When Dinosaurs Roamed America Triceratops lack feathers, something which was possible due to the primitive ceratopsian Psittacosaurus possessing feathers. While Triceratops were mainly herbivorous, there is evidence that they may have eaten carcasses of dead dinosaurs and small animals for extra protein and calcium, much like deer and giraffes. The When Dinosaurs Roamed America Triceratops trumpet like elephants. Since non-avian dinosaurs were archosaurs related to birds, it is more likely they sounded more like birds. Triceratops would have instead honked and hissed like swans and geese and growled like alligators.
Design
Example
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Example
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Valley of the T-rex (2001)[]
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The Legend of Tarzan (2001-2002)[]
History
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Dinosaur Island (2002)[]
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Dinotopia (franchise) (2002-2005)[]
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Dinosaur Planet (2003)[]
Species T.horridus herd appear as a deuteragonist in the tv series Dinosaur Planet where paleontologist Scott Sampson characterizes this species with other ceratops to learn about species that thrived in North America before him such as Einiosaurus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance The screenshots of the Triceratops herd from When Dinosaurs Roamed America were used to describe the evolution of these bizarre dinosaurs with prominent horns and collars.
Gallery
Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (2005-2008)[]
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The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs AKA Dinosaur Face-Off (2005)[]
History
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Example
Design
Example
Cultural Significance
Example
Prehistoric Park (2006)[]
Species T. horridus due to the nasal horn and length of the skull.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
It is depicted living in the last days before the K-Pg mass extinction, but there's no fossil evidence of the species living up to the very end of the Cretaceous.
Role
Cultural Significance
T-Rex: New Science, New Beast (2006)[]
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Dino Lab (2006-2010)[]
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Dino Death Trap (2007)[]
Species The species shown in this documentary is T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
AnTriceratops appear in the time map as one of the largest dinosaurs to appear in the Cretaceous, and as a descendant of the small Jurassic Yinlong found in China with the remains of the Guanlong.
Cultural Significance
Dino Autopsy (2007)[]
History and Design
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DinoSquad[]
Dinosaur King (2007-2009)[]
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Dinosaur Train (2009-2020)[]
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T.Rex Walks Again (2009)[]
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Dinosaurs Decoded (2009)[]
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Bizarre Dinosaurs (2009)[]
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History and Design
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Cultural Significance
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Ice Age (franchise) (2009)[]
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History and Design
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Cultural Significance
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Prehistoric (2009-2010)[]
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History and Design
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Cultural Significance
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Clash of the Dinosaurs (2009)[]
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Animal Armageddon (2009)[]
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Cultural Significance
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Waking the T. Rex: The Story of Sue (2010)[]
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Role
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Toy Story (franchise 2010-2019)[]
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Cultural Significance
'Gallery
Last Day of the Dinosaurs (2010)[]
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Dino Dan/Dana (2010-2020)[]
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History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
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You are Umasou (Films 2010-2012)[]
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Role
Cultural Significance
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Earth: The Making of a Planet (2011)[]
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History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
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Dinosaur Revolution (2011)[]
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History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
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Dino Time AKA Back to the Jurassic (2012)[]
Species The species shown in this movie are T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Primeval: New World (2012-2013)[]
Species The species shown in this series is T. horridus.
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
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Jurassic Attack AKA Rise of the Dinosaurs (2013)[]
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Age of Dinosaurs (2013)[]
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Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)[]
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Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)[]
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History and Design
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Cultural Significance
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Dinosaur Island (2014)[]
Species
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
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Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)[]
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Inside Out (2015)[]
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'Gallery
Dino Death Match (2015)[]
History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
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T.Rex. Ultimate Survivor (2015)[]
History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
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T.Rex Autopsy (2015)[]
History and Design
Inaccuracies
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Cultural Significance
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Dino Hunt Canada (2015)[]
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Dinotrux (2015-2018)[]
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Leaps in Evolution (2015)[]
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Land of Dinosaurs (2016)[]
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History and Design
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Cultural Significance
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Adventures of Ceratops (2016)[]
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History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
T.rex: An Evolutionary Journey (2016)[]
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History and Design
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Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)[]
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Ancient Earth (Season 1 2017)[]
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History and Design
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Deadly Dinosaurs (2018)[]
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History and Design
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Jurassic Games (2018)[]
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Amazing Dinoworld (2019-2023)[]
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History and Design
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Primal (2019-2022)[]
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Dino Hunters (2020)[]
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History and Design
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Gigantosaurus (TV series 2021-2022)[]
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History and Design
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Dinosaurs: The Final Day AKA Dinosaurs Apocalypse (2022)[]
Species
History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Prehistoric Planet (2022)[]
Species The species shown in this bbc dinosaur documentary is T. prorsus of which a male specimen appears as a carcass in the third episode because it was shot down by an adult male of T. rex veteran of many battles. Then a whole herd appears in the last episode that wanders the forests of western North America in search of foliage and then detoxifies from the toxins of the plants they have eaten in a cave in search of an antidote where a calf loses sight of his mother and his herd. But thanks to his calls, he manages to find her again.
History and Design
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Dinosauria (2021-2022)[]
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Role
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Amazing Dinoworld 2 (2023)[]
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History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Prehistoric Planet 2 (2023)[]
Species
History and Design
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Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Life On Our Planet (2023)[]
Species
History and Design
Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Dinosaur Empire The Series (2024)[]
History and Design Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
T-rex (2024)[]
History and Design Inaccuracies
Role
Cultural Significance
Gallery
Walking With Dinosaurs (2025)[]
Trivia[]
Main article: Triceratops/Gallery