The Inexplicable (Almost) Total Lack of Small Ornithopods in the Game

[jfraatz]

This is a topic that has been bugging me for a while, and I'm hoping to draw people's (and hopefully Frontier's) attention to hat I see as a serious, but easy to fix, problem with the game. That is it's (almost) complete lack of small ornithopods.

To illustrate the seriousness of the problem, let's compare the small ornithopods to the other categories:

1. Long-necks/sauropods: Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, Dreadnoughtus, Mamenchisaurus, Nigersaurus, (7 total)
2. Large Theropods: Acrocanthosaurus, Albertosaurus, Allosaurus, Baryonyx, Carcharodontosaurus, Carnotaurus, Ceratosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Hererrasaurus, Majungasaurus, Metriacanthosaurus, Proceratosaurus, Spinosaurus, Suchomimus, Tyrannosaurus, (15 total)
3. Small Theropods 1 (bird mimics) : Archeornithomimus, Gallimimus, Struthiomimus (3 total)
4. Small Theropods 2 (raptors): Deinonychus, Velociraptor, Troodon (3 total)
5. Small Theropods 3 (miscellaneous): Compsognathus, Dilophosaurus (2 total)
6. Large Ornithopods 1 (duck-bills/hadrosaurs): Corythosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, Parasaurolophus, Olorotitan, Tsintaosaurus, (6 total)
7. Large Ornithopods 2 (iguanodonts): Iguanodon, Muttaburrasaurus, Ouranosaurus, (3 total)
8. Small Ornithopods: Dryosaurus (1 total)
9. Marginocephalians 1 (horned dinosaurs/ceratopsians): Chasmosaurus, Nasutoceratops, Pentaceratops, Sinoceratops, Styracosaurus, Torosaurus, Triceratops, (7 total)
10. Marginocephalians 2 (bone-heads/pachycephalosaurs): Dracorex, Homalocephale, Pachycephalosaurus, Stygimoloch (4 total)
11. Thyreophorans 1 (stegosaurs): Chungkingosaurus, Gigantspinosaurus, Huayangosaurus, Kentrosaurus, Stegosaurus, (5 total)
12. Thyreophorans 2 (ankylosaurs): Ankylosaurus, Crichtonsaurus, Euplocephalus, Nodosaurus, Polacanthus, Sauropelta, (6 total)
13. Pterosaurs: Pteranodon (1 total)
14. Hybrids: Indominus, Indoraptor, Ankylodocus, Spinoraptor, Stegoceratops (5 total)

Comparing these it is obvious that the small ornithopods category has been severely ignored, and I don't know why this is. Were it not for dryosaurus there would be nothing in it, and it has the same representation that the only non-dinosaur category has, a single genus. By contrast many categories are highly represented (ceratopsians, duckbills, ankylosaurs etc.) or even overrepresented (such as with the large carnivores).

I'm wondering why this is, and it appears to be a serious oversight that needs to be fixed. To fix this, I'm suggesting a small ornithopod pack:

Hypsilophodon foxii
Early Cretaceous Period
Isle of Wight Formation (England)
1.8-2 meters long (6 feet)

Nanosaurus agilis
Late Jurassic Period
Morrison Formation
2 meters long (6.6 feet)

Thescelosaurus neglectus
Late Cretaceous Period
Lance Formation
4 meters (13 feet)

Nanosaurus was in the first Jurassic Park novel under the name Othnielia, but has since been recognized as a synonym of the former. Hypsilophodon was in the Lost World novel and was described as distinct from the dryosaur "hypsilophodonts" in the first novel, as the latter was described as dark green with light green markings and the former as dark green with brown spots.

If too many small ornithopods in a single DLC is monotonous, then perhaps it could be thrown in with other small dinosaurs in small dinosaur DLC:

Oviraptor philoceratops
Late Cretaceous Period
Djadokhta Formation
1.5 meters (5 feet)

Hypsilophodon foxii
Early Cretaceous Period
Isle of Wight Formation (England)
1.8-2 meters long (6 feet)

Microceratus gobiensis
Late Cretaceous Period
Xinminbao Formation
0.6 meters (2 feet) (compy size)

Or maybe Oviraptor could be replaced with another canon dinosaur like Ornitholestes.

Ornitholestes hermanni
Late Jurassic Period
Morrison Formation
2 meters (6 feet)

So what do you think? Is this a reasonable suggestion? What could Frontier do to fix the near complete neglect of small ornithopods in the game?

 

[gabeluna27]

Well, Microceratus is a film lore established dinosaur since Jurassic World. So, I think of all the small herbivores to choose from, I think that particular dinosaur is a high potential candidate. How exactly it would be introduced, however, I'm still not entirely sure.

 

[jfraatz]

Well, Microceratus is a film lore established dinosaur since Jurassic World. So, I think of all the small herbivores to choose from, I think that particular dinosaur is a high potential candidate. How exactly it would be introduced, however, I'm still not entirely sure.

Not just Jurassic World. It was seen in the original novel dancing in the treetops when Alan Grant and the kids were rafting down the river. It was described as bright yellow. The JP list had 22 of them in the park.

 

[Mickey Megafauna]

I’m hoping for Psittacosaurus, Heterodontosaurus, and Lesothosaurus (the last of which I’m betting to be a primitive thyreophoran for diversity’s sake). Your choices are great too. Anymore?

 

[DragonNTiger]

I’m hoping for Psittacosaurus, Heterodontosaurus, and Lesothosaurus (the last of which I’m betting to be a primitive thyreophoran for diversity’s sake). Your choices are great too. Anymore?

Scutellosaurus, Leaellynasaura and Yinlong... Graciliceratops too, although its somewhat dubious counterpart Microceratus (most Microceratus remains are now called Graciliceratops) will likely take precedence since it's canon. Speaking of dubious genera in Jurassic canon that will likely get in over their valid counterparts, I suspect they'd sooner go with Othnelia over something like Othnielosaurus or Nanosaurus, since it's referenced in the Jurassic Park Novel...

 

[jfraatz]

Scutellosaurus, Leaellynasaura and Yinlong... Graciliceratops too, although its somewhat dubious counterpart Microceratus (most Microceratus remains are now called Graciliceratops) will likely take precedence since it's canon. Speaking of dubious genera in Jurassic canon that will likely get in over their valid counterparts, I suspect they'd sooner go with Othnelia over something like Othnielosaurus or Nanosaurus, since it's referenced in the Jurassic Park Novel...

Remember, Yinlong and Graciliceratops are ceratopsians not ornithopods. Scutellosaurus is a basal thyreophoran too. Though perhaps they would be good to mix up a DLC with so it's not just pure small ornithopods at once.

And yeah, I would prefer Othnelia over Nanosaurus myself for that same reason myself. I was a little disappointed to learn that the two were synonymized recently. Leaellynasaura is very unique and cute too. It's compy sized but with an unusually long tail based on reconstructions I've seen.

 

[jfraatz]

I’m hoping for Psittacosaurus, Heterodontosaurus, and Lesothosaurus (the last of which I’m betting to be a primitive thyreophoran for diversity’s sake). Your choices are great too. Anymore?

Well actually Lesothosaurus isn't a thyreophoran yet. However Psittacosaurus is a margincephalian. All good choices though.