Toxic Dinosaur

That is one toxic dino.

Long before it was understood that dinosaurs were most closely related to birds (or, more accurately, that birds are dinosaurs), many writers gave their depictions of dinosaurs attributes of modern-day reptiles. Even after our knowledge of dinosaurs improved, portrayals of dinosaurs in fiction still tended to give them outwardly "reptilian" features that they probably did not possess in life, either to make them more frightening or simply because it's cool. One of those features that has popped up in recent fiction is poison/venom; the Trope Codifier for which is the Dilophosaurus, whose famous appearance in both the book and film versions of the first installment of the Jurassic Park franchise showcased the dinosaur being able to spray venom from its mouth that allows the species to blind and paralyze its prey. Ever since then, it has become rather well-known to the general public, and its venomous spit has remained a consistently unique trait to it ever since.

This is a major case of Artistic License – Biology, since venomous snakes (especially spitting cobras) have syringe-like fangs specifically designed for ejecting venom with maximum efficiency, while predatory dinosaurs had simpler, blade-like teeth used for tearing through flesh (blunter, bone-crushing ones in the case of tyrannosaurids), and frilled lizards support their extendable neck frill with rod-like hyoid bones and distinct protrusions at the back of the jaw, and such features have never been found in association with theropod dinosaurs (Dilophosaurus itself already had a clear display feature in the form of its iconic double head crest).

The reason the JP Dilophosaurus was given this trait in the Jurassic Park book was because it was thought at the time to have a slender physique and a jaw that was too weak to kill with its teeth alone, so author Michael Crichton gave it a venomous bite to compensate. Not only are there no known dinosaurs with clear adaptations for producing venom, but fossil discoveries in the early 2020s suggest that Dilophosaurus were more robust and strong-jawed than previously thought, rendering the need for any exotic killing techniques moot. Weirder still, this trope was thought at one point to be Truth in Television for another theropod, Sinornithosaurus, whose discovery and fossil analysis suggested that the dinosaur possessed venom, as its teeth were unusually grooved, which is common in venomous animals. Further analysis of the teeth, however, has shown that they were probably not venomous after all. For that matter, there is no conclusive evidence of any archosaur^note dinosaur, bird, crocodilian, or pterosaur at all possessing the adaptations for venom production, with the possible exception of the late Triassic Uatchitodon.

Compare Dinosaurs Are Dragons, for another embellishment commonly given to dinosaurs, and Undead Fossils, an undead dinosaur.

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Examples:

Films — Live-Action

• The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms: The monster is a healthy carrier of a paleovirus that is lethal to humans. If it's killed conventionally, its infected blood will cause a plague, necessitating the use of a radioactive bullet to kill the creature and its passenger.
• Jurassic Park (1993): Much like the book, Dilophosaurus is portrayed with the ability to spit venom; unlike in the book, though, it also has a frill. It's also much smaller than it was in real life, although the animal we see onscreen is likely intended to be a juvenile; an adult appears as a hologram in Jurassic World as big as a raptor. This portrayal has continuously been used throughout the franchise. This is also the Trope Codifier.
• In the sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park The Compsognathus may be venomous like the Procompsognathus are in the novel, given they are able to cause a healthy grown man to become delirious and weak before they move in for the kill.

Literature

• Jurassic Park (1990) is the Trope Maker, with two species of dinosaur — Dilophosaurus and Procompsognathus — shown as being venomous. Both are responsible for the death of a major antagonist. The Dilophosaurus kills Dennis Nedry, while a swarm of "compies" kills John Hammond.
• Raptor features a Utahraptor pack who can inject poison with their claws. This occurs when the raptor leader, Blackback, pricks the chin of the protagonist, Zack, causing him to lose consciousness so that the raptors can cover Zack in a white substance that they regurgitate to keep him fresh and alive, yet trapped, in case the raptors want to come back and devour him.
• Tales of Kaimere: Two groups of closely related birds^note Descended from a relative of Archaeopteryx from the Polar Continent of Kaishel and the Island continent of Parkadia, the colorful Firebirds and the semi-aquatic Penguin Raptors, both evolve venom to quietly and quickly kill their prey. The Penguin Raptors need to kill their prey fast before other predators on the coast can arrive, and the Firebirds evolved venom as a competitive edge against their Xenosimian rivals in the tree tops.

Live-Action TV

• At least two documentaries have proposed that Tyrannosaurus rex had a septic bite where, having a bacteria-filled mouth thanks to the serrations in them, meant that a bite would transmit bacteria into its prey, which slowly weakened and killed them. While not exactly venomous, the spirit of the trope is still in play. This was an actual theory proposed by paleontologist William Abler, based on the Komodo dragon allegedly having a similar thing — except they don't have a septic bite either, but outright venom, and there's no evidence T. rex ever had such a bite.
  • Eyewitness was the first to bring up the theory of T. rex having a septic bite in its episode on dinosaurs.
  • Jurassic Fight Club was the other, where the series depicts Tyrannosaurus rex as having a such a bite, specifying that the bacteria was primarily in the serrations. That said, it doesn't come into play in either episode it appears in.
• Planet Dinosaur: The second episode focuses on feathered dinosaurs in China, among them being Sinornithosaurus, where narrator John Hurt elaborates on how they used their venom to paralyze and finish off their prey, making them one of the more feared dinosaurs in their habitat. This is no longer believed to be true.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons:
  • Fleshrakers are large, scaly raptorial dinosaurs whose claws and spines are coated with a deadly toxin.
  • Swindlespitters are small dinosaurs, normally reliant on stealth and agility to stay out of danger, whose primary offensive power is their ability to spit out a spray of "corrosive poison" every few turns. They're based directly on the Procompsognathus from The Lost World (1995).
• Magic: The Gathering:
  • Frilled Deathspitter is a Dilophosaurus-like dinosaur with a large neck frill, depicted in the act of spitting out a glob of liquid, implicitly venom.
  • Ornery Dilophosaur is depicted with a pair of enlarged fangs and possesses the Deathtouch ability, which instantly destroys any creature it attacks, which is traditionally associated with venomous creatures.
• Space 1889: The venusian procompsognathus has a venomous bite comparable to a diamondback rattlesnake in its potency. Usually they are harmless and flee from larger creatures, but during mating season they gather into large swarms that overrun everything in their path.
• Warhammer:
  • The Troglodon is a Spinosaurus-like creature that dwells in the grottos and swamps of Lustria and is one of its most dangerous predators. It gets its infamy thanks to its hunting strategy, where it uses its bite to inject a lethal poison into its prey and could even use its venom as a spitting projectile that acts like acid to corrode its victims upon impact.
  • The Salamander, another Lustrian animal, can spit gobs of corrosive, flammable liquid across a battlefield. In earlier editions of the game, they basically resembled Dimetrodon (technically not a dinosaur but certainly dinosaur-adjacent in the popular consciousness), though later versions made them more resemble actual lizards, downplaying this trope.

Toys

• The Transformers: Dilophocon is a Decepticon that transforms into a licensed version of the Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park (1993). She comes with a translucent green piece of plastic that fits inside her dinosaur-mode mouth to simulate the venom-spitting effect.

Video Games

• Dino Crisis 2: Oviraptor are one of the most common dinosaur enemies in the game. They are also the only enemy to possess a ranged attack, as they can spit out a splash of poison toward the Player Character.
• Dinosaur King:
  • The game has a class of dinosaurs called the Poison type which can poison an opponent and deal extra damage after an attack for three turns due to the effects of the venom.
  • Venom Fang gives the dinosaur Piatnitzkysaurus a toxic bite to deal small amounts of damage as the fight goes on.
• Dino Strike Wii (a Light Gun Game for the Wii) has Dilophosaurus enemies, which can attack by spitting acid from a distance. You either attack them before they can unleash their spit (noticeable whenever they raise their frills) or shoot their spit in mid-air before it hits you. These enemies are surprisingly accurate as well, with one stage having multiple dilophosaurs blasting acid from you across a valley.
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Stylized Versions): The boss of the Museum of Natural History is a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton possessed by Black Slime, making it rampage around attacking the Ghostbusters while spewing toxic Black Slime. Even after its body is destroyed, its skull continues to float around the room spitting Black Slime.
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Although Dilophosaurus don't appear in the movie, they do appear in the game and they have a frill and spit poison.
• The Isle:
  • One of the more specific branches available for playable dinosaurs is the Venom Branch, which is exclusive to Dilophosaurus and Troodon. In addition to passive chip damage, venom also allows their players to track down whatever dinosaur they've attacked and inflicted their poison on.
  • Magyarosaurus is unusual in that it has so many abilities and traits that are speculative at best and nonsensical at worst. Among those is that the dinosaur is apparently horrible tasting to predators, giving the sauropod the implication that its flesh is poisonous.
• Jurassic Park:
  • Jurassic Park (Sega Genesis): The green Dilophosaurus is a recurring enemy that opens its red-like frill and shoots a green venom at the player character.
  • Jurassic Park: The Game introduces to Isla Nublar's roster the Troodon, a creature that even the Velociraptor stay away from. In addition to being just as intelligent as the raptors, the Troodon possess an extremely venomous bite that can cause hallucinations, seizures, convulsions, and paralysis. After paralyzing the victim, they proceed to lay their eggs inside the victim, much like real-life tarantula wasps.
  • Jurassic World: Evolution: Dilophosaurus has its frill and spit, though it doesn't damage or poison what it hits. A DLC pack introduced the Troodon, which like the Procompsognathus in the book and the Troodon in Jurassic Park: The Game has a venomous bite that does poison anything it attacks, dealing steady damage over time until the opponent dies or enough time passes. Jurassic World Evolution 2 introduced the Scorpios rex from Camp Cretaceous, which is a prototype hybrid animal with scorpionfish venom and spines to inject it on its tail, which it does by slapping enemies with them.
• Jurassic: The Hunted: The Dilophosaurus have a frill and spit venom.
• Monster Hunter: Some Theropod Bird-Wyverns (the in-universe equivalent of medium-sized Real Life non-avian theropods) have developed toxins to subdue prey without attacking it directly. Genprey and Gendromes have a paralyzing bite, the forest-dwelling Wroggis have a neck sac with which they spit out poison, and the Baggis from the tundra spit out sleep powder mixed with saliva.
• Nanosaur: The Dilophosaurus is one of the dinosaurs that the Nanosaur is sent to save from the dinosaurs' imminent mass extinction in the Cretaceous, despite the fact that Dilophosaurus shouldn't even exist around that point. Of course, they spit venom at the Nanosaur upon noticing them.
• Oakwood: In the penultimate level, a Dilophosaurus based heavily upon the portrayal from Jurassic Park is the hostile dinosaur that Madison faces in an Absurdly Spacious Sewer that runs underneath the titular campsite. If it catches sight of Madison in its lair and she's unable to successfully escape from it, it spews its venom right into her eyes; at which point the players only see the night vision goggles she's wearing at the time flicker out from her POV before then being treated to the game over screen.
• ParaWorld: Although depicted with a more accurate size, the Dilophosaurus was also depicted with a frill and the ability to spit poison.
• Primal Carnage: The "Spitter" class consists of medium-sized dinosaurs with decent attack, speed, and durability stats, as well as the only class with a ranged attack, which is a corrosive spit. Dilophosaurus and Cryolophosaurus fill this class, with Dilophosaurus also possessing a venomous bite. In-lore, the dinosaurs were given venomous properties due to genetic mutations. Interestingly, the base game had Cryolophosaurus spitting poison, though this has been changed in Primal Carnage: Extinction, where they instead spit acid. They still retain the "venomous bite" attack.
• Primal Rage: Vertigo, a member of the fictional genus Cobrasaur (resembling a lightly-built theropod dinosaur with a cobra's head), can spit poison as her main ranged attack.
• Scribblenauts: Creating a Dilophosaur will create a dinosaur with a head-crest that spits venom. This venom blinds any other creature it hits.
• Turok (2008): Surprisingly, the requisite poison-spitting dinosaur is not the Dilophosaurus, but a variety of the Utahraptor enemy. Which is probably for the best, since the Dilophosaurus is already extremely tough even without any special poison, being more accurately portrayed as being huge, instead of being the pint-sized hunter popularized by Jurassic Park.
• War Party: Dilophosaurus and Oviraptor both spit venom.

Web Original

• Invoked and subverted simultaneously by the Spitter in Age of Fire, which appears to follow this trope to a T... until you take a closer look at its anatomy and notice that it is, in fact, a giant venomous Malicious Monitor Lizard that happens to look like a dinosaur. Its movement option even causes it to move quadrupedally instead of bipedally, furthering the lizard-like look.
• Spec World has several species of poisonous dinosaurs, though in keeping with the site's attention to accuracy none of them are truly venomous. They include the Pyoro (an ankylosaur that traded heavy armor for toxic flesh as a way protecting itself from predators), the Tweety-birds (primitive birds with poisonous feathers), and the Nerd-Of-Paradise (a tree-dwelling theropod that eats poisonous fruit defends itself by vomiting on its enemies).

Web Video

• This Dave Knows Wrestling video "scientifically" explains the "Poison Mist" ability of some wrestlers by linking it to the poison spit of the Dilophosaurus.
  "Oh, and if you want to point out that there is no proof that the Dilophosaurus actually had this ability, need I remind you that this is a fake science show for a fake sport, so... don't be such a f—king nerd."

Western Animation

• Inhumanoids: D'Compose is a Kaiju-sized monster with a dinosaur skull for a head, and a massive exposed chest cavity where his bones and organs are shown. He has the ability to turn anyone he touches into his undead minions.
• Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous:
  • The Compsognathus is revealed to have a venomous bite according to the series protagonist and dinosaur nerd, Darius Bowman. It casts a darker light on how easily Deiter Stark was killed by a pack of them in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. They soon show off this ability in Season 5, paralyzing a Biosyn employee and then proceeding to eat her alive.
  • One of the reasons why E750, the Scorpius Rex was kept in cryogenic suspension was because of how unstable and unpredictable it was. Its status as The Dreaded is shown when, in addition to killing anything it sees like the other hybrid dinosaurs, it possesses venomous quills that it inflicts by injecting its prey with, thanks to possessing the DNA genome of the scorpionfish. The venom is said to be potent enough to kill a Brachiosaurus in a short amount of time.

Real Life

• While no known dinosaur, or any other archosaur, is venomous, there are a small number of birds that are poisonous^note There is a difference. A venomous animal injects its toxin directly into the bloodstream via a puncture wound, while a poisonous animal must be touched or eaten to transfer its poison. These include the hooded pitohui, the blue-capped ifrit, and the little shrikethrush, all native to New Guinea.
• The extinct Carolina parakeet was poisonous, due to its diet of eating toxic cocklebur seeds. Unfortunately, this trait contributed to the species' end, as a pattern of pet cats dying after eating the birds resulted in their owners shooting the birds on sight.
• While not technically dinosaurs, some scientists think Mosasaurs, a group of marine reptiles related to snakes and monitor lizards (which have venomous members), could have been venomous.

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