DWC: Trike herd

A couple weeks ago, I never would've imagined just how human a dinosaur could be, but now that I've seen a herd of them up close, my entire opinion of what they were like has changed.

Two weeks ago, Patel Corp. invited me to visit their new park, "Jurassic World" and observe their triceratops herd, because of my specialty with their fossils. The trip was to last eight days, two of which would be for the trip there and back, three would be spent in the trike enclosure observing them up close, and the final day on a free tour of the park. Of course I graciously accepted their offer, because I couldn't let that opportunity slip past me.

When I got there, the park workers gave me some information on the herd that I was to study. It was a smaller one, made up of only five members (their largest herd had nearly thirty!) They were led by an large male who had a bright red frill and a tail covered in massive quills, alongside his mate, a female triceratops with some white spots on her frill. The rest of the herd was made up of another, younger mating pair and the alpha's baby. The baby might've been the cutest thing I've ever seen. It had big blue eyes and tiny nubs where its horns would later grow from. The workers told me that the younger female had made a nest several months ago, and that the eggs could hatch at any second.

Their paddock was a large semi-wooded environment that they shared with seven other herds. There were also some trees that the males had smacked with their tails, leaving the quills burrowed in their trunks. It was a very bizarre sight, and at first I thought that it was some new, exotic species of tree bred by Patel to make their exhibits more interesting.

I spent most of the first day searching for the herd, hacking through the forested part of the paddock with a knife, until I finally found them in a clearing where the herd had made their home. The alpha female was chewing up some ferns so that her baby could more easily consume them. This action surprised me a bit, as I never thought that dinosaurs went that far to care for their young. I waited for a couple minutes before making myself visible to the herd. When I slowly walked out from the brush I startled the alpha male. He charged towards me, stopping only a meter away from me. It then sniffed the air, and sneezed, covering me in dino snot. Then it backed off. It had identified me as a human, a keeper, I thought. I thought my days had been numbered, but instead I left the encounter having learned something I never would've learned from studying fossilized old bones. That night, I could barely sleep because I was too Excited about what amazing new things I might discover the next day.

When I woke the next day, the herd was still in the clearing. The baby was chasing a lizard as its mother kept a watchful eye on it. When I got closer, the alpha male looked up from a bush and grunted at me, then resumed eating. I walked closer to the herd, but they didn't mind me. I then sat down near them and just watched. The alpha female walked over to me, and although I was intimidated by it, I reached out, and touched it. I had expected it to recoil backwards from my hand, but insted it pressed its nose against my hand, causing me to stagger backwards and fall. It turned its head to look at me making sure I was ok. It then prodded me with its muzzle, as if to say "Get up lazy bones". I crawled back onto my feet as it walked away.

I decided to follow it back to the rest of the herd. The younger female grunted at me and her mate stared at me. I gave them their space and sat down on a log near the alpha female. The baby hopped up to me and licked my fingers. He thought that I had brought him something to eat, and who was I to let him down? I slid my backpack off, and pulled out a granola bar, of which I broke off a small piece, and held it in front of his nose. He quickly snatched it from my hand and swallowed it in one gulp, then plowed me over and snatched the other piece. Its mother made a sound that I can only describe as a laugh. I laughed with her. That night, I slept alongside the herd, and the baby crawled up next to me. He was surprisingly warm, and I could feel his chest rise and fall with every breath. It was a clear, cool night, and I appreciated him being there to warm me.

The next morning, I woke with the herd. The baby had wandered away from me, and was being fed by its mother. I got onto my feet, and cautiously walked over to the younger female. She looked at me suspiciouly, not entirely trusting me, but accepting her alphas' choices to allow me near them. I looked around for her nest, until I spotted it, a depression in the ground, covered in palm fronds. I could make out three eggs. They were yellowish with black and red speckles. The young male walked up. His crest was a dull red, not the bright, flushed shade of the alpha's, and his quills were much shorter, extending to only about six inches. He bellowed at me, and I got out of his way, watching the pair from a safe distance. The female grunted at the male as he pressed his chin to the ground. He carefully grabbed one of the palm fronds and set it to the side of their nest. His mate did the same, removing another, and another and another, until the nest was completely uncovered. By then the alphas had moved in, their child with them, watching their herd members work.

I realized the eggs were hatching, and moved in closer, too fascinated to care if I got trampeled. I watched as the female took one egg in her mouth, and used her beak to crack it open, making the hatching process easier for her young. The male did the same to another egg, and soon two newborn triceratops poked their heads out of the nest looking around their new world. I was so delighted at having witnessed a dinosaur that I had studied for the last several years of my life give birth that I didn't think about the third egg in the nest until the mother smashed it with her beak. At first I was horrified, but then I started thinking about why she would do such a thing. Had that one died in the egg? I thought. I left that afternoon puzzeled at why she would've just smashed it like a pesky insect.

When I got back to the paddock's entrance, the worker who had brought me there was waiting for me. He chuckeled and said "You smell like crap, and look the part too."
"I probably do," I joked back.
"So, how'd you like it?" He asked.
"Oh it was great. They really are remarkable creatures." Then the thought of the egg crossed my mind. "By the way, when I was in there I saw something that puzzeled me."
A look of curiosity crossed his face. "Go on," he said.
"Well, when the younger female was hatching her eggs, she cruched one of them under her snout. Why would she do that?"
He broke out laughing. "Oh, yeah they do that. They always lay one unfertilized egg which they use to feed their newly hatched young."

It all made sense then. I thanked him for the opportunity to observe one of my favorite dinosaur species, and left for my hotel where I washed off the dirt and grime that covered me from head to toe. I started thinking about what I had learned as I showered. About how these beasts looked after their young, supplying them with food, and protecting them from harm. I had known that dinosaurs where good parents, but the extent that I had observed these animals going to had left me with a feeling of awe like nothing else ever could. The next day's tour went by in a blur until we passed through the Triceratops' exhibit, where the very herd I had observed for the past three days came up to our tour vehicle. I smiled at them, and their alpha bellowed, rearing up on his hind legs and slamming his quilled tail into the ground in a grand show of dominance. everyone in the vehicle cheared, and I just smiled. I saw the two new members following behind their mother, one of them squealed at us and hid behind its mothers legs. I waved goodbye to them, knowing I would be back some day. Some day soon.