Kentrosaurus/Operation Genesis

Kentrosaurus
Popularity rating	2 stars
Group	Small Herbivores
Security requirements	Low
Dig site	Tendaguru Beds

This Stegosaur lives close to waterholes and feeds upon lush low growing vegetation. Though it lives in herds, it can use its armored plates and body spikes to defend itself.

Behavior

Kentrosaurus tends to be extremely cautious around large herbivores such as Brachiosaurus, usually going into a panic and running away from them (It should be noted that if panicked by the larger herbivores it will sway its tail around to the point that it will attack anything). Due to this behavior, it is the only herbivore in the game not perfectly compatible with all other herbivores.

Kentrosaurus is the only small herbivore that will defend itself from large carnivores when under attack. Their tail spike attacks don't do as much damage to a predator as much as the larger Stegosaurus, but it is effective against smaller carnivores. However, it offers little use when under attack from larger carnivores such as Tyrannosaurus.

Exercises and Missions

In the exercise What Visitors Want the player learn the names and function of the visitor amenities. The exercise is set in a small park with two enclosures. One enclosure contains Kentrosaurus and Stegosaurus.

In the first mission, Safari-A Picture's Worth 100 Points, the player has to earn 100 points by taken pictures of dinosaurs. One of the dinosaurs on the island is Kentrosaurus. It is possible to achieve 100 points in just one photo, if it contains a mix of Kentrosaurus, Allosaurus and Stegosaurus.

Hints & Tips

Kentrosaurus becomes scared when around large herbivores, especially Brachiosaurus, and as a result may be distracted from eating, causing it to become stressed. It may also unintentionally hurt other small herbivores by swinging its tail in defence. However, there is one way to keep Kentrosaurus with other herbivores.

The key idea is to have an enclosure large enough to keep Kentrosaurus away from large herbivores by placing a hatchery on one side of the enclosure and another on the other side of the same enclosure. One hatchery will hatch the large herbivores, and the other side will hatch Kentrosaurus as well as Stegosaurus, along with other small dinosaurs such as Dryosaurus. A herbivore such as Brachiosaurus will hardly wonder off too far to pose any issues in this kind of enclosure, but others that tend to wander more may cause problems.

Provided there is plenty of space between Kentrosaurus and Brachiosaurus, Kentrosaurus will remain perfectly fine in the enclosure, especially if Stegosaurus is around.

Trivia

• There is an unused sound file in the Kentrosaurus sound directory named "kentRoar01.wav". It is likely that this would accompany a roaring animation which was cut from the final game.
• Like Stegosaurus, Kentrosaurus' posture is wrong; real-life Kentrosaurus would have probably carried their tails vertically and their heads erect, like in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Its plate arrangement is also wrong, as they would have been in two parallel rows as opposed to the alternating plate arrangement portrayed in JPOG.