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EXHIBIT 196

Sinoceratops

Sinoceratops zhuchengensis

Sinoceratops documents a ceratopsid in China with a nasal horn, no brow horns and a decorated frill. [1]

Evidence profile

TWO WAYS TO PICTURE THE PAST

Compare the evidence with the familiar movie image. The illustrations are not to a shared scale.

01 / SKELETAL RECONSTRUCTION

A framework from the fossils

Comparative Sinoceratops bony-frill reconstruction with coded marginal processes.

Interpretive bony-frill diagram cropped from a 2024 comparative study. Colors code marginal-ossification positions, not the animal’s skin. The bony windows would be skin-covered in life; missing anatomy and soft tissues remain interpreted. [1]

Sinoceratops zhuchengensis (frill).png · Mark A. Loewen, Joseph J. W. Sertich, Scott Sampson, Jingmai K. O’Connor, Savhannah Carpenter, Brock Sisson, Anna Øhlenschlæger, Andrew A. Farke, Peter J. Makovicky, Nicholas Longrich and David C. Evans. CC BY 4.0. Proportional resizing and WebP conversion; no anatomy edits. Current Commons composition preserved.

Skeletal mounts and drawings may restore missing parts; the caption identifies the displayed material.

02 / MOVIE-STYLE INTERPRETATION

A cinematic imagination

Illustrative reconstruction of Sinoceratops; colors, soft tissues and missing anatomy remain interpretive.

Original cinematic interpretation of Sinoceratops. Partial crania guide the nasal horn, weak brow bumps and curved frill processes. Whole-body proportions, horn coverings and skin over frill openings are comparative reconstructions. Lighting, colors and scenery are artistic choices; this image does not document directly observed behavior. Lighting, coloration and scenery are artistic choices. This image does not document a fossil locality or behavior.

Original artwork · artistic interpretation.

Scientific view: source-informed reconstruction, credited paleoart or specimen-based imagery. Movie-style view: Original artistic interpretation. Reconstructions involve uncertainty.

PERIODLate Cretaceous[1]
DIETHerbivoreEvidence and uncertainty in the dossier
TOTAL LENGTHSee the dossierEstimate scope matters
FOSSILS FOUNDShandong, China[1]
CompareRead the dossierView the sources

MEET THE ANIMAL

Meet Sinoceratops

Sinoceratops was a large horned dinosaur from Late Cretaceous China. Its head carried a prominent nose horn and a frill edged with curved, spike-like ornaments. A frill is the bony shield extending behind the skull. Its Chinese discovery helped expand the known geography of the large horned dinosaurs, a group much more familiar from North American fossils. Sinoceratops remains are reported from Zangjiazhuang, near Zhucheng in Shandong Province. [S1] [S2]

The frill needs a careful reconstruction. Its bones contained openings, but the living animal's skin covered them. They were not open holes through the entire head shield. The Natural History Museum explains this difference when discussing its movie appearance. Looking at a bare fossil skull can reveal the framework of a head without showing exactly how its soft covering looked in life. [D4]

The fossil area also contains many duck-billed dinosaur bones and remains of tyrannosaur relatives. These finds help show the variety of dinosaurs recorded in this part of China. They do not document one group living together at a particular moment. A locality's collection of bones is evidence about an ancient region; it does not, by itself, reveal Sinoceratops's herd structure or prove that a particular predator attacked it. [S2]

Overview sources
  1. Dino of the Month: SinoceratopsPhilip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum (2014) · Accessed 2026-10-04Inspected: page
  2. New Leptoceratopsid Found from the Upper Cretaceous of Shandong Province, ChinaInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; posted 4 January 2016 · Accessed 2026-10-04Inspected: excerpt

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL DOSSIER

A life in profile.

The animal, the evidence, and the questions still open.

The decorated frill had bony windows, but the living animal’s shield was skin-covered. Skull bones do not establish full-body proportions. [D4] [D1]

Profile scope: S. zhuchengensis: holotype ZCDM V0010 and two referred partial crania from Zangjiazhuang, Shandong; postcranial reconstruction is comparative. [D1]

Time
Late Cretaceous
Fossil locations in this exhibit
Shandong, China
How to read the evidence

Source supported identifies a description documented by the cited source. Inferred marks a reconstruction or functional estimate. Debated marks competing interpretations. Not established means the sources reviewed for this dossier do not support a firm conclusion; it does not mean a behavior never occurred.

A size reference is an estimate, not a population range. Nesting evidence does not by itself establish courtship, mate choice, or lifelong pairing.

Length

Inferred

About 7 m; institutional reference

Holtz’s educational reconstruction has no specimen, maturity or method designation. It is not a measured individual or adult species range. [D3]

Body mass

Not established

Not established here

Reviewed material is partial crania; no defensible specimen-scoped kilogram model was located. A qualitative size category is not converted into a mass. [D1] [D3]

Diet

Inferred

Plant eater

Herbivory inferred from ceratopsid relationships; a specific menu or preserved meal is not established here. [D6]

Time and habitat

Source supported

Late Cretaceous; Zhucheng, Shandong

Original material comes from Wangshi Group deposits. Regional Hongtuya conglomerate dating supplies context, not an exact lifespan for this genus. [D1] [D2]

Locomotion

Inferred

Four-legged body plan

Ceratopsid posture inferred comparatively; genus-specific trackways, gait and speed are not established here. [D6]

Distinctive anatomy

Source supported

Nasal horn; decorated short frill

Postorbital horn cores are absent. Curved parietal marginal processes project posterodorsally, with additional frill-surface bumps. [D1]

Reproduction & life together

Reproduction and life cycle

Not established

Not established here

The reviewed partial crania do not establish reproductive maturity, genus-specific eggs, nests, clutch size or parental care. [D1]

Mating and courtship

Not established

Not established here

Ceratopsian sexual-selection hypotheses are comparative. Ornament shape does not establish this genus’s mate choice, courtship sequence or sex-specific roles. [D5]

Social behavior

Not established

Not established here

Three partial crania from one locality are an association; they do not establish a living herd, group size or social hierarchy. [D1]

Dossier research & sources

Sources and inspection notes for the claims in this profile.

  1. First ceratopsid dinosaur from China and its biogeographical implicationsChinese Science Bulletin; Xu, Wang, Zhao and Li (2010) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full five-page article inspected: three partial crania, Wangshi Group type locality, nasal horn/no brow horns, short decorated frill. Printed occipital-condyle “90 cm” is an apparent unit error and is not propagated. · Inspected: page
  2. Detrital zircon dating and tracing the provenance of dinosaur bone beds from the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group in Zhucheng, Shandong, East ChinaJournal of Palaeogeography; An and colleagues (2016) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original abstract reproduced by DOAJ inspected: regional Hongtuya bonebed maximum depositional age 77.3 Ma, Campanian interpretation, conglomerates and provenance. This is regional sedimentology, not a direct Sinoceratops date. · Inspected: abstract
  3. Genus List for Holtz (2008) DinosaursUniversity of Maryland; Thomas R. Holtz Jr. (updated 13 January 2012) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original institutional appendix p 51 inspected: Sinoceratops 7 m educational reference, qualitative rhinoceros mass category; no specimen/maturity/method or kilogram value. · Inspected: page
  4. Why we love Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (even though it is wrong)Natural History Museum, London (2018) · Accessed 2026-10-02Institutional paleontologist discussion inspected: Sinoceratops bony frill openings would have been skin-covered, unlike open holes depicted in the film. · Inspected: page
  5. Patterns of divergence in the morphology of ceratopsian dinosaurs: sympatry is not a driver of ornament evolutionProceedings of the Royal Society B; Knapp, Knell, Farke, Loewen and Hone (2018) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full text inspected. Comparative ornament-divergence analysis; sexual-selection hypothesis is not a directly observed mating behavior or identified sex. · Inspected: page
  6. Osteological correlates for quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaursActa Palaeontologica Polonica; Maidment and Barrett (2014) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full paper inspected. Ceratopsidae treated as quadrupedal within herbivorous Ornithischia; application to skull-only taxa is explicitly comparative. · Inspected: page

THE STORY IN THE FOSSILS

A fossil frill versus a film reconstruction

The large openings seen in a bare bony frill do not imply exposed holes in the living shield. Museum paleontologists specifically rejected that feature of the film’s Sinoceratops. [4]

Regional zircon work gives a maximum depositional age rather than the animal’s birth or death date. Conglomerate provenance helps interpret the bonebed setting without establishing social behavior. [2]

A note on scale and time

The dossier identifies the scope of each reference estimate. A mount, an individual fossil and a species-wide adult range are different measurements. Comparison metrics remain unavailable where adult scope has not been established. Unknown does not mean zero.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources support the stated claims and scopes. Refer to the evidence notes for uncertainty.

  1. First ceratopsid dinosaur from China and its biogeographical implicationsChinese Science Bulletin; Xu, Wang, Zhao and Li (2010) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full five-page article inspected: three partial crania, Wangshi Group type locality, nasal horn/no brow horns, short decorated frill. Printed occipital-condyle “90 cm” is an apparent unit error and is not propagated. · Inspected: page
  2. Detrital zircon dating and tracing the provenance of dinosaur bone beds from the Late Cretaceous Wangshi Group in Zhucheng, Shandong, East ChinaJournal of Palaeogeography; An and colleagues (2016) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original abstract reproduced by DOAJ inspected: regional Hongtuya bonebed maximum depositional age 77.3 Ma, Campanian interpretation, conglomerates and provenance. This is regional sedimentology, not a direct Sinoceratops date. · Inspected: abstract
  3. Genus List for Holtz (2008) DinosaursUniversity of Maryland; Thomas R. Holtz Jr. (updated 13 January 2012) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original institutional appendix p 51 inspected: Sinoceratops 7 m educational reference, qualitative rhinoceros mass category; no specimen/maturity/method or kilogram value. · Inspected: page
  4. Why we love Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (even though it is wrong)Natural History Museum, London (2018) · Accessed 2026-10-02Institutional paleontologist discussion inspected: Sinoceratops bony frill openings would have been skin-covered, unlike open holes depicted in the film. · Inspected: page
  5. Patterns of divergence in the morphology of ceratopsian dinosaurs: sympatry is not a driver of ornament evolutionProceedings of the Royal Society B; Knapp, Knell, Farke, Loewen and Hone (2018) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full text inspected. Comparative ornament-divergence analysis; sexual-selection hypothesis is not a directly observed mating behavior or identified sex. · Inspected: page
  6. Osteological correlates for quadrupedality in ornithischian dinosaursActa Palaeontologica Polonica; Maidment and Barrett (2014) · Accessed 2026-10-02Original full paper inspected. Ceratopsidae treated as quadrupedal within herbivorous Ornithischia; application to skull-only taxa is explicitly comparative. · Inspected: page

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