Chapter Ten: Dracoceratops
Jackalopes
Species: Dracoceratops
Hybrid Genome: Dracorex base, Triceratops spliced in.
Size: Fifteen feet long, five and a half feet tall, 700-800 pounds.
Diet: Herbivore.
Simon Masrani had been John Hammond's most devoted student in his youth.
He'd adored the man as a second father, a great teacher, and an idol growing up. When Jurassic Park had fallen to pieces, John had accepted that failure and turned it into a learning experience for both himself and Simon.
He had assumed they could control the dinosaurs and they had failed. So perhaps, he had realized, controlling the animals was not the proper way to go about realizing his dream.
Simon had absorbed the knowledge and philosophy John imparted onto him like a sponge, especially after John's health took a turn for the worse. When he was prepared and experienced enough, he arranged to take that first step to making John's dream a reality—reclaim Isla Nublar.
It had not been easy. There had been snags—of course there were. Nature did not bend to the will of man without forcing man to acknowledge the risks of doing so. But Simon was patient, careful, and respectful of the boundaries he pushed. In the end, he had succeeded, and Jurassic Park evolved into Jurassic World. It was the paradise John had always envisioned, tempered by respect and acceptance of nature's brittle temper.
Unfortunately, John did not live to see his dream come to fruition. Two years before the park was opened to the public, John Hammond passed away in his sleep. Simon grieved for him, but he did not allow the loss to take away from his devotion to the island and its inhabitants. If anything, it only heightened his desire to make Jurassic World everything John would have loved to see.
Often times, he would go to the T-Rex viewing area alone and watch the grand old lady go about eating her dinner. Her caretakers gave her a large meal at night, as the few goats offered to encourage her to approach the attraction site certainly weren't enough to keep the massive carnivore going.
Rexy, Hammond had often called her. Simon called her that, too.
He made sure to check up on all of the dinosaurs Hammond was most fond of whenever he could. They were all getting a bit on in years, as they were created with older genetic technology and hadn't received the lifespan boosting genes that were more common in the park's younger residents, but all of them were doing well.
Hybrids were something Simon had always been wary of.
He didn't want the park to be filled with nothing but the genetically modified dinosaurs that weren't truly dinosaurs, but he also understood that, in their own ways, none of the dinosaurs in Jurassic World were exactly like their ancient ancestors. Perhaps none of them ever would be, unless they happened to stumble upon something extraordinary in their fossil expeditions.
So he compromised. Hybrids, yes. But hybrids that could be seen as true dinosaurs. No monsters. No muddled conglomerates that looked like they belonged in a B-Horror movie.
He thought, with some amusement, that the Dracoceratops were a good example of what a hybrid should be.
They were descended from the Dracorex, a species of Pachycephalosaurid, and hybridized with genes from the Triceratops family. At roughly fifteen feet long, five and a half feet tall, and ranging anywhere from 700-800 pounds, they were small dinosaurs. They were simply colored, with light brown scales lining most of their body and lighter, more yellowed stripes lining their flanks and back. Their legs were short and stocky, like the rest of their bodies, and their arms were too small to serve much of a function beyond scratching their round bellies.
Like other Pachycephalosaurs and their Triceratops cousins, their most outstanding feature was their ornate heads. Dracoceratops bore a thick, powerful skull similar to the Dracorex, but with the frill and horns of a Triceratops. The frill was modest, and could flare various shades of brown and red, which the animals used to communicate. The horns were fairly long for an animal of their size, at roughly a foot in length for the two main spears just above the hybrid's eyes, but the horn on their noses was much smaller and a bit more proportional.
Simon was watching the small herd of hybrids frolicking in a stream from the safety of a Jurassic World Jeep, along with Dr. Gerry and Dr. Wu. It was unusual for Wu to request a field study that he himself partook in, but he was adamant in ensuring the hybrids were adapting to their environment properly in addition to getting along with their prehistoric cousins.
Simon and Henry had always gotten along, and Simon had been quick to nip InGen's more military endeavors in the bud when their higher-ups came to Henry and began harassing him about war animals. No, Simon was in charge of InGen and they would adhere to his orders.
Henry had always appreciated that. He wanted to make dinosaurs, not war beasts.
"They seem to be doing well," Simon commented as one of the Dracoceratops, (likely one of the younger individuals) was chased by an older, larger member. The older animal grunted loudly, to which the younger bleated in response.
"Hmm," Henry merely hummed noncommittally. He was focused on the hybrid dinosaurs and their interactions with the more natural members of the Pachy Arena dinosaur community. It was a smaller paddock that was comprised entirely of the Pachycephalosaurid family, but it was still plenty large enough to keep each species happy and comfortable.
Granted, Pachycephalosaurs weren't quite as big on social mingling as other species, like the Ceratopsians, but the park staff didn't want the dinosaurs to get aggressive with one another, either. If the Dracoceratops, for example, developed a hostile relationship to the Stygimoloch, they would have to be separated.
So far, everything had worked out, but follow-up viewings and ensuring their tolerant behavior was consistent remained an important study point.
At the moment, the Dracoceratops herd were casually sharing space with their smaller cousins, the Homalocephalae. They were the smallest Pachycephalosaurid species Jurassic World housed, and pretty much got along well with any of the other animals.
Wu felt more ensured that they'd made the correct decision to house the Dracoceratops with their prehistoric cousins as he spotted both Alphas nesting close together so they could watch their individual herds. Wherever the Homalocephalae herd went, they tended to shadow their larger cousins for protection.
The acceptance of this behavior by the Dracoceratops Alpha was a good sign that they were more than willing to put up with their smaller relatives.
Of course, not everything would always be sunshine and daisies.
His eyes trailed to the biggest Dracoceratops in the herd—a huge female with the tip of one horn broken off. Though she was calmly feeding with a pair of Homalocephalae, all of the men in the Jeep knew full well she had recently found herself at odds with a different cousin.
"You said the Prenocephale that was injured sustained only superficial damage, correct?" Wu asked of Dr. Gerry.
"Yeah," Gerry admitted. "Minor puncture wound in her left thigh, but nothing serious. That fight was quick, from what the handlers told me. The Preno started it—we don't know if she was startled or was actively seeking a confrontation, but she charged and drew first blood. Chip over there got a welt on her flank and then twisted and caught the Preno's leg with the tip of her horn. They both ran off after that."
"No aggression from either species since then?"
"None," Gerry shook his head. "I think it really was just a freak accident. Maybe the Preno was feeling a bit too frisky. It's close to their breeding season, after all, males or no males."
"True," Wu inclined his head in agreement. "Tell the handlers to keep an eye on it, but if neither species opted to continue the fight, I think this accident won't cause too many issues. The Dracoceratops and Prenocephalae have always been rather tolerant of one another."
Simon reached into the Jeep and pulled out a handful of ferns that he knew the animals were quite fond of. Reaching out through the protective bars, he whistled to garner the attention of the closest hybrid.
Wu and Gerry watched with some bemusement as the Dracoceratops cocked her head before trotting over eagerly to accept the treat, bleating happily as she bit into the ferns. Of course, once the first got something good from the Jeep, the rest of the herd (and the Homalocephalae, of course) immediately took notice and began to approach.
"Something tells me we aren't leaving anytime soon," Gerry said sarcastically as he accepted their fate.
Simon only laughed as the Jeep was slowly crowded by eager, hungry dinosaurs.
A/N: Off-topic, but Dracoceratops is both a blessing and a curse in Jurassic World: Alive. But that is besides the point. This is our third herbivore hybrid! Next will be our third amphibious creature, so give me your thoughts on which hybrid it should be! As ever, please review and thanks for reading!