Troodon

"You don't want to be left alive by this dinosaur."

- Telltale Games in an interview

Troodon is a small bird-like Theropod. It has very long legs with specialized feet, in which the middle long bone was pinched out at the top to form a shock-absorbing wedge. This allowed it to run very fast. Troodon had very large eyes that faced mostly forward, so that it could focus better. It is famous for having one of the largest brains (for its body size) of any dinosaur.

Troodon had a jaw full of many small teeth, but they were not like the teeth of typical meat-eaters. Instead of little serrations running up and down the back of the teeth (as in most meat-eaters), there were much bigger bumbs running along the side, as in many plant-eating dinosaurs and lizards. Some paleontologists speculate that Troodon may have eaten not only small animals, lizards, and baby dinosaurs, but also insects, eggs, and even plants.

Paleontologist Dave Varricchio discovered the first Troodon nest. Like Oviraptorosaurs and ground-dwelling birds, Troodon would make a nest on the ground. It would then curl up on top of the nest to brood its eggs.

More real-life information: Troodon at Wikipedia.

The Lost World novel
Troodon (or Troödon in older sources) has never appeared in any films or novels. However, it was mentioned in The Lost World novel, although not as an InGen dinosaur. Dr. Richard Levine was talking to Dr. Marty Guitierrez about a colleague of his named John Roxton whom had discovered what he believed to be a Velociraptor skeleton in Mongolia. However, it was actually a Troodon skeleton.

Film canon
Troodon appears in Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game. It was the unnamed nocturnal dinosaur in the game; its identity only being revealed later in the game's storyline. They are very slender theropods with a pale body, dark dorsal stripes, a red underbelly and long whip-like tail. They also have a series of quills or spines running down their backs - it is unknown if these are protofeathers or collagenous. Most likely for cinematic effect, Telltale has given the Troodon large glowing eyes. This is possibly due to a Tapetum lucidum, a tissue in the eyes of many animals that reflects light through the retina in order to see better in the dark (like a cat's eyes). As a side effect, they cannot stand intense light and can be held at bay with a simple road flare.

These Troodon are designated Species IG74726f6f646f6e, but according to Laura Sorkin's research journal, their scientific name is Troodon pectinodon. They are descibed to be extremely intelligent, perhaps even more so than the Velociraptors, and are shown to travel in large packs.

The Troodon vocalizations consist mostly of a sinister clicking sound, similar to that of a crow or raven. When the animal is attacking, it makes a low snarling sound, and when it is excited, it makes a guturral screeching noise. The reverberating sound of their vocalizations is enough to send other dinosaurs fleeing in fright, even including the predatory species. The Troodon most likely using their sinister sounds to instill fear within the minds of all nearby dinosaurs. Curiously, some of the Troodon vocal sounds are that of an elk similar to other dinosaurs in which animal sounds were also used.

Telltale also added a unique behavior in which the Troodon uses a powerful venom in its saliva to paralyze its victims. The toxins cause hallucinations, slowly making the victim suffer. Unless the infection is treated by an equally powerful tranquilizer, the victim goes into a series of convulsions, including uncontrolable shaking. The final stage is paralysis and brain death. This hunting use of venom is similar to that of the, which lurks and ambushes prey, then delivers a toxic bite, which doesn't kill the prey right away but leaves an open wound that the prey slowly suffers from and dies within a limitted time.

After this, the Troodon drags the living corpse to a secluded area and rips open its abdomen with its claws and teeth. Finally, the Troodon lays its eggs in the mangled torso and incubates them there until they hatch. It is presumed that the hatchlings would proceed to eat the corpse from the inside out. This method of rearing young is similar to that of the, which lays its eggs inside the bodies of caterpillars and tarantulas. If the Troodon is not breeding, it devours the victim alive, often accompanied by other members of its pack.

Apparently, the Troodon was one of the unlisted species in the park (similar to the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park III), as they were deemed dangerous and hard to handle with little tourism appeal, along with the Velociraptors. They would eventually escape from their Quarantine Pen and create massive damages and chaos during the Isla Nublar Incident. However, they were eventually wiped out by the Napalm Bombing.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Troodon appears in the Sega Genesis The Lost World: Jurassic Parkvideogame.

Jurassic Park III: Park Builder
Troodon is number. 039 of the Carnivore Ones that can be created in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.

Jurassic Park: Survival
. It was planned to appear in Jurassic Park: Survival.



Jurassic Park: Builder
Troodon is one of the available dinosaurs on the IOS application, Jurassic Park: Builder.

Trivia

 * Vargas is the first person in the franchise to be eaten by the Troodon.
 * The Troodon in Jurassic Park: The Game are very inaccurate, in fact they only vaguely resemble real Troodon. The real animal's head was much thinner and smaller, their eyes were much smaller, and they were not venomous. The Troodon in the game is almost like an apex predator, but the real Troodon was a rather feeble animal that likely ate small mammals and carrion only, and possibly was an omnivore.
 * It's persumed that once their eggs hatched from within their victim's abdomen, the Troodon hatchlings would devour the victim alive and from the inside out.
 * Troodon is the first nocturnal predator in the Jurassic Park franchise, and one of the only three carnivores that use venom as a hunting method (the other two being Dilophosaurus and Procompsognathus).
 * T. pectinodon is not a real-life species of the animal; rather, it is named after the genus Pectinodon, a junior synonym of Troodon.
 * Like many of the animals in the Jurassic Park franchise, the sounds of the Troodon were created by combining the sounds of modern animals. The Troodon's vocalizations appear to have been created by mixing together dolphin clicks, various small bird calls, and the mating call of a bull elk. Its snarls are similar to those of a leopard.
 * Troodon is the first, and probably the only, parasitic dinosaur seen in the Jurassic Park franchise.
 * Dr. Sorkin claims that unlike Henry Wu she didn't use non-Troodon DNA to fill in the sequence gaps. This is how she originally thought the dinosaurs should have been created in the first place. This would make Troodon pectinodon the only genetically complete dinosaur in the park.
 * Despite being so fearsome and deadly, even the Troodon have a fear and weakness - light, as shown when they back off from the flares and due to the fact that they are nocturnal.
 * If you look closely, you can see blue pupils in the Troodons eyes (in some scenes).
 * In the debut trailer for Jurassic Park: The Game, the unseen Troodon appear to have glowing yellow eyes, whereas in The Game itself, their eyes glow white.