| Titanosaurs | |
|---|---|
| Biological information | |
| Time period : | 125 Million Years ago (Cretaceous) |
| Lifestyle : | Herbivore |
| In the series | |
| Brought back : | Nine |
| Appearances : | (Title Sequence Only) "T-Rex Returns" "A Mammoth Undertaking" (Living) "Dinobirds" "Saving the Sabretooth" "The Bug House" "Supercroc" |
The titanosaur is an unidentified genus of titanosaurian sauropod that lived in China during the Early Cretaceous period.
Portrayal in the series[]
The titanosaur was an enormous animal, weighing in between 20 to 30 tonnes, and was the largest animal in its environment (and in the park). It had yellowish scales, with patches of black and brown covering its entire body. It lived in herds of between five to nine individuals, and communicate with other herd members by making loud bellowing calls. Because of their immense size, they are the only animals in the park capable of breaking down large wooden fences with relative ease.
Additionally, due to their large size, the titanosaur must constantly eat to survive, and are often seen stripping the leaves off of the trees around the park or eating the thatched roofs of some of the park's facilities. Since they are unable to chew their food, titanosaurs swallow stones (or gastroliths) to help them digest plant matter in their gut, like some modern birds do.
Despite their large size, the titanosaur start off very small and hatch from large, spherical eggs about the size of a soccer ball/football. These eggs would usually be laid in large nests covered by dirt and plant matter deep in the safety of the forest, though titanosaurs will sometimes lay their eggs near active volcanoes due to the volcanic activity providing the necessary warmth needed to incubate the eggs.
Titanosaurs share a commensal relationship with Microraptor. As they walk, they turn over the earth to expose the multitude of invertebrates living in the soil for the small, gliding theropod to feast upon.
Titanosaurs are easily spooked by sudden noises, such as an erupting volcano... or a small car driving off course and crashing into a nearby tree, and will flee to safety if it feels threatened. A spooked, rampaging titanosaur can cause an awful amount of damage, as the park found out the hard way…
In Prehistoric Park[]
"Dinobirds"[]
The titanosaurs are first seen walking to the forest making a lot of noise. Nigel explains that large dinosaurs like these aren't usually found in dense forest. This is then followed by the Microraptors feeding off insects uncovered by bioturbation from the titanosaurs.
Later on, Nigel discovers a nesting site and realizes that the titanosaurs came so far into the forest to lay their eggs. Shortly after Nigel captures four Microraptors, the volcano erupts and one of the titanosaurs panic and stampedes towards a netted Microraptor. Nigel saves it but the titanosaur clipped its wing.
Nigel then sees the herd of titanosaurs going down to the erupting volcano and heads down to save them. He manages to get them through the time portal just before they died of suffocation.
When entering the 21st century, they cause damage to the fences surrounding the time portal, frustrating Bob. The episode then ends with the titanosaurs in their enclosure (for the time being).
"Saving the Sabretooth"[]
The titanosaurs are first seen breaking out of their enclosure and shortly after Nigel exclaims when he sees one eating from the trees.
They are last seen at the end of the episode with one eating away at Nigel's Base.
"The Bug House"[]
The titanosaurs are first seen when one walks down the path to Bob who is building the Bughouse. Bob says that they can't settle at the other side of the park. He tries to feed it cycad leaves but the titanosaur retaliates by breaking a wall that is being built. It then leaves breaking a wooden plank.
Later on, Bob realizes that the titanosaurs ate stones to grind up plant matter and he feeds the titanosaurs gastroliths to see if it works.
They are last seen when a titanosaur pulls Nigel's jeep out of the mud in the Carboniferous and through the time portal to the 21st century. Bob gives it a wheelbarrow of stones as a reward.
"Supercroc"[]
After Nigel rescues a Deinosuchus, Bob drives his jeep along with extra scraps from Nigel's mission that he will clean up. However, a Troodon has secretly snuck into the jeep searching for meat, and it attacks Bob, resulting in him losing control of the vehicle, which proceeds to startle the titanosaurs. They flee, and one of them ends up rampaging throughout the park, breaking enclosures and releasing various animals including the Elasmotherium, Ornithomimus, terror bird, and Tyrannosaurus. This initiates the event known by many fans as the "mass break out."
Genus identity[]
Aside from being continually identified as titanosaurian sauropods, the exact genus of the dinosaurs was never revealed in the series. Fan speculation has put forth several identifications for the titanosaurs, namely Borealosaurus, Daxiatitan, Dongbeititan, and Ruyangosaurus. Although Borealosaurus was scientifically described two years before Prehistoric Park premiered, Dongbeititan lived at the right time period and its fossils have been found in Liaoning Province, where Episode 3 was set, but was, coincidentally, scientifically described one year after the series released.
Trivia[]
- The term "titanosaur" means "Titanic lizard".
- A titanosaur appears on the Prehistoric Park logo, taking a bite out of the "I" in "Prehistoric Park".
- Nigel said that there were nine titanosaurs rescued, but only five are ever seen in the park.
- Despite having not been planned originally for the park, the titanosaur is featured on the park logo.
Gallery[]
