RE: Charging Triceratops (Behavior Conjecture Alert!)

["Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

On Thu, 5 Feb 2004, Mark Hallett wrote:
> I agree with Travis about this, based on what I've
> also noticed about the angle of some(presumably)
> minimally distorted brow horns among the
> better-preserved specimens of various Triceratops
> skulls. Simply because Triceratops brow horns(or nasal
> horns of other taxa like Styracosaurus or
> Centrosaurus)may have evolved predominantly as
> structures for intraspecific combat, this wouldn't
> have made them ineffective as predator deterrants:
> look at the horns of taurine bovids, cervids or those
> of hippotragine antelope like Oryxes or Sables, which
> can be quite deadly against lions and other would-be
> predators. I think that a large enough, healthy adult
> Triceratops would have easily been able to defend
> itself in a 1:1 encounter with a tyrannosaurid, and
> like the exclusive predator/exclusive scavenger
> argument relating to T. rex, we should avoid
> "either/or" interpretations of dinosaur structures
> that could have multiple functions. 

For the longest time I always thought of the horns as having a piercing
function. However, it has since occurred to me that though that happen,
pushing could be more likely. Even a short charge would have a fair bit
of momentum behind it whether horns pierced the target's skin or not. I
bet it could be quite capable of breaking a limb.