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, lettuce, pumpkins, palm leave pellet feed, palm silage, elephant feed, cow feed, moose feed (Low in starches and high in fiber), fibrous banana leaves, cedar branches, date palm frond leaves, conifers browse, magnolia browse, ginkgo, Alfalfa hay, palm leave hay, hemp hay, and Humulus hay. To provide protein and calcium to build up their horns, bone growth, and eggshells for egg-laying females, crushed oyster shells, fish meal, waxworms, cooked oysters, and crayfish, and coal for extra minerals and sulfur for extra fats. Due to the Fibrous diet of feeding on leaves, barks, twigs, and branches, sodium or salt

Natural Diet: Ferns, low shrubs, cycads, Palm Fronds, Conifer Branches, Magnolias, and Ginkgoes.

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: 3 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. However, 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.

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 utahensis differs from Torosaurus latus (type species) in having a squamosal that is shorter and squared-off at its distal end and an unusually expanded horncore base that lies above and anterior to the orbit. In contrast, T. latus has unusually long, attenuated triangular squamosals and a more restricted horncore base. The otic notch is more open in T. utahensis than in Torosaurus latus. Torosaurus latus was much larger than Torosaurus utahensis, the frill of Torosaurus utahensis was much broader and shorter compared to the elongated longer frill of Torosaurus latus and the T. latus has a smoother larger nasal horn compared to the short curved tip of T. Utahensis.

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 orbital goldeye 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 rather 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 orbital eyerings, light blue-black stripe nasal sacs, pale circular spots with two 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, curved 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 their bodies.

The Torosaurus is thought to have been the same size and similar to the contemporary Triceratops. Still, it 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 he described 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:

Social Behavior: 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 sometimes feeding on aquatic plants on especially hot days same with Triceratops. The Hell Creek was a swamp wetland environment where dinosaurs like Torosaurus had to swim from one place to another. Like Triceratops, Torosauruse's sense of smell was poor, but a great sense of hearing to hear low-frequency sounds. Torosaurus held its head about 45 degrees to the ground, which allowed the animal to take advantage of food through grazing. Most likely Torosaurus was ectothermic and would only need to consume between 15 to 25 lbs of feed a day.

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. Large herds come together during the mating season, in open fern prairies, with the females looking for suitable partners, and males fight and show off their strength to cement their mating priorities.

Definition and 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 then the vegetation is sheared down by batteries of teeth in the inner jaws. It had a hindgut fermentation, a digestive process seen in monogastric herbivores. Torosaurus feed on shrubs, palm fronds, cycads, pine trees, and other plants mostly fibrous material although not as mooch as their centrosaurinae relatives, although they can process the plant material more effectively than chasmosaurs.

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 eggs are thick to protect them from small predators like Pectinodons and Acheroraptors. 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. Torosaurus Males would also inflate their colorful nasal sacs like balloons.

Health Issues: Torosaurus does share the same health issues as Triceratops. Being a monogastric animal, Torosaurus deals with Colic, which varies from mild to very serious, but both can be fatal if not treated. There are many types of colic, Sand colic is when the animal ingests sand or dirt from their feed, to avoid this feed is placed on an elevated feeder and not on the ground on bare dirt. Colitis can also form if the animal is given too much dewormer medicine or does not follow the instructions properly, It would kick the medicine into overdrive killing many parasites in the intestines and too many dead parasites will clog up the intestines. By following the instructions and doing it properly is the best way to avoid it. Impaction colic is when vegetable or fecal material gets impacted into the intestine and blocks the tract, this occurs when the animal has been eating, but has not been drinking enough and has been dehydrated. The most serious form of colic is Volvulus (Twisting of the Colon) or twisted gut, which occurs when the intestine twists around itself which scientists and veterinarians don't even know, disrupting the flow of stool (poop) and blood supply killing the animal if not treated, This is a serious condition that requires surgery. A twisted gut is a painful experience for the animal, in the wild, Torosaurus was a prey species and would try their best to hide the pain as much as they could. This is a behavior adaptation to make themselves look healthy in front of predators so the predators would think not to go after them and when they do show the pain it would be immense and unbearable. Security cameras have been placed throughout the enclosures of our animals in Prehistoric Park to observe them to the point they don't think they're being observed and in case any of them escape. The most common form of colic is gas colic which occurs when the open conception of a rich feed source like alfalfa or grain can cause the gut bacteria to overproduce gas that builds up in the intestines and causes the intestines to spasm and squeeze down and around the gas., and due to the herbivore diet, Torosaurus will expel methane gas.

Symptoms of colic would involve not eating when food is present, a lack of fecal materials in the enclosure, kicking at its abdominal area, walking in circles, lying down along rolling, and stretching its body with its front legs forward and hind legs back. On closer examination, another sign of colic using a stethoscope would be the lack of noise in gut movement.

There are three different ways to treat colic, The least invasive way when you notice or suspect an animal is colicking is to get them to move around, but never get it a chance to stop or roll to roll around this would help get the gut moving which would probably refix and reset itself and if the animal defecates when doing this, it is a good sign and makes sure they stay hydrated by giving them water or making sure they have IV fluids. Another treatment is tubing, basically after aestheticizing the animal enough for the treatment to be done safely, but not to the point where the animal drops down. Hook a tube down the animal's esophagus or up the animal's rectum to pump medication, usually, warm water mixed with mineral oil and endosorb into the stomach or intestine, and the tubing could relieve some of the gas or gas colic. Appropriate medications for Torosaurus would require some research while an invasive treatment should be used for more stubborn colics. For more serious colics like twisted guts that require surgery, surgical procedures on large herbivore dinosaurs would be required to be researched with either future fossil discoveries of mummified specimens or unfortunately necropsies on dead individuals. It is an invasive treatment to be used in more extreme serious colics.

Along with constipation from fecal matter, and constipation from urates, a molar suspension of uric acid salts and water can be a problem for Torosaurus as well. Dinosaurs have cloacas which is a common cavity or single end at the rear end at the end of the digestive tract for the release of both excretory and genital products in vertebrates (except most mammals) and certain invertebrates. This is where fecal matter, urine, and reproduction functions pass through. If a urate plugs this it would be detrimental to the animals' well-being, the treatment would be to bathe the animal in lukewarm water when they're young or give them a lot of IV fluids when they're adults to hydrate the animal. After hydrating the animals, You would give them an Enema which are injections of fluids used to cleanse or stimulate the emptying of your bowel in defecating the fecal material. Other options include giving the animal lukewarm water or stimulation from the vet through probing.

Torosaurus is not immune to parasites. One of the potential parasites is Knemidocoptes, commonly named Scaly or beak mites. These mites burrow into the flesh of birds ranging from parrots to chickens. The burrowing activities of these microscopic mites would cause white or gray crusty lesions that can appear on the face, legs, and feet. These lesions would lead to deformities in the beaks, toes, and feet of the animal. Beak deformities would cause difficulties in feeding while deformities of the toes and feet would cause walking abnormalities and would make the animal lame or crippled especially for a Torosaurus. The burrowing of the mites would also cause itching leading stress to the Torosaurus from both deformities and constant stretching via intense itching can lead to infections. This would be serious if not lethal if not caught early on, the lesions of scaly feet would be the early signs, scraping skin samples of the lesions and looking for mites and their eggs under a microscope is effective in diagnosing. Triceratops could receive these mites when in close contact with an infected bird either when the bird is perched on the dinosaur or when the dinosaur ears the infected bird and could be able to possess these for a long time without showing any signs until a form of extreme stress weakens the animals' immune system. Treatment is with an anti-parasitic medication such as ivermectin to be used as the main treatment and antibiotics for the infections such as a secondary treatment. Research on proper medications on Ceratopsids like Triceratops and Torosaurus would need to be done.

Scaly feet on dinosaurs would be considered dinosaur mange, but ornithischian or bird-hipped dinosaurs like Torosaurus and Triceratops are more closely related to dinosaurs including hadrosaurs like Edmontosaurus and Stegosaurus than they are to birds. Chances of parasites that slowly attack birds targeting a Torosaurus may not be so likely, however, if their scales are similar to that of birds it could be possible scaly mites can infect the Triceratops, but more research and evidence are needed. It is most likely the mites would infect theropods like Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor.

Bacteria can also be a common thing for Torosaurus to contend with, one such bacteria is salmonella, commonly found in birds and reptiles. This bacteria is found in the animal's intestines, Salmonella can infect other living bacteria via contact with fecal matter. While commonly found in carnivorous reptiles and birds, herbivores such as Torosaurus can carry this bacteria as well. Reptiles normally don't get sick from salmonella, birds on the other hand, can fatally get sick from salmonella when they are stressed. It could be possible for Torosaurus to be susceptible to salmonellosis, an infection caused by salmonella. Salmonella infection (salmonellosis) is a common bacterial disease that affects the intestinal tract. Symptoms include diarrhea and lethargy. Treatment includes antibiotics and fluids, however, whether triceratops would get sick from it or not is debatable at this point. Torosaurus can get salmonella without getting sick or showing any signs.

If the animal doesn't get all the proper nutrition with vitamins and minerals, its health quality of life even appearance would be compromised, Calcium is very important for Torosaurus and essential for bone growth and egg development amongst other biological functions, a diet of little to no calcium would have many dire consequences such as brittle bones and abnormal growth. Issues with no calcium in its diet would be a deformed frill would develop as the animal grows similar to tortoises and turtles would develop shell deformities growing up on a diet without calcium. Phosphorus is another mineral essential for bone development, a Calcium-phosphorus proper ratio would be two to one. Dietary calcium would be included in the Torosaurus diet ranging from alfalfa hay to crushed oyster shells although needed to be given carefully to prevent colic. This ratio could be different for certain times of the year such as the breeding season to nesting. Another component would be Vitamin D which is vital for calcium absorption in an animal because if it was absent the calcium would not be absorbed and would go straight through the animal. All this is essential in taking care of Torosaurus and other ceratopsids in Prehistoric Park.

Oral Welfare: In terms of dental hygiene, most herbivore dinosaurs present a challenge to veterinarians like Dr. Geronimo and his assistant Phoebe. These dinosaurs have a beak and back battery teeth something that no modern-day animal has today. Techniques used for checking on the back teeth of modern animals like mammals and beaks of birds could help vets in plant-eating dinosaur dentistry. Ceratopsids like Triceratops have a curved beak used to pluck plants and the back teeth are batteries of 800 teeth used to crush their food and are replaced very often. They were browsers feeding on shrubs, ferns, cycads, and low-laying branches of trees like pine, in captivity, they feed on these plants alongside hay, several grains, and pellets like pellets designed for moose. Since they were dining on fibrous plant material, their dental battery teeth slice the plants like scissors that continuously replace each other. If no access to fibrous hard plant material their battery teeth can grow out of proportions similar to elephants.

At the park, Torosaurus and other herbivores are provided with browse from non-toxic tree branches to palm fronds that replicate natural behavior and fibrous material to help them with their dental batteries in nutrition and oral standards, but it's not always a set thing because they would need browse all the time and there are times the requires browse is not available depending on season and availability.

There are times that staff have to get their hands dirty but dealing with battery teeth leaf-eating dinosaurs can be tricky. As mentioned before, we do not have an analog modern-day living animal like a large mammal that has battery teeth and a beak. Ungulates like Horses and Cattle have molars that continuously grow, elephants replace their teeth in the style of a conveyor belt. A lot of trial and error is involved in doing the dentition formula of Torosaurus. But grinding them or floating them down like used in horses could perhaps be a way to deal with this.

The most dangerous part of a Torosaurus is not its horns, but its sharp beak. This beak grips and plucks vegetation, tear meat off of carcasses, mining clay off of cave walls, and can deliver a powerful bite when in range while fighting predators like Dakotaraptor and Tyrannosaurus. Like Human fingernails, the beak consists of a protein called Keratin which continuously grows and the same applies to their horns. This is a welfare factor dealt with tortoises and birds they solve this problem in the wild by trimming their beaks on rocks and coarse material, in captivity which provides them with large coarse rocks alongside custom boulder size calcium blocks for the Torosaurus to trim their beaks, and provide extra calcium they need. But there is a catch to this, mostly a stereotypical behavior of a Torosaurus similar to horses known as cripping in which these horned dinosaurs gnaw and try to trim their beaks at iron bar fencing even if it's electrified or take chunks out of wooden pole fencing normally in the wild they would spend hours of feasting and browsing and they could develop bad habits when not given enough activity or enrichment. This would to problems like over-trimming of the beak and even zinc poisoning if there is zinc on the metal fence so enrichment is a must for Triceratops.

With no modern-day animal analog, Dental oral hygiene in dinosaurs like Triceratops would be very tricky for keepers and veterinarians. But the Triceratops and the well-being of all the animals in Prehistoric Park is an utmost importance and must be met.

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.

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

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 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.

Torosaurus 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 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 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 is found alongside the other herbivores like Triceratops in the valley where the Female T. Rex pursues them stampedes down the hill, and is 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. They are supplemented with palm leave pellet feed, palm silage, elephant feed, cow feed, moose feed (Low in starches and high in fiber), fibrous banana leaves, cedar branches, date palm frond leaves, conifers, magnolias, and ginkgo browse for the enrichment stimulation and dental health, watermelons, and pumpkins which they love immensely. They are sparsely fed Alfalfa hay, palm leaf hay, and hemp hay with low concentrations of THC and no cross-contamination with marijuana, (This plant can be grown in Costa Rica. However, hemp cultivation is subject to certain guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.), and Humulus hay, a relative of hemp. It's important abrasive feedstuffs are to be large or most of their diet (almost similar to elephants).

To provide protein and calcium to build up their horns, bone growth, and eggshells for egg-laying females, crushed oyster shells, fish meal, waxworms, cooked oysters, and crayfish, and coal for extra minerals and sulfur for extra fats. Due to the Fibrous diet of feeding on leaves, barks, twigs, and branches, sodium or salt is added to their feed. Saltwater is given when they need it, but never too much salt as it could be toxic to the dinosaurs.

The paddock has lower elevated moats in the surrounding areas, steel bar fencing in the holding areas, and a couple of viewing areas which are wooden pole fencing with the moat hidden by plants on the top edge. There is a large steel bar fencing in an elevated deep moat ravine that separates them from the T. Rex, Dakotarptor, Dromaeosaurus, and Acheroraptor paddocks in the Hell Creek Multi-Species Paddock which is hidden to give the illusion these dinosaurs are in the same space.

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.

Negative, hateful, and spam comments are not allowed and will be reported, this is WildExpert24 signing off.