Skull Island Bestiary - Three-horn

Skull Island Three-horn (Triceratoides horridus)

Length: 6 to 7 meters.

Weight: 2 to 3 tons.

Diet: Browses on leaves, branches, tree-ferns, hard-skinned fruits.

Despite a generally Gondwanan influence to Skull Island’s dinosaur fauna, some species seem to have also come from mainland Asia at some point in the late Cretaceous, presumably by way of the various volcanic island chains that have been a common feature of Skull Island biogeography since the Jurassic. Their descendants are the 3 large species of horned dinosaur, the most famous of which is the Three-horn (Triceratoides horridus). Lauded initially as an unchanged relic of the Cretaceous, this creature is not all that closely related to Triceratops after all. The Ceratopsids that colonized Skull Island were probably primitive kinds such as Turanoceratops or Sinoceratops, their evolution upon reaching the island has allowed them to somewhat resemble the more famous Ceratopsids of North America’s Cretaceous. The Three-horn is the most generalist of the island’s horned dinosaurs, found on treed lowland plains, gallery forest and scrub, it feeds mostly on leafy plants as well as branches and tree ferns, hard-skinned fruits are sometimes taken. These horned dinosaurs form loose herds of up to 15 individuals, including the alpha male.