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Description
Quad-crest
Quadrilophosaurus
Meaning: Four Crested Lizard
Description: mid-sized, crested theropod
Species: Q. simus, Q. cerastes
Family: Ceratosauria, Noasauridae
Length: 20-25 feet
Lifestyle: Hunter
Range: Africa

Distinguishing features: The largest member of its family, this dinosaur is the speed demon of the African plains. In bodily build it looks like an overly lanky Dilophosaurus save for its longer arms and four crests. An adult is a sand-yellow to light tan brown with black spots. Chicks however, are acacia leaf green with silver gray stripes which helps them to blend in perfectly with the leaves of the trees they hide in. Adults of both genders unlike the chicks have four crests, two above of their eyes, and a pair that runs the length of the snout. And all adults share the same formidable weapon; a huge curved claw up to 15 inches or more in length on their thumb, which is used to pin down and kill their prey. The animals are monogamous, taking one partner per year and after a short and quite violent breeding season the female leaves to lay her eggs. It is then that the female heads for the virulent and dangerous soda lakes in Kenya. On the islands within the soda lake the females gather and construct their nests that can be 3 feet high. Within each nest seven to nine eggs are laid in a spiral and vigilantly guarded. It is only when the young are two years old that they leave the soda lake nesting grounds for the Serengeti.

Habits and habitat: Adult Quad-crests are pursuit predators that favor habitat like grassland and open plains that allow them to twist and turn and build up the speed that they used to overtake their prey. Most of their prey consists of small hadrosaurs or ostrich dinosaurs, which they catch with a burst of speed, and then disembowel with their huge thumb claws. Female Quad-crests depend heavily on ostrich dinosaurs especially during nesting season, when the herds of Balaenomimus head for the soda lakes to raise their young as well. Like their South American cousin Zupaysauroides, they are an endangered species due to competition from similar sized tyrannosaurs, which are built for endurance as well as speed unlike the Quad-crest who can only keep up its speed for a short time before tiring out.

Description
Quad-crest
Quadrilophosaurus
Meaning: Four Crested Lizard
Description: mid-sized, crested theropod
Species: Q. simus, Q. cerastes
Family: Ceratosauria, Noasauridae
Length: 20-25 feet
Lifestyle: Hunter
Range: Africa

Distinguishing features: The largest member of its family, this dinosaur is the speed demon of the African plains. In bodily build it looks like an overly lanky Dilophosaurus save for its longer arms and four crests. An adult is a sand-yellow to light tan brown with black spots. Chicks however, are acacia leaf green with silver gray stripes which helps them to blend in perfectly with the leaves of the trees they hide in. Adults of both genders unlike the chicks have four crests, two above of their eyes, and a pair that runs the length of the snout. And all adults share the same formidable weapon; a huge curved claw up to 15 inches or more in length on their thumb, which is used to pin down and kill their prey. The animals are monogamous, taking one partner per year and after a short and quite violent breeding season the female leaves to lay her eggs. It is then that the female heads for the virulent and dangerous soda lakes in Kenya. On the islands within the soda lake the females gather and construct their nests that can be 3 feet high. Within each nest seven to nine eggs are laid in a spiral and vigilantly guarded. It is only when the young are two years old that they leave the soda lake nesting grounds for the Serengeti.

Habits and habitat: Adult Quad-crests are pursuit predators that favor habitat like grassland and open plains that allow them to twist and turn and build up the speed that they used to overtake their prey. Most of their prey consists of small hadrosaurs or ostrich dinosaurs, which they catch with a burst of speed, and then disembowel with their huge thumb claws. Female Quad-crests depend heavily on ostrich dinosaurs especially during nesting season, when the herds of Balaenomimus head for the soda lakes to raise their young as well. Like their South American cousin Zupaysauroides, they are an endangered species due to competition from similar sized tyrannosaurs, which are built for endurance as well as speed unlike the Quad-crest who can only keep up its speed for a short time before tiring out.