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 know 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.

24. Leptoceratops

Leptoceratops

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Clade: Dinosauria

Order: Ornithischia

Suborder: Ceratopsia

Family: Leptoceratopsidae

Genus: Leptoceratops

Type Species: Leptoceratops gracilis meaning "Thin-horned Face"

Described by Barnum Brown, 1914

Current Park Population: (16; 9 adults, 7 youngsters; 7 male, 9 female)

Park Diet: Ferns, pig feed, cow feed, low shrubs, cycads, flowers, conifers, banana leaves, watermelons, 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, flowers, conifers, cycads, Palm Fronds, Conifer Branches, Magnolias, and Ginkgoes.

Lifespan: 24 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, Southwestern Alberta, Canada, Montana, Wyoming, USA, 68.8-66 Million Years Ago, Maastrichtian Stage.

Breeding Season: April-June

Gestation Period: Two months

Eggs Laid: six to fourteen eggs

Hatching Time: Three to four weeks, depending on atmospheric moisture.

Danger Level: 4 out of 10.

Park Star Rating: 2 Stars.

Summary: Ceratopsids come in different shapes and sizes. Hell Creek is home to three species the Famous Triceratops, Torosaurus, and Leptoceratops. This pig-sized dinosaur is a genus of leptoceratopsid ceratopsian dinosaurs from the late Cretaceous Period of what is now Western North America. Their skulls have been found in Alberta, Canada, and Wyoming.

Description: They are pig-sized dinosaurs resembling miniature versions of the triceratops and torosaurus – however, have no horns, a considerably smaller frill, and a much thicker tail. Adults were covered with gray scales with osteoderms with black stripes and some spots with inner gray circles over their body and tail, black feet, and pale belly with white spots. Their feet looked almost like scaly paws, complete with hand-like front feet and black bristles lining across the backs of their tails.

Males sported a white lower jaw and nasal sac with black stripes, the crests, and eyering were red-orange, the rest of the head and frill were bronze yellow, with the upper jaw having orange stripes, the frill openings were three stripe colors from white, blue, and red, the nape of the neck and throat were bright red with black stripes and white spots, a black strip marking stretched over their eye to the back of their frill.

Females are identical, but the crests and frill were peach in color, the lower jaw lacks stripes and the upper jaw had mango orange stripes, the white nasal sac lacked stripes as well, and the frill opening was just white with a black stripe coming from the eye region down the middle.

Hatchlings may resemble adults but have light gray and pale faces.

Leptoceratops could probably stand and run on their hind legs: analysis of forelimb function indicates that even though they could not pronate their hands, they could walk on four legs.

Size: Paul proposed that Leptoceratops was around 2 m (6.6 ft) long and could have weighed 100 kg (220 lb), but Tereschenko proposed a maximum length of 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft).

Discovery and Species: The first small ceratopsian named Leptoceratops was discovered in 1910 by Barnum Brown in the Red Deer Valley in Alberta, Canada. He described it four years later. The first specimen had a part of its skull missing, but there were later well-preserved finds by C. M. Sternberg in 1947, including one complete fossil. Later material was found in 1978 in the Bighorn Basin of northern Wyoming.

The type species is Leptoceratops gracilis. In 1942, material collected in Montana was named Leptoceratops cerorhynchos, but this was later renamed Montanoceratops.

Classification: Leptoceratops belonged to the Ceratopsia, a group of herbivorous dinosaurs with parrot-like beaks that thrived in North America and Asia during the Cretaceous Period. Although traditionally allied with the Protoceratopsidae, it is now placed in its own family, Leptoceratopsidae, along with dinosaurs such as Udanoceratops and Prenoceratops. The relationships of Leptoceratops to ceratopsids are not entirely clear. Although most studies suggest that they lie outside the protoceratopsids and ceratopsids, some studies suggest that they may be allied with Ceratopsidae. The absence of premaxillary teeth is one feature that supports this arrangement.

Paleobiology:

Behavior: One of our discoveries was that along with Thescelosaurus Leptoceratops was capable of digging and living in burrows. In 2019, fossils from the Hell Creek Formation found three fossil bone beds which revealed that not only was Leptoceratops a social animal but also raised its young in communal burrows. There will be a sentry on the lookout warning the herd of predators. Living in small herds provides benefits as they are safe in numbers in a landscape filled with predators. Being ectothermic like Tortoises, Leptoceratops would only need to consume between 5 to 7 lbs of feed a day, that's as much as a fully-grown pig.

Leptoceratops would defecate in huge piles of dung which are communal latrines acting as scent posts to tell other Triceratops their status, receptive to mate, age, and gender. The only time large numbers come together is during the mating season in forest clearings, with the females looking for suitable partners, and males fighting and showing off their strength to cement their mating priorities.

Diet: Leptoceratops, like other ceratopsians, would have been a herbivore. The jaws were relatively short and deep, and the jaw muscles would have inserted over the large parietosquamosal frill, giving Leptoceratops a powerful bite. The teeth are unusual in that the dentary teeth have dual wear facets, with a vertical wear facet where the maxillary teeth sheared past the crown, and a horizontal wear facet where the maxillary teeth crushed against the dentary teeth. This shows that Leptoceratops chewed with a combination of shearing and crushing. Between the shearing/crushing action of the teeth and the powerful jaws, Leptoceratops was probably able to chew extremely tough plant matter. Given its small size and quadrupedal stance, Leptoceratops would have been a low feeder. Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms, were the most diverse plants of the day, although ferns, cycads, and conifers may still have been more common in terms of numbers. A 2016 study revealed that Leptoceratops was able to chew its food much like several groups of mammals, which meant that it had a diet that consisted of tough, fibrous plant material.

Like Triceratops and Torosaurus, they will also gain protein and calcium from eating small animals, and carcasses, and even killing small dinosaurs. They will also visit clay licks to neutralize the poisonous toxins from the plants they eat. Baby Leptoceratops would eat the dung left by their mothers to gain gut bacteria to better digest when they feed on solid plant matter.

Reproduction: Leptoceratops would gather in forest clearings in large numbers where males joust and spare one another to mate with the females, The males would also inflate their colorful nasal sacs, and based on our observations, females often favor older and experienced males with colorful frills that often darken with age, scar-covered, frills with wounds like bite marks.

Leptoceratops females would then dig burrows and lay their eggs in the same burrow known as communal nesting often the dominant female's eggs are in the center. All the females raise their young together to increase their chances of survival.

Health Issues: Health issues have been observed since Leptoceratops was a monogastric animal, one of them is Colic, a term for abdominal belly pain, covering numerous types of gastrointestinal distress. It would vary 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. Colic 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. 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 Leptoceratops were 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, and yes when you are a large herbivore whether a camel, a horse, a cattle, or even a Plant-eating dinosaur, due to their herbivore diet they will expel methane gas. Gas colic 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.

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 Leptoceratops 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 Leptoceratops as well. Like Birds and Reptiles, Dinosaurs have cloacas. A cloaca 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.

Just like with Modern-day animals, Dinosaurs like Leptoceratops would be vulnerable 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 a large animal like Leptoceratops. The burrowing of the mites would also cause itching leading stress to the Leptoceratops 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 would need to be done.

Scaly feet on dinosaurs would be considered dinosaur mange, but ornithischian or bird-hipped dinosaurs like 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 Leptoceratops may not be so likely, however, if their scales are similar to that of birds it could be possible scaly mites can infect the Leptoceratops, 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 Leptoceratops to contend with, one such bacteria is salmonella, commonly found in birds and reptiles.

Salmonella is a bacteria commonly found in the animals' intestines, Salmonella can infect other living bacteria via contact with fecal matter. While commonly found in carnivorous reptiles and birds, herbivorous ones such as Leptoceratops 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 Leptoceratops 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. Leptoceratops 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 and Leptoceratops is no exception, Calcium is very important for Triceratops 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 Triceratops 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 Leptoceratops 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 Leptoceratops 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 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 Leptoceratops 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, Leptoceratops 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 analog modern-day living animals like a large mammal that has battery teeth and a beak. Ungualtes 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 Leptoceratops. 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 Leptoceratops 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 Triceratops to trim their beaks, and provide extra calcium they need. But there is a catch to this, mostly a stereotypical behavior of a Triceratops 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 Leptoceratops would be very tricky for keepers and veterinarians. But the Leptoceratops and the well-being of all the animals in Prehistoric Park is an utmost importance and must be met.

Interactions with other species: They normally congregated in mixed species herds of Thescelosaurus, Ornithomimus, Edmontosaurus, vagrant Alamosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Denversaurus, Anzu, Triceratops, Torosaurus, and Pachycephalosaurus. The Leptoceratops will eat scraps of plants left by the larger herbivores and trimmed-down plants.

Leptoceratops do face predators like Tyrannosaurus, Acheroraptor, Dromaeosaurus, Pectinodon, and Dakotaraptor. When a sentry spots danger, it makes a grunting sound to alert the Leptoceratops and they will run back into their burrows for cover. They will use their frills as shield plugs at the burrow entrance and bite at their foes with their sharp beaks. If cornered they will intimidate and fight back by charging, bellowing, and snapping with their beaks to distract the predator for a short amount of time. There was one case of a Leptoeratops fighting an Acheroraptor which ends in killing the raptor and eating the remains.

Their bristle filaments quills also have algae growing on them attracting moths, they get nutrients from the secretions of the skin and the algae present on the filaments, as well as protection from avian predators. Adult female moths leave the quills of the triceratops to lay eggs in the droppings The larvae would live in the dung and newly emerged moths later fly from the dung pile to find a Leptoceratops host. The moths would die on top of the Leptoceratops providing fertilizer to the algae.

Leptoceratops could feed on washed-up dead fish like Paleopsephurus, Lonchidion, Lepisosteus, Melvius, and Myledaphus. Triceratops would sometimes feed on Casterolimulus the shallows because their shells provide calcium. When they feed on water plants or logs they could encounter and would feed on Habrosaurus, Axestemys, Palaeobatrachus, Dinilysia, and young Basilemys and Scapherpeton. Although the latter two adults would nip and fight back.

Leptoceratops 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.

Leptoceratops would sometimes feed on the eggs and young of other dinosaurs if given the chance although they must protect their eggs from small predators alongside Ornithomimus and Anzu. Although the oviraptorid, Anzu is seen alongside Leptoceratops, with a sense of sight alongside the Leptoceratop's sense of smell help alert them of threats, and Anzu would feed on Leptoceratops' eggs that have not hatched.

Birds like Brodavis and Avisaurus would perch on Leptoceratops pecking off the bugs like the moths off of them. Sometimes seeking a suitable moment, the larger dinosaur would unexpectedly drop all of its weight onto the bird, instantly crushing it. The Leptoceratop then eats the bird for a helpful boost of protein and minerals or might even be doing this fun, as play behavior.

For the river predators, Borealosuchus, Champsosaurus, Thoracosaurus, and Brachychampsa, Leptoceratops are vulnerable to attacks when drinking at the water's edge.

The Leptoceratop's burrowing habits provide abandoned homes for many of Hell Creek's Amphibians, Mammals, Reptiles, Invertebrates, and Small Dinosaurs.

Extinction: Leptoceratops was another victim of the K-PG Extinction Event. They are alongside Thescelosaurus, Ornithomimus, Edmontosaurus, Alamosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Trierarchuncus, and their relatives Triceratops, Torosaurus suffer from the aftermath of the event leaving a wasteland landscape with a scarce source of plants to feed

Danger Tip: Normally peaceful, be very careful of their sharp beaks and teeth.

Significant Events: A herd of Leptoceratops was encountered on the Team's first rescue mission on the third day. When a pack of Acheoraptors came to attack the herd, while Jake distracted the raptors, Leni lured them with some plants as bait to the portal, they now reside in the Hell Creek Building Paddocks.

Hell Creek Building Paddocks: The Leptoceratops live in one of the outdoor paddocks alongside Thescelosaurus and Trierarchuncusin in the other paddocks of the Hell Creek Building which has minimal barriers separating the animals and any humans, staff, or otherwise, that would later visit the building. It has dense bushes, ferns, and small trees with a few large ones. There are hill-like mounds to allow burrowing behaviors, There are plans to allow the Leptoceratops and Anzus to share the two paddocks they live in.

They are supplemented with palm leave pellet feed, palm silage, pig 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. Important Note, 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.

Conclusion: Leptoceratops may not share the same fame as Triceratops and Torosaurus. Their small size makes them popular with visitors especially children because they're like pot-bellied pigs people would keep as pets. These ceratopsids are another welcome addition to Paleo Park.

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.

Examples: Inferring what the toons are doodling on the sketches or snarking quotes.

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