Ceratosauria

Hatchling

   Its a warm spring day. The noon sun shines brightly upon the land. But something is happening in the forest. A clutch of seven eggs is about to hatch. But one baby is already making an effort to hatch. The egg cracks gently in the forest shrouded in shadow. The squeaks of the baby ceratosaurus are barely heard over the rushing river. Soon, his brothers and sisters begin to hatch as well. But theres something wrong. They are all alone... Or so they thought.

   He hears faint footsteps crunching the branches nearby. They steadily get ever so closer. Until his parents emerge into sight. The hatching's fears are all but gone. By now, all six of his siblings have hatched as well. To survive, his parents must care for them until they reach a certain age, when they will leave the safety of the nest to fend for themselves and attempt to pass their genes to the next generation, against all odds.

   He is a Ceratosaurus baby. A tiny animal compared to his parents. However even they aren't the size of most predators in the area, such as the cunning Allosaurus, ravenous Torvosaurus, and the gigantic Saurophaganax. Its a miracle a medium predator like Ceratosaurus would even survive in this land dominated by smarter and stronger animals. For our story we will focus on Cera, the first Ceratosaurus to hatch.

After a few minutes of learning to walk and taking in the world, Cera's father leaves to hunt. In the meantime, his mother guides the hatchlings to the river nearby. There they learn to hunt. However they only are able to eat tiny insects. Cera notices how some siblings are hunting different types of bugs. His agile siblings practice on dragonflies and mosquitos. His stronger siblings take turns attacking an aggressive scorpion. But he would rather attack the small ants that aren't too fast, but aren't too hostile either. As he and his siblings finish eating and drinking, they return to their nest and enjoy the night as their father returns with a fresh kill. Life is good so far.