Ceratosaurus, the "Horned Lizard,"
was not a creature of size, as shown
by its length of about six meters 
and height of two meters, but it 
compensated its size with ferocity. 
Unlike other theropods, Ceratosaurus
possessed an abnormally large skull 
in proportion to its body. Its nasal
horn and brow crests likely 
functioned as mechanisms to attract 
mates, and it probably dueled with 
competiting males over a female. For 
protection, Ceratosaurus featured a
row of small osteoderms on its back,
acting as dermal armor. Since its 
discovery during the famous Bone 
Wars of Edward Drinker Cope and 
Othniel Charles Marsh, a wide range 
of Ceratosaurus growth stages have 
been discovered, cementing it as one 
of the dinosaurs with a more 
complete fossilized record of its 
life stages.

Roaming the lands of North America 
and present day Portugal from the
Kimmeridgian to the Tithonian eras
of the Late Jurassic Period,
the Ceratosaurus hunted around 
waterways and in underbrush, feeding
on small herbivores like Dryosaurus. 
This hunting pattern represents a 
different niche than those occupied 
by larger contemporary carnivores 
like Torvosaurus (which hunted 
bigger prey in the same wet and 
forested areas) and Allosaurus 
(which also hunted big prey but in 
drier and more open areas).
