Achelousaurus was a herbivore (plant-eater) that lived in North America
during the late
Cretaceous period,
between about 83 and 74 million years ago,
Achelousaurus was about 20 feet (6 meters) long, and weighed about 6 tons.
Its skull alone (including the frill horns) was
over 5 feet (1.6 meters) long.
Achelousaurus was discovered and named by Scott Sampson in
1995.
He named the animal in reference to a river deity from ancient Greek myth - Achelous.
Sampson choose the name "Achelousaurus" for two reasons:
According to legend, Achelous's horns were torn off in a battle with Hercules.
Similarly, when one examines Achelousaurus skulls, they give the appearance of
missing horns (Achelousaurus skulls have rough bosses where other
Ceratopsian dinosaurs
have horns).
Achelous was supposed gifted with a shape-shifting ability. Likewise, Achelosaurus
has features which seem to combine and resemble those of other
Ceratopsian dinosaurs.
Achelosaurus was discovered at the Two Medicine Formation in
Montana
in the western
United States.
So far (at the time of writing), three skulls as well as some other material have
been found - all of which are located in the
Museum of the Rockies in
Bozeman,
Montana.
"Achelousaurus" means "Achelous's lizard" - Achelous is a reference to a diety of Greek mythology who had one of his horns torn off by Hercules (Achelousaurus's skull looks like it is missing horns), and who also could shape-shift (Achelousaurus seems to combine features of other Ceratopsian dinosaurs).
Achelousaurus was a member of the Ornithischia ("bird-hipped") order of dinosaurs. What this means, is that although Achelousaurus was not closely related to birds, it did have similarly shaped pelvic bones.
Achelousaurus was a Ceratopsian - a member of a group of related herbivorous (plant-eating) dinosaurs with beaks, many of which had neck frills and horns as well.
Achelousaurus lived between about 83 million years ago and 74 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous period.
Achelousaurus lived in North America.
Achelousaurus was a herbivore (plant-eater).
Achelousaurus was about 20 feet (6 meters) long.
Achelousaurus weighed about 6 tons.
Achelousaurus Books
Here are some books from Amazon.com:
Disclosure: Products details and descriptions provided by Amazon.com. Our company may receive a payment if you purchase products from them after following a link from this website.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
In Association With Amazon.com Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. In Association With Amazon.co.uk Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
Disclosure:
Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for
our own company's websites, products, and services,
and for other organization's websites, products, and services.
In the case of links to other organization's websites,
our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services,
or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website.
Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services,
is based on information provided by that organization,
the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should
not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question.
Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid
to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more
detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures
Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.
Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.
