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Exhibits

Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff

Get an up-close view of this 65-million-year-old fossil, discovered in the Dakota Badlands in 2004. Named for the grandfather of its anonymous donor, Cliff is one of only four nearly complete Triceratops on public display anywhere in the world. At the time of its discovery, the 23-foot-long specimen was missing some feet, leg, rib, and vertebral bones. Model makers then cast replacement bones, so Museum visitors can see the Triceratops skeleton as it would have looked when the living creature roamed through the Midwest during the Late Cretaceous period.

The relatively intact condition of this Triceratops skeleton raises many provocative questions: How was this Triceratops preserved? What do the skeleton's missing bones indicate?

Photo © Steve Marsel Studio

Format Exhibit
Grades K – Adult
Location Blue Wing, Lower Level — Museum of Science, Boston
Website n/a
MediaOPEN VIDEO
Related Links Press release
“Children's Hospital Scans Rare Dino Bones,” WCVB-TV, October 15, 2008
“‘Cliff’ Gets New Home In Boston,” WCVB-TV, October 27, 2008
“Assembly of Triceratops Cliff,” Boston.com, November 13, 2008

Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff

+ View Detailed Standard Connections

Primary Connections:

MA Science and Technology/Engineering Framework (2006)
(Massachusetts)

  • Biology > Evolution and Biodiversity (Grade: 9 – 10)
  • Life Science (Biology) > Evolution and Biodiversity (Grade: K – 2)
  • Life Science (Biology) > Evolution and Biodiversity (Grade: 6 – 8)

National Science Education Standards (1996)
(National)

  • Earth and Space Science > Properties of earth materials (Grade: K – 4)
  • Life Science > Diversity and adaptations of organisms (Grade: 5 – 8)
  • Life Science > Biological evolution (Grade: 9 – 12)

– View Concise Standard Connections

Primary Connections:

MA Science and Technology/Engineering Framework (2006)
(Massachusetts)

  • Biology > 5.1 Evolution and Biodiversity (Grade: 9 – 10)
    Explain how the fossil record, comparative anatomy, and other evidence support the theory of evolution.
  • Life Science (Biology) > 05 Evolution and Biodiversity (Grade: K – 2)
    Recognize that fossils provide us with information about living things that inhabited the earth years ago.
  • Life Science (Biology) > 11 Evolution and Biodiversity (Grade: 6 – 8)
    Recognize that evidence drawn from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the basis of the theory of evolution.

National Science Education Standards (1996)
(National)

  • Earth and Space Science > Properties of earth materials (Grade: K – 4)
    Fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and the nature of the environment at that time.
  • Life Science > Diversity and adaptations of organisms (Grade: 5 – 8)
    Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to allow its survival. Fossils indicate that many organisms that lived long ago are extinct. Extinction of species is common; most of the species that have lived on the earth no longer exist.
  • Life Science > Biological evolution (Grade: 9 – 12)
    Biological classifications are based on how organisms are related. Organisms are classified into a hierarchy of groups and subgroups based on similarities which reflect their evolutionary relationships. Species is the most fundamental unit of classification.

Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff

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Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff

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Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff

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