Living: All Ceratopsidae’s have the remarkable collar, but only the Styracosaurus has spikes made of bone attached to it. The four middle spikes and the horn on the nose were almost as long as a human arm and worked as defense from large Theropods. The male Styracosaurs has probably also used the collar as a weapon while fighting for a female just like today’s deer’s fight.

By Shiraishi Mineo

Their wide shoulders have protected them from getting hurt during these fights, but the scientists found marks in their bones, which indicate, that the fights didn’t happen in silence.

Classification: Even though the collar-spikes and other characteristics about the Styracosaurus’ skull are very strange, some scientists say, that the Styracosaurus, Centrosaurus and some so-called Monoclonius all belonged to one specie. It could be that it might vary from female to male and even from an older dinosaur to a younger. To make it even more complicated, a drawing from 1990 shows that there might have been Styracosaurs’ with only two spikes and a remarkable horn on the nose, which hanged over the beak. In 1992 it was described as a missing link between the Styracosaurus and Pachyrhinosaurus. These founds might lead to new information about the nose-horned lizards.

Skeleton: The Styracosaurus’ skeleton had a Ceratopsids typical high beak, massive skull, large shoulders and a short tail. But this is the only Ceratopsid with the long spikes on the collar.