Earlier in the year, I visited the Manchester Museum in order to attend a bold new chapter of natural history storytelling at the museum, with the exhibition of Triceratops: Eat, Roam, Repeat, centred on one of the most recognisable dinosaurs to have ever walked the Earth. More than a simple display of a skeleton, the exhibition invited audiences to reconsider how we understand extinct animals. This questioned our thoughts and understanding of how they lived, moved, fed, grew, and interacted within ancient ecosystems. Through immersive design, contemporary science, and a striking fossil of a Triceratops prorsus skull named Leopold, the exhibition transformed a prehistoric icon into a dynamic subject of ongoing research. The Manchester Museum itself, part of the University of Manchester, has long been known for combining academic research with public engagement. I will return to review the Museum in a future instalment of #MuseumMonday, so watch this space! For now, back to the dinosaurs.
Approximately 66 million years ago, in what is now known as the Badlands of Montana, the landscape consisted of warm, humid floodplains crossed by slow-moving rivers. From the perspective Leopold, the environment would have been dominated by dense vegetation, including ferns, cycads, conifers, and early flowering plants. As a large herbivorous ceratopsian, a Triceratops would spend much of their time feeding on low-growing plants using its sharp beak to clip tough vegetation. Herd behaviour likely provided protection and social structure, with individuals moving together across muddy plains marked by footprints and feeding traces. The surrounding ecosystem would also have included numerous other organisms, such as insects, turtles, small mammals, and flying reptiles. Predation pressure was an important factor in this ecosystem. Apex predators such as Tyrannosaurus rex occupied the same habitat and represented a major threat to large herbivores. Defensive adaptations of Triceratops, including its three facial horns, strong neck muscles, and large bony frill (which we’ll come back to later), may have been used both for protection and for social display within the herd. Life for an individual Triceratops would therefore involve constant foraging, maintaining proximity to other herd members, and remaining alert to predators in a dynamic Late Cretaceous ecosystem shortly before the end of the age of dinosaurs.
Triceratops lived approximately 68–66 million years ago, at the very end of the Cretaceous Period. Its name (meaning ‘three-horned face’) aptly describes its most dramatic features: two long brow horns above the eyes and a shorter horn on the nose. Behind the skull rose an expansive bony frill, edged with scalloped ornamentation. Adults could reach around nine metres in length and weigh up to 8–10 tonnes, placing them among the largest horned dinosaurs. The exhibition’s subtitle Eat, Roam, Repeat was both playful and scientifically grounded. It captured the daily rhythms that would have shaped the animal’s life: foraging for vegetation, moving across territory in search of food and water, and repeating this cycle in a landscape shared with other dinosaurs. One of the most compelling sections of the exhibition focused on feeding biology. Triceratops possessed one of the most sophisticated chewing mechanisms among non-avian dinosaurs. Its beak-like mouth, composed of a sharp rhamphotheca (a keratinous covering), was well-suited to cropping tough vegetation. Behind the beak lay rows of tightly packed teeth arranged into dental batteries, columns of teeth that replaced themselves continuously as they wore down.
The centrepiece of the exhibition was an exceptionally preserved Triceratops prorsus skull, positioned in the centre of the main exhibition space. Interactive displays and digital reconstructions demonstrated how Triceratops processed fibrous plants such as ferns, cycads, and possibly early flowering plants. Microscopic analysis of tooth wear patterns, explained through accessible graphics, revealed complex jaw movements capable of slicing and grinding. This contradicted older assumptions that dinosaurs swallowed vegetation largely unprocessed. By situating Triceratops within its ecological niche, the exhibition underscored a broader truth: large herbivores are ecosystem engineers. Just as modern elephants reshape African savannahs, herds of Triceratops would have influenced plant distribution, seed dispersal, and landscape structure. Eating was not merely survival, it was ecological participation.
The roaming behaviour of Triceratops remains an area of scientific investigation. Did they travel in herds? Were they solitary? The exhibition presented fossil evidence (bonebeds and trackways) to show how palaeontologists build hypotheses. While some horned dinosaurs appear to have formed groups, direct evidence for large Triceratops herds is less conclusive. Rather than presenting speculation as certainty, the exhibition highlighted the iterative nature of science. Immersive projections transported visitors to the Hell Creek Formation of present-day Montana and the Dakotas, where many Triceratops fossils have been discovered. Importantly, the exhibition explained how we know what we know. Stratigraphy, radiometric dating, sedimentology, and comparative anatomy were woven into the narrative. The roaming Triceratops was also explore from a biomechanical point of view, through one of the many interactive displays throughout the exhibition. Visitors could look at 3D models of Triceratops, which demonstrated their locomotion with the ability to manipulate these and see how this changed between walking and running. While biomechanics is quite a complex area of research, this intuitive activity helped to explain this topic in an accessible way.
The exhibition also explored the use of the horns that we’re all familiar with sticking out the face of Triceratops. Many animal species evolve horns or horn-like structures because they provide advantages for survival and reproduction. In modern animals such as rhinos, bighorn sheep, and beetles, horns are commonly used for defence against predators or for competition between members of the same species. Males in particular may use horns during contests for territory or mates, where stronger individuals gain better access to resources or breeding opportunities. Horns can also function as visual signals, making an animal appear larger and more intimidating to rivals or potential predators (the frill on Triceratops would have also helped with this). As these structures can influence both survival and reproductive success, natural selection can favour individuals with larger or more effective horns over many generations. The three horns and large frill of Triceratops likely served several similar purposes. Another possibility is defence against large predators such as Tyrannosaurus rex. The long brow horns could have been used to threaten or even injure an attacking predator. However, many palaeontologists also think the horns and frill played an important role in communication and display within the species. Differences in horn size and shape may have helped individuals recognise one another, compete with rivals, or attract mates. As a result, the horns of Triceratops were probably multifunctional structures that combined defence, display, and social signalling.
A major strength of Triceratops: Eat, Roam, Repeat was its insistence that palaeontology is not finished. Research continues to refine our understanding of dinosaur posture, metabolism, colouration, and behaviour. Exhibition design played a crucial role in storytelling. Lighting emphasised the dramatic silhouette of horns and frill. Interactive stations invited children to simulate fossil digs or test various aspects of Triceratops biology. It is clear that accessibility and inclusivity were prioritised. Clear language avoided unnecessary jargon, while tactile elements and multisensory features broadened engagement. The exhibition balanced spectacle with scholarship, a difficult but essential combination in natural history display.
There were a number of hands-on activities for children, which can play an important role in helping children develop an interest in palaeontology by allowing them to actively explore ideas rather than simply reading about them. The dig pit activity gave children the opportunity to experience what it might feel like to be a palaeontologist, carefully uncovering fossils from the ground. By digging in the simulated sand and discovering buried objects, children had the opportunity to learn that fossils are often hidden beneath layers of sediment and must be excavated slowly and carefully. This type of practical activity encourages curiosity and patience, while also helping children understand that palaeontology involves investigation and observation. The inclusion of a smaller, higher dig pit also ensured that the activity was accessible to younger visitors and those who may find it difficult to reach the ground, allowing more children to take part and feel included in the experience. Creative activities can also help children imagine what prehistoric life may have looked like. The fuzzy felt activity allowed visitors to build their own scenes from the time of the dinosaurs by arranging shapes and characters into different environments. This encouraged children to think about where dinosaurs lived, what other animals might have shared their habitats, and how prehistoric landscapes may have appeared. Similarly, the crayon rubbing activity using fossilised dinosaur droppings introduced children to an unusual but important type of fossil evidence known as coprolites. By making a rubbing of the fossil surface, children could observe their texture and shape while learning that even dinosaur waste can provide valuable scientific information about diet and behaviour. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of these as they were extremely popular!
Triceratops: Eat, Roam, Repeat succeeded because it combined scientific rigour with narrative clarity. It respected visitors’ intelligence while remaining accessible. It treated fossils not as trophies but as data-rich archives of life. At its heart, the exhibition reminded audiences that palaeontology is detective work across deep time. Every tooth wear mark, healed fracture, and sediment layer contributes to a story that is continually revised. For the Manchester Museum, the show reaffirmed its role as a bridge between academic research and public wonder. For visitors, it offered something more personal: an encounter with a creature separated from us by 66 million years, yet understandable through shared biological realities, growth, hunger, movement, survival.
No account of Triceratops would be complete without acknowledging its cultural status. From early 20th-century illustrations to blockbuster films, the dinosaur has become shorthand for prehistoric life. The exhibition explored how reconstructions have changed over time: from tail-dragging swamp dwellers to active, warm-blooded creatures. Triceratops is often portrayed as a powerful but herbivorous dinosaur, representing the classic image of a horned plant-eater defending itself against predators. Its dramatic appearance has made it a favourite subject for children’s dinosaur books, documentaries, and merchandise, helping to shape the public’s perception of what dinosaurs looked like and how they behaved. Triceratops has also appeared prominently in films, television, and video games. One of its most famous portrayals occurs in the film Jurassic Park, where a sick Triceratops is examined by the park’s scientists, introducing many viewers to the dinosaur in a memorable and sympathetic way. The animal is also a recurring creature in the Jurassic World series and appears in numerous dinosaur-themed video games. Some of these appearances and others were explored at the end of the exhibition.
Eat. Roam. Repeat. The phrase lingers not only as a summary of Triceratops’ existence, but as a poetic reminder that life, across eras, follows rhythms shaped by environment and adaptation. In bringing that rhythm to life, the Manchester Museum created an exhibition that honoured both ancient giants and the ongoing human quest to understand them. There was a nice balance of science and education for all ages, and I felt like the journey to Manchester from sunny Essex was worth it because of the opportunity to engage with this exhibition. If you visited, what was your favourite part? It is a shame that it didn’t stick around longer but my hope is that it will soon go on tour and be available elsewhere so keep an eye out for news of Leopold coming to a museum near you!
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