[1] The first Centrosaurus remains were discovered and named by paleontologist Lawrence Lambe in strata along the Red Deer River in Alberta.

[2] A discovery of thousands of Centrosaurus fossils near the town of Hilda, Alberta, is believed to be the largest bed of dinosaur bones ever discovered.

[13] The frill was relatively short compared to the total skull length and could grow to over half a meter (68.8 cm) long in the oldest and largest adults.

The frills of Centrosaurus were moderately long, with fairly large fenestrae and small hornlets along the outer edges.

[18] The cladogram presented below represents a phylogenetic analysis by Chiba et al. (2017):[20] Diabloceratops eatoni Machairoceratops cronusi Avaceratops lammersi (ANSP 15800)

The discovery of gigantic bone beds of Centrosaurus in Canada suggest that they were gregarious animals and could have traveled in large herds.

Common theories concerning the function of ceratopsian frills and horns include defense from predators, combat within the species, and visual display.

[23] A specimen of Centrosaurus apertus recovered from Dinosaur Provincial Park in 1989 was discovered to have crippling osteosarcoma in its right fibula.

However, the fact that it was part of a herd allowed the Centrosaurus to survive much longer than would be expected for an animal infected with such severe disease.

[24] Thomas M. Lehman has observed that Centrosaurus fossils haven't been found outside of southern Alberta even though they are among the most abundant Judithian dinosaurs in the region.

[25] This restricted distribution strongly contrasts with modern mammalian faunas whose large herbivores' ranges "typical[ly] ... span much of a continent.