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FILE: GLADIODON IGNEOSPINUS

Name meaning in Latin and Greek: FIRE SPINED SWORD TOOTH

TAXONOMY
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum:Vertebrata
Class: Synapsida
Superorder: Therapsida
Order: Therocephalia
Suborder: Akidnognathidae
Family: Euchambersia
Subfamily: Neoeuchambersia
Genus: Gladiodon
Species: Gladiodon Igneospinus

Length: 12 to 24 feet long on average (3.6 to 7.3 meters long)
Height: excluding the spines they stand between 6 to 9 feet in height (1.8 to 2.7 meters in height)
Weight: on average around one ton in weight (900 to 1000 kilograms in weight)
Ecological Niche: Stalking Ambush predator of the skull island highland ecosystems that specializes in hunting the other predators of its environment as well as large bodied species
Danger Level: MEDIUM mainly since their scarce nature means encounters with humans are mostly rare but their behavior and intelligence should be treated in a way like someone should in a encounter with a wild tiger that being to make yourself not worth the effort to kill for prey
Life Expectancy: 30 to 50 Years
Sexual Maturity: 4 to 6 years for both sexes

" up in the great spires of the kings one must expect to respect the rings of the fire spine for while few their nature and tenacity should be respected lest their spirit haunt you and your descendants till the end of days " ancient skull island proverb in regards to the gladiodon

Out of every possible ecosystem on earth no other can claim to have as dangerous, dynamic and complex of a food web than those found on skull island. Here while non avian dinosaurs make up the bulk of large megafauna they are only a part of a much bigger ecological system that is comprised of just about every notable species of plant and animal from as far back as the Cambrian period. the most prevalent being the highland and mountainous areas of the island which because of their nature of being fairly treacherous to traverse means it's one of the very few areas where large theropods haven't fully been able to take over. Here in the highlands the predators are a melting pot mix of animals that for one reason or another couldn't acclimate to the new reality that was theropod dinosaurs particularly the likes of Vastatosaurus Rex and the various clans and packs of Venatosaurs across the hidden island landmass and as such are a mix of species that once proliferated prior to the arrival of non-avian dinosaurs. therefore, most of the predator fauna is ancient even by the standards of skull island as while many are present it is in essence a realm of Permian synapsid descendants that overall represent the largest of their kind who only are able to exist without larger dinosaurs while much of their relatives across the island ironically live much in the way their descendants the mammals did in the Mesozoic. However this does not mean that they are vulnerable FAR from it as because of the context they have in essence monopolized the majority of large predator niches that has only recently been altered by the arrival in the last 6 million years by the Kong species who helped pave the way for larger new mammals to take hold but despite this one of the most successful synapsid predators that has not been affected by any of this might perhaps be more impactful in the ecology of its environment that even the sail backed malevolusaurus that creature being the GLADIODON IGNEOSPINUS.

Discovered near the tail end of the 1938 skull island expedition gladiodon is a species of large predator synapsid which at the time of its discovery was believed to have been a large and derived gorgonopsid that hunted in the stony highlands of skull island. Initially further expeditions were planned to return to the highlands in 1939 do to the severe losses incurred during the 1938 bloody ones hunt rendering further exploration to be delayed (See venatosaurus file for extra details) but the outbreak of world war 2 in Europe and Asia ultimately meant the foundation had to shelve the plans in response to the threat posed by the anomalous organizations working for the axis powers during the war that wouldn't see the foundation return not 3 years after the conflicts end in 1948 when expeditions resumed in the new cold war world. However the reality was the 1938 expedition would be the last time gladiodon would be spotted for nearly 50 years as the more difficult to climb mountain areas prior to the use of modern helicopters and drones meant finding gladiodon wouldn't happen until the late 1980s. When it was the foundation began delve back into the nature of it but because of how difficult it was to work in the mountains all of the current knowledge we have wouldn't be fully revealed until new genetic analysis and fossil bone beds in the mid 1990s did we really start to learn about the origins of gladiodon.

From just its appearance many people during their first observation of the animal would be forgiven for thinking it was a highly derived gorgonopsid on account of bearing similar teeth and head structure but that is really the only similarity to compare between the two animal groups. The reality is the gladiodon is apart of a group of synapsids called therocephalians who can trace their origins to the middle Permian who by and large were the main predator animals that held the placement of the small to medium sized carnivore niches during the second half of the Permian doing so in the presence of gorgonopsids who were the large apex carnivores who were generally the dominant carnivores in most Permian environments with few exceptions. As a whole their niches, which they had from the middle to late permian, would be occupied by modern mammalian carnivores from badgers and otters to wolves and hyenas where they were the most common medium sized predators of their environment with fossils of numerous species found all across the world dating to this period. However they like with many animals would see much of their diversity wiped out at the end of the permian along with 95% of all terrestrial life on the planet with only a single sub group surviving into the triassic period which even then barely held on and was believed to have finally gone extinct by the mid Triassic from a combination of climate change and competition from the various archosaurs that rose during the time period prior to the onset of the first true non avian dinosaurs.

However their story may have ended across the rest of the earth but on skull island they persevered. Because of them already living in the presence of larger carnivores like the gorgonopsids its believed that when they arrived on skull island they for the most part adapted remarkably well to the context of the island as their general size range meant they pretty much didn't have to worry about competition from the larger pelycosaur and gorgonopsid species who competed against one another and the anomalous conditions of skull island allowed them to become robust adaptable animals filling niches that as a whole mirror those of modern non skull island animals including river and sea otters, tree climbing big cats and just about every niche held my mammal carnivores smaller then central American jaguars as a whole with the entire Triassic period and first half of the Jurassic period being considered their golden age on skull island as they monopolized on all of the major medium sized predator niches with only certain exceptions.

This however would change during the mid Jurassic period when skull island first saw the arrival of a group of animals that still to this day define the ecological context of skull island large non avian dinosaurs. Unlike its contemporaries though the therocephalians because of occupying more niches that generally didn't conflict with larger carnivores meant that while they did adapt they for the most part were able to weather through the arrival of the dinosaurs relatively unaffected since they had already gained niches that, from our current understanding at least, were mostly not fully taken by non avian dinosaurs especially arboreal predator niches in the thick jungle canopies of skull island. while they did decline they for the most part maintained relatively decent numbers with most that evolved becoming like tree climbing big cats like leopards and jaguars in niches and generally avoided larger dinosaurs wherever they could and remained this way right through the rest of the mesozoic and into the cenozoic at which point they now have to and still compete against the new litany of arboreal predators in the jungle canopies such as the various species of big cat, giant snakes and the bizarre arboreal pterosaurs, theropods or most dangerous the skull island chimpanzees but that is for another file. Not all therocephalians became suited for the jungle however as they spread into all of the various different habitats on the island with one particular group that would give rise to gladiodon that group being the euchambersians.

Known from only a few specific fossil localities from South Africa the euchambersians were relative small animals by therocephalian standards with current estimates putting them at around the size of modern badgers and wolverines. while few specimens have been found generally its believed that like wolverines and badgers the genus of euchambersia were modest sized generalist animals who hunted smaller game such as reptiles and insects and smaller synapsids in the shadow of both their larger therocephalian cousins and the gorgonopsids. Like with many animals since the cambrian period they would have populations migrate onto the ever traveling island landmass of skull island sometime during the middle to late permian where they continued their way of life much the same totally oblivious to the fate of their kin by the end of the Permian. Because of their size they for the most part went through very little change as they were small enough to avoid serious predation by the other animals they shared their environment with on the island both those that arrived with them as well as prior endemics like the myriad of giant insects and derived reptiles. however, euchambersia as a genus would be one of the few lineages of therocephalian that would see a very distinct shift during the mid jurassic by new competition not from arriving non avian dinosaurs but their distant relatives that lived in the shadow of them that being multituberculate Mammals.

Living during the mesozoic the Multituberculates were a group of mammals that lived in the backdrop of ecosystems dominated by dinosaurs and are now believed to be the direct ancestors of modern groups of mammals prior to the end cretaceous extinction. While the notion of mammals in the age of dinosaurs being small and meek creatures that lived in trees, underground or in the shadows is somewhat accurate the truth was they were a very widespread and successful group capable of getting as big as modern possums today and had developed the ability to give live birth which would be the key factor for their success on skull island and the driving force that would lead to the evolution of gladiodon. While the exact date is unknown its believed the ancestors of gladiodon and the mammals that arrived during the mid jurassic with the non avian dinosaurs entered a fierce arms race along with the other creatures that held niches that were controlled by the multituberculates at the time. Ultimately the Multituberculates won out on account of the fact of being able to give live birth and mature to breeding age much quicker to the synapsids as their strategy meant many of the egg laying species were far more vulnerable and forced to either find niches that didn't overlap or move on to new areas with one group in particular heading up into the highlands and mountains of skull island which is believed to have occurred sometime during the early to mid cretaceous.

Here in the highlands the ancestors of gladiodon would find themselves in a land where for the most part large predators were all but nonexistent as most animals that weren't flying generally were as big as they were such as the ancestors of the bear croc and malevolusaurus. because of this the pressure to stay small animals vanished and soon enough they would evolve to better take advantage of this new context the first being their size as in the present the average Gladiodon can measure anywhere between 12 to 24 feet in length and stand tall enough to look a tall fully grown human dead in the eyes and taller with their build having their legs shift to where they are fully under the body to better be able to grip and hang on to the stony landscape with powerful claws. How they gained such a dramatic size increase was a source of much debate but now its believed that a combination of the nonexistence of any real large predators and generally more open area that made hiding unreliable caused them to increase in size mainly as a deterrent against other animals to avoid predation before the purpose shifted from deterrence to predation of other animals which would give rise to why the gladiodon holds the name of fire spined sword tooth.

Starting off with the skin over millions of years the gladiodon would develop bright red stripes on it's body which visually are similar in pattern to a Zebra or Tiger with the coloration being the most oddest choice as generally the mountainous plateaus and highland forests don't have any areas where any color except for brown and grey rocks and green foliage occur in mass abundance making many wonder why it had such a striking and noticeable color scheme. the reason is because for the most part the gladiodon gained the colors since by and large prior to the cenozoic most animals weren't able to see a full spectrum of color compared to those found in the lower areas do to less predators at the time meaning from the perspective of its contemporaries the coloration of gladiodon is almost nonexistent to the point that it has been directly compared to the stripe patterns of tigers who despite having very noticeable colored stripes live in areas where prey can't physically see the color save for what is closest to it that being green or brown the same as the environment around them. Thus the stripes serve the gladiodon in its niche as a silent ambush predator where they silently stalk prey getting as close as possible before lunging typically going for the neck or exposed vital area for a kill with their bodies as a whole becoming more muscular and built for physically pinning and wrestling animals to the ground which is more vital since the more rocky terrain makes long drawn out chases near impossible meaning unless a creature can gracefully traverse the unstable rocks or fly away with wings it means escaping is a very low chance certainty but for gladiodon it becomes into a guaranteed death thanks to its next feature that being its specialized teeth which is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it as the reality is the gladiodon is in fact VENOMOUS.

Since this facet of its biology was learned of since the 1980s much debate and question raged on how such a animal as big as it is have such a deadly biological mechanism as the largest known land dwelling venomous vertebrate alive today outside of skull island is the Komodo Dragon which doesn't get HALF as big as the smaller individuals of gladiodon recorded meaning venom is a biological trait seen more often in smaller animals not large 10 to 20 foot long creatures as that much venom would realistically hamper its ability to function on a biochemical level however the key to this would be revealed upon further examination of the ancestors of gladiodon the euchambersia. While debate is still ongoing based off examination of intact skulls euchambersia upon observation are now currently believed ( at the time of this files current editing) to have specialized organs in its skull that allowed it to inject venom making it one of the oldest known vertebrate land animals with the ability to use venom as a means of dispatching prey as well as explaining how venom exists in animals like platypuses and shrews which is believed to have been a trait possible but very infrequent in synapsids and their descendants the mammals. For gladiodon its believed that when its ancestors first arrived the lack of larger predators but many similar sized animals like the ancestors of malevolusaurus and the bear croc prompted its evolution to double down on its venom with the anomalous energy of skull island believed to have played a role in enabling its biology to get larger while maintaining the ability to store massive quantities of venom without poisoning itself.

Thus gladiodon holds the record of being the largest venomous terrestrial vertebrate on the planet with the main means of using its venom being two specialized fangs which overall appear much like the iconic saber teeth of animals like gorgonopsids or the saber toothed cats of the mesozoic but are large measuring anywhere between 1 to 3 feet in length with their physical structure being unique where like various species of snake they have miniature holes where when the teeth are impaled into flesh or major arteries the venom will spill out with the effects are instant and fast acting which once removed will cause blood to become unable to clot the wound and instead to force arteries and vessels to pump more blood and make the unfortunate animal bleed out where the combination of extreme blood loss and traumatic shock will finish the job for the gladiodon with the process overall visually resembling that of a komodo dragon bite where even if they escape they are on borrowed time with the difference in that it takes much faster for the venom of gladiodon to take effect do to directly injecting into the bloodstream whereas komodo dragons have to wait for the infectious bacteria that is with its venom to take hold as well as being far more fast acting as a whole as testing on the venom of gladiodon has shown that it is capable of bringing down animals as large as Asian elephants in as less then 30 minutes or less depending on how much was injected with it having been tested that a single drop can kill a adult human in less than 3 minutes without immediate medical assistance.

Generally animals smaller then gladiodon, Including humans< will be killed outright by the venom because of how potent it is but gladiodon uses it mainly on creatures large as or bigger then itself as despite its venom having the capacity to bring down almost any animal in its environment it is a specialized hunter of the other predators that inhabit the highland cloud forests and plateaus of skull island along with other larger herbivores. The reason for its preference for the other carnivores is believed to originate in the evolution of gladiodons ancestor as prior to the widespread arrival of the cloud forests its believed that competition with the other predators in the highlands was incredibly fierce due to the fewer resources available such as prey and space with it believed gladiodon developed its potent fast acting venom to take down the more active hunters of the highland who had more advanced metabolisms particularly the large sail backed malevolusaurus where it will regularly target and bring down large adults of the species a behavior believed to have been passed down during their early days living in the mountains as a means of ensuring they could catch prey without the chance of it escaping as well as eliminating possible competition before hunting other predators became its primary means of sustaining itself. Thus with no other predators with such a trait as it gladiodon evolved into becoming a important albeit rare specialist predator killer specifically targeting both young and adult individuals keeping their populations controlled to ensure resources in the mountains aren't depleted to such that they are considered the ONLY factor limiting the other predators from having their populations explode and deplete the prey populations of the highlands prior to the arrival of the Icarus tiger and the Kong species.

Meaning that gladiodon much like the bifurcatops and later on the kongs are an essential keystone species of the highlands and cloud forests helping to keep the populations of all the other carnivores in check as their venom ensures any animal bitten is guaranteed to die ensuring any other creatures first encounter with a gladiodon is also their last. Because of this the gladiodon is considered one of the more smarter predators of the highland with careful observations and tests showing their general intelligence it comparable to big cats like tigers or jaguars which is a necessary trait on account of the fact that the bulk of its diet is composed of creatures who were it not for its venom would very easily be capable of fighting a gladiodon and killing it thus generally gladiodon will tend to stalk and follow a unsuspecting predator until its in a area where it can dispatch it without difficulty particularly caves or small pastures near cliffsides ensuring they are unable to escape. As for which species the most common predator animal to fall to predation by gladiodon is the dimetrodon descended malevolusaurus where it's believed they competed directly with their ancestors during their arrival to the higher elevation of the skull island mountains with malevolusaurus because of how common they are believed to make up anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of its diet alone with the next most common carnivores to fall to its predation being bear crocs, asartis and the occasional terapusmordax or other member of its bizarre flying family that dwell in the mountains and whatever other large flying animals happens to stumble into its territory.

However it is still a hunter capable of bringing down any animal it chooses with it in particular whenever its not hunting predators focusing on larger herbivores that dwell in the mountains with the most noteworthy being the highly aggressive ceratopsian the chalyceratops. The reason is because like with the predators gladiodon's venom can take down ANY animal larger then itself because of the nature of forcing the blood vessels to bleed all the blood out thus many large animals like the aggressive chalyceratops whose sheer ferocity and build deters all the other predators of the mountains for gladiodon all they really need to do is land a good solid bite and pump in the venom and back away and let it do the work all without having to do the effort of actually engaging the ceratopsian which most often than not would fully be able to gore and kill a gladiodon one on one. Thus gladiodon is the ONLY non flying predator in the mountains that will target and hunt chalyceratops adults with it believed that 30 to 40 percent of adult chaylceratops fatalities that don't arise from intense interspecies competition or falling off the sides of the cliffs will result from being hunted by gladiodon with it believed that gladiodon are a contributing factor for the scarce nature of the highland ceratopsian on account of how effective they are at hit and run tactics on the adults where all they do is simply bite once and back away until the venom kills it making it one of the very few predators who can take down the tempermental horned dinosaur without too much worry of being injured so long as they can sneak up and land a good bite on it before it can properly react.

But despite having potent venom gladiodon is still a very intelligent animal who can take down prey even without the venom as through carefully controlled tests it is now believed they are considered one of the most smartest carnivores of the skull island highlands not to a extant like the lowland dwelling venatosaurs but in the highlands they are the uncontested killers of the predators that dwell in the mountains as their skulls got bigger as they evolved allowing their brains to also increase which size wise is around that of a grizzly bear with repeated observations showing they are able to remember certain areas and use them to plan ambushes to even being on the list of skull island animals able to recognize its own reflection in a mirror putting their intelligence above big cats but below higher primates. The exact motivation for what prompted this increase in its intelligence is still a fairly debated topic but in general the consensus is that do to no longer having to be in the shadow of larger carnivores but directly compete with animals of similar body masses to it the ancestors of gladiodon not only doubled down on venom but also focused into becoming more intelligent as a way of making up for one of its short falls that being its reproduction

Because they were synapsids prior to the arrival of multituberculates the euchambersians and basically all other small egg laying synapsids never abandoned the practice of laying eggs as generally while it was expected not all offspring would survive multituberculates had species whose entire niche was to feasting on the eggs of other animals in mass meaning that the reason why the ancestors of gladiodon went to the mountains was because they weren't able to adapt to the new reality of mass feeding egg stealing mammals as their arrival is considered the point where the majority of the egg stealing guild of skull island first started to become prominent meaning it's believed that the population of gladiodon ancestors, as well as the majority of skull islands egg laying synapsids in general, could no longer lay eggs without risk unlike dinosaurs who for the most part layed so many that they couldn't all be eaten. What this would mean is that in response the synapsids including the ancestors of gladiodon would actually undergo a collective change where it's believed the anomalous energies of skull island altered their physiology to allow for synapsids such as gladiodon to now give live birth reducing the amount they could have but greatly increasing their odds of survival with the only exceptions being the synapsids who generally had eggs in mass numbers such as the malevolusaurus and the insectivorous termitosaurus where both have more offspring with no effort at all put in to raise them as their offspring are born without much need to raise them.

As a result gladiodon and the majority of skull islands synapsids have evolved more derived and advanced parental care for their offspring as unlike the non-avian dinosaurs they live with they simply are unable to take as many risks or leave it to fate like they can meaning that they have to put more effort into ensuring their offspring can survive on their own in a landscape as dangerous and competitive as skull island resulting in gladiodon developing much more advanced interspecies behaviors and relationships that can be directly compared to modern mammals found outside of skull island. For gladiodon in particular the behaviors it exhibits seem to be correspondent to that of the Siberian tiger found in the Russian far east which has a fairly similar niche to the gladiodon hunting in a more elevated area and living with more predators then others of its genus does including Russian brown bears and wolves. in fact its so uncannily similar that gladiodon among skull island researchers has been dubbed " the synapsid tiger" on account of its near identical set of behaviors and mannerisms to the striped big cat found across much of Asia.

The first of these is its vocalizations as due to having to get more larger its vocal chords have evolved to allow it to emit a wide array of noises both to intimidate other predators as well as communicate with others of its kind. From observers in the field the noises are said to be like a mix of the low rumblings and growls of lions mixed with the hisses and bellows of crocodiles with them actually using their noises to actually communicate to one another using their sounds for everything from reinforcement of territories they hold to intimidating rivals to expressing desires to mate. However their primary means of interspecies identification comes in their stripes as well as the spines on their back. made from a specialized mix of Keratin and cartilage the spines of gladiodon overall are the main distinguishing feature of the animal with the smallest spines measuring only a foot long while the largest can exceed the height of a normal human. They serve both for display as well as for communication as they are covered with skin but very loosely to enable them to move them around and shake them both side to side and back and forth. On average a normal gladiodon is expected to have anywhere between 7 to 9 of these spines going from the largest to the smallest along the back to the tail with cases of exceptional individuals having as many as 12 to 15 being recorded but are more rare. here the term igneospinus comes from the color of the spines where they are colored a very bright red with bits of orange and yellow to give it a fiery appearance with only the males having this coloration while females only have a more darker maroon color which is the main way of telling the genders apart as males and females are all but identical save for the color difference. From a first impression many would think that such elaborate spines on a ambush predator would give away its presence but luckily they like their stripes are not able to be seen as most animals in the highlands save for specific exceptions like the kongs can't see the color red so from the perspective of many animals if a gladiodon is behind a rock it will generally be seen as either part of the rock or a very bizarre kind of plant which are known to frequent the highlands.

The main reason the males have a more fiery pattern is to mainly attract females with the females choosing whoever has the most brightest and dazzling spines where the males will also strut and do various elaborate moves with its spines to further impress them with the mating ritual overall appearing to incorporate aspects of various species of reptiles with that of tigers with only the mating season being the sole time of year where one can find many gladiodon. As a whole gladiodon is fairly solitary species where they except for rearing offspring will generally live their whole lives alone mainly since the more unique nature of the mountains means they are not a social species of animal though cases of some individuals mating for life are heard of its generally a fairly rare occurrence and only happens in highland areas that are particularly productive enough to support the pair. For normal gladiodon the male and female will stay for around 1 to 2 weeks where they will spend the time together mating and hunting together until the female has been fertilized enough where they both go their separate ways. after which after a gestation period of roughly 3 months the gladiodon mother will give live birth in a cave doing so anywhere between 2 to 4 gladiodon infants who are often dubbed " stripe spiners " by specific researchers where they are able to walk and move around just hours after they are born. Here they will be raised by their mother who will teach them everything they need to know to survive where they will start off with smaller animals like lost baby bifurcatops or various highland goat and deer species before their venom has developed enough to be able to take down larger area where they will then leave after 2 to 3 years already big enough to survive on their own.

How exactly this process came to be is unknown but by and large the stress of more carnivores living in the mountains coupled with their population being reduced by the multituberculates meant the ancestors of gladiodon no longer could simply have many offspring and hope some survive thus the evolution of them shifted and the behavior of parental care arose in order to maximize their odds of survival with it succeeding to such a extant that all but one in a clutch of gladiodon can be expected to make it to adulthood which may not sound impressive but for a landscape as hostile and dangerous as skull island its as high of a achievement that can be attained for a carnivore no less. Going back to a prior comparison the animal that gladiodon shares most in terms of its general niche is the Siberian tiger that dwells in the russian far east that one roamed across much of manchuria and all of korea prior to their populations being culled and conservations efforts ensuring their survival in the wild. the primary reason for the comparison is mainly do to their habitats as the Siberian tiger is the most highest elevation dwelling species of tiger in a way like the gladiodon given how high of a elevated environment the mountains of skull island are who themselves are known to directly compete with and kill siberian wolves and russian brown bears just like how gladiodon deals with all the other carnivores of its habitat primarily the malevolusaurus.

However another commonality it shares is the scarcity it shares with it. because they shifted to giving live birth fairly early in their evolution gladiodon has and always will be outnumbered as they are not a numerous predator species meaning they are not as able to rebound their population much like how malevolusaurus does meaning population shifts and bottlenecks have always been a major point of concern for the predatory animal. However this would actually help them as since their ability to replenish their numbers was slowed means that they hold no risk of severely outnumbering any of the other carnivores do to how potent their venom is and they primarily target the young easier to kill members of the various highland predators with adults being a more elaborate hunt they pan out meaning the bulk of gladiodon's diet is young predators who haven't even reached sexual maturity. That and gladiodon are entirely nomadic predators who constantly migrate throughout the higher elevated areas of the island to ensure they don't deplete the resources of a area and as such have wide distributions even though they are fairly rare animals to come across.

for the rest of its history it would for the rest of the cenozoic be the primary creature that kept the populations of the other mountain dwelling carnivores in check as well cull any larger animals from over depleting areas of resources as it's venom became so advanced that no adaptation the other animals had could really counter it making gladiodon the uncontested killer of carnivores of the highlands with it persevering even when the bifurcatops arrived and helped to spread the highland cloud forests to help fully give more life to the ecosystem but everything for gladiodon and the other animals of the mountains would change 6 million years ago with the arrival of skull islands most famous denizen MEGAPRIMATUS KONG. Arriving after their victory against the skullcrawlers the kongs arrived into the mountains in order to recuperate their losses and avoid competing with the v Rexes who were even more population starved then they were. for gladiodon the Kongs were up to that point the largest animal to arrive in the mountains who were able to traverse even the most difficult areas thanks to them still possessing the ability to climb. Based off behaviours observed as well as fossils because of being one of the more intelligent carnivores the gladiodon were fairly quick to conclude that their odds of taking down a kong without incurring the wrath of the others were abysmal thus they actually respected the new giant gorillas who now resided in the uplands though some fossils have been found of specific individuals getting killed by the great apes implying that only a few got killed to prove the point they had no chance.

In the present typically gladiodon live alone but will generally avoid areas with troops of megaprimatus kong at all cost as the giant apes are fully able to see the spectrum of colors like humans can and are easily able to notice the bright and brilliant coloration of the large synapsid. For a long time there was much debate on why gladiodon never hunted the kongs as while the adult kongs are generally more dangerous the infants even though they weigh as much as cars do fall in the category of prey that could be consumed by the carnivore. the primary reason is because of its hunting method as normally gladiodon is best suited for hunting animals who are mainly alone which are most of the other carnivores in the highlands and the kongs are a very social species meaning that with so man eyes and ears its more likely to be noticed by the massive primates. the second which was found out later would be the most surprising as it turns out the kongs are actually one of the very few animals who are not entirely affected by the venom of gladiodon. to give a synopsis the immune systems of the kongs because of the unique evolutionary process they went through became far more advanced at dealing and getting rid of foreign contaminants a trace necessary to avoid infection given how many kongs frequently got slashed and bitten by the various large predators on the island particularly the jaws of the vastatosaurus rex their first rivals before then the large skull crawlers. during the skull crawler war ,which is discussed in further detail in the skull crawler profile and the still being revised kong file, its believed that during the over 1 million year long struggle the kongs gained a more potent and stronger immune system in direct response to the great frequency of being bitten and slashed by the teeth and claws of the massive hypervores so as to eliminate any risk of dying from infection meaning that by the time they colonized the mountains 6 million years ago the immune systems of the kongs were able to fully expel the venom though based off recorded reactions the kongs feel great pain when the venom is injected into them with the closest comparison that has been brought up being what happens when a human is stung by a barb of specific species of sting ray where generally it will be very painful but thanks to their advanced immune systems the kongs generally suffer no real fatal effects and will generally be expected to have where the area that was bitten become swollen for a bit with a visible mark that will be expelling the venom from anywhere between a few days to a couple weeks depending on how much was injected with the kongs able to fully heal and recover from it with it now believed the first gladiodons who tried to do it this way ended up wither dying in the grip of the apes or passing on the knowledge to NOT hunt them to their offspring which carries on to this day though kong troops generally will allow them to be wherever they are at as gladiodon are intelligent enough to not do anything and will normally be kept to get rid of other predators nearby just so the apes can forage and rest without having to worry about smaller carnivores who might target the infants with it being believed that ancient gladiodon tried to target infant kongs and did manage to kill a few do to them not having as developed immune systems like their parents but since gladiodons are always alone it meant the group nature of the kongs meant they always killed the gladiodon who took the life of their infant and as such gladiodon learned to not bother with the apes as ultimately learning to accept the now dominant kongs would prove to benefit them.

With them quickly accepting the new context of the kongs in their environment they were on of the few species of predator animals that suffered no significant population decline by the giant apes as they were even then so few that they were able to avoid being culled unlike other species like malevolusaurus but they would actually benefit from the kongs now making their homes in the highland forests as the giant apes helped to spread more of the cloud jungles and cleared areas enough for more larger herbivores to migrate into the highlands giving gladiodon more large herbivore prey options besides its main herbivore prey adult chalyceratops but during this time they would then run into the first significant mammalian carnivore that would inhabit the highlands that being the ICARUS TIGER. while covered in its own file the Icarus tiger is by far the largest species of tiger known to exist and is one of the most rarest animals seen on skull island where we have only begun to fully understand them but luckily thanks to very rare fossils sites we have so far managed to piece together a basic idea of how gladiodon and the icarus tiger first reacted and then managed to adapt to coexisting with one another. to simplify it the icarus tiger while as large as the gladiodon avoided competition with it by specifically hunting in more cooler barren areas where only the mammals that if followed into the highlands resided where most of the other synapsid and reptile based predators hadn't fully got accustomed to the lower temperatures meaning the icarus tiger will avoid areas with gladiodon and vice versa with the icarus tiger being one of the very few carnivores they don't hunt do to the fact their territories rarely if ever overlap but when they do they mostly avoid one another as they hunt different enough prey that they don't see the other as competition for resources as well as the fact they are as rare if not rarer then the gladiodon itself.

Like with all animals on skull island gladiodon would encounter modern humans which it for the most part has very few if any negative relationships with. Because of being fairly rare animals human gladiodon encounters are fairly low in terms of occurring being less frequent then encountering a v rex which in turn means that gladiodon don't encounter humans enough to consider them as prey meaning it has one of the lowest human death counts out of any carnivore in the skull island highlands with deaths mainly occurring because of it deeming the trespassing humans as a threat to their infants or out of starvation with the latter being rare. Thankfully no reports or stories of gladiodon becoming man eaters seem to exist as do to their focus on hunting more larger animals humans generally aren't seen as worth the effort despite the fact they can tear apart a grown human with relative ease. Therefore any encounter with a gladiodon should be treated like how one would encounter a wild tiger that being to remain calm and back away slowly while proving your not a threat. As for its history with humans theirs would begin like with many with the humans of the first skull island civilization who even then seemed to have few records on them showing that they were as rare as they are now which meant generally encounters were fairly low and infrequent meaning no real loss of life occurred to warrant any grudges against the fire spines thus they were left alone and were not villainized like how the malevolusaurus or terapusmordax were by the ancient skull islanders with only the specific mountain settlements and villages having any real perception of them even when the civilization collapsed.

In the current culture of the skull island people do to their nature of predator hunters the gladiodons are actually venerated by the mountain villages who actually see them as vital beings who help cull animals like malevolusaurus and as such they are regarded in a more positive light with the act of hunting them being only allowed if you are of high status such as a chieftain or related family and even then its dangerous prospect with those who succeed only being allowed to do so once in their life as the act of killing more then one is seen as sinful as just one already proves how capable one is. when gladiodon is hunted the most prized component most sought is its venom where the mountain tribes have actually managed to use very specific brewing and boiling to alter the chemical makeup of the venom to where it is nowhere near as deadly mainly as a form of tranquilizer or sleep medicine which they use to knock out animals they don't wish to kill or help put to sleep those who are hurt as a form of natural anesthesia which through lab testing has been found to serve as a actual viable alternative to conventional anesthesia used in most forms of modern 21st century medicine. However this substance is rare to come across and repeated experiments to make a artificial version of the gladiodon's venom while ongoing has not had much success by the foundation meaning getting the venom is very difficult with the skull islanders mainly extracting the substance whenever a gladiodon dies or finishes eating a carcass and any that is left is retrieved for use which is generally the most done option and the most safest that doesn't put one in unnecessary risk.

regardless of its origin or the use of its venom the gladiodon ultimately should be seen as a crucial figure in the health of the highlands as without them nothing else could contain the other dangerous carnivores of the highlands from exploding in number and spreading across the rest of the island.

HELLO EVERYONE! theperson7 here with another skull island profile and this one I can say while delayed has a explanation for it. ORIGINALLY i was going to post the bifurcatops file was basically near finished but I was doing so on my IPAD and for some unknown reason it decided to crash and lost ALL the stuff I typed which I will let you picture the absolute infuriation I felt as it was a LONG one as it delved particularly into the mythology of skull island which I am slowly creating to basically give it a level of depth comparable to the mythologies of greece, egypt of the norse culture which basically made me rage quit for some time. So after doing some calming down i decided to basically shelve it and focus instead on something else to calm down so I spent more time physically drawing more sketches who now all just need lore and good to upload with gladiodon being the one i chose both because It was the next mountain based creature as well as non dinosaur. Now for gladiodon itself this one was a very peculiar creature to try to reimagine especially given how in the lore of the peter jackson's king kong the mountains had more carnivores then herbivores which from a ecological perspective isn't a sustainable ecosystem thus i went for diving into giving gladiodon more purpose as being a predator killer to make sure their was at least some amount of natural balance. next came choosing it's origin which was very difficult as like many i was tempted to make it a gorgonopsid but I chose not to on account of the fact my goal for my interpretation of skull island is to give more definitive origins and ancestries for most of the islands animals so after doing some searching of various permian carnivores I stumbled upon the euchambersia and how they were venomous and the lightbulb went off as with venom it means you now can take down dangerous animals without the risk of getting injured as one image from the world of kong book shows a gladiodon over a dead chalyceratops and figured that with such dangerous prey it needs a means to take it down reliably and safely so in essence the gladiodon can basically be boiled down to the notion of " What if Tigers were venemous?" and as such I looked up the siberian tiger and used its behaviour for inspiration mainly on account of living with other predators like wolves and bears which gladiodon shares a similar context just with different animals. As for design the general stripe pattern remained the same with the primary alteration to basically look more synapsid like as the original basically looked like a reptilian tiger thus it got a more realistic makeover with a shorter tail and more upright posture like a tiger. Overall the gladiodon represents the first of many animals who for the most part come from very obscure animals in the fossil record which i find personally interesting as the idea of it being descended from the firt confirmed animal on land to use venom really appealed to me plus it would make it leagues more dangerous then its original version. as for what's next because of what happened to the bifurcatops lore i basically have decided i will be at least partially taking a break from mountain animals mainly to give others a spotlight until I can say i am ready to begin redoing the whole lore for bifurcatops all over again so expect a very infrequent pattern of animals from various ecosystems. Other then that be sure to fave and leave a comment teling me what you all think of this as any feedback is appreciated so have a wonderful day wherever you may be at in the world.

Description
System loading…..archive group “ Exe. Skull Island synapsids” Selected….. file chosen input proper identification and password……identification and password ACCEPTED…..opening now

FILE: GLADIODON IGNEOSPINUS

Name meaning in Latin and Greek: FIRE SPINED SWORD TOOTH

TAXONOMY
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum:Vertebrata
Class: Synapsida
Superorder: Therapsida
Order: Therocephalia
Suborder: Akidnognathidae
Family: Euchambersia
Subfamily: Neoeuchambersia
Genus: Gladiodon
Species: Gladiodon Igneospinus

Length: 12 to 24 feet long on average (3.6 to 7.3 meters long)
Height: excluding the spines they stand between 6 to 9 feet in height (1.8 to 2.7 meters in height)
Weight: on average around one ton in weight (900 to 1000 kilograms in weight)
Ecological Niche: Stalking Ambush predator of the skull island highland ecosystems that specializes in hunting the other predators of its environment as well as large bodied species
Danger Level: MEDIUM mainly since their scarce nature means encounters with humans are mostly rare but their behavior and intelligence should be treated in a way like someone should in a encounter with a wild tiger that being to make yourself not worth the effort to kill for prey
Life Expectancy: 30 to 50 Years
Sexual Maturity: 4 to 6 years for both sexes

" up in the great spires of the kings one must expect to respect the rings of the fire spine for while few their nature and tenacity should be respected lest their spirit haunt you and your descendants till the end of days " ancient skull island proverb in regards to the gladiodon

Out of every possible ecosystem on earth no other can claim to have as dangerous, dynamic and complex of a food web than those found on skull island. Here while non avian dinosaurs make up the bulk of large megafauna they are only a part of a much bigger ecological system that is comprised of just about every notable species of plant and animal from as far back as the Cambrian period. the most prevalent being the highland and mountainous areas of the island which because of their nature of being fairly treacherous to traverse means it's one of the very few areas where large theropods haven't fully been able to take over. Here in the highlands the predators are a melting pot mix of animals that for one reason or another couldn't acclimate to the new reality that was theropod dinosaurs particularly the likes of Vastatosaurus Rex and the various clans and packs of Venatosaurs across the hidden island landmass and as such are a mix of species that once proliferated prior to the arrival of non-avian dinosaurs. therefore, most of the predator fauna is ancient even by the standards of skull island as while many are present it is in essence a realm of Permian synapsid descendants that overall represent the largest of their kind who only are able to exist without larger dinosaurs while much of their relatives across the island ironically live much in the way their descendants the mammals did in the Mesozoic. However this does not mean that they are vulnerable FAR from it as because of the context they have in essence monopolized the majority of large predator niches that has only recently been altered by the arrival in the last 6 million years by the Kong species who helped pave the way for larger new mammals to take hold but despite this one of the most successful synapsid predators that has not been affected by any of this might perhaps be more impactful in the ecology of its environment that even the sail backed malevolusaurus that creature being the GLADIODON IGNEOSPINUS.

Discovered near the tail end of the 1938 skull island expedition gladiodon is a species of large predator synapsid which at the time of its discovery was believed to have been a large and derived gorgonopsid that hunted in the stony highlands of skull island. Initially further expeditions were planned to return to the highlands in 1939 do to the severe losses incurred during the 1938 bloody ones hunt rendering further exploration to be delayed (See venatosaurus file for extra details) but the outbreak of world war 2 in Europe and Asia ultimately meant the foundation had to shelve the plans in response to the threat posed by the anomalous organizations working for the axis powers during the war that wouldn't see the foundation return not 3 years after the conflicts end in 1948 when expeditions resumed in the new cold war world. However the reality was the 1938 expedition would be the last time gladiodon would be spotted for nearly 50 years as the more difficult to climb mountain areas prior to the use of modern helicopters and drones meant finding gladiodon wouldn't happen until the late 1980s. When it was the foundation began delve back into the nature of it but because of how difficult it was to work in the mountains all of the current knowledge we have wouldn't be fully revealed until new genetic analysis and fossil bone beds in the mid 1990s did we really start to learn about the origins of gladiodon.

From just its appearance many people during their first observation of the animal would be forgiven for thinking it was a highly derived gorgonopsid on account of bearing similar teeth and head structure but that is really the only similarity to compare between the two animal groups. The reality is the gladiodon is apart of a group of synapsids called therocephalians who can trace their origins to the middle Permian who by and large were the main predator animals that held the placement of the small to medium sized carnivore niches during the second half of the Permian doing so in the presence of gorgonopsids who were the large apex carnivores who were generally the dominant carnivores in most Permian environments with few exceptions. As a whole their niches, which they had from the middle to late permian, would be occupied by modern mammalian carnivores from badgers and otters to wolves and hyenas where they were the most common medium sized predators of their environment with fossils of numerous species found all across the world dating to this period. However they like with many animals would see much of their diversity wiped out at the end of the permian along with 95% of all terrestrial life on the planet with only a single sub group surviving into the triassic period which even then barely held on and was believed to have finally gone extinct by the mid Triassic from a combination of climate change and competition from the various archosaurs that rose during the time period prior to the onset of the first true non avian dinosaurs.

However their story may have ended across the rest of the earth but on skull island they persevered. Because of them already living in the presence of larger carnivores like the gorgonopsids its believed that when they arrived on skull island they for the most part adapted remarkably well to the context of the island as their general size range meant they pretty much didn't have to worry about competition from the larger pelycosaur and gorgonopsid species who competed against one another and the anomalous conditions of skull island allowed them to become robust adaptable animals filling niches that as a whole mirror those of modern non skull island animals including river and sea otters, tree climbing big cats and just about every niche held my mammal carnivores smaller then central American jaguars as a whole with the entire Triassic period and first half of the Jurassic period being considered their golden age on skull island as they monopolized on all of the major medium sized predator niches with only certain exceptions.

This however would change during the mid Jurassic period when skull island first saw the arrival of a group of animals that still to this day define the ecological context of skull island large non avian dinosaurs. Unlike its contemporaries though the therocephalians because of occupying more niches that generally didn't conflict with larger carnivores meant that while they did adapt they for the most part were able to weather through the arrival of the dinosaurs relatively unaffected since they had already gained niches that, from our current understanding at least, were mostly not fully taken by non avian dinosaurs especially arboreal predator niches in the thick jungle canopies of skull island. while they did decline they for the most part maintained relatively decent numbers with most that evolved becoming like tree climbing big cats like leopards and jaguars in niches and generally avoided larger dinosaurs wherever they could and remained this way right through the rest of the mesozoic and into the cenozoic at which point they now have to and still compete against the new litany of arboreal predators in the jungle canopies such as the various species of big cat, giant snakes and the bizarre arboreal pterosaurs, theropods or most dangerous the skull island chimpanzees but that is for another file. Not all therocephalians became suited for the jungle however as they spread into all of the various different habitats on the island with one particular group that would give rise to gladiodon that group being the euchambersians.

Known from only a few specific fossil localities from South Africa the euchambersians were relative small animals by therocephalian standards with current estimates putting them at around the size of modern badgers and wolverines. while few specimens have been found generally its believed that like wolverines and badgers the genus of euchambersia were modest sized generalist animals who hunted smaller game such as reptiles and insects and smaller synapsids in the shadow of both their larger therocephalian cousins and the gorgonopsids. Like with many animals since the cambrian period they would have populations migrate onto the ever traveling island landmass of skull island sometime during the middle to late permian where they continued their way of life much the same totally oblivious to the fate of their kin by the end of the Permian. Because of their size they for the most part went through very little change as they were small enough to avoid serious predation by the other animals they shared their environment with on the island both those that arrived with them as well as prior endemics like the myriad of giant insects and derived reptiles. however, euchambersia as a genus would be one of the few lineages of therocephalian that would see a very distinct shift during the mid jurassic by new competition not from arriving non avian dinosaurs but their distant relatives that lived in the shadow of them that being multituberculate Mammals.

Living during the mesozoic the Multituberculates were a group of mammals that lived in the backdrop of ecosystems dominated by dinosaurs and are now believed to be the direct ancestors of modern groups of mammals prior to the end cretaceous extinction. While the notion of mammals in the age of dinosaurs being small and meek creatures that lived in trees, underground or in the shadows is somewhat accurate the truth was they were a very widespread and successful group capable of getting as big as modern possums today and had developed the ability to give live birth which would be the key factor for their success on skull island and the driving force that would lead to the evolution of gladiodon. While the exact date is unknown its believed the ancestors of gladiodon and the mammals that arrived during the mid jurassic with the non avian dinosaurs entered a fierce arms race along with the other creatures that held niches that were controlled by the multituberculates at the time. Ultimately the Multituberculates won out on account of the fact of being able to give live birth and mature to breeding age much quicker to the synapsids as their strategy meant many of the egg laying species were far more vulnerable and forced to either find niches that didn't overlap or move on to new areas with one group in particular heading up into the highlands and mountains of skull island which is believed to have occurred sometime during the early to mid cretaceous.

Here in the highlands the ancestors of gladiodon would find themselves in a land where for the most part large predators were all but nonexistent as most animals that weren't flying generally were as big as they were such as the ancestors of the bear croc and malevolusaurus. because of this the pressure to stay small animals vanished and soon enough they would evolve to better take advantage of this new context the first being their size as in the present the average Gladiodon can measure anywhere between 12 to 24 feet in length and stand tall enough to look a tall fully grown human dead in the eyes and taller with their build having their legs shift to where they are fully under the body to better be able to grip and hang on to the stony landscape with powerful claws. How they gained such a dramatic size increase was a source of much debate but now its believed that a combination of the nonexistence of any real large predators and generally more open area that made hiding unreliable caused them to increase in size mainly as a deterrent against other animals to avoid predation before the purpose shifted from deterrence to predation of other animals which would give rise to why the gladiodon holds the name of fire spined sword tooth.

Starting off with the skin over millions of years the gladiodon would develop bright red stripes on it's body which visually are similar in pattern to a Zebra or Tiger with the coloration being the most oddest choice as generally the mountainous plateaus and highland forests don't have any areas where any color except for brown and grey rocks and green foliage occur in mass abundance making many wonder why it had such a striking and noticeable color scheme. the reason is because for the most part the gladiodon gained the colors since by and large prior to the cenozoic most animals weren't able to see a full spectrum of color compared to those found in the lower areas do to less predators at the time meaning from the perspective of its contemporaries the coloration of gladiodon is almost nonexistent to the point that it has been directly compared to the stripe patterns of tigers who despite having very noticeable colored stripes live in areas where prey can't physically see the color save for what is closest to it that being green or brown the same as the environment around them. Thus the stripes serve the gladiodon in its niche as a silent ambush predator where they silently stalk prey getting as close as possible before lunging typically going for the neck or exposed vital area for a kill with their bodies as a whole becoming more muscular and built for physically pinning and wrestling animals to the ground which is more vital since the more rocky terrain makes long drawn out chases near impossible meaning unless a creature can gracefully traverse the unstable rocks or fly away with wings it means escaping is a very low chance certainty but for gladiodon it becomes into a guaranteed death thanks to its next feature that being its specialized teeth which is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it as the reality is the gladiodon is in fact VENOMOUS.

Since this facet of its biology was learned of since the 1980s much debate and question raged on how such a animal as big as it is have such a deadly biological mechanism as the largest known land dwelling venomous vertebrate alive today outside of skull island is the Komodo Dragon which doesn't get HALF as big as the smaller individuals of gladiodon recorded meaning venom is a biological trait seen more often in smaller animals not large 10 to 20 foot long creatures as that much venom would realistically hamper its ability to function on a biochemical level however the key to this would be revealed upon further examination of the ancestors of gladiodon the euchambersia. While debate is still ongoing based off examination of intact skulls euchambersia upon observation are now currently believed ( at the time of this files current editing) to have specialized organs in its skull that allowed it to inject venom making it one of the oldest known vertebrate land animals with the ability to use venom as a means of dispatching prey as well as explaining how venom exists in animals like platypuses and shrews which is believed to have been a trait possible but very infrequent in synapsids and their descendants the mammals. For gladiodon its believed that when its ancestors first arrived the lack of larger predators but many similar sized animals like the ancestors of malevolusaurus and the bear croc prompted its evolution to double down on its venom with the anomalous energy of skull island believed to have played a role in enabling its biology to get larger while maintaining the ability to store massive quantities of venom without poisoning itself.

Thus gladiodon holds the record of being the largest venomous terrestrial vertebrate on the planet with the main means of using its venom being two specialized fangs which overall appear much like the iconic saber teeth of animals like gorgonopsids or the saber toothed cats of the mesozoic but are large measuring anywhere between 1 to 3 feet in length with their physical structure being unique where like various species of snake they have miniature holes where when the teeth are impaled into flesh or major arteries the venom will spill out with the effects are instant and fast acting which once removed will cause blood to become unable to clot the wound and instead to force arteries and vessels to pump more blood and make the unfortunate animal bleed out where the combination of extreme blood loss and traumatic shock will finish the job for the gladiodon with the process overall visually resembling that of a komodo dragon bite where even if they escape they are on borrowed time with the difference in that it takes much faster for the venom of gladiodon to take effect do to directly injecting into the bloodstream whereas komodo dragons have to wait for the infectious bacteria that is with its venom to take hold as well as being far more fast acting as a whole as testing on the venom of gladiodon has shown that it is capable of bringing down animals as large as Asian elephants in as less then 30 minutes or less depending on how much was injected with it having been tested that a single drop can kill a adult human in less than 3 minutes without immediate medical assistance.

Generally animals smaller then gladiodon, Including humans< will be killed outright by the venom because of how potent it is but gladiodon uses it mainly on creatures large as or bigger then itself as despite its venom having the capacity to bring down almost any animal in its environment it is a specialized hunter of the other predators that inhabit the highland cloud forests and plateaus of skull island along with other larger herbivores. The reason for its preference for the other carnivores is believed to originate in the evolution of gladiodons ancestor as prior to the widespread arrival of the cloud forests its believed that competition with the other predators in the highlands was incredibly fierce due to the fewer resources available such as prey and space with it believed gladiodon developed its potent fast acting venom to take down the more active hunters of the highland who had more advanced metabolisms particularly the large sail backed malevolusaurus where it will regularly target and bring down large adults of the species a behavior believed to have been passed down during their early days living in the mountains as a means of ensuring they could catch prey without the chance of it escaping as well as eliminating possible competition before hunting other predators became its primary means of sustaining itself. Thus with no other predators with such a trait as it gladiodon evolved into becoming a important albeit rare specialist predator killer specifically targeting both young and adult individuals keeping their populations controlled to ensure resources in the mountains aren't depleted to such that they are considered the ONLY factor limiting the other predators from having their populations explode and deplete the prey populations of the highlands prior to the arrival of the Icarus tiger and the Kong species.

Meaning that gladiodon much like the bifurcatops and later on the kongs are an essential keystone species of the highlands and cloud forests helping to keep the populations of all the other carnivores in check as their venom ensures any animal bitten is guaranteed to die ensuring any other creatures first encounter with a gladiodon is also their last. Because of this the gladiodon is considered one of the more smarter predators of the highland with careful observations and tests showing their general intelligence it comparable to big cats like tigers or jaguars which is a necessary trait on account of the fact that the bulk of its diet is composed of creatures who were it not for its venom would very easily be capable of fighting a gladiodon and killing it thus generally gladiodon will tend to stalk and follow a unsuspecting predator until its in a area where it can dispatch it without difficulty particularly caves or small pastures near cliffsides ensuring they are unable to escape. As for which species the most common predator animal to fall to predation by gladiodon is the dimetrodon descended malevolusaurus where it's believed they competed directly with their ancestors during their arrival to the higher elevation of the skull island mountains with malevolusaurus because of how common they are believed to make up anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of its diet alone with the next most common carnivores to fall to its predation being bear crocs, asartis and the occasional terapusmordax or other member of its bizarre flying family that dwell in the mountains and whatever other large flying animals happens to stumble into its territory.

However it is still a hunter capable of bringing down any animal it chooses with it in particular whenever its not hunting predators focusing on larger herbivores that dwell in the mountains with the most noteworthy being the highly aggressive ceratopsian the chalyceratops. The reason is because like with the predators gladiodon's venom can take down ANY animal larger then itself because of the nature of forcing the blood vessels to bleed all the blood out thus many large animals like the aggressive chalyceratops whose sheer ferocity and build deters all the other predators of the mountains for gladiodon all they really need to do is land a good solid bite and pump in the venom and back away and let it do the work all without having to do the effort of actually engaging the ceratopsian which most often than not would fully be able to gore and kill a gladiodon one on one. Thus gladiodon is the ONLY non flying predator in the mountains that will target and hunt chalyceratops adults with it believed that 30 to 40 percent of adult chaylceratops fatalities that don't arise from intense interspecies competition or falling off the sides of the cliffs will result from being hunted by gladiodon with it believed that gladiodon are a contributing factor for the scarce nature of the highland ceratopsian on account of how effective they are at hit and run tactics on the adults where all they do is simply bite once and back away until the venom kills it making it one of the very few predators who can take down the tempermental horned dinosaur without too much worry of being injured so long as they can sneak up and land a good bite on it before it can properly react.

But despite having potent venom gladiodon is still a very intelligent animal who can take down prey even without the venom as through carefully controlled tests it is now believed they are considered one of the most smartest carnivores of the skull island highlands not to a extant like the lowland dwelling venatosaurs but in the highlands they are the uncontested killers of the predators that dwell in the mountains as their skulls got bigger as they evolved allowing their brains to also increase which size wise is around that of a grizzly bear with repeated observations showing they are able to remember certain areas and use them to plan ambushes to even being on the list of skull island animals able to recognize its own reflection in a mirror putting their intelligence above big cats but below higher primates. The exact motivation for what prompted this increase in its intelligence is still a fairly debated topic but in general the consensus is that do to no longer having to be in the shadow of larger carnivores but directly compete with animals of similar body masses to it the ancestors of gladiodon not only doubled down on venom but also focused into becoming more intelligent as a way of making up for one of its short falls that being its reproduction

Because they were synapsids prior to the arrival of multituberculates the euchambersians and basically all other small egg laying synapsids never abandoned the practice of laying eggs as generally while it was expected not all offspring would survive multituberculates had species whose entire niche was to feasting on the eggs of other animals in mass meaning that the reason why the ancestors of gladiodon went to the mountains was because they weren't able to adapt to the new reality of mass feeding egg stealing mammals as their arrival is considered the point where the majority of the egg stealing guild of skull island first started to become prominent meaning it's believed that the population of gladiodon ancestors, as well as the majority of skull islands egg laying synapsids in general, could no longer lay eggs without risk unlike dinosaurs who for the most part layed so many that they couldn't all be eaten. What this would mean is that in response the synapsids including the ancestors of gladiodon would actually undergo a collective change where it's believed the anomalous energies of skull island altered their physiology to allow for synapsids such as gladiodon to now give live birth reducing the amount they could have but greatly increasing their odds of survival with the only exceptions being the synapsids who generally had eggs in mass numbers such as the malevolusaurus and the insectivorous termitosaurus where both have more offspring with no effort at all put in to raise them as their offspring are born without much need to raise them.

As a result gladiodon and the majority of skull islands synapsids have evolved more derived and advanced parental care for their offspring as unlike the non-avian dinosaurs they live with they simply are unable to take as many risks or leave it to fate like they can meaning that they have to put more effort into ensuring their offspring can survive on their own in a landscape as dangerous and competitive as skull island resulting in gladiodon developing much more advanced interspecies behaviors and relationships that can be directly compared to modern mammals found outside of skull island. For gladiodon in particular the behaviors it exhibits seem to be correspondent to that of the Siberian tiger found in the Russian far east which has a fairly similar niche to the gladiodon hunting in a more elevated area and living with more predators then others of its genus does including Russian brown bears and wolves. in fact its so uncannily similar that gladiodon among skull island researchers has been dubbed " the synapsid tiger" on account of its near identical set of behaviors and mannerisms to the striped big cat found across much of Asia.

The first of these is its vocalizations as due to having to get more larger its vocal chords have evolved to allow it to emit a wide array of noises both to intimidate other predators as well as communicate with others of its kind. From observers in the field the noises are said to be like a mix of the low rumblings and growls of lions mixed with the hisses and bellows of crocodiles with them actually using their noises to actually communicate to one another using their sounds for everything from reinforcement of territories they hold to intimidating rivals to expressing desires to mate. However their primary means of interspecies identification comes in their stripes as well as the spines on their back. made from a specialized mix of Keratin and cartilage the spines of gladiodon overall are the main distinguishing feature of the animal with the smallest spines measuring only a foot long while the largest can exceed the height of a normal human. They serve both for display as well as for communication as they are covered with skin but very loosely to enable them to move them around and shake them both side to side and back and forth. On average a normal gladiodon is expected to have anywhere between 7 to 9 of these spines going from the largest to the smallest along the back to the tail with cases of exceptional individuals having as many as 12 to 15 being recorded but are more rare. here the term igneospinus comes from the color of the spines where they are colored a very bright red with bits of orange and yellow to give it a fiery appearance with only the males having this coloration while females only have a more darker maroon color which is the main way of telling the genders apart as males and females are all but identical save for the color difference. From a first impression many would think that such elaborate spines on a ambush predator would give away its presence but luckily they like their stripes are not able to be seen as most animals in the highlands save for specific exceptions like the kongs can't see the color red so from the perspective of many animals if a gladiodon is behind a rock it will generally be seen as either part of the rock or a very bizarre kind of plant which are known to frequent the highlands.

The main reason the males have a more fiery pattern is to mainly attract females with the females choosing whoever has the most brightest and dazzling spines where the males will also strut and do various elaborate moves with its spines to further impress them with the mating ritual overall appearing to incorporate aspects of various species of reptiles with that of tigers with only the mating season being the sole time of year where one can find many gladiodon. As a whole gladiodon is fairly solitary species where they except for rearing offspring will generally live their whole lives alone mainly since the more unique nature of the mountains means they are not a social species of animal though cases of some individuals mating for life are heard of its generally a fairly rare occurrence and only happens in highland areas that are particularly productive enough to support the pair. For normal gladiodon the male and female will stay for around 1 to 2 weeks where they will spend the time together mating and hunting together until the female has been fertilized enough where they both go their separate ways. after which after a gestation period of roughly 3 months the gladiodon mother will give live birth in a cave doing so anywhere between 2 to 4 gladiodon infants who are often dubbed " stripe spiners " by specific researchers where they are able to walk and move around just hours after they are born. Here they will be raised by their mother who will teach them everything they need to know to survive where they will start off with smaller animals like lost baby bifurcatops or various highland goat and deer species before their venom has developed enough to be able to take down larger area where they will then leave after 2 to 3 years already big enough to survive on their own.

How exactly this process came to be is unknown but by and large the stress of more carnivores living in the mountains coupled with their population being reduced by the multituberculates meant the ancestors of gladiodon no longer could simply have many offspring and hope some survive thus the evolution of them shifted and the behavior of parental care arose in order to maximize their odds of survival with it succeeding to such a extant that all but one in a clutch of gladiodon can be expected to make it to adulthood which may not sound impressive but for a landscape as hostile and dangerous as skull island its as high of a achievement that can be attained for a carnivore no less. Going back to a prior comparison the animal that gladiodon shares most in terms of its general niche is the Siberian tiger that dwells in the russian far east that one roamed across much of manchuria and all of korea prior to their populations being culled and conservations efforts ensuring their survival in the wild. the primary reason for the comparison is mainly do to their habitats as the Siberian tiger is the most highest elevation dwelling species of tiger in a way like the gladiodon given how high of a elevated environment the mountains of skull island are who themselves are known to directly compete with and kill siberian wolves and russian brown bears just like how gladiodon deals with all the other carnivores of its habitat primarily the malevolusaurus.

However another commonality it shares is the scarcity it shares with it. because they shifted to giving live birth fairly early in their evolution gladiodon has and always will be outnumbered as they are not a numerous predator species meaning they are not as able to rebound their population much like how malevolusaurus does meaning population shifts and bottlenecks have always been a major point of concern for the predatory animal. However this would actually help them as since their ability to replenish their numbers was slowed means that they hold no risk of severely outnumbering any of the other carnivores do to how potent their venom is and they primarily target the young easier to kill members of the various highland predators with adults being a more elaborate hunt they pan out meaning the bulk of gladiodon's diet is young predators who haven't even reached sexual maturity. That and gladiodon are entirely nomadic predators who constantly migrate throughout the higher elevated areas of the island to ensure they don't deplete the resources of a area and as such have wide distributions even though they are fairly rare animals to come across.

for the rest of its history it would for the rest of the cenozoic be the primary creature that kept the populations of the other mountain dwelling carnivores in check as well cull any larger animals from over depleting areas of resources as it's venom became so advanced that no adaptation the other animals had could really counter it making gladiodon the uncontested killer of carnivores of the highlands with it persevering even when the bifurcatops arrived and helped to spread the highland cloud forests to help fully give more life to the ecosystem but everything for gladiodon and the other animals of the mountains would change 6 million years ago with the arrival of skull islands most famous denizen MEGAPRIMATUS KONG. Arriving after their victory against the skullcrawlers the kongs arrived into the mountains in order to recuperate their losses and avoid competing with the v Rexes who were even more population starved then they were. for gladiodon the Kongs were up to that point the largest animal to arrive in the mountains who were able to traverse even the most difficult areas thanks to them still possessing the ability to climb. Based off behaviours observed as well as fossils because of being one of the more intelligent carnivores the gladiodon were fairly quick to conclude that their odds of taking down a kong without incurring the wrath of the others were abysmal thus they actually respected the new giant gorillas who now resided in the uplands though some fossils have been found of specific individuals getting killed by the great apes implying that only a few got killed to prove the point they had no chance.

In the present typically gladiodon live alone but will generally avoid areas with troops of megaprimatus kong at all cost as the giant apes are fully able to see the spectrum of colors like humans can and are easily able to notice the bright and brilliant coloration of the large synapsid. For a long time there was much debate on why gladiodon never hunted the kongs as while the adult kongs are generally more dangerous the infants even though they weigh as much as cars do fall in the category of prey that could be consumed by the carnivore. the primary reason is because of its hunting method as normally gladiodon is best suited for hunting animals who are mainly alone which are most of the other carnivores in the highlands and the kongs are a very social species meaning that with so man eyes and ears its more likely to be noticed by the massive primates. the second which was found out later would be the most surprising as it turns out the kongs are actually one of the very few animals who are not entirely affected by the venom of gladiodon. to give a synopsis the immune systems of the kongs because of the unique evolutionary process they went through became far more advanced at dealing and getting rid of foreign contaminants a trace necessary to avoid infection given how many kongs frequently got slashed and bitten by the various large predators on the island particularly the jaws of the vastatosaurus rex their first rivals before then the large skull crawlers. during the skull crawler war ,which is discussed in further detail in the skull crawler profile and the still being revised kong file, its believed that during the over 1 million year long struggle the kongs gained a more potent and stronger immune system in direct response to the great frequency of being bitten and slashed by the teeth and claws of the massive hypervores so as to eliminate any risk of dying from infection meaning that by the time they colonized the mountains 6 million years ago the immune systems of the kongs were able to fully expel the venom though based off recorded reactions the kongs feel great pain when the venom is injected into them with the closest comparison that has been brought up being what happens when a human is stung by a barb of specific species of sting ray where generally it will be very painful but thanks to their advanced immune systems the kongs generally suffer no real fatal effects and will generally be expected to have where the area that was bitten become swollen for a bit with a visible mark that will be expelling the venom from anywhere between a few days to a couple weeks depending on how much was injected with the kongs able to fully heal and recover from it with it now believed the first gladiodons who tried to do it this way ended up wither dying in the grip of the apes or passing on the knowledge to NOT hunt them to their offspring which carries on to this day though kong troops generally will allow them to be wherever they are at as gladiodon are intelligent enough to not do anything and will normally be kept to get rid of other predators nearby just so the apes can forage and rest without having to worry about smaller carnivores who might target the infants with it being believed that ancient gladiodon tried to target infant kongs and did manage to kill a few do to them not having as developed immune systems like their parents but since gladiodons are always alone it meant the group nature of the kongs meant they always killed the gladiodon who took the life of their infant and as such gladiodon learned to not bother with the apes as ultimately learning to accept the now dominant kongs would prove to benefit them.

With them quickly accepting the new context of the kongs in their environment they were on of the few species of predator animals that suffered no significant population decline by the giant apes as they were even then so few that they were able to avoid being culled unlike other species like malevolusaurus but they would actually benefit from the kongs now making their homes in the highland forests as the giant apes helped to spread more of the cloud jungles and cleared areas enough for more larger herbivores to migrate into the highlands giving gladiodon more large herbivore prey options besides its main herbivore prey adult chalyceratops but during this time they would then run into the first significant mammalian carnivore that would inhabit the highlands that being the ICARUS TIGER. while covered in its own file the Icarus tiger is by far the largest species of tiger known to exist and is one of the most rarest animals seen on skull island where we have only begun to fully understand them but luckily thanks to very rare fossils sites we have so far managed to piece together a basic idea of how gladiodon and the icarus tiger first reacted and then managed to adapt to coexisting with one another. to simplify it the icarus tiger while as large as the gladiodon avoided competition with it by specifically hunting in more cooler barren areas where only the mammals that if followed into the highlands resided where most of the other synapsid and reptile based predators hadn't fully got accustomed to the lower temperatures meaning the icarus tiger will avoid areas with gladiodon and vice versa with the icarus tiger being one of the very few carnivores they don't hunt do to the fact their territories rarely if ever overlap but when they do they mostly avoid one another as they hunt different enough prey that they don't see the other as competition for resources as well as the fact they are as rare if not rarer then the gladiodon itself.

Like with all animals on skull island gladiodon would encounter modern humans which it for the most part has very few if any negative relationships with. Because of being fairly rare animals human gladiodon encounters are fairly low in terms of occurring being less frequent then encountering a v rex which in turn means that gladiodon don't encounter humans enough to consider them as prey meaning it has one of the lowest human death counts out of any carnivore in the skull island highlands with deaths mainly occurring because of it deeming the trespassing humans as a threat to their infants or out of starvation with the latter being rare. Thankfully no reports or stories of gladiodon becoming man eaters seem to exist as do to their focus on hunting more larger animals humans generally aren't seen as worth the effort despite the fact they can tear apart a grown human with relative ease. Therefore any encounter with a gladiodon should be treated like how one would encounter a wild tiger that being to remain calm and back away slowly while proving your not a threat. As for its history with humans theirs would begin like with many with the humans of the first skull island civilization who even then seemed to have few records on them showing that they were as rare as they are now which meant generally encounters were fairly low and infrequent meaning no real loss of life occurred to warrant any grudges against the fire spines thus they were left alone and were not villainized like how the malevolusaurus or terapusmordax were by the ancient skull islanders with only the specific mountain settlements and villages having any real perception of them even when the civilization collapsed.

In the current culture of the skull island people do to their nature of predator hunters the gladiodons are actually venerated by the mountain villages who actually see them as vital beings who help cull animals like malevolusaurus and as such they are regarded in a more positive light with the act of hunting them being only allowed if you are of high status such as a chieftain or related family and even then its dangerous prospect with those who succeed only being allowed to do so once in their life as the act of killing more then one is seen as sinful as just one already proves how capable one is. when gladiodon is hunted the most prized component most sought is its venom where the mountain tribes have actually managed to use very specific brewing and boiling to alter the chemical makeup of the venom to where it is nowhere near as deadly mainly as a form of tranquilizer or sleep medicine which they use to knock out animals they don't wish to kill or help put to sleep those who are hurt as a form of natural anesthesia which through lab testing has been found to serve as a actual viable alternative to conventional anesthesia used in most forms of modern 21st century medicine. However this substance is rare to come across and repeated experiments to make a artificial version of the gladiodon's venom while ongoing has not had much success by the foundation meaning getting the venom is very difficult with the skull islanders mainly extracting the substance whenever a gladiodon dies or finishes eating a carcass and any that is left is retrieved for use which is generally the most done option and the most safest that doesn't put one in unnecessary risk.

regardless of its origin or the use of its venom the gladiodon ultimately should be seen as a crucial figure in the health of the highlands as without them nothing else could contain the other dangerous carnivores of the highlands from exploding in number and spreading across the rest of the island.

HELLO EVERYONE! theperson7 here with another skull island profile and this one I can say while delayed has a explanation for it. ORIGINALLY i was going to post the bifurcatops file was basically near finished but I was doing so on my IPAD and for some unknown reason it decided to crash and lost ALL the stuff I typed which I will let you picture the absolute infuriation I felt as it was a LONG one as it delved particularly into the mythology of skull island which I am slowly creating to basically give it a level of depth comparable to the mythologies of greece, egypt of the norse culture which basically made me rage quit for some time. So after doing some calming down i decided to basically shelve it and focus instead on something else to calm down so I spent more time physically drawing more sketches who now all just need lore and good to upload with gladiodon being the one i chose both because It was the next mountain based creature as well as non dinosaur. Now for gladiodon itself this one was a very peculiar creature to try to reimagine especially given how in the lore of the peter jackson's king kong the mountains had more carnivores then herbivores which from a ecological perspective isn't a sustainable ecosystem thus i went for diving into giving gladiodon more purpose as being a predator killer to make sure their was at least some amount of natural balance. next came choosing it's origin which was very difficult as like many i was tempted to make it a gorgonopsid but I chose not to on account of the fact my goal for my interpretation of skull island is to give more definitive origins and ancestries for most of the islands animals so after doing some searching of various permian carnivores I stumbled upon the euchambersia and how they were venomous and the lightbulb went off as with venom it means you now can take down dangerous animals without the risk of getting injured as one image from the world of kong book shows a gladiodon over a dead chalyceratops and figured that with such dangerous prey it needs a means to take it down reliably and safely so in essence the gladiodon can basically be boiled down to the notion of " What if Tigers were venemous?" and as such I looked up the siberian tiger and used its behaviour for inspiration mainly on account of living with other predators like wolves and bears which gladiodon shares a similar context just with different animals. As for design the general stripe pattern remained the same with the primary alteration to basically look more synapsid like as the original basically looked like a reptilian tiger thus it got a more realistic makeover with a shorter tail and more upright posture like a tiger. Overall the gladiodon represents the first of many animals who for the most part come from very obscure animals in the fossil record which i find personally interesting as the idea of it being descended from the firt confirmed animal on land to use venom really appealed to me plus it would make it leagues more dangerous then its original version. as for what's next because of what happened to the bifurcatops lore i basically have decided i will be at least partially taking a break from mountain animals mainly to give others a spotlight until I can say i am ready to begin redoing the whole lore for bifurcatops all over again so expect a very infrequent pattern of animals from various ecosystems. Other then that be sure to fave and leave a comment teling me what you all think of this as any feedback is appreciated so have a wonderful day wherever you may be at in the world.