Scelidosaurus

*Scelidosaurus harrisonii* (pronounced **sce-li-do-saw-rus ha-rri-so-ni** and meaning 'Limb Lizard') is a medium sixed, herbivorous dinosaur from the Early Jurassic Period and therefore can be found from Jurassic fossils. They are believed to be duirnal (active during the day) and are entirely quadrepedal. Their original habitat would have most likely been a low-cover plains with shrubs and ferns, and therefore Sceliodsaurus are adept terrestrial travellers but aren't very good swimmers. It is one of the three planned herbivores for the 1.0.0 release, and will be the second smallest herbivore to be added in this version.

## Basic Information

* **Scientific Name:** *Scelidosaurus harrisonii*
* **Personality:** Neutral
* **Health Points Range:** 108-72 (54-36 hearts)
* **Food Points:** 60 (30 food shanks)
* **Attack Damage Range:** 7-5 (3.5-2.5 hearts)
* **Modeller:** Kangalia
* **Update Introduced:** 1.0.0

## Genetics

The Scelidosaurus has a genetic code length of 20 and this code influences their appearance, speed, size, attack damage and health.

### Appearance

The Scelidosaurus is a medium-sized, quadrepedal, armoured ornithischian dinosaur. The males are approximately 1.2 blocks tall and 3.5 blocks long, while the females are slightly smaller and the babies are a quarter of the size of the males.

The Scelidosaurus's appearance is based on their genetics and therefore they can have a whole myriad of colour combinations. Their different colour regions are their base colour, their underside colour and their pattern ?. Males and females have the same patterns and colours but males have an additional highlight region which can be different colours. Females also possess the genetics for this region, but they simply aren't shown. They also have two other morphs, albino and melanistic, which will take precidence over their other appearance genetics. The babies of this species are always a lighter colour than the adults and do not exhibit a visible pattern until they grow older.

## Behaviour

The Scelidosaurus is a mainly reactionary herbivore and so will only attack when threatened. It is not a solitary species and therefore it is safe to house several Scelidosaurus together in the same enclosure. However, they have a max pack limit of 12 within the same species and 16 when including other species. They are diurnal (only active during the day), and from the moment they are hatched, take seven in game days to grow to adulthood. The Scelidosaurus set their home to the nest they hatch on and once set, they will only roam a certain radius away from the nest depending on its sex and age. Males roam 48 blocks away, females 36, juveniles 24, children 10 and babies 4. They have a minimum pack requirement of three, otherwise they will become lonely and this will negaitvely impact their hunger, enrichment and healing.

### Feeding

The Scelidosaurus, as a herbivore, will eat all kinds of fruit, vegetables and seeds through hand-feeding. They will also eat from a ground feeder that is nearby and has vegetables in it.

### Taming

It is safe to interact with the Scelidosaurus without taming, although they will attack when provoked. The babies, on the other hand, are inherently shy and completely non-aggressive and will run away from the player when they approach. Currently the method of taming is still WIP and taming mechanics may not be implemented in the initial 1.0.0 release.

### Breeding

As long as two Scelidosaurus of opposite genders are close enough together, then breeding can start to occur. A female Scelidosaurus will lay anywhere between 1-4 eggs. For the eggs to hatch, they must be either laid on a nest (where there is a small chance for a female to seek out a nest before laying their eggs instead of simply laying them where they breed), or collected and then placed onto one. On average, hatching will take between five to ten minutes.

## Real Life

*Scelidosaurus* is an extinct genus of herbivourus armoured ornithischian dinosaur. It's fossil was found in the British Isles in the Charmouth Mudstone Formation, which is near Charmouth in Dorset. These fossils are known for their incredible preservation and the Sceliodsaurus was named the earliest complete dinosaur.

Scelidosaurus is estimated to grow to a length of four metres and was comparatively smaller than later non-avian dinosaurus. The hindlimbs were longer than the forelimbs and while it may have reared up on its hind legs to browse on foliage from trees, it's longer forelimbs indicated a mostly quadrapedal posture. It possessed bony scutes as armour and these osteoderms were arranged in horizontal parallel rows dwon the animal's body. These were reminiscent of those found on modern day crocodiles, armadillos and some lizards. Finally, the Scelidosaurus was believed to have inhabited the supercontinent Laurasia and would have lived in low-coverage brushlands and plains, blending it well with longer grasses and shrubberies.

### References

* Liddell & Scott (1980). Greek-English Lexicon, Abridged Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-910207-4
* Norman, David (2001). "Scelidosaurus, the earliest complete dinosaur" in The Armored Dinosaurs, pp 3-24. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-33964-2.
* Lambert D (1993). The Ultimate Dinosaur Book. Dorling Kindersley, New York, 110-113. ISBN 1-56458-304-X
* Norman, D.B., Witmer, L.M., and Weishampel, D.B. (2004). "Basal Thyreophora". In Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (ed.). The Dinosauria, 2nd Edition. University of Californian Press. pp. 335–342. ISBN 978-0-520-24209-8.

Written by **Kangalia**