Anodontosaurus

Tier: 4
Type: Terrestrial herbivore
Passive growth time: 3 hrs 7 min

Band size: 4 sub adults/adults, 1-8 juveniles/adolescents
Hierarchy: Kratocracy

Mating bond: Monogamous
Nest size: 1-4 offspring per pair

Diet tags: Herbivore & forager
Preferred food: Berry bushes, acorns, roots, pinecones & flowers. Licks salt rocks for extra salt in diet

Behavior

These creatures are as close to a tank in the prehistoric world as you can possibly get. Under their hard armor plates Anodontosaurus typically prefer the quiet spaces, secluded from all other creatures and noise. While innately shy, they can be a touch curious about things they have never seen before, surrounding it and investigating to see if it is one of their kind. Anodontosaurus love to rub themselves on trees, leaving deep gouges into the bark. Lazy during the brightest hours, they love laying in the sun and basking.

Recommended behaviors

╸Anodontosaurus do not enjoy herding with other species, if they do they are typically hanging near the back where they will not be disturbed.
╸They are not the smartest creatures, they tend to put food before most things.
╸Basking in sunny spots and on cliffs.
╸Anodontosaurus tends to forage food items off of the forest floor, but once they find a berry bush they get very food aggressive and will fight for it.

Mating

When a female is searching for a mate, she will separate from her family herd, seeking out the presence of another searching loner like her. Rubbing herself against trees, marking the area for a lone male. Once the male chooses to follow, he courts her by following her relentlessly until she accepts him. Giving her gifts here and there and calling out to her in affectionate sounds. The two slowly bond with one another and once bonded they nestle against each other, offering soft guttural sounds that vibrate along their body.

Nesting & offspring

Most females have many eggs but only a few tend to hatch, due to the parents or other predators crushing or eating the eggs. Once their offspring emerge, the adults will leave the area looking for one with more food, having consumed most of it whilst waiting for the clutch to hatch. Anodontosaurus calves quickly learn to run within minutes of hatching to keep up with their parents, the parents not being bright enough to wait for their young. They are rarely noisy and instinctually seem to know silence is better, though may make alarm calls if about to be trampled by a herdmate. Parental instincts are null with Anodontosaurus, and more often than not, Anodontosaurus hatchlings end up abandoned and make their own large herds of their siblings, defending each other and often remaining in the clearing where they hatched for most of their life. They only leave their herd once they become too large to survive off the land, and then often travel alone until they find a mate to form a herd with.