Corythosaurus

## General

* Illegal species
* Legally created
* JP Institute

Corythosaurus is a hadrosaur dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous period. Its name means "Helmet lizard". It is also known by the incorrectly spelled name, Carninthosaurus in the The Lost World: Jurassic Park script and media.

In the game, Jurassic Park: Explorer, the following information is given about this creature:

Corythosaurus had hundreds of small interlocking teeth at the back of its jaw, allowing it to crush and grind plant matter. The bony crest on top of its head contained its nasal passage and may have been used as a sounding device.

Like other duckbills and some other late Cretaceous plant-eating dinosaurs, Corythosaurus had huge numbers of teeth crammed together into "batteries" forming a single grinding surface on each side of the upper and lower jaws. This allowed the dinosaur to process large amounts of food at once. The hadrosaurines had broad, "ducklike" snouts to cut a wide swathe through the herb layer, while lambeosaurines such as Corythosaurus had narrower snouts and presumably fed more selectively.

The most distinctive feature of the lambeosaurines was the hollow bony crest on top of the head. The size and shape of these crests varied greatly. As a result, different skeletons of Corythosaurus have been identified as belonging to at least seven different species. However, comparison of more than 20 skulls has shown that the crest changes as it grows and differs between the sexes. Only a single species is, therefore, now recognized. The large-crested individuals are thought to be the adult males. They probably used the crest to intimidate others males. The skin covering the crest may have been brightly coloured or patterned, and the hollow within the bone, which was connected to the airway, may have been used to produce distinctive honking calls.

## Description

*Corythosaurus* is similar to *Parasaurolophus*, being a hadrosaur with front legs shorter than it's hindlegs and a more upright stance. They are yellow, with a grey underbelly. Black stripes line the border of the underbelly, with yellow stripes surrounded by the same black are on the legs and tail. The crest is red, on top of a mostly black face with a brown beak.

## Behavior

*Corythosaurus* are herd animals, preferring to live alongside each other and other species for protection against predation. *Corythosaurus* will flee at the first sign of danger, including from a pair of *Velociraptors*, but it is unknown if they are preyed upon by them or were just startled.

## History

### Jurassic Park

*Corythosaurus* was recreated for Jurassic Park, but under unknown circumstances Ingen was only able to keep 97% of it's genome before the park was forced into an early closing. These clones are never seen afterwards and are not listed on population counts for unknown reasons. More *Corythosaurus* were later illegally recreated on Isla Sorna, where they lived alongside a *Parasaurolophus* herd. Once the introduction of the illegal species, including *Corythosaurus*, caused the ecosystem to collapse, all of the remaining animals were shipped off Isla Sorna to be in Jurassic World.

### Jurassic World

It is unknown whether *Corythosaurus* was kept at Jurassic World or not.

### Post Jurassic World

According to DPG the *Corythosaurus* along with 12 other dinosaurs on Isla Nublar were treated cruelly by 2018, but the dinosaur's status remains unknown.