Ceratosaurus

Ceratosaurus was a medium sized carnivore that lived at the same time as the larger Allosaurus in the Late Jurassic period. However, it also lived some millions of years before the emergence of the successful Allosauroids, being of the more primitive four fingered Ceratosauria. What makes it different and distinctive is the large horn on top of its nose and the two horns over its eyes. About 100 years ago, when it was first discovered, it was one of the most well-known dinosaurs. Another unusual feature is that Ceratosaurus had four fingers on its hands, instead of the more common three among the other large meat-eaters. This is typically an indication that this theropod is relatively primitive, whose ancestral relatives heark back to the earlier times of the Mid Triassic to Mid Jurassic periods when Coelophysoideans and Ceratosaurians were much more prevailent. Allosaurids and Megalosaurian Carnosaur, both kinds Tetanurans, were much more advanced, with greater speed and intelligence, as well as the ability in at least Allosaurids to form packs.

It is probable that the Ceratosaurus ended up being sidelined by the Allosaurus in North America, as evidenced by the fact that Ceratosaurus is the rarest fossil theropod genus present in the magnificent Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. It probably became a prowler of the forest, using its terrifying dentition when ambushing smaller Dinosaurs. Though it is very easy to claim that Allosaurus was more dangerous than a Ceratosaurus overall, being bigger for a start and also being much more numerous as well as advanced, it could be said that Allosaurus represented the Wolf to Ceratosaurus‘s Honey Badger - in that, it may have become a rare but tenacious smaller animal with a nasty aggressiveness that clearly allowed it survive until the end of the Jurassic period. People tend to look at size being the only important factor, in a sort of 'Top-Trumps' mentality. Sometimes, the small are just as nasty as the large.

This information is given about Ceratosaurus in Jurassic Park: Explorer:
 * Ceratosaurus - small and more bird-like than it's cousin Allosaurus.
 * Ceratosaurus was named for the single horn on it's snout.
 * It was probably a scavenger, but may have also hunted aquatic prey.

More real-life information: Ceratosaurus at Wikipedia.

Jurassic Park Franchise
Ceratosaurus never appeared in the original Crichton novels. The creature entered the JP franchise in the Die-Cast: Jurassic Park toy line. After that it appeared briefly in the Jurassic Park III movie and multiple games.

Die-Cast: Jurassic Park
With the release of the Jurassic Park film in 1993, the Die-Cast: Jurassic Park toy line was released. It contained a metal Ceratosaurus action figure. The package also contained a Collector card featuring Ceratosaurus (Nr. 19 of the Jurassic Park Collector Cards). The Ceratosaurus has a red head and lighter (green) body.

Jurassic Park III
The Ceratosaurus was in Jurassic Park III, it has a red head and lighter (grey) body. It closely resembles the colours from the Die-Cast toy line. But some Jurassic Park fans have noticed that it resembles the Carnotaurus from Disney's movie Dinosaur.

thumb|300px|left|Ceratosaurus in JPIII The dinosaur makes a brief appearance on the river bank, sniffing the dung-covered main characters, then backing off because of the smell and walks away, most likely because it realized it was in Spinosaurus territory after recognizing the smell, or because the humans were not suitable prey. Not much is shown of this animal in Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park inspired games

 * Ceratosaurus is also available as a two-star, small carnivore in the game Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, appearing as it does in the movie, and hunting larger herbivores in packs. It is known to posses cannibalism when no food is around. Surprisingly, the JPOG Ceratosaurus‘ upper jaw is actually smaller than the movie's design. Ceratosaurus can coexist with the Albertosaurus, but this only occurs when they are not hungry. Ceratosaurus can also coexist with Allosaurus, as long as they are not attacking each other.


 * Ceratosaurus is featured in the DVD game Jurassic Park: Explorer. A player earns a dinosaur when he/she wins a minigame, when the earned dinosaur is a Ceratosaurus this video will be shown.
 * Ceratosaurus is also featured in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder
 * Ceratosaurus is one of the available dinosaurs in the IOS application, Jurassic Park: Builder.

Trivia
Its main purpose was probably as a replacement for the Carnotaurus from the novels.

Links

 * Ceratosaurus_info.jpg