Skorpiovenator bustingorryi by Draco300 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Skorpiovenator bustingorryi

"Bustingorry's Scorpion hunter"

Length:6.5m(21.3ft) Height1.8m(5.9ft) at the hip Weight:1,000kg (2,204.6lb) Lifespan:24years

Behavior & Description: Skorpiovenator is an abelisaurid within the Brachyrostra clade. It was discovered in 2008 and named after the abundant scorpions at the dig site around Manuel Bustingorry's farm. The fossil consisted of a single, nearly complete skeleton missing only tail sections and most forelimbs. During the time of its discovery, the fossils of Skorpiovenator became one of the most complete and informative abelisaurids yet known to the point where paleontologists Canale, Scanferla, Agnolin, and Novas have defined a new name for an abelisaurid clade, Brachyrosta, that the theropod now belongs to. The fossil was so nearly complete that the Primal Incorporation extracted the DNA to clone Skorpiovenator to life. The cloned theropods' body is tan in males and fawn color in females, with ventral sides and limbs. The dorsal portion of Skopiovenator's bodies is armored with round osteoderms and ornamentations of their heads. Males have orange-brown throat pouches, orange-brown hand markings, and a black face mask. Female Skopiovenators lack the black face mask but have black markings on their snout and around their eyes.

Geographic Range & Habitat: Skopiovenators once lived within the Huincul Formation of Late Cretaceous Argentina around 95 million years ago. These abelisaurids now roam Merus' semi-arid, tropical, and sub-tropical habitats. They primarily reside around scrublands and deserts near well-watered forests and floodplains. They commonly prowl within the southern and eastern regions, from the semi-arid habitat of Ay Ata, Imra, and Dagan to the forests of Laskhmi to Shiva & Gun Ana. Few Skopiovenators occasionally hunt through the savannas of Vinshu and northeastern Shiva.

Behavior & Reproduction: Skopiovenators are nomadic animals that travel 3.4 miles to search for food and other natural resources. Both males and females often have overlapping territories that are, on average, 16 km2 but are only temporary. These abelisaurids will immediately leave the area to find new home ranges once the natural resources become scarce. They are generally active throughout the day, retiring within dense vegetation or near water sources at night. Skopiovenators are solitary but often gather in groups around the nesting ground of giant sauropods or carcasses. Despite their social gatherings, Skopiovenators thoroughly socialize from January to April to mate. The mating season begins with males and females frequently scent-marking objects with urine and making loud, low-pitched, and short rasping sounds to seek a potential mate. They will follow each other's scent and calls until they find one another within an open area near water or dense vegetation, which males then display courtship to show the females they are well-suited to be their partner. These courtship displays include males spreading their arms and occasionally inflating their throat pouch while standing vertically upwards. Like most abelisaurids, female Skopiovenators are choosy when picking a suitable partner, snapping, and leaving during the male's display if they are uninterested. The females will copy the males' performance if they are interested before copulating for five minutes and separating shortly after. Months after mating, female Skopiovenators build nests out of sand or rotten foliage to lay up to eight eggs. They will guard the nest while occasionally hunting as their eggs incubate for 63 days until they hatch. Despite being born partially precocial, Skopiovenator hatchlings lack the osteoderms to defend themselves and follow their mother for food and protection. They develop their armor between six and eight months, leaving their mothers to become solitary and independent at a year old. However, adolescent Skopiovenators do not become sexually mature until they are between two and three years old.

Diet: Skorpiovenators are opportunistic animals that hunt anything they can easily tackle or catch. These abelisaurids hunt small dinosaurs up to six meters long, mammals, and hatchlings to juveniles of more enormous dinosaurs. Sauropod hatchlings and juveniles make up 99% of the Skopiovenators' diet. Groups of Skopiovenators annually gather at the nesting grounds of Argentinosaurus or other giant sauropods to feast on the newborn hatchlings. These theropods hide within dense vegetation or behind rocky terrain to stalk their prey, bursting out at full speed to capture their surprised victim. They then use their jaws to whip their victims to the ground before crunching them within the abelisaurid's jaws or swallowing them whole. Despite being decent hunters, Skopiovenators often scavenge any carrion they can find, even gathering in swarms to surround a dying animal to wait for it to succumb to its injuries or illnesses before consuming as much flesh as possible.

Predation/Competition: Skorpiovenators prefer to avoid conflict with similar-sized predators by scavenging or hunting smaller prey, but they will fight over carrion during periods of drought. They primarily use their jaws to defend themselves if needed. Smaller predators up to six meters in length give the abelisaurid a wide birth to avoid being hunted or easily driven off their kills. In contrast, Skorpiovenators often flee from more giant carnivores, such as Mapusaurus and Meraxes, as they can quickly kill them in one bite. However, these abelisaurids will hunt juveniles or drive off sub-adults of large predators when the opportunity arises.

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Reconstruction based on TableSeating