Daspletogorgon

Daspletogorgon
Daspletogorgon
Meaning: Frightening Monster
Description: Large, short-snouted tyrannosaur
Species: D. simus. D. arctodus, D. magnodon
Family: Tyrannosauroidea, Tyrannosaurinae
Length: 40-43 feet
Lifestyle: Hunter and scavenger
Range: North America, Eurasia

Distinguishing features: The box-snouted brute of the tyrannosaur family, Daspletogorgus is a dinosaurian hyena even longer and heavier than the famous Tyrannosaurus rex. A long-legged, heavily muscular predator, this monstrous tyrannosaur has a huge box-like head that is short and deep and filled with banana-sized teeth, which it uses to crush and splinter bone; a trait inherited from its most likely ancestor, Zhuchengtyrannus. Its face is covered with red or yellow crests and ridges and a row of long spines run down its back, neck, and tail. These are used for communicating signals to members of their own species. Males are somewhat larger than females, which is unusual in tyrannosaurs. It is also the males that lead the hunt. Males and females are monogamous; they pair for a couple of years until their babies are grown to adolescence. Eggs are laid in nest mounds made of rotting vegetation in clutches of 12 to 24. The young have longer, narrower snouts than the adults and leave their parents when they turn six years old.

Habits and Habitat: These particularly burly tyrannosaurs can be found anywhere in temperate or tropical climates, and in a wide variety of habitats including forests, scrubland, and grasslands. These animals are ambush predators by nature, preferring slower prey such as ceratopsians, therizinosaurs, and ankylosaurs. They will also have hadrosaurs when the need arises and on occasion, they will attack sauropods using their sheer mass to topple the giants. These brutish tyrants will never pass up carrion when they find it and will gladly eat any smaller predators that defend it. One of their favorite parts of a carcass is bone, which they crack open and stick their prehensile tongues into to get the marrow. They also have a seasonal preference for sauropod eggs and are common nuisance and danger in sauropod nesting grounds. They share a symbiotic relationship with small pterosaurs and the tiny Nanoceratops, who act as scouts and as a parasite removal service.

Another giant tyrannosaur V. rex shares his range with. This beast was designed to be the heavyset super scavenger and hyena analog some people believe Tyrannosaurs to be. the shape of the male's jaws were inspired by the Carocarpter gorgonopsids from Weta Workshop's The World of Kong: a Natural History of Skull Island. feel free to make your own rendition of him, but please get my permission first.