Troodon pectinodon

Coloration:

Adult and juvenile (both sexes) – The upper body is a pale gray, mottled with darker gray patterns. The throat and underside of the neck are red in color. The eyes are a milky white and reflects light, allowing them to glow in the darkness.

Diet:

Meat from small to medium-sized animals, including small ornithopods such as Dryosaurus and young hadrosaurs, as well as other animals native to Costa Rica such as sloths, monkeys, birds and small reptiles and mammals.

Preferred Habitat: Dense forests, underground Caverns and remains of human constructs, hidden in shadow.

Social Structure: Packs lead by an alpha male and/or female.

Description: Small bipedal carnivore. Slender build, long legs. The jaws are wide and the small teeth are interlocking; with no lips the teeth are visible when the jaws are closed. The large, bulbous eyes glow in darkness. The animal’s head, back, tail tip and the undersides of the arms are adorned with quill-like structures. The hands are strong with three long fingers tipped with sharp claws, and there is an  enlarged claw on the second toe of each foot. While similar to a Velociraptor's killing claw, Troodon relies on this claw less while hunting, preferring to use its venomous bite to subdue its prey.

Behaviors: Troodon is one of four extant venomous dinosaurs on  Sorna; the other three being Dilophosaurus, Segisaurus and Compsognathus. Troodon bite wounds are ragged and extremely painful, and the venom which secretes from glands in the animal’s jaws causes massive drowsiness, hallucinations, high fevers, convulsions, seizures, paralysis and eventual brain death. Similar to Komodo dragons, a single Troodon in a pack will rush out and bite a prey animal once, and then the pack will linger back, waiting for the effects of the venom to set in before moving in to feed. It is thanks to its highly toxic venom that enables the Troodon to bring down animals up to four times its size with minimal effort. The pack will usually drag the dead or suffering victim back to its lair, to be stored away for later as a nest or a food  source. The Troodon feeding habits are highly unpleasant – the pack will use teeth and claws to dismember the victim will it is  still  breathing, ripping it apart beyond recognition. Pieces of the carcass may be buried under mounds of dirt and plant matter to disguise the scent from scavengers such as Compsognathus. The Troodon will consume all the flesh until only the bones are left –the floor of the Caverns is littered with the many bones of Troodon past meals.

Troodon females use the intact bodies of other animals as living nests for their young. This behavior is more akin to parasitic wasps than dinosaurs. With the aid of a sharp ovipositor, the female penetrates the chest cavity of a comatose or paralyzed victim, before releasing one to three eggs, with two being the most common. The eggs are incubated by the body heat of the dying animal, and when the young hatch they eat the body from the inside out, emerging around a week later as miniature  versions of the adults. The young Troodon require little care from the adults and are able to move about and hunt with the pack soon after eating their way out of their nests.

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 guttural squealing or screeching. The reverberating sound of its vocalizations is enough to send many other dinosaur species fleeing in fright. Even the deadly Velociraptor has high respect for this dinosaur, as does the venomous Dilophosaurus.

Troodon is primarily nocturnal, and it has the best night vision of all the dinosaurs cloned by InGen. However, Troodon is highly sensitive to bright sunlight, and so it prefers to hunt at night or on overcast days. For most of the time it hides away, preferring dense forest or deep within the underground Caverns of Sorna. It may also find refuge among the ruins of man-made buildings, where conflicts with Velociraptor may occur.

Troodon moves with deliberation using slow, stalking movements to slink from shadow to shadow. It is capable of high-speed running when necessity calls for it, such as fleeing from bright light or large predators. Together with its alarming appearance, highly toxic venom, eerie calls and an intelligence that rivals Velociraptor; Troodon has earned itself the reputation as not only the most feared, but also the creepiest of Isla Sorna's inhabitants.