6.The Venator-cursor

In this section I will be taking you through the dinosaur I have created. I will be explaining how it fits in my world, what it is used for, its anatomy and my inspiration for the character. To hopefully give you a better understanding on how my creature lives and uses the environment its in.

I feel that I have not spent enough time on the hows and whys, my main focus has been on actually creating the dinosaur and not explaining why its in my world and how it would live.

NOTE: I have used Apache names for the social structure of my dinosaurs found from: http://www.greatdreams.com/apache/lozen.htm

The Name

Ven-at-or-cur-sor or Ven-at-or-in-cul-tas as its known in some parts (mostly people from what is know known as New Mexico), the names comes from the Latin ‘Desert Runner’ (Venator-cursor) and ‘Desert Hunter’ (Venator-incultas).

Environment

Think stereotypical Cowboy Badlands like the old John Wayne movies. Places like Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Hot, Dry and full of sand coloured hills and gorges.

Below are a few examples of the natural habitat of the Venator-cursor.

The V-Cursor’s social stature, habitat and diet

Unlike most predatory animals of that size the V-Incultas has evolved to live and hunt in small family groups or ‘Tribe’ which consists of an Alpha male or female also known as ‘Cochise’ for male and ‘Dahteste’ for female, next in the pecking order comes the elder V’s ‘Mangs’ for male and ‘Nana’ for females which teach and watch over the young  while the warrior or ‘Lozen’ Scours the plains in search of food, hunting parties will consist of 4-8 Lozen depending on the size of the Tribe.

Tribes tend to live around a large water sauce with a shaded areas because both water and shade are hard to come by. The V-incultas feed entirely on meat, there main diet consists of creatures similar to Buffalo but much much bigger, two of these mammals is enough to feed the Tribe for days.

Intelligence

The V-Cursor has a very high social intelligence and a unique ability to learn, though the V’s found in the wild tend not to be as smart as their tamed cousins.

Because of high social intelligence the V’s can work together as a team to bring down prey using distinct vocalisations, which can bring out unique characteristics to the individual Tribe member.

There intelligence has been compared to that of a well trained dog because of they way the tamed V’s act, they often pant and hang there tounge from one side of their mouth.

Anatomy

The Venator-cursor is built for speed. Its has Strong hind legs which consist of 3 main muscle groups; top, middle, lower. The top and middle sections having bigger and stronger muscles that normal dinosaurs and a extra lower set at the bottom to give it that little bit more strength to lift its lower part faster adding to the overall speed.

Below is a diagram to show this.

Colouring and Top Plates

If you notice the top of the creature is a dark brown colour and that it has thicker plates. This is because the Venator-cursor has evolved the ability to use the plates to absorb the sun rays and convert them into energy, the brown colour is a result of constant exposure to sun light. The young Venator-cursor tend to be born with out the brown colour and develop the brown colour over time.

Markings

The red coloured markings which cover the Venator-cursor are similar to birthmarks and are also used to identify individuals within a group.

Teeth or Claws?

If you look at the Venator-cursor’s mouth you will see a set of teeth and a set of mouth-claws (yes  mouth-claws).

The teeth are white and the claws are black, the reason Venator-cursor had claws in its mouth is because its teeth are not that strong and break easily (though the teeth do grow back and it is even said that there have been some Venator-cursor’s that have two rows of teeth) so the claws are there to give more grip.

If you look at the side of the mouth you will see what seems to be a useless claw. This claw works the same way a deer’s antlers would work, the older the creature the bigger the claw. Female Venator-cursor do not have this claw.

Tattoos and Brands

Once the cowboys of the world started to tame the Venator-cursor they would often brand or tattoo their dinosaur to give a more individual look and for intimidation. In some extreme cases the dinosaur would be covered in head to toe in tattoos.

Battle Damage

A tamed Venator-cursor is exposed to more fighting that is cousins in the wild. Often being shot at by humans and attacked by the other tamed predators that make up the dinosaur population of the badlands.

So you’ll see some Venator-cursor’s with bullet and claw and teeth scars covering their bodies.