Late Cretaceous Dinosaurs

A period of great transformation, the Late Cretaceous Period is when the dinosaurs disappeared from the earth. Learn more about the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs that existed during this era, such as the Tyrannosaurus, Gallimimus, and Brachylophosaurus.

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A study postulates that T. rex, the legendary monster dinosaur, may have had a kisser with lips that covered its huge teeth.

By Thomas Harlander

Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the fiercest meat-eaters ever, is the animal that probably springs to mind when most of us hear the word "dinosaur."

By Mark Mancini

Ankylosaurus was a dinosaur with short, squat legs that allowed it to run at about 6 miles per hour – fast, but not fast enough to outrun a large carnivorous predator like Tyrannosaurus rex.

By Patty Rasmussen

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Triceratops — which literally means "three-horned face" — is one of the most spectacular and well-known of all dinosaurs. It shared the Cretaceous landscape with, and probably was preyed upon by, Tyrannosaurus rex.

By Mark Mancini

Constantly compared to the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Giganotosaurus was one of a handful of dinosaurs that rivaled, or possibly exceeded, the creature in size.

By Mark Mancini

The villainous dinosaur from 'Jurassic Park' probably never had an affinity for water.

By Mark Mancini

Could this exciting find help bridge the gaps between Africa's late Cretaceous fossil record and that of other continents?

By Mark Mancini

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Scientists are at odds about whether Velociraptors worked together to take down their prey.

By Mark Mancini

Tyrannosaurus rex was a giant predator that roamed the earth, so why did it have such tiny arms?

By Mark Mancini

OK, hop in your time machine and go back 67 million years or so to the Cretaceous period. Then find a Tyrannosaurus rex and challenge it to a race. Sounds crazy, huh? Could you really outrun a Tyrannosaurus rex?

By Alison Cooper

Bagaceratops rozhdestvenskyi was a small protoceratopsian with a big name: "baga" is the Mongolian word for "small," "ceratops" means "horned face," and the species name is in honor of Russian paleontologist A. K. Rozhdestvensky. Learn more about Late Cretaceous dinosaurs.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

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Centrosaurus, which means "sharp-point reptile," was named by Lawrence Lambe in 1902 from specimens found along the Red Deer River in Alberta. A number of complete skulls and skeletons have since been discovered. Learn more about the Centrosaurus.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Corythosaurus, the "corinthian helmet reptile," was one of the most abundant duckbilled dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of western North America. Originally found and named by Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History, Corythosaurus is also one of the best known of all dinosaurs.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Dromiceiomimus ("emu mimic") has been found both in the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon and the Judith River Formation of Alberta. It is very similar to Struthiomimus and Ornithomimus, but had much larger eyes and longer, more slender arms. Learn more about the Dromiceiomimus.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Since it was named in 1979 by John Horner and Robert Makela, Maiasaura has become one of the most famous dinosaurs. It has provided information about how it cared for its young and the early development of dinosaurs. Learn more about the Maiasaura.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

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Known from only a single skull and jaw from Montana and three teeth from South Dakota, Nanotyrannus was first thought to be an Albertosaurus. But it was recently redescribed because it was different in many ways from Albertosaurus.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Panoplosaurus is known only from two partial skeletons, one of which preserves some of the armor the way it was in life. This skeleton shows that Panoplosaurus was unusual among nodosaurids because it did not have spikes on the sides of its neck.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Parasaurolophus was an interesting-looking dinosaur. While it looked normal from the neck down, it looked almost as if it had a trombone on its head. And in a way, it did.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Pinacosaurus was one of the first armored dinosaurs found in Asia. An expedition from the American Museum of Natural History went to Mongolia to search for traces of early man; instead they found dinosaur eggs and skeletons.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

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An almost complete skull and most of the skeleton were found for Prenocephale. It was collected during the Joint Polish-Mongolian Expeditions to the Gobi Desert. The animal was named and described in 1974.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Protoceratops andrewsi was discovered in Mongolia in 1922 by an expedition from the American Museum of Natural History led by Roy Chapman Andrews. Its genus name means "first-horned face," and its species name was in honor of the expedition's leader.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

Segnosaurus galbinensis, or "slow lizard from Galbin" (a region of the Gobi Desert), was first described by Mongolian paleontologist Altangerel Perle in 1979. It was an unusual saurischian that he classified in its own family, the Segnosauridae.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

The paleontological expeditions into the Turpan Basin in 1964-1966 turned up several interesting and unusual dinosaurs, ilncuding the Shanshanosaurus huoyanshanensis. Learn more about the Shanshanosaurus and other Late Cretaceous dinosaurs.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

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Styracosaurus was discovered in 1913 in the Belly River Formation of Alberta by Charles Sternberg. Lawrence Lambe named this animal Styracosaurus albertensis, which means "spiked reptile of Alberta," for its unusual neck frill.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.

The first two Torosaurus specimens were a pair of skulls found in Wyoming in 1891 by John Bell Hatcher. They were described by Othniel Marsh later that same year. These two skulls were named Torosaurus latus and Torosaurus gladius.

By the Editors of Publications International, Ltd.