SAURIAN WORLD II-CEDAR MOUNTAIN

CEDAR MOUNTAIN

SAURIAN WORLD

CEDAR MOUNTAIN, UTAH

134 MILLION YEARS BCE:

In what is today known as the American state of Utah, a conifer forest hugs the edge of a river. Pterosaurs flap over the canopy, their bat-like wings carrying them closer to the coast. Utah is a semi-arid mix of floodplains, open woodlands, and conifer forests. Grasses have not yet evolved, with the niche of ground plants being held by ferns and hornworts.

A small herd of iguanodonts, called Hippodraco, saunter through the wood. Known specimens illustrates that juvenile Hippodraco were about as large as a horse, though it is likely that adults rivaled their European relatives in size. Most predators in this ecosystem are too small to bother them, even at this size. The spike on their thumb also ensures that any predator foolish enough to attack them, would not have an easy time at making them a meal. In the future, forms such as Hippodraco will give rise to the Hadrosaurs, the notorious chewing herbivores of the late cretaceous.

The herbivores lower their beaks to the water; hydrating their rotund forms under the conifer needles. Birds tweet and flutter about on the branches above them. These birds are enantiornithenes, who superficially resemble modern birds, though their beaks are filled with teeth. Having evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs in the Jurassic, they have diversified and spread to every corner of the globe. In seventy three million years, birds will be the only group of dinosaurs left on the planet. A disturbance in the wood spooks them, and causes them to take off. The Hippodraco take notice, ceasing their drinking to scan their surroundings. There is but one predator in this wood that can instill fear in the heart of these iguanodontids, Utahraptor.

From deeper amongst the trees, a huge, male Utahraptor launches from his hiding spot. This male is twenty feet from snout to tail tip, and is nearly one thousand pounds of feather and muscle. Utahraptor is the largest member of the dromaeosaur family, which includes members such as Velociraptor, though it is much more massive and robust than its smaller cousins. The male's striking red and black plumage mesmerizes the Hippodraco, who stand their ground in the face of danger. They bellow deeply, attempting to frighten the predator away. The larger iguanodonts have placed themselves between the male and their vulnerable young. For some inexplicable reason, the male snaps and hisses at his quarry, but has not attempted to make a killing move. A well placed strike from a Hippodraco thumb-spike could kill him. Thankfully for the Utahraptor, he is not alone.

The shrill shriek of a Hippodraco calf breaks the herbivores' focus. A second Utahraptor has sank its teeth into a calf's neck, slashing its sides while the youngster struggles. This assailant coated in brown and gold is a female, and she is slightly smaller than her counterpart. Not wishing for a battle on two fronts most of the herd sprints away from the pair, though the calf's mother stays behind to try and save her calf. The male Utahraptor kicks a taloned foot at the mother's side, distracting her, while the female makes short work of the struggling calf. The calf's green and black hide is now been covered in streaks of red, making futile attempts to dislodge itself from the Utahraptor's jaws before finally allowing death to take it. The mother Hippodraco, flees from the male dromaeosaur with a deep gash in her side. Utahraptor's nine-inch sickle claws at the end of powerfully muscled legs make for nearly perfect killing tools.

Once the debacle with the mother is over, the male makes his way to his mate who is already gorging herself on the calf's carcass. He buries his snout into the animal's side pulling strips of flesh then swallowing them whole. Utahraptor is the top predator in its environment, a niche uncommonly rarely held by a dromaeosaur. Utahraptor is most similar in morphology to the Mongolian genus, Achillobator, suggesting an Asian ancestry, or extreme convergence. Achillobator was of a similar size to Utahraptor, likely occupying a similar ecological niche.