# How to eat a Triceratops (if you're a T-Rex) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 26, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896 "2012-10-26T01:39:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/1 "2012-10-26T01:39:44Z")
io9 article: [How to eat a Triceratops in four easy steps](http://io9.com/5954801/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-in-four-easy-steps) If T-Rex’s ever ate in restaurants, I could see this printed on the placemats. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/2 "2012-10-26T01:40:47Z")
Worst. Coloring. Book. Ever. Why don’t I have any crayons? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/3 "2012-10-26T02:00:40Z")
> [@](#): > > T-rex liked to gnaw the flesh off the triceratops’ face. Mmmmmm…face meat. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/4 "2012-10-26T02:21:47Z")
So [Rudy Eugene](http://abcnews.go.com/US/face-eating-attack-possibly-linked-bath-salts-miami/story?id=16451452) was a really a T-rex & not on bath salts? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/5 "2012-10-26T02:29:20Z")
Hey, no fair! The directions at the link start with “Upon killing the triceratops…”, but don’t say how that step was done. A rather significant omission, I would think. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/6 "2012-10-26T02:41:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hey, no fair! The directions at the link start with “Upon killing the triceratops…”, but don’t say how that step was done. A rather significant omission, I would think. Yeah. If **TriCeraTops** is so heavily armored, how does **T-Rex** kill him? Once that’s done, the rest should be easy. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/7 "2012-10-26T02:56:22Z")
I saw books a long time ago that theorized that the Triceratops didn’t have any protruding frill, and the big flanged thing on the back of its skull was merely an anchor for the neck muscles contained within the neck. Was this theory ever taken seriously, and has it been entirely debunked? ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/8 "2012-10-26T03:01:59Z")
I would hazard a guess that the way to kill a triceratops is “from behind”. This ain’t a worthy cite, but one of the Slashdot commenters mentioned that there are also examples of partially healed T-rex bite marks on the backs of Triceratops, implying that they were attacked from behind but managed to escape. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/9 "2012-10-26T03:05:07Z")
Ah, so you have to take the lid off first! I have always found it disappointing that the triceratops in Jurassic Park was not played by [Jeanne Tripplehorn](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000675/). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/10 "2012-10-26T03:35:40Z")
Just please don’t tip over my car when you bring out the ribs. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/11 "2012-10-26T04:06:23Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > I saw books a long time ago that theorized that the Triceratops didn’t have any protruding frill, and the big flanged thing on the back of its skull was merely an anchor for the neck muscles contained within the neck. Was this theory ever taken seriously, and has it been entirely debunked? _Archosauria_ by John C. McLaughlin. Here’s an image of a [no-frills Triceratops.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/babbletrish/4993634034/) No, the reconstruction is not taken seriously. I can’t see how the animal would have been able to move its neck at all. More on [_Archosauria._](http://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2010/09/lets-read-achosauria.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/12 "2012-10-26T11:56:59Z")
Looks like this dinosaur was paying attention, although it’s a _Styracosaur_ (about 1:00 in): [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FLVt6bMJ8Ds/hqdefault.jpg "DINOSAURS from "THE LOST WORLD"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLVt6bMJ8Ds) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/13 "2012-10-26T11:59:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > _Archosauria_ by John C. McLaughlin. Here’s an image of a [no-frills Triceratops.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/babbletrish/4993634034/) No, the reconstruction is not taken seriously. I can’t see how the animal would have been able to move its neck at all. > > More on [_Archosauria._](http://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2010/09/lets-read-achosauria.html) Even if that worked for Triceratops, it’s hard to see how some of the ceratopsians with _really_ big frills, like _Torosaurus_, would have been able to work: > **[Torosaurus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torosaurus)** > > Torosaurus (meaning "perforated lizard", in reference to the large openings in its frill) is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, between 68 and 66 million years ago, though it is possible that the species range might extend to as far back as 69 million years ago. Fossils have been discovered across the Western Interior of North America, from as far north as Saskatchewan to as far south as Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/14 "2012-10-26T11:59:54Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Just please don’t tip over my car when you bring out the ribs. I was always impressed that that skinny little carhop could carry a platter of ribs heavy enough to tip over a car with stone rollers. Or that the paperboy could toss a stone slab newspaper like it weighed nothing. Damn, those people were fit back then! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/15 "2012-10-26T13:03:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The directions at the link start with “Upon killing the triceratops…”, but don’t say how that step was done. “Left as an exercise to the reader.” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/16 "2012-10-26T13:48:22Z")
“First, catch your hare.” ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/17 "2012-10-26T14:33:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hey, no fair! The directions at the link start with “Upon killing the triceratops…”, but don’t say how that step was done. A rather significant omission, I would think. I can think of 101 ways without even trying. Mostly involving dynamite. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/18 "2012-10-26T14:44:56Z")
What’s io9? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/19 "2012-10-26T14:49:16Z")
[Nice display of Triceratops-type skulls](https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bt2HFNEI3ce7aiYnJku0YdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink) at the SLC Natural History Museum. (The interpretive sign doesn’t say if any were ripped off by a T-Rex :p) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-eat-a-triceratops-if-youre-a-t-rex/638896/20 "2012-10-26T15:06:24Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > What’s io9? Lifehacker for the Cretaceous?