#pectinodon

As a witch focused on Laramidia, part of Mary’s job is handling and taming the various creatures that call the island continent home, ranging from a very wide assortment of animals (everything from tiny multituberculates, to massive titanosaurs). Not only is it useful in battle, it also means that she’s got plenty of helpers on hand with both her survey work, and her regular life. To Mary, she takes this job VERY seriously, as she’s a friend towards all living things. Helping with her passion and commitment towards taking care of her familiars, Mary is able to understand what they’re saying. Due to how in tune they are to the natural world, Strigois, along with Thralls like Ren, are able to talk to animals, especially with their familiars. Using this skill to its fullest, Mary and Ren have set up a group of helpers to go alongside Tater-Tot, with the tiny alvarezsaur basically being the ringleader of the bunch. These are the Laramidian Helpers.

-BULLDUST-

Full Name: Bulldust

Owner: Maryanna

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Species: Bulltrike (Torosaurus latus)

Likes: Sleeping… alot, eating… also alot, Tater-Tot (who he’s very loyal to, as the tiny alvarezsaur is not only the de facto leader of the Coven’s animal faction, he also likes Bulldust as a host; feeding on any parasites that might be pestering the giant herbivore), long walks, butterflies (which enact a sense of whimsy to him, especially if they land on his horns), Cannabaceae plants to eat (fun fact: early relatives of weed were around in dinosaur times!) admiring his left horn, his golden ring for said horn, open spaces, scratching his back against trees, rolling around in the mud

Dislikes: Being disturbed from his rest, anyone harming Tater-Tot, predators and rival male Torosaurus alike, parasites, cars (he thinks they’re too noisy, hence how he has an inner urge to total one if he’s too close), the fact that his right horn’s been snapped

Personality: Grumpy, stoic, chill, simple, lazy, can be very angry if provoked long enough, experienced, loyal, observant, patient, no-nonsense, a veteran of survival

Abilities: Giant shield-like frill (the largest out of any land animal, mind you), lance-like horns (well, at least one of them), powerful beak, sheer bulk (strong enough to carry the travel bags and cargo that Mary puts on him with zero issue. Bulldust frankly doesn’t mind it in the slightest, he’s cool with it)

Inspirations: Patchi (Walking with Dinosaurs 2013), George (Dinotrux), Rambi (Donkey Kong Country, Terence (Angry Birds), Seikrets (Monster Hunter Wilds), Slumbo (Mixels), Torosaurus (Walking with Dinosaurs 1999), Butch (The Good Dinosaur)

Trivia: Despite his huge size, Bulldust is somehow able to pop up in the most unexpected spots, as if he managed to teleport there. Ren has absolutely no idea how he can do this, and it freaks him out.

Prior to meeting Mary and Tater-Tot, Bulldust lived a tough life in Hell Creek. Being one of the largest Torosaurus around, the various scars, bite marks, and healed wounds on Bulldust’s body paint a brutal story of survival; Not only does the left side of his frill have a hole, likely due to another Torosaurus goring him there during a fight for mating rights, his right horn was previously snapped off by a T. rex, with only a small stump growing back in its place. Just in general, Bulldust has always been tough as nails, but much to Mary and Tater-Tot’s surprise, he’s also the most relaxed ceratopsian that they’ve ever met. By this point, Bulldust is essentially a walking tank, and he knows it. When you still have a 4-foot long horn to pierce foes at, along with the largest skull of any land animal on record, there’s frankly not alot of predators that could fancy you as dinner. And given how Bulldust was accidentally brought back to the present in the same way as Tater-Tot, Mary, with some advising from Gaia’s side, decided to have the giant herbivore be her steed, as she not only takes very good care of Bulldust, he and Tater-Tot have formed a symbiotic relationship; The latter picks off any parasites on the former, and gets protection in return. Bulldust is even cool with Tater riding around on his frill hole. Strangely enough, Bulldust has a habit of appearing in the most unexpected locations in and around the manor, as if he somehow teleported there. Ren is absolutely freaked out by how the Torosaurus is able to do this.

-HASH-BROWNS-

Full Name: Hash-Browns

Owner: Maryanna

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Species: Speckled Ground-Owl (Pectinodon bakkeri)

Likes: Ren (who considers him a comfort animal), exploring the world around him, cat toys, chasing mice, fire, general chaos, meeting new people, berries (especially blueberries), sitting in boxes, gentle scratches (especially on the neck and chin), laser pointers, messing and skittering around Shelley’s lab, Kitbash (The two have become fast friends), late-night movies, chew toys

Dislikes: Being chased by mice, being attacked by cats that he attempts to play with, having his fires put out, being denied his favorite treats, standing still, anyone trying to harm Ren, loud noises, cucumbers (apparently)

Personality: Curious, playful, inquisitive, skittish, skippy, hyperactive, a bit of an arsonist at times, a bit cautious and vigilant when he needs to be, very loyal, an absolute gremlin

Abilities: Speed & agility, night and binocular vision, sharp teeth and claws, camouflage, intelligence and problem-solving skills (Hash-Browns is able to use simple tools like sticks to either extract hard-to-reach insects, or as fuel for his wildfires)

Inspirations: Arctic Troodontid + Pectinodon (Prehistoric Planet),  Squawks (Donkey Kong Country), Xavier (Night of the Zoopocalypse), The Road Runner (Looney Tunes), Rascal (Prehistoric Park)

Trivia: Much like how Tater-Tot is Mary’s main familiar, Ren and Hash-Browns have a similar relationship, with the latter being a comfort animal for the former. He also helps out as a sort of tracker for Ren, as those big ol’ eyes certainly help with tracking down Bioenergy ghosts and resurrected animals (especially in very dark environments).

Originally meeting Mary and Tater-Tot during the events of their survey trip, Hash-Browns is a rather… inquisitive little dinosaur. While cautious and vigilant, he’s also very curious, as he loves to explore his home. Granted, it got him trapped within the Cypress Swamps, but he still pressed on to find a way out. Right as Mary and Tater arrived however, curiosity overtook the troodontid’s judgement, and he followed the duo for days before sneaking into their camp, with the duo taking him in soon after. After he was able to get out of the swamps and get back to his territory, Hash-Browns eventually became one of the first animals that Mary and Tater brought back into the world of the living in the modern era. To Hash-Browns, everything around him is new and curious, as he’s just eager to explore it all. Along with being a tracker for Mary and Ren (the latter getting along with him very well), he’s also kind of a menace regarding fire, as like the rest of his species, he’s able to use burning twigs to flush out prey. This level of intelligence also means that he can be a bit of an arsonist at times. Behind those wide, derpy eyes lies the stare of a true agent of chaos.

-TWEEZER-

Full Name: Tweezer

Owner: Maryanna

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Species: Great Quetzalcoatl (Quetzalcoatlus northropi)

Likes: Peace and quiet, his wings (which he’s very proud of), showing off said wings having his long neck scratched or petted (which he’s admittingly embarrassed by sometimes), watching comedy shows (something he’s also admittingly embarrassed by sometimes), walking by himself, flying

Dislikes: Being disturbed, the fact that Tater-Tot is basically his “boss” (although he keeps it to himself and tries not to let it override his better judgement, due to how he respects the tiny alvarezsaur), his wings being touched, Mary and Ren’s nightly "activities" keeping him up, being embarrassed, planes

Personality: Dry, sarcastic, the straight-man of the group, grumpy, silently judging everyone’s actions, persistent, a bit aggressive if he needs to, self-conscious at times, observant, patient, no-nonsense, determined

Abilities: Flight, man-sized bill for stabbing and piercing, creating wind with mere flaps of his wings (perfect for either making distance between foes, or for take-off), imposing size, binocular vision, very good at galloping on all fours, ear-piercing honks

Inspirations: Quetzalcoatlus (Prehistoric Planet), Ash (Night of the Zoopocalypse), Allen (Smiling Friends),  Bill Murray, Maximus (Tangled)

Trivia: Tweezer and Cernunnos have a bit of a rivalry, both trying to prove to each other on who has the wider profile; Tweezer’s massive wingspan, versus Cernunnos’ massive antlers.

The inquisitive and opportunistic Pectinodon is a common sight around Hell Creek Colony. In the two years since it was established the area's Pectinodon quickly came to associate the strange new creatures and their structures with safety and food, since other local animals big enough to pose a threat mostly kept away and the colonists couldn't resist feeding the cute little theropods.

Troodontids were small bird-like theropod dinosaurs, lightly built with slender legs and sickle-shaped "raptor" claws on the second toes of their feet. They had fairly big brains proportional to their body size, rather like modern birds, and their large forward-facing eyes had good depth perception. Owl-like asymmetrical ears in some species gave them a very keen sense of hearing, suggesting they may have been nocturnal hunters using sound to pinpoint the location of small prey.

The original specimen of the namesake of the group, Troodon formosus, was a serrated tooth discovered in the 1850s, about 77 million years old and originating from the Late Cretaceous Judith River Formation fossil beds in Montana, USA. It was so little to work with that it was initially mistaken for a lizard tooth, then during the 20th century it was recognized as belonging to a dinosaur and spent time classified as a megalosaurid, then a pachycephalosaur, then finally as a small theropod similar to the Mongolian Saurornithoides.

In the late 1980s it was merged together with multiple other troodontids (including Stenonychosaurus of speculative "dinosauroid" fame), and since Troodon had been the first of all of them to be named it took priority as the genus name.

And then for a while every single Late Cretaceous troodontid specimen from North America was also lumped into Troodon, turning it into a wastebasket taxon.

The problem was that all these troodontids came from locations separated by thousands of kilometers and millions of years of time, and it's unlikely that they all actually represented just one single species. But they were only known from rare fragmentary remains, making distinguishing them from each other difficult, and the original Troodon tooth didn't really have any distinctive features either – it turns out most troodontid teeth all look exactly the same!

It was becmoning increasingly dubious whether Troodon was even a valid name at all, and during the 2010s several paleontologists began trying to sort the mess out. The old names Pectinodon and Stenonychosaurus were revived, and some 'Troodon' fossils were also split off and given completely new names, becoming Albertavenator and Latenivenatrix*.

* Although Latenivenatrix might not actually be distinct enough from Stenonychosaurus to justify having a separate name.

As of 2022, Troodon itself is now in a sort of taxonomic limbo, with some paleontologists abandoning it as a dubious name while others are still arguing in favor of continuing to use it. The name could potentially be properly rescued if the original tooth can be clearly linked to better fossil material, letting Troodon take over priority again from one of the other better-established troodontids, or by defining a new type species similar to what happened with Iguanodon.

…But with how incredibly generic that tooth is, both of those options would be very difficult.

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