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Description

The late hothouse climate has made it unnecessary for some animals to retain a warm-blooded metabolism, as the environment is generally consistently warm. Predators in particular tend to lose their endothermy, if they had it at all - it is a very successful life strategy to sit and wait, then ambush passing prey animals, and such a lifestyle does not require a lot of energy. Skuorcs, those generalized tailed quadruped birds descended from ornimorphs, had relatively slow metabolisms to begin with. They have thrived in the global hothouse world 290 million years PE, diversifying into the widest range of forms of any hothouse bird order. Cygnosaurs and skullosi are the biggest of all, but other unrelated lineages exist which have also grown to formidable scale. And unlike even the fiercest gantuans, some are obligate carnivores, eating nothing but other animals.
The skuagators are a genus of huge, almost featherless skuorcs whose protective facial scales have migrated over the entire body, forming a thick and almost impenetrable armor of overlapping keratin scutes. Their only feathers are now limited to very short hair-like plumes between the scales on their bellies, and sharp quills under the throat of males which form some small display function. These scutes provide protection from one another, for these animals are incredibly territorial, but also from their very dangerous prey: skuagators, growing to 25 feet long in the biggest species, now primarily feed on gantuans and their relatives. Widespread, they occur over most of Serinarcta along with their prey, but are always associated with water.

Full entry with three new species of cold-blooded carnivores (one by Troll Man): sites.google.com/site/worldofs…

Serina on Patreon: www.patreon.com/sheatherius

Troll Man on Patreon (also has Serina content!) www.patreon.com/Troll_Man

Description

The late hothouse climate has made it unnecessary for some animals to retain a warm-blooded metabolism, as the environment is generally consistently warm. Predators in particular tend to lose their endothermy, if they had it at all - it is a very successful life strategy to sit and wait, then ambush passing prey animals, and such a lifestyle does not require a lot of energy. Skuorcs, those generalized tailed quadruped birds descended from ornimorphs, had relatively slow metabolisms to begin with. They have thrived in the global hothouse world 290 million years PE, diversifying into the widest range of forms of any hothouse bird order. Cygnosaurs and skullosi are the biggest of all, but other unrelated lineages exist which have also grown to formidable scale. And unlike even the fiercest gantuans, some are obligate carnivores, eating nothing but other animals.
The skuagators are a genus of huge, almost featherless skuorcs whose protective facial scales have migrated over the entire body, forming a thick and almost impenetrable armor of overlapping keratin scutes. Their only feathers are now limited to very short hair-like plumes between the scales on their bellies, and sharp quills under the throat of males which form some small display function. These scutes provide protection from one another, for these animals are incredibly territorial, but also from their very dangerous prey: skuagators, growing to 25 feet long in the biggest species, now primarily feed on gantuans and their relatives. Widespread, they occur over most of Serinarcta along with their prey, but are always associated with water.

Full entry with three new species of cold-blooded carnivores (one by Troll Man): sites.google.com/site/worldofs…

Serina on Patreon: www.patreon.com/sheatherius

Troll Man on Patreon (also has Serina content!) www.patreon.com/Troll_Man