Meet Stacie Styracosaurus! She's quite happy to be at the Hornicopia celebrating the growth of her first horn!

Styracosaurus   sti-rake-oh-soar-us

meaning "spiked lizard" was a herbivore (veggie head) ceratopsian from the late Cretaceous Peiod.

cer·a·top·si·an: [ser-uh-top-see-uhn]

Paleontologists broadly define ceratopsian as herbivorous, four-legged, elephant-like dinosaurs whose enormous heads sported elaborate horns and frills.  Ceratopsian may be the most "All-American" of all the dinosaurs, though some species did hail from Eurasia.


Our friend Stacie has just matured to the age where her first horn can be seen, this horn on her nose could grow to be about 2 feet long. As she  continues to grow and mature, her neck frills will also be adorned with  4 to 6 horns. As an adult Stacie Styracosaurus could weigh as much as 6000 pounds (that's 3 tons) , be about 6 feet tall, and about 30 feet long! Whoa! A distant cousin of Stacie's could be anyone in the Triceratops family or in the Protoceratops family too.

Styracosaurus' lived in the late cretaceous period about 76 - 70 million years ago. she also walked on all fours, so we can call her a quadraped. Amazing how she grows so big and strong from a diet of leaves and greens. How big could you grow if all ou ate were your veggies?

Do you think she has a Valentine? Afterall, she is a very pretty shade of pink....