Troodon

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

- Telltale Games in an interview

Troodon (or Troödon) was a small theropod that lived during the Late Cretaceous period. It was one of the most intelligent dinosaurs that ever lived, if not the most intelligent. Troodon could reach a length of 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) and a weight of 50 kilograms (110 lb). Discovered in 1855, it was among the first dinosaurs found in North America.

More real-life information: Troodon at Wikipedia.

The Lost World novel
Troodon 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 really a Troodon skeleton.

Jurassic Park-inspired games

 * Troodon appears in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (SEGA Genesis Game) video game.
 * Troodon is number. 039 of the Carnivore Ones that can be created in Jurassic Park III: Park Builder.
 * It was planned to appear in Jurassic Park: Survival.

Jurassic Park: The Game
Troodon appears in Telltale's Jurassic Park: The Game. It was the unnamed nocturnal dinosaur in the game; its identity only being revealed later on in the game's storyline. They are very slender theropods with a pale body, dark dorsal stripes and a red underbelly. They 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. They 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. They 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. It is possible that the Troodon use their sinister sounds to instill fear within any dinosaurs mind.

Telltale also added a unique behavior in which the Troodon uses powerful toxins 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.

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 tarantula hawk wasp, which lays its eggs inside the bodies of caterpillars. 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, as they were deemed dangerous and hard to handle with little tourism appeal, along with the Velociraptors. They would eventually escape from the Quarantine pens and create massive damages and chaos during the Isla Nublar Incident. However, they were eventually wiped out by the napalm bombing.

Trivia

 * Vargas is the first person in the franchise to be eaten by the Troodons.
 * The Troodon can be considered to be the main antagonists in Jurassic Park: The Game, along with the Tyrannosaurus and Scarred Raptor Leader.
 * Their venom resembles that of the Komodo Dragon's, which does not directly kill their prey but rather leaves them to suffer until they collapse from shock and paralysis. Komodo Dragons will also begin to eat their victim while it is still alive.
 * 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. However, a dinosaur fossil named T. pectinodon was discovered.
 * Telltale cleverly justified the lack of evidence for venom on the fossil record by making the venom salivatory rather than injected through fangs.
 * 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.
 * Despite its very small size, Troodon appears to be one of the apex predators on the island, as even other larger predatory species seem to fear it.