Scelidosaurus harrisonii is a small herbivorous thyreophoran that lived in Britain during the Early Jurassic.
It was added to the game in Update 1.1.
In-Game[]
Description[]
In Prehistoric Kingdom, Scelidosaurus is a small and active plant eater, with close affinities to both surface water and forest. It has a fairly low star rating, which means that it can be available from the start of a Challenge Mode game if chosen.
It isn't quite clear to which extent the real animal was capable of bipedality, but in-game, it walks on all fours and occasionally runs on its hindlimbs.
Management[]
To be announced.
In-Game Trivia[]
Nigel Marven
It's always a pleasure to run into a fellow Brit so far away from home. Meet Scelidosaurus, an early armored dinosaur from England and Ireland.
Nigel Marven
Remarkably, paleontologists have found specimens of every bone in the skeleton of Scelidosaurus. An impressive feat, considering that many dinosaurs are known from partial or even fragmentary skeletons.
Nigel Marven
The relationship between Scelidosaurus and the other armored dinosaurs - stegosaurs and ankylosaurs - is the subject of hot debate in the scientific community. It's been well over a century since that discussion started and we’re still not completely sure where this fella fits in.
Nigel Marven
The “armor” pieces on armored dinosaurs are more accurately called “osteoderms”, a word that literally means “bone skin”.
Paleontology[]
Scelidosaurus was first named in 1859, only a decade after Sir Richard Owen coined the term "dinosaur". Its species name honours the quarry owner who first found the bones. They came from the Charmouth Mudstone Formation in England, which is a marine deposit from the Sinemurian to Pliensbachian stages in the Early Jurassic. A fossil found in 2000 was nearly complete, providing insight into the arrangement of osteoderms that protected the animal's hide. It was more lightly armoured than the later ankylosaurs.
Like other thyreophorans, Scelidosaurus was a herbivore feeding on low plants. It had a small head with a narrow snout, indicating that it fed rather selectively compared to, say, Ankylosaurus. The relationship of this basal member of the clade to the main two groups of armoured dinosaurs is up for debate, but the most recent analyses place it closer to Ankylosauria than to Stegosauria.
Paleoecology[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- For obvious reasons, the "Regolith" skin of this animal has been nicknamed "Oreo" by members of the game's community.
- Scelidosaurus is the first thyreophoran to be added into Prehistoric Kingdom.
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