The Angel of Kem Kem

The Hunt

  On a moss covered rock a small, red lizard basks in the afternoon sun. Above him a large willow's leaves blow in the slight breeze. The pond next to it is full of small fish, turtles, and salamanders. The pond empties out into a slowly moving stream. The surrounding grasses are filled with small insects. Ticks wait to jump onto unsuspecting dinosaurs, grasshoppers hop from blade to blade, and mosquitoes pollinate the flower that pops up every now and again. A swampy aroma fills the air, but it is a lot less overpowering than the smell in the heart of the swamp.

The lizard hears the sound of grass rustling behind it, but pays no attention. As he continues to bask on the rock the sound gets closer and closer. Then, from behind pops a pterosaur, whose beak attempts to peck at the reptile.

The reptile launches itself away from the rock and begins to run for its life. The aggressor follows, and begins running behind it.

As suddenly as the chase started, it ends. The lizard is picked up in the black beak tip of the attacker. The pterosaur looks around to see where it ended up. The flying reptile is standing in a field of tall, brown grass, where its bright white pycnofibres stand out.

Contrary to popular belief, pterosaurs were not scaly, dinosaur wannabe's who were helpless on land. This pterosaur, Alanqa is the perfect example of that. The animal had a pink-ish orange beak with a black tip, white pycnofibres, and black wing endings, and was built to be a land predator. Its legs were much longer than that of other pterosaurs. It had a long neck that was used in the same was as a stork. It is covered in pycnofibres which are feather-like fibres that keep the pterosaurs warm and help protect their bodies and wings from harm.

The wings are made of a membrane that stretches from the elongated fourth finger all the way to the knees of the animal.

As the pterosaur finishes gobbling down its dinner, it uses its arms to push itself off of the ground and into flight. The 2 metre tall Alanqa has a wingspan of over 4 metres, making it larger than every bird currently alive.

The Alanqa, whom we will call Alan, returns to the large stretch of river that he calls his territory. The river is surrounded by many, many, willows, aspens, and oak trees. The grass is tall, apart from one area underneath a tree where he sleeps. Alan then bends down his neck to grab a drink.

He starts drinking the water from the deep river. Out of the corner of his eye he spots a log sink into the bottom of the river. As he continues drinking he spots some mammals climbing up a tree and snakes slither through the grass. Out of the water bursts a 3 metre long, spoon snouted crocodile. Alan, having a blind spot on the front of his head, can only tell of the croc's attack from the sound of the water splashing. The Alanqa jumps out of the way, and right into a large fern. The pterosaur's beak is badly scratched by the attack and he is covered with scratches, but other than that the Alanqa appears to be fine.

Alan, startled and in pain, goes to his tree and lies down after a long day.