The skull of Triceratops looks almost exaggerated, as if someone enlarged the front half without adjusting the rest. Paleontologists have long studied its horns and frill, yet the cavernous nasal region remained harder to explain. A new reconstruction suggests that space was not empty decoration. It likely housed a complex system for airflow, blood circulation, and temperature control. Researchers led by Project Research Associate Seishiro Tada of the University of Tokyo Museum examined fossil skulls using high-resolution CT scans and comparisons with living reptiles and birds. By tracing canals inside the bone, they reconstructed where nerves, blood vessels, and soft tissues would have been located. Their work offers the first detailed hypothesis of nasal anatomy in horned dinosaurs, also known as ceratopsids. “I have been working on the evolution of reptilian heads and noses since my master’s degree,” Tada said. “Triceratops in particular had a very large and unusual nose, and I couldn’t figure out how the organs fit within it even though I remember the basic patterns of reptiles. That made me interested in …