Ferrisaurus sustutensis is a relatively small ceratopsian from the Leptoceratopsidae family. It would have likely been quadrupedal (or rarely bipedal) with a rotund body, and a thick tail. While its front legs were technically longer than the back ones, because of their positioning on the body, the front legs would have looked shorter. It was hornless, had a toothed beak, and a frill at the back of its head.
Ferrisaurus lived in the forests of what is now Northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Leptoceratopsidae is a family of ceratopsians (similar to Triceratops) that are more primitive, so they are smaller, have shorter frills, and no horns.
The holotype consists of only a few shoulder and leg bones, and was discovered in 1971 by Kenny Flyborg Larsen, a geologist searching for radioactive materials along a route where a railway was being constructed, as they gave off enough radiation to be detectable. He donated the fossils to Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia, Canada) in 2004, and they were acquired by the Royal British Columbia Museum in 2006. First described in 2008 as an unknown ornithischian, it was re-analyzed and described as a new species in 2019.
Ferrisaurus translates to "iron lizard", because the specimen was discovered along a future rail line (possibly because trains used to be referred to as "iron horses"). Sustutensis refers to the fact that the specimen was discovered along the Sustut River in the Sustut Basin area of British Columbia.
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