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Description
Common Name: Lurdon
Pronounced: (Lrr-dahn)
Classification: Gravititan amphibius (Amphibious Heavy-titan)
SGOC Rank: SuperGiant Organism

Length: 455 feet
Height: 250 feet
Weight: 760 tons
Diet: Herbivore
Social Structure: Herd (6-30 members)
Home Planet: Earth
Distribution: Africa, South America
IUCN Status: Least Concern

Description:

A gigantic species of iguanodont dinosaur, the lurdon is a hippo-like leviathan that is never found far from water. From an initial glance these creatures do indeed resemble hippos – they have a massive barrel-shaped body, short stocky limbs, and a huge head with devastatingly powerful jaws. The skeleton is massively constructed to the point of being almost solid, keeping the animal submerged with minimal effort. The hands of a lurdon are heavy and columnar, while its characteristic iguanodont thumb claw is a thick conical spike that can grow to over twenty feet in large males. An adult lurdon’s neck is long and muscular, while the jaws sport a grinding battery of teeth just like those of a hadrosaur, allowing them to effectively chew even the toughest of food. The tail is short and stumpy, leaving most of the animal’s bulk to hang between its pillar-like limbs.

The lurdon’s most unique adaption lies in its rump. In order to keep itself fueled the average adult lurdon has to feed almost around the clock, and often it can’t be bothered with such trivial things as breathing…so like some turtles, it breathes through its butt. Two enlarged and highly vascularized air bladders connected to the cloacal vent act like gills and absorb O₂ directly from the water, which allows the lurdon to remain underwater for several hours, if not days at a time. Cloacal respiration greatly expands the lurdon’s colon and leaves it vulnerable to invaders, so these dinosaurs have evolved a series of muscular valves that prevent parasites, infectious agents, and other unwelcome visitors from getting into the intestinal tract.

Unlike the grass-eating hippopotamus, the lurdon is an indiscriminate plant-eater. These dinosaurs will eat anything even remotely plantlike within their reach; in addition to aquatic plant life, they mow away at terrestrial foliage reachable from the water, scour the bottoms of lakes and rivers for sunken trees, and occasionally venture out onto land (usually at dawn or dusk) to browse on large trees, shrubs, and mycos. A strong chewing mechanism and cast-iron stomach enable this species to eat all but the thorniest and most unpalatable of flora, and even highly toxic alien plants generally offer these browsers little trouble. Lurdons living near coastlines are known to feed on offshore algaphyte forests, wading out into the shallows and shoveling them up by the mouthful.

Lurdons exhibit slight sexual dimorphism, size being the only discernible difference between adult males and females. Juveniles of either gender resemble miniature versions of the adults.

The lurdon lives in herds numbering from a handful up to around thirty individuals. Herds are led by an enormous alpha bull that holds exclusive breeding rights with his herd’s females; he is usually found on his own away from the herd, keeping a lookout for danger. Lurdon calves tend to stay with their mothers until they reach sexual maturity at age four. The alpha bull and his subordinates are a lurdon herd’s primary means of defense, and they will work together to drive off predators or rogue males. Despite this cooperation in times of crisis, bachelor male lurdons fight over an ever-shifting hierarchy that determines who gets first crack at the alpha should he grow weak. By pawing at the ground a lurdon slaps its hands against its gut, producing a distinct drumming sound that can travel for more than two miles. Lurdons fight each other by bear-hugging with their arms locked around their opponent’s neck, and then shoving, roaring, stabbing, and biting at each other until one backs off, bloodied and beaten.

Lurdons mate during the height of the wet season in their native habitat, which differs between the African and South American populations. An alpha male laying claim to a herd and a stretch of waterway will begin forcing bachelor males out of his territory, sometimes leading to bloody battles. The dominant male then begins perusing his harem for potential mates – not all females will take kindly to his advances – and separating them from the rest of the herd. A male lurdon woos a mate by rumbling and rubbing his body up against hers, after which the couple briefly copulates while underwater. Bachelor males may occasionally sneak back into the herd and mate with the alpha male’s harem when he’s not looking. Female lurdons lay up to seven eggs in a nest dug into the side of a riverbank, which she incubates under a mound of rotting vegetation for the next four months; the calves are very well-developed and highly precocious upon hatching, and they quickly join their elders to browse in the nearby river.

Thanks to their massive size and foul temperament, full-grown lurdons have few predators. Their young, however, are more vulnerable to attack and are thus kept hidden behind a wall of adults while in the river. The lurdons’ principal predator as of late is the tiamat, a huge amphibious euxenosaur that stalks the herds’ perimeters and preys on the young, old, and infirm; other predators include beelzebirds, kapkrackers, infernuceras, and xenotyrants, but even these monsters would rather avoid tangling with an angry bull lurdon. Even larger herbivores like behemoths are aggressively chased off when spotted, though for some reason the smaller honkers are usually tolerated. Lurdon flesh is edible – and quite tasty! – to humans, their skin is useful for leather, and their body fats are used for making machine lubricant and old-fashioned soap. Some resourceful people have even made lurdon cloacal bladders into fishing and cargo nets.

Like all SuperGiant Organisms, lurdons possess a reactor gland and are mildly radioactive themselves, but in this regard they are actually considered safe enough for people to eat.

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Artist's Commentary:
The lurdon is one of the older fictional species that I created for the DOD kaijuverse. I based the lurdon species on Lurdusaurus, a very interesting species of iguanodont that may have lived an amphibious, hippo-like lifestyle. The lurdon’s design was based on that of its real-life counterpart as well as on hippos and sauropods. I took inspiration for the lurdon’s behavior from hippos and the titanosaurs and pseudosauropods from The Speculative Dinosaur Project.

Artistic Notes:
— A lurdon has four (4) toes per hand: a thumb spike, and three weight-supporting digits that lack claws.
— A lurdon has three (3) toes per foot, all of them clawed.

Description
Common Name: Lurdon
Pronounced: (Lrr-dahn)
Classification: Gravititan amphibius (Amphibious Heavy-titan)
SGOC Rank: SuperGiant Organism

Length: 455 feet
Height: 250 feet
Weight: 760 tons
Diet: Herbivore
Social Structure: Herd (6-30 members)
Home Planet: Earth
Distribution: Africa, South America
IUCN Status: Least Concern

Description:

A gigantic species of iguanodont dinosaur, the lurdon is a hippo-like leviathan that is never found far from water. From an initial glance these creatures do indeed resemble hippos – they have a massive barrel-shaped body, short stocky limbs, and a huge head with devastatingly powerful jaws. The skeleton is massively constructed to the point of being almost solid, keeping the animal submerged with minimal effort. The hands of a lurdon are heavy and columnar, while its characteristic iguanodont thumb claw is a thick conical spike that can grow to over twenty feet in large males. An adult lurdon’s neck is long and muscular, while the jaws sport a grinding battery of teeth just like those of a hadrosaur, allowing them to effectively chew even the toughest of food. The tail is short and stumpy, leaving most of the animal’s bulk to hang between its pillar-like limbs.

The lurdon’s most unique adaption lies in its rump. In order to keep itself fueled the average adult lurdon has to feed almost around the clock, and often it can’t be bothered with such trivial things as breathing…so like some turtles, it breathes through its butt. Two enlarged and highly vascularized air bladders connected to the cloacal vent act like gills and absorb O₂ directly from the water, which allows the lurdon to remain underwater for several hours, if not days at a time. Cloacal respiration greatly expands the lurdon’s colon and leaves it vulnerable to invaders, so these dinosaurs have evolved a series of muscular valves that prevent parasites, infectious agents, and other unwelcome visitors from getting into the intestinal tract.

Unlike the grass-eating hippopotamus, the lurdon is an indiscriminate plant-eater. These dinosaurs will eat anything even remotely plantlike within their reach; in addition to aquatic plant life, they mow away at terrestrial foliage reachable from the water, scour the bottoms of lakes and rivers for sunken trees, and occasionally venture out onto land (usually at dawn or dusk) to browse on large trees, shrubs, and mycos. A strong chewing mechanism and cast-iron stomach enable this species to eat all but the thorniest and most unpalatable of flora, and even highly toxic alien plants generally offer these browsers little trouble. Lurdons living near coastlines are known to feed on offshore algaphyte forests, wading out into the shallows and shoveling them up by the mouthful.

Lurdons exhibit slight sexual dimorphism, size being the only discernible difference between adult males and females. Juveniles of either gender resemble miniature versions of the adults.

The lurdon lives in herds numbering from a handful up to around thirty individuals. Herds are led by an enormous alpha bull that holds exclusive breeding rights with his herd’s females; he is usually found on his own away from the herd, keeping a lookout for danger. Lurdon calves tend to stay with their mothers until they reach sexual maturity at age four. The alpha bull and his subordinates are a lurdon herd’s primary means of defense, and they will work together to drive off predators or rogue males. Despite this cooperation in times of crisis, bachelor male lurdons fight over an ever-shifting hierarchy that determines who gets first crack at the alpha should he grow weak. By pawing at the ground a lurdon slaps its hands against its gut, producing a distinct drumming sound that can travel for more than two miles. Lurdons fight each other by bear-hugging with their arms locked around their opponent’s neck, and then shoving, roaring, stabbing, and biting at each other until one backs off, bloodied and beaten.

Lurdons mate during the height of the wet season in their native habitat, which differs between the African and South American populations. An alpha male laying claim to a herd and a stretch of waterway will begin forcing bachelor males out of his territory, sometimes leading to bloody battles. The dominant male then begins perusing his harem for potential mates – not all females will take kindly to his advances – and separating them from the rest of the herd. A male lurdon woos a mate by rumbling and rubbing his body up against hers, after which the couple briefly copulates while underwater. Bachelor males may occasionally sneak back into the herd and mate with the alpha male’s harem when he’s not looking. Female lurdons lay up to seven eggs in a nest dug into the side of a riverbank, which she incubates under a mound of rotting vegetation for the next four months; the calves are very well-developed and highly precocious upon hatching, and they quickly join their elders to browse in the nearby river.

Thanks to their massive size and foul temperament, full-grown lurdons have few predators. Their young, however, are more vulnerable to attack and are thus kept hidden behind a wall of adults while in the river. The lurdons’ principal predator as of late is the tiamat, a huge amphibious euxenosaur that stalks the herds’ perimeters and preys on the young, old, and infirm; other predators include beelzebirds, kapkrackers, infernuceras, and xenotyrants, but even these monsters would rather avoid tangling with an angry bull lurdon. Even larger herbivores like behemoths are aggressively chased off when spotted, though for some reason the smaller honkers are usually tolerated. Lurdon flesh is edible – and quite tasty! – to humans, their skin is useful for leather, and their body fats are used for making machine lubricant and old-fashioned soap. Some resourceful people have even made lurdon cloacal bladders into fishing and cargo nets.

Like all SuperGiant Organisms, lurdons possess a reactor gland and are mildly radioactive themselves, but in this regard they are actually considered safe enough for people to eat.

--------------------------------------------------

Artist's Commentary:
The lurdon is one of the older fictional species that I created for the DOD kaijuverse. I based the lurdon species on Lurdusaurus, a very interesting species of iguanodont that may have lived an amphibious, hippo-like lifestyle. The lurdon’s design was based on that of its real-life counterpart as well as on hippos and sauropods. I took inspiration for the lurdon’s behavior from hippos and the titanosaurs and pseudosauropods from The Speculative Dinosaur Project.

Artistic Notes:
— A lurdon has four (4) toes per hand: a thumb spike, and three weight-supporting digits that lack claws.
— A lurdon has three (3) toes per foot, all of them clawed.