This is a collab between me and @AcryAllofan150 . Enjoy the programme:
Let us take you back to 90 million years ago.
It is the late cretaceous, the climate is warmer, beautiful flowers have evolved, and the western interior seaway is beginning to form. It will become home to some of the most titanic leviathans of the depths, in fact, the cruel seas are not the only home for giant killers.
The land is starting to have it’s own fair share, armour crunching Tyrannosaurs are soon to rise to be some of the most successful apex predators of their age. But the greatest of them all, Tyrannosaurus rex has not yet evolved, it will not emerge for another 22 million years.
Then there are the other class of mighty predators, the Carcharodontosaurids. Shark toothed predators, the largest even taking down colossal Sauropods, bleeding them out and watching them fall. However, the largest of that species Giganotosaurus, has not yet evolved either. It is not these predators stories we tell today.
For there was another Apex predator that predates both of them. A unique and deadly Carcharodontosaurid armed with the size to rival the Giganotosaurus and given a mysterious weapon unknown to all other Megatheropods. The apex predator Meraxes Gigas, king of South America in the Huincul Formation. We will be following one individual throughout his life to see how he lived, fought, fed, mated and lastly, how he died. This is the story of Zhaegar, and the harsh trials that life threw at him.
It is evening, and the setting sun has painted the sky a striking red. A 21-foot long Skorpiovenator is crouched in the underbrush, hidden by his brown tiger striped skin. He is a small species of Abelisaurid, lightning fast, and equipped with a powerful bite. But he is not hunting any fast-moving prey, he’s not even snapping up helpless hatchlings.
The food he’s fixing his keen yellow eyes on is a clutch of eggs with no hope of escape, buried in an enormous mound of dirt and debris, steaming hot in the evening sun. The Mother of the nest is still there, keeping watch but even despite her unwavering, almost sacrificial dedication. There always comes a time where she needs to fill her ravenous stomach.
It’s only a matter of waiting for the hidden egg thief. After 1 more hour of waiting, the mother is desperate for sustenance and finally gets up and leaves to find prey. It is here where the Skorpiovenotor strikes, he quickly reaches the nest and starts to hastily dig it out with his powerful legs, burying into the mound of dirt with sharp talons on his feet.
This is a risky heist but if he pulls it off, he will have a meal fit for a king, enough to fill his own belly for the night. He is so close to the unprotected brood, their shells seconds within sight. Finally, they are in reach and his quivering jaws greedily gulp down the eggs. Their golden yolk staining his maw.
Their taste is sweet and fulfilling and the abelisaurid is so concentrated on his meal that he doesn’t notice the silent figure right behind him. The mother of the nest, ready to lunge at the intruder. She rushes forward, her 5-ton bulk easily barrelling over the small predator in her wake.
The Skorpiovenator is caught by surprise and desperately claws at the mud to get up and flee from the mother’s wrath. But he never will, a long piercing toe claw stabs into the struggling egg thief. Perfectly evolved to trap smaller prey, it pins the struggling Abelisaurid down and it meets it’s end.
The mother’s cavernous jaws clamp down, her sharp serrated teeth slicing through the flesh like a butchers knife. Her hunger is finally about to be satiated; she goes for the soft parts first. Gouging into the vulnerable belly and roping out the intestines, feasting herself on the most prized parts of the prey: intestines, liver and neck.
By the end of her vicious attack, her face is coated in blood, and the soft mud is littered with bits of intestinal flesh. Hard, shallow breaths rack the mother’s body as she goes to check on her eggs. 4 gone and only 3 left, it is a crushing blow to her chances of rearing up the next generation. A new generation of Apex predators, for this is a nest of Meraxes Gigas, the 3 left only narrowly escaping death.
The mother is confused at her crushed eggs and paces back and forward in distress, before hurriedly covering up the remaining eggs. Meraxes are too big to sit on their eggs like modern day birds, and so, like other megatheropods, they bury the eggs in large mounds. These mounds of mud and dirt soak in heat from the hot sun to incubate the eggs, and release some of that heat in the night to avoid cooking them alive.
This intruder is a sign that the mother’s territorial scent markings are fading and need to be re-established fast, lest more egg thieves come. The mother makes sure there are no other predators around her nest site before carrying away the corpse of the abelisaurid and quickly running to the edges of her territory.
She hastily dumps the corpse outside, if it remains near the nest site the scent will attract bigger predators to her vulnerable brood. Scent is everything here, the Meraxes herself can pinpoint even the smallest of creatures hiding in the undergrowth. And her own scent is a fierce warning to any would be predators to keep well away. She sprays urine near trees to mark her territory; she does this several times before yet again running back to her nest site.
As soon as she arrives she rests next to her brood, keeping her fierce eyes on the treeline, making sure no other creatures gain the confidence to try and steal her eggs. When Meraxes become mothers they are fiercely territorial and won’t hesitate to lay down their lives to defend their babies. They’ll stay near their nesting sites for hours on end only briefly leaving to hunt, and drink water.
Other than that, they are always on the defensive. As a result of this, they lose weight during this process much like mother crocodiles of today. However, as tiring and thankless as her dedication is, she is finally given a reward for her strife. Squeaking noises echo from the nest mound, and the mother’s attention is sparked immediately.
Her children have finally hatched and are calling for their mother to help dig them out of their earthen prison. Her own attempts of clawing down the mound she’s spent 6 months protecting is now merciful, as she is now welcoming her children into the morning light. Her toe claws send the underground environment around the 3 hatchlings crumbling as the blinding light of day illuminates their fragile bodies.
Their hatching marks the start of our journey as Zhaegar’s yellow, blinking eyes stare into the black striped face of his mother. He is one of the lucky ones, 2 thirds of Meraxes hatchlings never reach adulthood.
The trials of his life are about to begin and if Zhaegar has any chance of becoming an apex predator, he must follow his mother’s footsteps closely. After all, in a world of predators, everything wants to devour you.
End of part 1
