I'm back with a new book. This time I'm going to show you the many amazing, frightening and sometimes downright strange species that were lost to time.
There are so many creatures that once roamed planet Earth, our own little oasis in the vast expan...
As the sky turns from a jet black to a soft pink, and the last of the stars fade away in the first light of dawn, many of the creatures of Hell Creek wake up from their slumber.
Unfortunately for some, they weren't lucky enough to be blessed with a good night's sleep. One such creature who had a hard time falling asleep is Blue-neck, a fully grown male Anzu wyliei with three, noisy chicks that are only two days old.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Being from the Oviraptoridae family, Anzus poses many of the same traits as his relatives: a toothless beak, a prominent crest, a thick coating of feathers, an omnivorous diet, and a very caring parental nature.
Normally, Blue-neck would be taking care of many more chicks with the help of his mate, but a Dakotaraptor steini killed her a few weeks ago, and before that, a gang of Didelphidon voraxes ate most of the eggs when he was chasing off a Pectinodon bakkeri and his mate was out feeding.
Blue-neck only managed to get half the hours of shuteye he'd normally get last night. Every time he'd be getting comfortable on the nest, Fluff, Leaf or Bush would start pecking or kicking him. Normally he would have taken shifts with his mate to keep their youngs warm, but as a single father, this isn't a luxury he's lucky enough to have.
Tired, Blue-neck gets up and yawns before stretching and shaking his body, causing his feathers to ruffle up. The change in temperature causes Fluff to wake up, and almost immediately, he starts squawking for his dad. Unfortunately for Blue-neck, his cries wake up his siblings, causing them to mimic him.
Blue-neck knows that they want food, but he's done bringing it to them. He grabs Bush and places her outside of the nest, then he does the same thing to the other two and begins walking away.
As his figure grows smaller, Blue-neck calls out for his children to follow him. Fluff and Bush start running towards him, but Leaf isn't keen on the idea of leaving the nest. Instead, she tries to climb back in.
Blue-neck turns around and walks back to the nest. He grabs Leaf by the tail and places her down next to her siblings, but she immediately tries to go back in.
After the night he had, Blue-neck just wants to get breakfast, but with an uncooperative kid, it's clear he'll have to show some tough love. Blue-neck grabs Leaf gently, but firmly by the back of her head and start walking back with her, and this time he has no intention of letting go.
This is the first time in their entire lives that Fluff, Leaf and Bush have left the nest. This is a completely new experience for all of them. However, Blue-neck is very nervous, he knows that the forests and rivers are full of dangers. Many predators wouldn't hesitate eating a young Anzu, but Blue-neck is no light weight.
Standing at around 2 meters tall, 3.5 meters long, and weighing 300 kilograms, Anzus are the largest Oviraptoridae in North America and the second largest to have ever existed, with the Mongolian Gigantoraptor erlianensis being the only one to surpass him.
