Ceratosaurus
Sir-rat-oh-sore-us
Name meaning: Horned Lizard
Time Period: Kimmeridgian to Tithonian (Late Jurassic)
Locations: Colorado Morrison formation, Portugal
Taxonomy: Theropoda-Ceratosauria-Neoceratosauria-Ceratosauridae
Subspecies: C. nasicornis Controversial: C. dentisulcatus C. magnicornis
Characteristics ~ ~ ~ ~
The most easily distinguishing feature about Ceratosaurus was the horn on the snout, it is named after. Formed from the fusion of the left and right nasal bones, it likely served no functional purpose aside from identifying individuals and attracting mates. It had a narrow skull with 30 very long 9 9-centimeter serrated teeth that were almost as long as the lower jaw It had long legs and tail to maintain speed when running in bursts of speeds around 25- 30 miles. It had a thin, streamlined body and short forelimbs to reduce weight. Ceratosaurus was 6 meters long. On Ceratosaurus's back were small osteoderms that ran along its back, possibly to protect it from larger theropods or members of its species. Ceratosaurus scavenged sickly or juvenile sauropods such as Diplodocus, Pleurocoelus, Apatosaurus, and Camarasaurus. But it mostly hunted smaller dinosaurs like Camptosaurus, Dryosaurus and Nanosaurus that were agile rather than strong. Allosaurus is considered to be Ceratosaurus rival, though it was larger with it being hypothesized that Allosaurus stole carrion from Ceratosaurus like how lions do so to Hyenas. Fossils of the two carnivores are never found in the same places, meaning they held massive areas of territory from each other, but in areas where they are found together. Ceratosaurs outnumber Allosaurs 7.5 to 1. Part of that is due to Ceratosaurus growing extremely quickly, reaching half of its adult size in only two years
History ~ ~ ~ ~
Media Deptictions
Jurassic Park 3 The Ceratosaurus model from the film is just Tyranosaurus Rex's with a horn and a wild red head with a white body with black strips. It's one scene is when everyone is rumaging through feces looking for a phone Ceratosaurus arrives just to sniff around then leave. Ceratosaurus wouldn't recive any better treatment later on, in camp cretaceous it is shown of once only to be imediatly mauled by Scorpius Rex. And in Chaos Therory he gets wrecked by Allosaurus like he usually does :(