The Prehistoric Park Animal Field Guide Volume 1

by WildExpert24

As a Prehistoric Park employee, you get the privilege to work with the likes of previously extinct animals. However, if you want to survive longer than five minutes, then you need to have knowledge of its inhabitants. From the world of Cartoon's Prehistoric Park, this Guide will give you info on behavior, diet, lifespan, and more. Welcome to the Ultimate Prehistoric Guidebook.

15. Torosaurus

Torosaurus

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Clade: Dinosauria

Order: Ornithischia

Suborder: Ceratopsia

Family: Ceratopsidae

Subfamily: Chasmosaurinae

Tribe: Triceratopsini

Genus: Torosaurus meaning "Perforated Lizard", referring to the large openings in the frill; commonly mistranslated as "Bull Lizard"

Described by Othniel Charles Marsh, 1891

Type Species: Torosaurus latus.

Species:

-Torosaurus Latus meaning "Side Perforated Lizard" (Type Species), Marsh 1891.

-Torosaurus utahensis meaning "Utah's Perforated Lizard" (Gilmore, 1946) Lawson, 1976.

Synonym:

Current Park Population: (20; 11 adults, 9 youngsters; 5 male, 20 female).

Park Diet: Ferns, elephant feed, cow feed, low shrubs, cycads, banana leaves, watermelons, cantaloupes, and lettuce.

Natural Diet: Ferns, low shrubs, and cycads.

Lifespan: 36 Years.

Habitat: Open areas like floodplain swamps, fern prairies, and open-canopy forests with large amounts of food.

Native Ecosystem: Western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Hell Creek Formation, Lance Formation, Laramie Formation, Frenchman Formation, and Javelina Formation, Southwestern Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas, USA, 68-66 Million Years Ago, Maastrichtian Stage.

Breeding Season: June and July.

Gestation Period: Two months.

Eggs Laid: Six to thirteen.

Hatching Time: Three to four weeks.

Danger Level: six out of ten.

Park Five Star Rating: 2 Stars.

Note: Most of the behavior of Torosaurus are similar to the Triceratops and the same applies to other ceratopsids.

Summary: Torosaurus is a genus of herbivorous chasmosaurine dinosaur that lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, between 68 and 66 million years ago, though the species range might extend to as far as 69 million years ago. Fossils have been discovered across the Western Interior of North America, from as far north as Saskatchewan to as far south as Texas. Torosaurus possessed one of the largest skulls of any known land animal, with the frilled skull reaching 2.77 meters (9.1 ft) in length. Torosaurus Latus is a smaller, more docile relative of Triceratops. If Trikes are the buffalo of the Cretaceous, then the Toros are the elk: less big, dangerous, and strong, but also more docile, faster, and smaller. In turn, they have better eyesight and hearing than Triceratops. This is a dinosaur that is similar to Triceratops, but with differences in its anatomy that even lead to being part of the adult life stage making it a controversial dinosaur.

Discovery: In 1891, two years after the naming of Triceratops, a pair of ceratopsian skulls with elongated frills bearing holes were found in southeastern Wyoming, Niobrara. Hatcher's employer, paleontologist Professor Othniel Charles Marsh, coined the genus Torosaurus for them.

Marsh's original illustrations of the skulls of T. latus and its synonym T. gladius

The name for Torosaurus is frequently translated as "bull lizard" from the Latin noun taurus or the Spanish word toro, but is much more likely derived from the Greek verb τορέω (toreo, "to perforate"). The allusion is to the fenestrae, "window-like" holes, in the elongated frill, which have traditionally served to distinguish it from the solid frill of Triceratops. Much of the confusion over the etymology of the name results from the fact that Marsh never explicitly explained it in his papers.

Two Torosaurus species have been identified:

-Torosaurus latus Marsh, 1891 (type species). Latus means "the wide one" in Latin, about the frill.

-Torosaurus utahensis (Gilmore, 1946) Lawson, 1976

Another species was subsequently regarded as identical to T. latus:

-Torosaurus gladius Marsh, 1891. Gladius is "sword" in Latin, about the elongated shape of the squamosal.

Torosaurus latus was based on the holotype YPM 1830, which is a partial skull. The holotype of T. gladius was specimen YPM 1831, which is an even larger skull. Both fossils were found in the Lance Formation of the late Maastrichtian. Similar specimens found in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, and Saskatchewan have since been referred to as Torosaurus. Those that can be identified with some certainty include ANSP 15192 (a smaller individual in South Dakota uncovered by Edwin Harris Colbert in 1944), MPM VP6841 (a partial skeleton with a skull mounted at the Milwaukee Public Museum), SMM P97.6.1 (a skull lacking the snout), and two partial skulls from the Hell Creek Formation reported in 2002: MOR 981 (discovered in 1998) and MOR 1122 (from 2001). Fragmentary remains that could be identified as Torosaurus have been found in the Big Bend Region of Texas and the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. Paleontologists have observed that Torosaurus specimens are uncommon in the fossil record, with specimens of Triceratops being much more abundant.

Torosaurus utahensis was originally described as Arrhinoceratops utahensis by Charles Whitney Gilmore in 1946, based on specimen USNM 15583 (a frill fragment from Emery County, Utah). In 1976, it was renamed Torosaurus utahensis by Douglas Lawson. A review by Robert Sullivan et al. in 2005 left it as Torosaurus utahensis and somewhat older than T. latus. In 2008, Rebecca Hunt referred considerable additional material to this species. Research has not yet been published on whether T. utahensis should be regarded as a new genus or, as has been suggested for T. latus, the mature growth stage of a species of Triceratops.

Description:

Torosaurus latus

Adults have grayscale skin grading down dark which are most long side stripes to the tail which is gray striped and tip, a pair of three-foot long pale brow horns black tipped from the base to the tips, small nasal worn horns, grayish brown bristle filament quilled back, hindquarters, which are short, and base of their tails which are long, they are mostly scaly with osteoderm bumps and a pale scaly ventral belly similar to crocodiles and a frill with a pair of circular spot a row of visible pale osteoderms running down the middle of the frill.

Males have bronze-yellow stripes running down their backs, they have a black face, with black stripes running down the cheeks which were bright gold colored, a white patch around the eyes, bright gold eye rings, dark blue-black stripe nasal sacs, the frill reddish orange with black stripes along the sides, orange circular spots with two smaller yellow circle spots at the bottom, and big bright blue spots in the center with a black rectangle marking that is yellow with a black eye spot center. They have thicker black-striped brow and nasal horns which the females lack that tend to curve downwards than forwards, usually closer together, almost parallel to each other.

Females are identical to the males except they have pale stripes running down their backs, bright yellow cheeks and eyerings, light blue black stripe nasal sacs, pales circular spots with ni smaller circle spots at the bottom, and light blue spots in the center with no black rectangle marking that is yellow with a black eye spot center instead its cream colored. Their horns are thin that curve upwards and fork out, forming a wide, V-shaped gap between them.

Adolescents are identical to the females, but the gray skin is graded down to a lighter gray, light gray nasal sacs, pale-colored cheeks, and earrings, and the frill has light gray O-shaped circle spots instead.

Juveniles are identical to adolescents but have curved upward horns and short horns, cream-colored cheeks and frills with a pair of pale center spots, grayish brown faces, and they have black spots and stripes over its body.

The Torosaurus is thought to have been the same size and similar to the contemporary Triceratops but is distinguished by an elongated frill with large openings, long squamosal bones of the frill with a trough on their upper surface, and the presence of five or more pairs of hornlets on the back of the frill. Torosaurus also lacked the long nose horn seen in Triceratops prorsus. It instead resembled the earlier and more basal Triceratops horridus, thanks to having a short nose horn.

The individuals referred to as Torosaurus are all large, comparable to the largest Triceratops specimens. Due to the elongated frill, the skull length is especially considerable. Hatcher estimated the skull of YPM 1830 at 2.2 meters and that of YPM 1831 at 2.35 meters. In 1933, Richard Swann Lull increased this to 2.4 meters and 2.57 meters, respectively. Based on this, Torosaurus was seen as having the longest skull of any known land animal. In 1998, however, Thomas Lehman claimed that a Pentaceratops specimen possessed a partial skull that would have been 2.9 meters long in life. This was again doubted by Nicholas Longrich who, in 2011, named this exemplar as a separate genus, Titanoceratops, and concluded its skull had been reconstructed as too long. Furthermore, in 2006, Andrew Farke pointed out that the new skulls described by him were even longer on average than Hatcher's original two. MOR 1122 has a length of 252 centimeters and MOR 981 has a length of 277 centimeters.

In 2006, Farke established some diagnostic traits of Torosaurus. The frill is extremely long in comparison to the remainder of the skull. The rear edge of the frill bears ten or more epiperietals, or triangular osteoderms. A midline triangular osteoderm is absent. Likewise, no osteoderm straddles the parietal-squamosal boundary. The parietal bone is thin and pierced by parietal fenestrae in the form of circular or transversely oval openings. The parietal bone is about 20% wider than it is long. Farke identified a single trait in which T. latus differed from both Triceratops horridus and T. utahensis. Its squamosal bore a conspicuous ridge on the edge with the parietal combined with a deep longitudinal trough parallel to it.

Farke pointed out that the known Torosaurus specimens are rather variable. The orbital "brow" horns are sometimes large and curved to the front, as with MOR 981, or sometimes short and straight, as shown by MOR 1122 and ANSP 15191. Also, the position of these horns differs, as they are often located directly on top of the eye socket. With YPM 1831, however, they originate at the rear edge of the orbit. Likewise, there is a variation in the form of the nose horn. YPM 1831 and, to a lesser extent, YPM 1830 have a straight, upright nasal horn, but MOR 981, ANSP 15192, and especially MOR 1122 possess a low bump at most. The frill differs too, as ANSP 15192 and YPM 1830 have a shield curving upwards at the rear, but the frill of YPM 1831 is nearly flat, though this could be an artifact of restoration. The frill of YPM 1831 is also heart-shaped, with a clear midline notch, whereas the rear edge of the other specimens is straight. The frill proportions are quite variable. With YPM 1831, the length-width ratio is 1.26, but MOR 981 has a shield 2.28 times longer than it is wide. The number of triangular osteoderms is difficult to assess, as most fossils seem to have lost them. MOR 981 and MOR 1122 have ten and twelve epiparietals, respectively. YPM 1831 has been restored with a fontanelle in the skull roof, which is possibly authentic. Farke also concluded that the degree of variability did not exceed that shown by related genera.

Farke stressed that, apart from the frill, no systematic differences could be found between Torosaurus and Triceratops. All Torosaurus specimens are similar in that they lack a truly long nasal horn and a horizontal arterial groove at the front base of the said horn, but Triceratops fossils with the same combination of traits are not uncommon. In 2008, Hunt concluded that T. utahensis, contrary to T. latus, but similar to Triceratops, possessed a midline epiparietal.

Classification: In 1891, Marsh placed Torosaurus in the Ceratopsidae family of Ceratopsia (Greek: "horned faces"), a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks that thrived in North America and Asia during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods.

Torosaurus has, with its long frill, traditionally been classified in Chasmosaurinae. It was seen as a late member of a line descending from Anchiceratops or Arrhinoceratops. It was thus placed in a different branch from Triceratops which, well into the 1980s, was seen as a member of Centrosaurinae because of its short frill. However, in the 1990s, exact cladistic analysis showed that both genera were chasmosaurines. Recent analyses invariably show a close relationship between Torosaurus and Triceratops.

Possible synonymy with Triceratops: A debate has sparked over the possibility that Torosaurus might be identical to Triceratops. In the Maastrichtian age of Laramidia, these two closely related chasmosaurines shared the same habitat. The only discernible difference between them was the form of the frill. No Torosaurus juveniles are known, but a considerable number of Triceratops juveniles have been found. Triceratops differs from other chasmosaurines in the retention as an adult of a juvenile trait. Adults retain short squamosals, a case of paedomorphosis. In 2009, John Scannella, investigating dinosaur ontogeny in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, concluded that this situation could be best explained by the hypothesis that Triceratops and Torosaurus were growth stages of a single genus. The Torosaurus specimens would be fully mature individuals of Triceratops. Torosaurus would be a junior synonym of Triceratops, the latter name having priority.

"Frida Casagrnade sketched two skulls of Triceratops and Torosaurus and two life-sized Triceratops and Torosaurus for comparison."

In 2010, Scanella and Jack Horner, Scannella's mentor at Montana State University, published research on the growth patterns in thirty-eight skull specimens (twenty-nine of Triceratops, nine of Torosaurus) from the Hell Creek formation. They concluded that Torosaurus indeed represents the mature form of Triceratops. Horner stressed that the frill of ceratopsian skulls consisted of metaplastic bone. A characteristic of metaplastic bone is that it can lengthen and shorten over time, extending and resorbing to form new shapes. Significant development is seen even in those skulls already identified as Triceratops, Horner observed, "where the horn orientation is backward in juveniles and forward in adults". Approximately 50% of all subadult Triceratops skulls have two thin areas in the frill that correspond with the placement of the "holes" in Torosaurus skull frills, which are surrounded by mature granular bone, suggesting that these developed to offset the weight that would otherwise have been added as maturing Triceratops individuals grew longer frills. Horner made this part of a larger argument that, in general, many purported dinosaur species might have been growth stages of other known species. With old Triceratops individuals, the frill would have begun to lengthen considerably, causing it to flatten and widen at its rear edge. At the same time, parietal fenestrae would have appeared, resulting in the typical chasmosaurine frill shape.

Scanella and Horner recognized that not all data were easily explained by their hypothesis. For these, they advanced auxiliary hypotheses. One problem was that if Torosaurus were the normal last maturation phase of Triceratops, which they called the "toromorph phase", it would be expected that Torosaurus fossils were quite common, whereas they are fairly rare. They explained this by the high mortality of subadults and the possibility that old animals preferentially lived on heights where erosion prevented fossilization. A second problem was the size range of Torosaurus specimens, which seems to suggest the existence of authentic Torosaurus subadults. Of these, they claimed that the bone structure indicated a fully mature age, with the size difference being the apparent result of individual variation. A third possible objection was the seeming lack of transitional forms between individuals with and without parietal holes. These fenestrae are always perfectly shaped, not like incipient perforations. To counter it, they pointed to specimen USNM 2412, the holotype of the contentious Nedoceratops, as an example of precisely such a transitional form. The problematic traits of this genus would simply reflect its being in the first stages of transforming into a "toromorph". A last problem was offered by the number of osteoderms on the frill edge. With Triceratops, there are typically five epiparietals, including a midline osteoderm. With Torosaurus, there are ten or twelve, a midline epiparietal being absent. Also, the number of episquamosals on the side edge of the frill differs (five with Triceratops, six or seven with Torosaurus). This was explained by the assumption that the number of epoccipitals increased during maturation. Also, it was pointed out that both the number and position of the osteoderms are variable with Triceratops. This is shown through specimen MOR 2923, which has six epiparietals, but lacks a midline one.

Paleobiology:

Herd Lifestyle: Similar to Triceratops horridus, Torosaurus latus lives in herds of only seven individuals or more. The leader can either be an older female or a dominant bull. Most of the time Torosaurus behave much like a moose, being solitary unless it's a cow with calves or during the mating season. This is based on how ceratopsian remains are speculated to socialize based on how many are found at one site nearby.

While they do not swim normally, Toros will swim and wallow in bodies of shallow water on especially hot days same with Triceratops

They would defecate in huge pile mounds of dung which are communal latrines acting as scent posts to tell other Torosaurus their status, receptive to mate, age, and gender.

Diet: They are herbivorous like Triceratops, feeding on low-growing vegetation, although they may have been able to knock down taller plants with their horns, beak, and sheer bulk. The jaws were tipped with a deep, narrow beak, believed to have been better at grasping and plucking than biting.

They also get their calcium and protein gnawing on bones from carcasses along with meat, sometimes eating small mammals, fish, reptiles, baby dinosaurs if given the chance, and birds. Baby Torosaurus would eat the dung left by their mothers to gain gut bacteria to better digest when they feed on solid plant matter. Torosaurus will also often visit clay licks either on the side of cliffs or in rare cases in underground caves of the forming Rocky Mountains to break down the poisonous toxins of the plants they eat. They will even graze on plants under the water like moose.

Horns and Frill Function: Like Triceratops, they use their horns to fight off predators and fight rival males, A common misconception is that Torosaurus and other ceratopsians can charge with their horns like a bull, deer, or rhinoceros. This behavior has been proven impossible for Triceratops Horridus, since their horns would likely break, and Torosaurus since they have more fragile horns.

Torosaurus horns grow throughout their lifetime, just like juvenile Trikes. The horns start with a bony core and keratin grows around it. Horns that have been cut off in battles over mates and other biofacts of extinct animals are carefully collected by the keepers who, in turn, turn these over to Paleo Artifacts, a shop that sells rare items like carnivore teeth, shed Megaloceros antlers, and ceratopsian horns, animal tooth jewelry, and replicated Neanderthal tools and items, among others.

There are individual variations among the herd with horns curving downwards or straight upwards which is sexual dimorphism along with horns of some individuals having their horns worn down or cut off from the tips, often males fighting for mates and predators.

Reproduction: Torosaurus herd would stay in one area where the eggs would hatch, then leave once the eggs hatched. The young Torosaurus would either follow or get left behind as they are born able to walk like wildebeest and horses, so almost always the young follow.

Unlike Triceratops, during the mating season, Torosuarus would gather in large numbers in open prairie floodplains in which females favor horn-worn, bitemarks made by a predator like T. Rex, scar-covered, older, and brighter color frill males as the males spar with one another with their horns.

Interactions with other Dinosaurs: Torosaurus form mixed herds browsing alongside one another while on the lookout for predators including Leptoceratops, Edmontosaurus, Denversaurus, Ornithomimus, Alamosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Anzu, Thescelosaurus, and Triceratops which share many of the same behaviors sometimes young bulls of the two species would spare with one another. Unlike Triceratops, Torosaurus has better vision and smell would alert the others to threats.

Torosaurus often fought and defended themselves and their young against T. Rex which they were preyed upon; they are hostile towards Dakotaraptors, Dromaeosaurus, Acheroraptors, and Pectinodons. They are even sensitive to low-frequency sounds that T. Rex often used to scare the herd into running into their trap.

Pachycephalosaurus, Ornithomimus, Trierarchuncus, and Thescelosaurus follow the Torosaurus and Triceratops herds for protection, often around the edges snapping up insects that have been disturbed by their large feet.

Like Triceratops, they have their own moths living in their algae-covered bristle filament quills. Adults get nutrients from the secretions of the skin and the algae present in the filaments, as well as protection from avian predators. Adult female moths lay their eggs in the droppings in which the larvae would live in the dung and newly emerged moths later fly from the dung pile to find a Torosaurus host. The moths would die on top of the Torosaurus providing fertilizer to the algae.

would steer clear of Didelphodon due to their aggression and sharp teeth. They may snack on Alphadon, Cimolestes, and young Meniscoessus if given the chance.

Torosaurus would sometimes feed on the eggs and young of other dinosaurs if given the chance although they must protect their own eggs from small predators alongside Ornithomimus and Anzu.

For the river predators, Borealosuchus, Champsosaurus, Thoracosaurus, and Brachychampsa adults aren't easy targets for them unless it's an injured one or dealing with a large float. Juveniles and Adolescents are vulnerable to attacks when drinking at the water's edge.

Birds like Brodavis and Avisaurus would perch on Torosaurus pecking off the bugs like the moths off of them. But like Triceratops they would sometimes unexpectedly drop all of their weight onto the bird, instantly crushing it. The Torosaurus eats the bird for a helpful boost of protein and minerals or engages in a play behavior for its own amusement.

Extinction: Torosaurus, and Triceratops, and became extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. After the large asteroid alongside smaller asteroids, comets, and meteors came with it headed in the direction of Earth. With the sun blocked off causing plants to die off and the majority of the vegetation was burned by massive forest fires caused by the smaller asteroids and debris, leading to the dying off of herbivores like Torosaurus and Triceratops, they would be a feast for predators like T. Rex, but eventually, they will starve themselves into extinction.

Danger Tip: Although they are more docile than Triceratops that doesn't mean they are dangerous, strong, docile, faster, or smaller than Triceratops, eyesight, and hearing. A Toro is easily enraged like a bull. Torosaurus was weaker than Triceratops. This is a bit surprising since Torosaurus means "Bull Lizard". The same procedure to outwit a charging Torosaurus or a herd is the same as Triceratops. An important difference to consider when trying to escape an angry Torosaurus: unlike Trikes, Toros can swim. Also like a moose, wrangling one will be a daunting task, requiring to be tranquilized and carried back in a flatbed truck.

Significant Events: A herd of Torosaurus were seen alongside other herbivores including Triceratops gathered at a clearing with a creek close to camp during Day 2 of the Rescue Team's Mission. They were mostly browsing, drinking from the creek, and youngsters played by head-butting each other similar to goats.

The Next day, a pack of Tyrannosaurus attacked the multi-species herd, the Torosaurus herd alongside the Triceratops herd circled their young bellowing at their attackers and charging and shoving with their horns and frills and later disappeared after.

On the day when the asteroid hits, the Torosaurus herd were found alongside the other herbivores like Triceratops in the valley where they are pursued by the Female T. Rex stampede down the hill and are funneled by the river on the left side and a wall of fallen logs and debris into the portal to the park. They now reside in the Hell Creek Herbivore Paddock.

Hell Creek Herbivore Paddock: The Torosaurus herd lives alongside the other herbivores including Triceratops Torosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Ornithomimus, Alamosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, and Denversaurus in the large multi-species paddock. They require less space and water than Trikes, but, surprisingly, more food. As long as one Torosaurus isn't unhappy or disturbed, then the rest of the herd will leave you in peace. Torosaurus recognizes their keepers, like almost every other animal, and will walk right up to them, hoping to be rewarded with a bunch of banana leaves, their favorite food on Earth, past and present. The Torosaurus seems to have a great love for banana leaves.

Notable Individual:

Ferdinand: Named after the titular Bull character, he's the dominant male of the herd, although quite temperamental he does have a soft side when it comes to flowers growing in the paddock, he would smell and eat a few as a form of pruning and gorges on banana leaves as treats.

Conclusion: The Torosaurus is a fascinating animal and as long as it is respected, it will remain calm and peaceful. Visitors are allowed to feed adults lettuce from an iron pole in the safari tours. With such a calm and easy-to-take-care species, Torosaurus is a favorite among park staff.

The Field Guide might take a long time, like structuring and writing descriptions of the creatures, but also my time in college and spending time with my family. So you can suggest additional information quotes, descriptions, and natural or speculative behaviors for the prehistoric animals that I can edit and you send your suggestions either in reviews or Private Messages.

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