Night in the Time of Chasmosaurs

Summary: A Lone Chasmosaurus spends its time during the day in the floodplains of the Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada, 76 million years ago. When night falls a different side of the Chasmosaurus is shown when it and several others gather around a waterhole to socialize.

Cast: Chasmosaurus (Focus), Gorgosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Styracosaurus, Albanerpeton gracilis, Habrosaurus prodilatus, Scapherpeton, Panoplosaurus, Mercuriceratops, Centrosaurus, Unescoceratops, Vagaceratops, Gryposaurus, Stegoceras, Rativates, Chirostenotes, Dromaeosaurus, Stenonychosaurus, Hesperonychus, Albertochampsa, Palaeosaniwa, Cryodrakon, Cimolomys, Meniscoessus, Alphadon halleyi, and Gypsonictops.

It starts off with Thomas behind an exhibit display of some dinosaur skulls on the second floor of the dinosaur hall, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. "In the Primeval world, it's a world of survival, to kill or be eaten, and this applies with the dinosaurs. Herbivores had to evolve defenses against carnivores, some had long legs agility for speed, there is safety in numbers in a herd, and others have body armor and weapons, stegosaurs had their backs with rows of plates running down ending with a spike tail of thagomizers, ankylosaur armor was covered with thick skin, osteoderm scutes, and a clubtail, others had claw defenses like the long claws of Therizinosaurus and the spike thumb of the Iguanodon, and lastly there is a group of dinosaurs that have heavy head gear, the ceratopsids. Their heads were covered with frills and horns used for defenses against carnivores, but their primary function was to intimidate rivals, scare off predators, and attract a mate, a form of display. These include famous and familiar ceratopsids like Einiosaurus, Styracosaurus, the famous Triceratops, and," Gets out a cast model of the dinosaur. "Chasmosaurus. This ceratopsid dinosaurs' name means 'opening lizard', referring to the large openings (fenestrae) in its frill, it became the namesake of a subfamily called Chasmosaurinae which also includes Triceratops. Like many ceratopsians, Chasmosaurus had three main facial horns - one on the nose and two on the brow, these horns were quite short, and the frill was very elongated and broader at the rear than at the front, hardly elevated from the plane of the snout, and the rear of the frill is V-shaped and its sides are straight. It mostly likely useful for courtship and display than defense, so what was this dinosaur up to with his frills anyway?"

. . . . .

Oh Canada, this large country that borders the USA in the south and Alaska in the Northwest in North America, is famous for its beautiful scenery, ice hockey, maple syrup, polite friendly happy people, Geese, and Moose. But it's also famous for the dinosaurs that have been found here, and one of those places is in the province of Alberta, the Dinosaur Park Formation. Although it looks like how Canada is today, back then, the area was a flat, forested plain with dozens of sediment-laden rivers slowly meandering towards the Western Interior Seaway. The climate was warm temperate, and plenty of ponds and swamps dotted the landscape. This was a land dominated by dinosaurs, a real life Jurassic Park.

In the open canopy forests, a pack of predators are on the move, these tyrannosaurs are Gorgosaurus. They are the top predators of their environment, their name means "Dreadful lizard", they prey on small dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large herbivores like ceratopsids, but they have a preference for hadrosaurs mostly. They are fast and hunt in family packs which makes them dangerous carnivores. Lucky one dinosaur wasn't spotted by the predators.

Hiding among the bushes, trees, and flowering plants is a young male Chasmosaurus, he is hiding from the predators. Due to his frill covered with muscle and skin, and short horns, he wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of Gorgosaurs, his option is hide and wait for them to leave. Another dinosaur does the same thing, a nodosaurid ankylosaur called Panoplosaurus. Although heavily armored with osteoderms over its body, its second form of defense is his camouflage, he is countershaded with tones of browns with a pale underbelly to blend in with the foliage, and forest floor. Flying above the trees are flocks of Hesperonychus, these small dromaeosaurs are related to the Microraptors from China. Their four wings help them fly and glide through the forest from tree to tree capturing small animals. This one locks its target walking on top of a log, it flies down and strikes on a small mammal called an Alphadon. Its toes grasp the mammal's body, the claws dig in killing it, and fly up to a large branch of a tree to feast.

After the tyrannosaurs disappeared, the Chasmosaurs emerged from the foliage and headed to an open clearing to feed. Chasmosaurus had a longer snout and jaws and might have been more selective about the plants it ate so he feeds on cycads and palms. Close by, a mixed herd of hadrosaurs have been feeding on the vegetation known for their elaborate crests, these are the famous Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, and Lambeosaurus. Their crests are used for display and amplified sounds which can be heard from miles away. Another hadrosaur browsing close by is a herd of Gryposaurus. Unlike the other hadrosaurs, its narrow arching nasal hump, sometimes described as similar to a "Roman nose," and they have nasal sacs used for communication with others of their herd or to attract mates. As a hadrosaurid, Gryposaurus would have been a bipedal/quadrupedal herbivore, eating a variety of plants. Its skull had special joints that permitted a grinding motion analogous to chewing, and its teeth were continually replaced and packed into dental batteries that contained hundreds of teeth, only a relative handful of which were in use at any time. Plant material would have been cropped by its broad beak, and held in the jaws by a cheek-like organ. Its feeding range would have extended from the ground to about 4 m (13 ft) above.

Forging alongside the hadrosaurus are a mixed flock of Rativates and Chirostenotes, feeding on the plants and insects disturbed by the hadrosaurs' big feet. Rativates evadens was an ornithomimid theropod dinosaur, their generic name is derived from the Latin ratis, "raft", in reference to the bird group ratites, and vates, "seer", as the ornithomimids seemingly foretold the future existence of the ratites they resembled. The specific name evadens means "evading" in Latin, referring to the ability of the swift-running animal to evade predators and to its eighty year evasion of being recognised as a separate species as it was once considered a species of Struthiomimus. Chirostenotes was an oviraptorosaurian dinosaur, based on their beaks of relatives like Anzu and Caenagnathus, it feed on plants and small animals.

An armored ankylosaur Euoplocephalus resting on a dirt clearing raking in the sun's rays. Burrowing in the soil is a salamander-like lissamphibian known as Albanerpeton gracilis; it had a robust head and neck which likely allowed them to actively burrow, and they lived in a wide range of environments. The amphibian burrowed into the ground as a small pachycephalosaur came by, this is a flock of Stegoceras. Stegoceras was an indiscriminate bulk-feeder that cropped large amounts of vegetation, their sharp, serrated teeth were ideally suited for a mixed diet of leaves, seeds, fruit and insects. Their dome heads were used for social display and for ramming opponents. In another dusty dirt clearing, a pair of Dromaeosaurus are dust bathing. Dromaeosaurus was somewhat heavily built, more so than other dromaeosaurs that are similar in size, such as Velociraptor. Its namesake gave rise to a dinosaur family name which includes them, Dromaeosauridae. Like birds, these dromaeosaurs take dust baths to maintain their plumage to its best condition to get rid of parasites. The Chasmosaurus does the same thing, this time wallowing in a hole of mud to cool off and protect his skin from biting insects and sun.

A monitor lizard-like reptile walks by the young chasmosaur searching for tasty morsels in the ferns and cycads. Palaeosaniwa was roughly comparable to a large monitor lizard (Varanidae) in size. Measuring around 3–3.5 m (9.8–11.5 ft) in length, it is among the largest terrestrial lizards known from the Mesozoic era. It is similar to modern varanid lizards (particularly the Komodo dragon) in having bladelike teeth with minute serrations. These teeth would have been effective for seizing and cutting large prey items including any of the avialans or mammals known from the time, small non-avian dinosaurs, and the eggs and juveniles of large dinosaurs. But it then takes into hiding a burrow under a log. A pair of large pterosaurs have landed on the fern plain floor, they are the "Cold Dragons", Cryodrakons, azhdarchid pterosaurs. Although capable of flight, it would have been one of the largest flying animals known to have existed. But like most Azhdarchid pterosaurs Cryodrakon fed by hunting for smaller animals while on the ground, similar to modern day marabou storks. The Chasmosaur is too big or dangerous to be harmed by them, so he ignores them and the pterosaurs ignore him.

As the sunsets, night has fallen over Alberta. Most of the dinosaurs it's a time for sleep, predators like the Dromaeosaurus and Gorgosaurus are diurnal being more active during the day. But there are some hunters. The night is a perfect time to hunt, emerging from a hole of a large fallen tree is a Troodontid, Stenonychosaurus. Smart and intelligent, Stenonychosaurus had one of the largest known brains of any dinosaur, relative to its body mass comparable to modern birds. Their eyes were very large, perhaps suggesting a partially nocturnal lifestyle, and slightly forward facing, giving Stenonychosaurus some degree of depth perception. The feather facial disks on his head help ear even the smallest sounds in the forest floor. It pauses to listen for the faintest sound and slowly stalks towards the source. Then stops for a moment, until it runs and grabs the mammal in the throat with its jaws, it was a Meniscoessus that it caught.

As the Troodontid feasts, the young chasmosaurs walk through the forest dark and black, he sees the small mammals from the Alphadons, Menisocoessus, Cimolomys, and the elephant shrew nose Gypsonictops. They are active at night searching for insects and fruits in the darkness of the night to avoid detection from daytime predators with the exception of the nocturnal predators like the Stenonychosaurus. He rubs the dry mud off his skin against a tree and hears the sound of grunts and bellows and follows the source of the sound. Emerging from their burrows are a group of Unescoceratops, one and two meters long and less than 91 kilograms. Its teeth were the roundest of all leptoceratopsids and fed on vegetation at, or below the height of 1 meter. The name is meant to honor UNESCO's or United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's efforts to increase understanding of natural history sites around the world like the Dinosaur Park Formation. The young male Chasmosaur observing the small ceratopsids follows them to a large pond.

In the pond, amphibians like Habrosaurus prodilatus and Scapherpeton, swim about looking for aquatic prey in the water and along the shore. Above the surface are the red eyes of the Alligator like globidontans, Albertochampsa. They have a tapetum lucidum at the back of each eye – a structure that reflects light back into the photoreceptor cells to make the most of low light and they can see very well at night and it's normally a time to hunt for small prey perhaps a young Unescoceratops. The young Chasmosaurus arrives as the Unescoceratops drink, the bellows and grunts get closer, he senses them coming, and then a small herd of Chasmosaurus arrive, a herd of females and their young, then another herd with a few males, then a solitary bull, a mother with two young, a creche of adolescent juveniles, and more keep on coming. This is the night these ceratopsids come together to socialize with one another. They greet one another with their horns, beaks, and snouts; ceratopsids may be ill-tempered during the day, but they are affectionate and build friendships at night.

The Chasmosaurs were later joined by close relatives, Mercuriceratops and Vagaceratops; these small herds have come here to drink and socialize. Then the sound of rumbles and grunting were heard, a large migrating herd of Centrosaurus. Unlike the chasmosaurs, these ceratopsids are part of their own subfamily, Centrosaurinae, they have frills made of bone and have extended ornaments and in some species, a long nasal horn. The Centrosaurs live in large herds while Chasmosaurs live in small family groups. The Centrosaurus herd has been migrating to their summer breeding grounds to mate and raise their young, so they come here for a pit stop. A few Centrosaurs disturbed some basking Albertochampsa who hissed back as they retreated back into the water.

As the Male Chasmosaurus feels safe among the mixed species herd he watches the antics of the other ceratopsids. A male Mericuriceratops has a stegoceras skull on his nasal horn to impress some females. Then a herd of Styracosaurus arrived at the pond to have their fill of drinking and socializing. A breeding pair of Stenonychosaurus come to drink at the pond's edge only to be chased off by three juvenile Vagaceratops who come charging at them. A male Styracosaurus struts about with some vines and branches stuck to his frill horns to impress some females. A mother Unsecoceratops rests while her babies play, sometimes climbing on her back. Such gatherings of horns and frills make them feel safe from predators even if they're sleeping at night. The young Chasmosaurus walks about shaking his frill and his bristle quills on the base of his tail, this has caught the attention of some females. But the solitary bull and few other males come in, they show off their frills and strutting their stuff, a couple of the males butt heads clashing their horns at one another, the other males try to impress the herd of females, but they lie down and walk away showing they are not interested and reject their advances, and leaving the young Chasmosaurus confused of the outcome like who is the winner.

Soon as the night progresses, the sun begins to rise, the Centrosaurus herd start off again on their migration. The Styracosaurus, Mercuriceratops, and Vagaceratops head for the forest to sleep while the Unescoceratops return to their burrows. While the young male Chasmosaurus is unsure what to do as the rest of the Chasmosaurus retreat to the woods. Then the herd of females approached him as they grunt and bellowed telling him to follow even nuzzling his snout with their horns and beaks. It seems he has found a herd to be with and joins the herd as they disappear into the woods to sleep and concealed among the plants and trees away from the predators. Soon he would mate with them and produce offspring and he would take them to the pond to meet others of their kind during the Night in the Time of Chasmosaurs.

Trivia/References:

-The title is a reference to the site, Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs is a blog about the science, art, and pop culture of Mesozoic life. Check out on the Link down below.

Link: /

-The Ceratopsids socializing at night is based on how black rhinos socialize at waterholes at night.

-Dromaeosaurus and Gorgosaurus sleeping at night based on studies and the Gorgosaurus' relative, Tyrannosaurus, that they are diurnal.

-Dromaeosaurus dustbathing is based on birds I even saw in action with some Helmeted Guineafowl while at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

-Rativates and Chirostenotes feeding on the disturbed bugs made by the feet of hadrosaurs is based on cowbirds and cattle egrets.

-The Stenonychosaurus hunting is based on studies on how it hears and hunts like an owl.

-Unsecoceratops burrowing is based on its relative Leptoceratops.

-Albertochampsa red nightshine and night behavior is based on modern day alligators.

-Chasmosaurus and Panoplosaurus countershading camouflage is based on Borealopelta and how Chasmosaurus would of protect itself from predators since his frills and horns aren't the best in fighting off predators

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