CARNOTAURUS

Carnotaurus sastrei

Etymology: Pocho Sastre's flesh bull

Nickname: "Carnot"

Classification: Ceratosauria, Abelisauridae

Diet: Carnivore

Size: 8 meters long

Provenance: La Colonia Formation, Argentina - Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian stage, 69 - 66 million years ago

Movie appearances: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018); Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)

Carnotaurus sastrei is a species of abelisaurid ceratosaur that lived in Argentina during the Late Cretaceous. Its skin was covered in scales, some of them being large hardened bumps.

One of the most well known individuals of Carnotaurus is Toro, a hardy individual that managed to withstand several injuries through its life, including severe bite wounds and burns. Another Carnotaurus individual was observed being knocked down by a Sinoceratops, and the theropod recovered mostly unscathed, getting back on its feet. Despite being quite hardy of an animal, Carnotaurus will avoid conflict from dinosaurs it has no chance against to, retreating, for example, from Tyrannosaurus rex, whenever it attempts to take over a carcass.

Carnotaurus was resurrected for Jurassic World, being held in an enclosure that was meant to become a public attraction in the future. In one incident in 2015, Darius and Kenji, from the Nublar Six, unknowingly snuck into the Carnotaurus paddock. There they encountered Toro, who attempted to catch them, but the kids escapes; Toro would later be freed from his enclosure when Indominus rex escapes. Some time later, Toro attempted to catch Ben (another member of the Nublar Six) and the young Ankylosaurus Bumpy, but he failed in doing so. Toro was later captured by Mantah Corp and introduced to their island, where it once again attacked the Nublar Six, alongside a Coloborhynchus, a male Baryonyx named Limbo and Asset 87 (a Spinosaurus) before they're released into the wilderness of the island. In 2018, the eruption of Mount Sibo threatened the Carnotaurus residing in Isla Nublar; one of them approached Owen Grady, Claire Dearing and Franklin Webb as the volcano erupted. However, a nearby Sinoceratops triggered a short scuffle, where the ceratopsian knocked the theropod out, but the Carnotaurus rapidly got back on its feet to address the humans, but it was later killed by the resident Tyrannosaurus rex named Rexy. A few Carnotaurus were captured by Eli Mills' hired mercenaries before the island is devastated, including a male individual with a broken horn named Boss; this same individual would be seen being freed in Lockwood Manor, California, into the wilderness, where it attempted to catch Eli Mills himself, before Rexy, the Tyrannosaurus rex, kills the man instead.

By 2022, the Department of Prehistoric Wildlife (DPW) reported that Carnotaurus has expanded its range to North Carolina, USA, and some individuals have been observed in Llangynog, Wales, UK and even Canahuas, Peru, these last localities probably having been artifical secondary introductions made through illegal dinosaur trade. In this same year, Boss was kept in an illegal night market in Malta, where another juvenile Carnotaurus was also being held; the juvenile was meant to be placed in a fight pit against a Pascualgnathus, named Leonard, and Boss was meant to go against an adult Allosaurus. After a scuffle in the night market, triggered by Owen Grady, many of the dinosaurs there were inadvertently released, including Boss, which distracted a scooter driver before being eaten by an Allosaurus, as Owen passed by in a motorcycle as he's chased by Australovenator. Boss is later tranquilized, and Soyona Santos, the one in control of the Australovenator, is arrested by the French Intelligence.

FILM vs. REALITY

The film Carnotaurus has a lot of basic characteristics that somewhat match its real life counterpart. Like in real life, the film depicts this theropod as sporting two horns on the top of its head a short face, heavily reduced front limbs, a bumpy skin texture and a somewhat flexible tail. However, other details are less accurate. The head of the Carnotaurus in the film is too large, whereas in the real life animal it was significantly smaller, comparatively. The horns of Carnotaurus were also closer to each other, and the head itself was generally a bit more flattened on the sides, instead of generally broad. The arms of the film Carnotaurus, despite being very short, remain quite articulated with pronating hands, with clawed fingers. In real life, Carnotaurus front limbs were far more atrophied, not being able to bend and their hands had atrophied fingers that were likely clawless, though the base of the arm was attached to a ball-and-socket joint that could perhaps give it immense flexibility. The film Carnotaurus also shows rows of spines across its dorso, but the real life animal didn't have spikes, instead it just had bumpy scales, being disorganized, not in rows. The torso of the real life Carnotaurus was also generally more elongated, instead of as stout as in the film's counterpart.

Carnotaurus is depicted as being an hardy predator in the films, and many features of its anatomy show that it was a very specialized macropredator in real life too, with its short skull being well adapted to quickly dispatch prey, be them big or small, and its assumed that it would have powerful back legs, implying a somewhat agile lifestyle focused on pursuit of prey.