Scientists: Triceratops is a young version of Torosaurus

According to a research by John Scannella and Jack HornerJack Horner, triceratops was just a young version of a different dinosaur known as a torosauras.

John Scannella and Jack Horner are researchers at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. They have analyzed skulls from dinosaurs that had been categorized as triceratops and torosaurus. They are confident to declare that the dinosaur was actually just a young version of a Torosaurus.

The scientists argue that as the dinosaur reached maturity, the shape of its horns changed and it finally took the form of Torosaurus. Scientists say that all Torosaurus species will now be regrouped as Triceratops.

The research overturns a very old belief that Triceratops and Torosaurus represent two unlike dinosaur classes.

Triceratops had a three-horned skull with a short frill. Torosaurus had comparatively larger frill with three-horned skull that integrates two large holes.

Torosaurus were conventionally grouped as part of the subfamily known as Chasmosaurinae. It was believed that all Ceratopsians, including Torosaurus and Triceratops, were herbivores. The meaning of the name Torosaurus is often given as "bull lizard", but the name almost certainly means "perforated lizard".

In 1946, Gilmore described Torosaurus utahensis as Arrhinoceratops utahensis. Assessment by Sullivan, in 2005, concluded it as Torosaurus utahensis and somewhat older than T. latus. On the other hand, further researches recommended that it may well be either Arrhinoceratops or a new type.