Venatosaurus

The Venatosaurus, Venatosaurus saevidicus, is a large, powerful, viviparous dromaeosaur from the jungles and open spaces of Skull Island. It measures 16-24 feet long. A close relative is the Ambulaquasaurus. Skull Island’s pack-hunting Venatosaurus dromaeosaurs have taken the advances and specializations of their Cretaceous forbearers and have developed them to a new extreme. Their keen eyesight, great speed, and sickle-shaped second toe claws they share with their cousins, but Venatosaurus have taken these adaptations and have added a few more to make them even more effective killers. Lumbering V. rexes thunder about Skull Island as brutish, somewhat analogous relics of their long-lost kin. By contrast, the Venatosaurus are a new breed of hunter, the likes of which had only begun to appear in the Late Cretaceous. With 66 million years of evolution behind them, these new predators have time to sharpen their killing tools to an unparalleled edge.

Mobile hips allow the legs to swivel out farther from the body than any other dromaeosaur. While this flexibility is a tradeoff that lowers the animals’ top speed, it affords Venatosaurus vastly superior agility and flexibility (traits more valuable than a winning straight-line sprint in the labyrinth jungle). Their nimble hip joints permit them to crouch at ground level, their stomachs touching the ground, yet still be poised to pounce at a moment’s notice. This adaptation permits the large hunters to make use of surprisingly low cover when preparing an ambush.

The eyes are positioned high on the head, allowing a Venatosaurus to peer over cover while still remaining almost completely hidden from potential prey like Dinocanisaurus. The pupils are catlike, slit and able to dilate to let in more light when hunting in the unbroken shade beneath the great trees.

The ribcage of a Venatosaurus is reduced in length, but deepens, granting more flexibility at the waist with no reduction in lung capacity (a trait more commonly found in mammals). The deeper profile wields more muscle attachment, increasing strength to the arms and a more powerful grip on struggling prey.

Venatosaurus are found throughout the heavily forested regions of Skull Island. They prefer the dense jungle to the open stretches because it affords them more cover during hunts and ample concealment for their own nests and young. Packs with territory bordering the forest edge will sometimes make sorties into the open lands to hunt, but usually only under the cover of darkness. Diurnal V. rexes will kill a Venatosaurus if they are ever to catch one. However, by sticking to the jungle, the smaller predators avoid competition and danger.

Venatosaurus are intelligent and social hunters, living in small packs of 6-12 adults with their young. Coordinating their hunting sorties with impressive cunning, packs have developed specific techniques for tackling potentially dangerous prey animals at minimum risk. Venatosaurus is the only predator species that actively preys on adult Brontosaurus. No other predator on the island, including the mighty V. rexes, can match the size of the prey they bring down. Packs split, certain members strategically revealing themselves to panic and stampede a Brontosaurus herd in a predetermined direction. Flankers take up the chase, molesting the giants onto a course they have selected; across dangerously broken ground, over bluffs, or into dead ends. Injury or death among the herd lays meat upon the Venatosaurus’ table, rewarding their cunning with rich bounties of carcasses large enough to feed a pack for a week or more.

In addition to the giant Brontosaurus, almost any midsized or large jungle herbivore might find itself on their menu, including any of the ceratopsians, like Ferrucutus and tree-tops, and the blade-backed Asperdorsus. A brave Venatosaurus might even occasionally try its luck with a Diablosaurus, a Kong, or a Calcarisaurus.

Their strong social structure is key to Venatosaurus’ success. Meaningful communications between individuals allow for the level of coordination employed in their hunts, but also minimize inefficient competition and conflict within the pack.

An alpha breeding pair dominates the pack, but breeding is not restricted to them. Chicks born into the strict hierarchy inherit the rank of their parents.

Venatosaurus chicks are born live and are cared for by the whole pack. Food is brought to them in their excavated nest, usually under the roots of a large tree, until they are old and strong enough to follow the pack on a hunt. At all times the young are guarded by a low-ranking escort. This sentry will remain at the nest site when the rest of the pack hunts.

A single Venatosaurus pack ranges over a large territory with well-defined borders. Tree-scraping and regular marking with feces reinforces these borders with rival packs. Where territory is contested, posturing and noisy displays are usually enough to defuse tensions and resolve the matter. Rarely does a border dispute turn violent.

A regular on the menu for Venatosaurus, and a most curious member of the Skull Island menagerie, is the Skull Island gaur. The bovines' long curving horns and mass make them worthy adversaries

Koba Files Series
They appear in the Koba Files Series. They are minor characters. They appeared when the Creature Protection Team was exploring their jungle home. They'd then attacked the team, in which they later retreated from them. The animals weren't native to any time of jungle, but were invasive & endangered species. As invasive species they go after native jungle animals, as endangered though: it is due to loss of habitat, fewer food sources, overhunting, poaching, pollution, food & water poisoning. The animals were having a hard time from their Skull land home: since their Skull Island home sank into the ocean. The manage to somewhat escape into the world of Imaginationland. They were then given a hard time: all of the skull island herbivores started moving on towards the south, north, east, & west. The other Skull Island predators started to move on as well, but the Venatosaurus & V. rexes remained here to rough it out. The animals then had to move to a new home. They were exploring beyond their territory. Which was until they saw the Abandoned City. It was very lush & diverse. They started to hunt for food. As a pack of the blue tail species broken into the Coast Zoo. Luckily everyone manage to get out of here, whilst the animals didn't get eaten. The raptors then attempted to go after some gaur (mistaken for Skull Island Gaur), but were later captured (more of a rescue) by the Creature Protection Team. They were place in a highly secured enclosure. Many teams of zoologists & herpetologists would come in the zoo for research & studies. The venatosaurus enclosure was also use as a Educational tool to help people better understand ecosystems & how to take better care of them better. A known individual is name Nimon.