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DinosaurBoy65 — Spear Neck

#dinosaur #sauropod #titanosaur #saurogea #speculativebiology #speculativezoology #speculativedinosaur
Published: 2020-02-26 03:30:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 729; Favourites: 10; Downloads: 0
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Description Height:23-27 ft
Length:50-56 ft
Weight:16-24 tons
Diet:Herbivore
Habitat:Rainforest
Phylogeny:Titanosauria, Nemegtosauroidea, Neotitanosauridae
Description: 
     Of all the Colossi that roam the rainforests of Saurogea, the Spear Neck(Cuspicollum tragoudistis) is the most common. It's not the largest of the titanosaurs there, as the Ambler(Tardasaurus gigaspondylus) is heavier by a few tons. The Spear neck is unique due to it's single row of long osteoderms on the back of the neck. They also possess a thagomizer at the end of the tail made up of 16 spikes. Their back is also covered in osteoderms.  The spikes on the back of the neck aren't for defense, as they can break under a pressure. They're primarily for display. Females have smaller neck spikes than males, & are generally smaller overall. 

Ontogeny:
     Spear Neck females all lay their eggs in a single large nest in a hole during the dry season. Each female lays around 20-30 eggs. Each egg is around the size of small bowling ball. The matriarch lays her eggs first so that they'll be at the bottom of the nest & thus more secure. After all the eggs are laid, the nest is covered up and abandoned. They will leave the eggs for the entire incubation period which lasts around 3 months. The females instinctively return after the end of the incubation period. They then dig up the nest & free the offspring. The sauropodlets will then join the female herd. They will remain with their mothers for protection & food. The young will eat the dung of the adults to obtain the gut bacteria needed for the fermentation of their food. They will eat dung for the first few months of life. Spear Necks grow up quite fast, reaching sexual maturity at 12 years old & full size 16. By the time they reach around 10, males leave the female herds & either live alone or in small bachelor groups. During the mating season, males find herds of unrelated females & claim them as their own. Competition is high during this time of year, & rival males often get into neck hitting contests. These contests can last an hour until one male backs down. To support the extra weight of the males, females have reinforced pelvises to help bear an extra 20+ tons. After mating with all the adult females thee male will remain with them for the duration of the mating season, which lasts from February to April. After this he leaves to join up with his bachelor herd. These titans can live to be 60 years old, though males are more likely to die earlier due to their more violent lifestyle.

Lifestyle:
    Female Spear Necks live in matriarchal, loosely knit herds of anywhere between 9-20 individuals. Males live either alone or in bachelor herds. he 2 sexes generally avoid each other outside of the mating season. Females prefer more open areas of the rainforests & mostly frequent areas with large bodies of water. Males prefer higher latitudes with slightly denser cover. They're not very vocal animals, with the most you'll probably hear being low infrasonic rumbles. They also produce loud bellows to assert dominance between individuals or to intimidate their would-be predators. Spear Necks don't really face predation as the rainforests lack the truly gigantic carnivores of more open areas, with the largest theropod being no more than around 9m long. The juveniles are a different story. Miraganders are proficient baby titanosaur killers, & Draki are more than capable of taking down an young Spear Neck. The titanosaurs themselves feed on a wide variety of foliage. From acacias to tree ferns. They use their long tongues to manipulate food into their mouths, & grind it up with stones called gastroliths. They've also been shown to swallow clay as a way to get extra minerals, which are then stored in their osteoderms for later use. All of these adaptations & behaviors make them some f the most intriguing animals of this lost world.
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