Amongst all the fossils ever found in the world, there might be nothing more bizarre than this specimen. One Protoceratops, a herbivorous (plant-eating) dinosaur, perished in the struggle with a carnivorous theropod, Velociraptor. After their death 80 million years ago, both skeletons were fossilized, then finally unearthed in 1971 in fully articulated forms without having been smashed.

The reason why they fought with each other is not known. Protoceratops might have been defending its nest from the predator, or the two creatures might have encountered accidentally, but all we can do is build speculations and guesses about them.

Both dinosaurs have similar sizes. Velociraptor is grabbing the head of Protoceratops with its forearms. Also sickle claws of its hindlegs seems to have torn out the throat and belly of Protoceratops. This posture is sometimes compared to that of a linx (bob cat) leaping attack against a prey. On the other hand, Protoceratops is biting Velociraptor at its right forearm so deeply that the predator could not have moved.

While they were entangling with each other, a terrible sandstorm or falling sand might have burried them to death.

In this display, laying on the base is the predator, Velociraptor mongoliensis. This is the first material which proved how dromaeosaurids used their sickle claws. This specimen is also the first fully-articulated and almost complete skeleton of dromaeosaurids. A flat sternum (but no furcula) can be seen at its chest, which has been rarely found in other dinosaur materials.

The other small creature leaning over Velociraptor is Protoceratops andrewsi, which is one of the members of the ceratopsians. Its massive jaws, sharp beak, and cheek teeth are apparently suited for slicing and shearing the tough plants. However, this specimen indicates that they were occasionally used effectively for interspecific combat as well.

Name: Velociraptor mongoliensis

Etymology: "swift robber"

Classification: Deinonychosauria, Dromaeosauridae

Length: 1.5m

Name: Protoceratops andrewsi

Etymology: "first horned face"

Classification: Ceratopsia, Protoceratopsidae

Length: 1.8m

Protoceratops is known from multiple specimens with skulls spanning a significant size range from hatchling to adult, with all stages in between (you can see those at American Museum of Natural History, New York). Protoceratops is one of the most well-investigated dinosaurs. Its frill was larger than that of the more primitive Psittacosaurus, but less-developed than that of the more advanced Triceratops, and it had no horns but a bump on its snout. Although its forelimbs are shorter than the hindlimbs, this animal is considered to be a quadruped (walked on all fours).

Protoceratops might laid eggs for reproduction and took care of their babies in the nest. World's first widely-publicized dinosaur eggs, which were discovered by an American expedition to Mongolia in 1923 at the Flaming Cliffs, were first presumed to belong to Protoceratops, since it was the most commonly-found dinosaur at the locality. However, after 70 years, on the basis of studies of embryo discovered in Mongolia, it was shown that those eggs belonged to toothless theropod, Oviraptor.

Some incredibly well-preserved fossils of Protoceratops have been yielded from Mongolia. Such fossils would have required rapid burial of the dinosaur bodies. Possibly these animals nested underground of the dune, and sudden falling sands killed them to left almost complete fossils. Recent finding of 15 Protoceratopsian babies in one place might be that kind of case.

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