The field expedition to recover Triceratops lasted three seasons 1961-1963. Two vertebrae found by Lois Erickson led to it’s discovery. The skeleton was prepared and mounted by staff, volunteers and students during 1964 and 1965. In 1966 during ceremonies at the museum Triceratops was dedicated by Friedelind Wagner, granddaughter of famous German composer, Richard Wagner, and named “Fafner” in honor of the dragon in his famous cycle of four operas, Der Ring des Nebilungen. Triceratops has become a museum icon.

Triceratops is my first dinosaur – it evokes thoughts and images of museum expeditions and long hot days in the Badlands.
– Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology