Get to know the prehistoric beasts that roamed the planet millions of years ago.

Triceratops
Triceratops was the dinosaur version of a rhinoceros: it walked on all fours, would charge other animals if it felt threatened and used the three horns on its head to defend itself – in fact, its name actually means ‘three-horned face’. Although it looks intimidating, triceratops was a herbivore.

Did you know?
Triceratops’ head frill was 1.8m wide. It may have protected its neck from predators or been used to attract mates.

Tyrannosaurus Rex
This fierce monster isn’t called the ‘tyrant lizard king’ (Tyrannosaurus in Greek and rex in Latin) for nothing. At about 12m long (more than the width of a tennis court) and up to six metres tall, T. rex was the biggest meat-eating dinosaur around 67 million years ago. It preyed on other dinosaurs and its huge teeth and jaws were so strong, it could chomp 230 kg of meat, including bones, in one bite.

Did you know?
T. rex’s teeth were as scary as the rest of it. Some were the shape and size of bananas – the biggest one found is 30 cm long!

Stegosaurus
‘Stegosaurus’ means ‘roof lizard’, referring to the row of bony plates down this dinosaur’s back. These may have helped control its body temperature. It also had spikes on its tail, which it used to protect itself against predators. This herbivorous dinosaur lived between 140 and 156 million years ago.

Did you know?
Although stegosaurus weighed about 4.5 tons, its brain was only the size of a walnut.

Velociraptor
This carnivorous dinosaur’s name means ‘speedy thief’ and it could run at up 60 km/h. Despite what you may have seen in Jurassic Park (the way we’ve shown it here), it actually had feathers and was not much bigger than a turkey, making it a little less scary.

Did you know?
A famous fossil of a velociraptor locked in battle with a pig-sized protoceratops was discovered in 1972. Talk about an action shot!