Tsintaosaurus

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***Tsintaosaurus*** is a genus of hadrosaurid dinosaur that originated from Late Cretaceous Asia. Found in the Yuliangze Formation of China, the *Tsintaosaurus* can be excavated by teams sent from Isla Tacaño, and possess similar comfort threshold as other species of hadrosaurs.

## Characteristics

*Tsintaosaurus* is a hadrosaur notable for its distinctive duck-billed snout and striking head crest, which once earned it the nickname of the "*unicorn dinosaur*". Its name translates to "*Qindao Lizard*", in reference to the location of its discovery, Qingdao in China. Despite its relatively large size - up to 10 meters in length and weighing in excess of three tons - like other hadrosaurs, *Tsintaosaurus* was capable of walking on all four legs, but was also capable of locomotion on its rear legs alone and could reach high speeds when fleeing from predators. They probably lived in herds. The base genome of *Tsintaosaurus* is light brown, with darker brown spots littering its body, and light blue on its back.

*Tsintaosaurus* is unlocked on Isla Tacaño, and like other hadrosaurs, is fairly easy to manage, provided that their social needs are accommodated.

### Behaviour

*Tsintaosaurus* is a herding animal that needs to be kept in groups of four or more to be comfortable. It is tolerant of other herbivores, tolerating up to twenty two other dinosaurs of various species—a similar requirement to other hadrosaurs such as *Corythosaurus* and *Parasaurolophus*. With the Claire's Sanctuary expansion pack, *Tsintaosaurus* show a paleobotany preference for Palms, as well as a secondary preference for Conifers, Rotten Wood and Ginkgo.

## Paleontology

*Tsintaosaurus* was first discovered in the 1950s, in Shangdon province of eastern China at Hsikou when a range of hadrosaurid bones was uncovered in the Jingangkou Formation, Shandong. Its fossils were also found in South Korea, as well. The first fossils found were parts of the skull and body from two specimens, as well as a multitude of isolated pieces of others, evidence that this species lived and traveled in herds like modern day wildebeests. Although many of the bones were ascribed to existing genera, one partial skeleton required further analysis, so were referred to respected Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young – it wasn't until 1958 that Young formally declared it a new genus, named *Tsintaosaurus*. The most striking feature of the skull was a long piece of bone sticking upwards like a unicorn or narwhal horn.

At first this was dismissed as a piece of bone that had been broken, but with further study, it was revealed *Tsintaosaurus* was related to the lambeosaurine branch of hadrosaurs, which included *Corythosaurus* and *Parasaurolophus*, and were characterized by strange crests.

From then until 2013, *Tsintaosaurus* was given a long horn like crest and occasionally a billowing flap of skin connected to it, acting as a display. However later finds of *Tsintaosaurus* skulls, and studies other similar hadrosaurs such as *Olorotitan* in Russia, it was discovered that the 'unicorn horn' was in fact part of a hatchet shaped crest that allows this species to amplify its vocalization. *Tsintaosaurus* also shares similar features of other hadrosaurs such as a toothless beak and batteries of grinding teeth at the back of its jaws.

### Paleoecology

*Tsintaosaurus* dates back to the Late Cretaceous period approximately 71 - 84 million years ago and lived in the Jingangkou Formation, which was a dry environment, but one that supported a diverse range of wildlife. The dry climate in China at this time meant that Tsintaosaurus stayed close to rivers and swamps, where food and water were easier to come by. Other dinosaurs that lived alongside *Tsintaosaurus* included *Therizinosaurus*, the extraordinary tree-living *Microraptor*, the massive hadrosaur *Shantungosaurus* as well as others like *Charonosaurus* and the asian species of *Saurolophus*, *Sinoceratops* and other ceratopsians, like the relatively small *Protoceratops*, titanosaurs, like *Nemegtosaurus* and *Pukyoungosaurus*, the carnivore *Velociraptor*, and large predators *Tarbosaurus* and *Zhuchengtyrannus*, a pair of species closely related to *Tyrannosaurus*.

## Skins

 NULL

 COASTAL

 STEPPE

 TAIGA

 TUNDRA

 VIVID

## Trivia

* *Tsintaosaurus* was the fourteenth dinosaur to receive a Species Profile, on 20 April 2018. It was also the third hadrosaur revealed ingame, after *Edmontosaurus* and *Parasaurolophus*.
* Unlike its real-life counterpart, the game's *Tsintaosaurus* has a very upright posture when standing on two feet. In reality, it would've walked primarily on four legs, but when running on two, it would remain a horizontal posture.
* *Tsintaosaurus* is one of the few dinosaurs in the game with no prior depictions in the franchise's media.

## Gallery

VideosSpecies Profile - Tsintaosaurus
Images
## References

1. ↑ Frontier Developments. (April 20, 2018). *Species Profile - Tsintaosaurus* [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved October 26, 2019.