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Malevolusaurus
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Name:
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Malevolusaurus perditor
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Abilities and Weapons:
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teeth, jaws, claws
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Occupation:
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Generalist forager
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Home:
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Skull Island
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First Appearance:
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"The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island" (from 2005)
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Diet:
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Omnivore
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Size:
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Length: 6-7.3 meters
Weight Estimated: 1.3-2 tons |
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Status:
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Saved from Extinction during the 1938 expedition on Skull Island.
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The Malevolusaurus (Malevolusaurus perditor -"malicious-lizard destroyer") is a large, omnivorous sphenacodontine sphenacodontid from the uplands of Skull Island, descended from Dimetrodon. It measures 20-24 feet long (6-7.3 meters).
Facts[]
Pugnacious and ill-tempered, the burly Malevolusaurus is an opportunistic omnivorous pelycosaur of the highlands. It scavenges carrion or steals wounded live prey from other predators, digs smaller animals from burrows, and uproots plants for their roots and tubers. It will also go after such prey that is difficult to catch like Dracos.
The distinctive sails, an heirloom of Permian ancestry, are an adaptation Malevolusaurus employ to warm themselves in the morning, boosting their energy levels for the day. Many are badly torn or otherwise scarred, a result of dominance battles between the fiercely territorial creatures. Males have knobby “crowns” with which they will butt one another, but biting and clawing are common.
Malevolusaurus lay their eggs in scrapes on the sunniest slopes where they will be naturally warmed. The greatest threat to newly hatched young comes from their own kind (80 percent of young fall prey to hungry adults in their first year). This cannibalism is strangely an effective population control, as little else eats them. Only the saber-toothed Gladiodon hunts full-grown Malevolusaurus.
Trivia[]
- The lack of any substantive change other than diet from their Dimetrodon ancestors makes Malevolusaurus a living fossil.
- Like all animals from Skull Island. It is unknown what they faced during the sinking of the island. Given the multiple expeditions, there may be a chance that a few surviving populations was saved off-land to a more stable enclosure.