Papo Young Triceratops Dinosaur Model Revised
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Papo, the French model and figure manufacturer, introduced two baby dinosaur models to its range of replicas some time ago. Also, to these “youngsters”, the company has just added a model of a baby Triceratops to its portfolio of dinosaur models and it is very cute.
Triceratops fossils are the most common dinosaur fossils found in the famous Hell Creek Formation of the western United States of America. This Late Cretaceous rock formation can be found in Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota. Nearly forty percent of all dinosaur fossils found to date have been attributed to the genus Triceratops, but baby Triceratops fossils are extremely rare.
It is likely to be eaten by a predator
Any baby dinosaur that went extinct on the plains of the late Cretaceous would likely have been quickly eaten by a scavenging theropod dinosaur. Since the bones of juveniles are much smaller than the bones of adults, they are less likely to survive the fossilization process. However, several fossils of other types of horned dinosaurs (Canada and USA) have been found in recent years and this model of a young Triceratops from Papo is based on this fossil material.
Beautifully Painted Baby Triceratops
The model is a fraction of more than four inches long and the head is almost six inches tall, it is a beautifully painted dinosaur model. Papo’s design team has given his baby Triceratops two small eyebrow horns and a small nasal horn. Scientists are aware that these horned dinosaurs developed larger horns as they aged. The head shield has small bumps on the edges and has been painted a sand colour, the same shade as the underside of the dinosaur replica. The detail on the skin is very clever. Fossilized skin from an adult Triceratops has been discovered and the model makers at Papo must have used this fossil evidence as the basis for the skin pattern on their baby dinosaur replica. The mouth is open and a small triangular shaped pink tongue can be distinguished inside the jaw.
A Companion for Papo’s Adult Triceratops
Although it is not possible to give a scale size for this model, it is worth noting that this figure works very well with the adult Triceratops model that was added to Papo’s model range a few years ago.
Count your toes
There is an anatomical error that we detected in the model. Triceratops had five toes on its front feet and four toes on its hind feet. Unfortunately, this dinosaur model only has four digits on each of its front legs. This is a common misconception when it comes to horned dinosaur figures and replicas.
An excellent Papo dinosaur model
This minor gripe aside, this is an excellent Papo dinosaur model, one that will delight collectors and young dinosaur fans alike. It comes highly recommended and hopefully this France based manufacturer will consider introducing more baby dinosaur models to their range of figures and replicas in the future.