Chapter 126: Return to the lake

Sobek barely checked what had happened at the crash site; his mind was focused on swimming in the muddy waters of the river. Even though he couldn't see or hear them, he knew that all the other dinosaurs he had taken from the zoo were around him. This was because he had given them both [Ambush] and [Swim speed]. His plan had been simple but brilliant. Sobek could have simply had the ship abandoned in the open sea and then sunk it, but he had preferred to follow another path. In order to go unnoticed, the dinosaurs would have to use [Ambush]; so, however, they would also be invisible to him. And if the river and the sea into which it flowed had been full of ships there would have been the risk that someone would be discovered. Many of the dinosaurs in his pack weren't swimmers, and with [Swim speed] they would end up with a speed they weren't used to. For example, ankylosaurs were not used to moving at more than 10 km/h, but with [Swim speed] they would have reached 100 km/h. If the path had been full of obstacles there was a risk that someone inadvertently collided with a motorboat. In addition, [Ambush] was a skill that needed concentration; dinosaurs that were not yet used to using it well would have had a lot of difficulty checking that the road was clear and at the same time that the ability was active. Finally, since [Swim speed] just multiplied each creature's maximum speed x10, and the dinosaurs could neither see nor hear each other, they would end up swimming at different speeds and then split; for example, if a triceratops could reach 400 km/h, a carnotaur could reach 560 km/h, while a stegosaurus only 70 km/h. Which meant that if anyone was discovered Sobek might be too far away to notice and rush to his aid. Consequently, there was a need to clear the way. Sobek certainly could not start sinking any boat in his way, so he had opted for another option: to create a fictitious emergency situation, so that humans voluntarily close the naval routes. Taking inspiration from Jurassic Park 2 he had decided to crash the ship into the harbor, knowing that the radars would sense his arrival at a great distance and therefore would return the ships safely. The freighter was moving at 30 km/h, but Sobek had given it an 'extra boost' as he launched it towards the port, making it reach the absurd speed of 90 km/h; which for a ship of that size was crazy to keep near the coast. His diversion had worked very well; as he had foreseen, the road was now clear. It was unlikely that humans would forbid sailing for very long, but the state of emergency was enough for a few minutes, the time for all the dinosaurs to leave the busiest area of the river, namely the estuary. After that, all they had to do was swim. Sobek had told them where to go before leaving; since they could not communicate due to [Ambush] it was essential that the dinosaurs knew where to go. He had ordered them to continue east until they reached a large lake; that would have been the meeting point. Sobek was obviously referring to the lake where he had been hunting in recent months and where Buck was waiting for him. When he was away from the harbor he began to relax. It was nice, he realized, to be able to move back into his natural environment: the sea was full of water, sure, but it wasn't the same as a river. There Sobek felt at home. And he felt even more at home when the plants around the river became even more lush and his senses were invested by an infinity of sounds, smells and sensations that testified that he had returned to the forest. He had walked that route several times before, but it was always wonderful to walk through the jungle. The fresh and pungent air stung his skin and the sound of the leaves blown by the wind was a panacea for his ears. Very soon the river was filled with fish, toads, crocodiles and other aquatic animals, while pterosaurs and birds of all sizes began to appear in the sky and along the coasts dinosaurs, reptile-like mammals and large mammals emerged for water. Nature was truly something harmonious and magnificent. Perfectly balanced and balanced in all its forms, in all its sounds, in all its emotions. A flawless watch from every point of view. Sobek could not understand how someone could not understand its unusual beauty; he could not remember a period of his life, even the most difficult ones where he had struggled to survive, when he had despised nature. Towards evening he finally reached the lake. The sky was still clear, but the sun was already settling over the horizon, heralding its imminent disappearance. Sobek swam to the nearest shore where some dinosaurs were already waiting for him. For the most part they were ceratopsids and small predators, which could move faster than 33 km/h and therefore could reach speeds far greater than his with [Swim speed]. Among them there was also Carnopo: the carnotaurs could in fact reach the 56 km/h, which meant that with [Swim speed] Carnopo could swim at almost twice the speed of that of Sobek. The dinosaurs sat on the shore and were waiting for him. It was clear that they had grown up in captivity: no wild animal would have exposed themselves like that. Fortunately there were many, so the predators had ignored them, but if they had been alone, some carnivore would have already devoured them for some time. Sobek noticed that all of them were staring at the horizon with wide eyes. Another big mistake: no one could never get distracted while it was in nature. Yet he could understand the reason for their upset. Those dinosaurs had lived in captivity for years and this was the first time they had seen a real sunset. There was a big difference between seeing the sun disappear in the middle of the buildings and the concrete and seeing it settle on the horizon and fill the sky with a thousand colors without any construction that limited the view. It was only natural that the dinosaurs were so amazed. However, it was not good that they remained so, or some predator could have taken advantage of the moment and attacked them. Sobek then emerged from the water and climbed to the shore, deactivating [Ambush] and making himself visible again. With him around no one would have dared to approach. "Pack leader!" the dinosaurs exclaimed, hurrying to catch up with him. "You have arrived!" "Yeah, but many others don't" Sobek said, noticing that many were missing. "We'll have to wait for them, so make yourself comfortable" The dinosaurs didn't get it repeated and sat down again. Now they were clearly safer: with Sobek around, they were in no danger, as any predator would keep out of the way and those foolish enough to approach would be torn apart by his claws. Carnopo sat down next to Sobek. The carnotaur was considered a large dinosaur, but paled in comparison to the spinosaurus. "Why did we come here, pack leader?" "Because I know this lake well and I know it is a fairly safe place. Also, here there is another member of the pack waiting for me" Sobek replied. The revelation surprised the carnotaur greatly. "Are there other members of the pack besides us?" "For now, only one. His name is Buck. You will soon meet him" Sobek said. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Carnopo continued to throw furtive glances towards the sunset. "It's nice, isn't it?" The carnotaur seemed to blush, but he answered truthfully, "It's more than just nice. It's magnificent. I didn't remember that the world outside the cage was so beautiful" Sobek sighed observing Carnopo's excitement. He looked like a prisoner who had spent his life in prison from the moment of his first word until middle age, and who suddenly received an amnesty and was able to go out to see the world. That description wasn't too far from the truth, after all. "Far from me to criticize you, but I advise you to not focus on just one thing at a time. The world outside the cage is beautiful, but also dangerous. Never get distracted too much, or you could lose your life" "I am aware of that. However, it is difficult to get back into... this" the carnotaur replied, raising his short arms as if to indicate the entire forest. Sobek knew what he meant: the infinity of colors, sounds, sensations, smells and tastes found in the forest were completely different from what the zoo dinosaurs were used to. They had to wait for quite a while: it took hours for all the dinosaurs to arrive. Sobek then found himself having endless dead moments, interspersed with only a few dinosaurs that occasionally appeared and came out of the water to join them. The spinosaurus had to struggle not to fall asleep: the lack of sleep and the fatigue he had undergone were making it very difficult for him to stay awake. However, he couldn't fall asleep, not until everyone was safe. The last to arrive was Old Li: the old ankylosaurus reached them when the sky had started to turn dark blue and some small stars were appearing in the celestial vault. At that point Sobek led their way, mindful of the path they had to take. In fact, very soon they reached the huge skeleton of a mamenchisaurus. The dinosaurs backed away in fear at the sight of the immense corpse, probably fearing the attack of some predator, but Sobek knew there was no danger. Relying on all his breathing skills he let out a roar. For a moment nothing happened; then, a second roar emerged from the depths of the forest. After a few minutes heavy footsteps were heard, a sign that something big was approaching; and finally the unmistakable outline of a tyrannosaurus appeared among the leaves. "Pack leader!" Sobek almost smiled at Buck's voice. Even though it hadn't been that long, he had missed the young tyrannosaurus a lot. After all, he had been the first creature he'd really been able to interact with in that world, so it could be said that he had some affection for him. The t-rex came quickly to meet him. The other dinosaurs backed away in fear as they saw the predator tall as a house running towards them, and only a few of the larger ones remained motionless, though their eyes still betrayed a slight concern; facing a tyrannosaurus was no easy feat for anyone, not even for large herbivores like triceratops. "Keep calm. He's part of the pack, like all of you" Sobek explained to restore calm. The dinosaurs stopped moving away, but remained safe behind the spinosaurus. Sobek felt a little offended at being used as a shield, but he ignored it. "You are finally back, pack leader! You don't know how long I've waited for you!" Buck exclaimed. From the movement of his feathers it was clear that he was aroused: like a canary he was raising them slightly in evident contentment. "Tell me, what happened to you? And who are they?" "Buck, I missed you too. I see that you have obeyed my orders, I am satisfied" Sobek said, referring to the fact that the t-rex had remained near the skeleton of the mamenchisaurus. He knew this because the range of a tyrannosaur's nose was 'only' three kilometers, so he couldn't have gone too far or he wouldn't have heard it coming; also to be able to hear his roar he must have been very close. Buck nodded and quickly confirmed his words: "Of course, pack leader. I came here every day and waited for you. If you had arrived when the sun was still high you would have found me on the shore waiting for you, but since you did not arrive I had decided to retire. Fortunately, I smelled you from my bed and so I came here, and as soon as I heard your roar I had no doubt that you were back" "Good. I'm proud of you" Sobek replied, then pointed at the dinosaurs behind him. "From today our pack will get bigger. They joined us" The t-rex leaned slightly to look at the other dinosaurs. Some of them, especially the smaller ones, backed away again, but many others had already calmed down: seeing that the tyrannosaurus was not a threat they no longer considered it as such. However, none of them seemed willing to say anything anyway. Finally, to break the ice Old Li grunted and walked over to the t-rex. The ankylosaurus was much smaller than the tyrannosaurus, but its armor and its club tail certainly didn't make it an easy opponent to deal with; in fact, Buck's survival instinct awoke and this time it was he who had to appeal to his self-control in order to not retreat. Under normal circumstances a t-rex would never have approached an ankylosaurus on its own, it would have been suicide. However, in that singular juncture the best predator and the best defender in the history of the world weren't there to fight. "Nice to meet you, Buck. I am Old Li. I will be happy to have a strong warrior like you with me in the pack" Although much less than humans, animals were still sensitive to flattery. Buck puffed out his chest with pride and replied politely, "I'm glad to meet you too, Old Li. I hope we will get along" And that was how peace and dialogue were established between the two most powerful weapons that nature had ever conceived for the first time in History. This gave courage to the other dinosaurs who stepped forward to greet Buck. The t-rex was kind and patient with everyone; Normally Buck would have ignored such small animals, since respect in nature was only and exclusively established by force, but Buck knew that his pack leader reasoned according to different rules and consequently had no intention of risking angering him. When the introductions were over, Sobek decided it was time to settle down. "Buck, where is your refuge?" "I settled in a clearing not too far from the lake, so I could come here right away if needed" the tyrannosaurus explained. "Good. Take us there then" Buck did not have it repeated and led them into the forest to a very large clearing in the middle of the trees. Sobek could understand why the tyrannosaurus had settled there: the clearing was large enough to allow him to lie down on the grass in his full length. However, it wasn't an inviting place from Sobek's point of view. "It's not good here. We need to find a place that fits all members of the pack" the spinosaurus said. "Oh... okay" Buck looked a bit disappointed. "Buck, do you know an area with very tall and dense trees, possibly quite spaced from each other?" "Oh yes, I understand! Of course, we just have to walk a little longer into the forest!" The dinosaurs then resumed their journey and after a short time they reached an area where the trees reached twenty meters in height and their branches were so wide as to cover the sky; the trunks were quite far from each other, allowing even large animals to lie down in the most disparate places, and the ground was soft thanks to the presence of ferns and grass; there were no bushes or brambles, which excluded the possibility of injury, and even sharp rocks were a rarity. It was perfect for a large pack. There was also a stream that guaranteed continuous water. "I like it. Great job, Buck" Sobek said raising the pride of the t-rex. "We will settle here!" Dinosaurs began to explore the area, finding it very pleasant; many of them chose a place to sleep and began to prepare beds for sleeping. Sobek let them do it: thanks to his senses he knew there were no dangers nearby. He also looked for a place, but he was a little more experienced than the other dinosaurs and he quickly found the best one: slightly elevated above the rest of the undergrowth, wide and flat enough to allow him to lie down and turn around at will and surrounded by several trees that would have prevented the sun from disturbing him. Buck settled not far from him, also in a good place to sleep. The other dinosaurs studied them closely, as if trying to figure out why they were standing there. Sobek was literally collapsing. His lids felt heavy like never before. He needed sleep, but he still had one thing to take care of. "Come here, please!" he exclaimed. "We all need to eat" Perhaps under normal circumstances the other dinosaurs would have had doubts after this declaration, fearing that they were the items on the menu, but by now they trusted Sobek and therefore did not weigh his words too much, just approaching and waiting to know what. intended to do to get food. There were certainly no problems for herbivores, but carnivores? The reason carnivores and herbivores didn't coexist after all was because the first ones ate the second ones. But Sobek had something that other dinosaurs didn't have: the [Food system]! The spinosaurus opened the interface and quickly went to the feeding section. The [Food system] was the first [Secondary system] he had obtained and he finally had the opportunity to use it; he hadn't even completed it all yet, but it wasn't important at the moment. The feeders cost between 2,000 and 10,000 bonus money, but Sobek had a lot of accumulated cash to spend! Without thinking twice, he bought a feeding trough for carnivores; an icon appeared before his eyes asking where to place the object. Sobek could move it as if it were a mouse pointer. After thinking about it for a moment he chose to place it a short distance from his bed under a large tree. For a moment nothing happened, then the dust rose from the ground and thickened to form something. At first glance it looked like a kind of circle of earth, but it was covered with branches and leaves that gave an idea of organic, and on the sides it had roots that sunk into the ground; within the circle, a huge piece of meat the size of an adult man emerged from the ground as if it were a mushroom. The dinosaurs widened their eyes and exclaimed an 'OOOOH' in amazement, Buck realizing that he didn't expect his pack leader to do such things. Probably the tyrannosaurus would have been in shock for a while, but Sobek immediately brought it back to reality: "Buck, bring me that piece of meat" The tyrannosaurus readily obeyed and grabbed the meat with its mouth; strangely there was a sound as if he had uprooted something. The instant the piece of meat was lifted by Buck, another huge piece of meat emerged from the ground, replacing the previous one in less than a second. The dinosaurs were amazed, but they soon became happy: the carnivores because they could eat abundantly and the herbivores because now they no longer ran the risk of being eaten. Buck brought the meat to Sobek who swallowed it in seconds; as he had anticipated, it was full-fledged meat, even quite sweet to the taste, but it did not provide experience points. Sobek opened the [Food system] again and also selected a feeder for fish eaters, and then also one for small and medium-sized herbivores, so that they didn't have to stray too far from the herd in search of food. The dinosaurs roared with delight as they saw those endless food deposits appear around them; many threw themselves in to taste the fish, fruit, meat or plants, and found that they were delicious to the palate. "How is it possible?" Carnopo murmured in shock, not understanding what he was seeing. Sobek laughed. "I have powers, have you already forgotten?" The carnotaur turned and looked at him. In his eyes Sobek could read different emotions: amazement, curiosity, respect, interest and a deep desire to ask a million questions, but when he opened his mouth he only shouted: "Long live the pack leader!" "Long live the pack leader!" all the dinosaurs roared in turn, including Buck. Their joy was palpable: the lack of food was the greatest enemy of any animal, and now that Sobek had solved it all of them were in seventh heaven. But Sobek didn't have time to rest on his laurels. "Listen to me!" he exclaimed loudly. "After the hard journey we have made, I urgently need to sleep. However, my sleep will last at least two weeks, because while I sleep my body will change to make me a stronger and more adaptable creature and give me new powers. Therefore for two weeks I will not be able to be woken up for any reason. Therefore I have decided to take measures for your safety" The dinosaurs weren't upset that Sobek went to sleep for weeks; after all, it was normal for some animals to hibernate for long periods. Modifying the body was also not so unusual: morphs were much more common than previously believed. However, if Sobek had fallen asleep the dinosaurs would have lost their best defense and this clearly worried them; therefore they wanted to know what he intended to do to protect them. "The first measure is to give you special power, as I did during our escape. This time I will give you a special skin that will make you immune to the attacks of any predator!". As he spoke, Sobek opened the [Contracts] and passed on to everyone [Reinforced skin]. The dinosaurs immediately sensed that something had changed in them, and in fact they were now much more self-confident. Sobek would have liked to pass them some offensive skills as well, but since the number of skills he could share was only two he had to be limited to [Reinforced Skin] and [Linguistics]. "The second measure is to set up rules. Here are my orders. First, you cannot stick to each other. Second, the food I have created is for everyone, so no one can stop others from eating. Third, you don't leave the pack alone and stay in an area where you can be easily traced" Sobek continued. Since he could not control the situation in person, it was appropriate to establish a regulation: since it was the pack leader who spoke, no one would transgress his orders. Even though the dinosaurs were now indestructible, he preferred to avoid some hothead starting fights or someone bullying and preventing others from eating; after all, without him, the dinosaurs would have returned to rely on force to establish the hierarchical ladder. He also didn't want to risk anyone straying too far and getting lost. "Finally, as a third and final measure, I give you an order: Buck, you will have to teach your new companions how to get by in the forest, how to study the slopes, how to recognize smells, everything. I expect that when I wake up they have learned how to survive" he said to conclude the speech. The tyrannosaurus nodded vigorously. "I will, pack leader" he replied. The other dinosaurs seemed to agree: after all they did not know how to get by in nature, and even if Sobek had made their life much easier thanks to the System, nothing guaranteed them that the situation would last, so they were certainly not averse to being given. lessons on how to do it yourself. It wouldn't have been too difficult: the animals' instincts could be suppressed, but it still remained present in their biology, so the right guidance was enough to get them out again. Sobek was satisfied. "Well, then I'm going to sleep. If when I wake up I find that someone has violated the rules, I will chase them from the pack and they will become the next prey I will devour" The dinosaurs swallowed at that statement, but no one said anything. Sobek made himself comfortable and then closed his eyes. The System notification arrived promptly. [Do you want to start the evolution?] "Yes!" Sobek ordered, and then he finally sink into the world of dreams and enjoy a well-deserved rest. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= AUTHOR'S THOUGHTS Hi! Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you all have a happy holiday, my dear readers. I've tried to give you a slightly longer chapter as my Christmas present to you... and I let Sobek get some rest as a Christmas present to him. Let's face it, after everything he's been through he deserved some rest. Even heroes have to sleep, after all! And while our beloved spinosaurus takes a nap, let's meet up for one of our little paleontology lessons. We've seen quite a few sea creatures in the previous chapters, so let's go to analyze them all! 1) The tylosaurus (chapter 118) is a marine reptile (NOT a dinosaur!) belonging to the mosasaurs. It lived about 92 - 80 million years ago in North America, Europe and Africa. It is one of the best known and largest mosasaurs, being able to reach up to 12 meters in length. Like all mosasaurs, it had an elongated body, a long and laterally compressed tail (and probably equipped with a sort of fin) and legs transformed into flippers, but it had a peculiar characteristic: its elongated snout, in which the premaxilla was cylindrical and formed a sort of of toothless rostrum, as well as the anterior part of the mandible. The function of this structure was probably to ram the prey and break their bones. Depending on the classification, up to ten species of tylosaurs may exist, but today there is a tendency to consider many species as subgroups of the main ones. Unlike the mosasaur, the tylosaurus hasn't had many cinematic appearances, despite being quite famous: apparently it should have appeared in the third film of the 'Jurassic Park' saga, but it was removed. 2) Since we have brought up the question, let's specify it well: marine reptiles, as well as flying reptiles, are NOT dinosaurs. Marine reptiles are another type of reptile that are evolutionarily much closer to lizards and crocodiles than to dinosaurs. The only dinosaurs known to us that truly evolved an 'aquatic' lifestyle are the spinosaurids and some types of birds such as penguins. Therefore, while the reptilian appearance might be misleading, marine reptiles are NOT dinosaurs. Let's make things clear: if it swims in the sea, it's a marine reptile; if it flies with membrane wings, it is a pterosaur; if it walks on land, then it's a dinosaur; and if it flies with wings made of feathers... well, it's still a dinosaur, because birds are dinosaurs. They aren't the descendants of dinosaurs, as some claim, birds ARE dinosaurs. They are dinosaurs with wings. So, technically speaking, birds would be the 'flying dinosaurs', not the pterosaurs, so it's important to distinguish between animal groups. 3) We should also spend a few words on the blue whale (chapter 118). At over 30 m long and weighing more than 180 tons, it is, in terms of mass, the largest known animal that lived on Earth (excluding the hypothetical size of some giant sauropods such as the maraapunisaurus). The body of the blue whale is long and slender and can take on various bluish-gray shades on the back, but it becomes lighter on the belly; its name is due to the fact that when seen underwater, its body appears blue in tone, although it is not really. Like that of other baleen whales (i.e. baleen whales), its diet also consists almost exclusively of the small crustaceans known as krill. And now, the bad news: Up until the early 20th century, the blue whale was numerous in almost every ocean, but for more than 40 years they were hunted by whalers to near extinction; the international community declared it a protected species only in 1966. According to a 2002 report, there would currently be 5,000 to 12,000 specimens all over the world, divided into at least five different ethnic groups. Fortunately, based on more recent research carried out on the pygmy subspecies, it is hypothesized that these numbers have been a little too underestimated. Before hunting, the largest population was the Antarctic one, with about 239,000 specimens; now only much smaller populations (about 2,000 each) remain, concentrated in the northeastern Pacific, Antarctic and Indian oceans. Two less numerous populations occur in the North Atlantic and at least two more in the Southern Hemisphere. Furthermore, even though hunting it is now illegal in most parts of the world, blue whales still face many man-made dangers. For example, they can collide, sometimes fatally, with ships crossing the oceans or become entangled in fishing nets. Increased ocean noises, including those caused by sonar, disturb the vocalizations produced by fin whales and make it very difficult for them to communicate. Among the various human threats that can affect blue whales, we also mention the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the sea, which accumulate inside the animal's body. Furthermore, with global warming causing glaciers and permafrost to melt more rapidly and allowing large amounts of fresh water to flow into the oceans, there is a risk that the amount of fresh water will reach a tipping point which could lead to disruption of circulation. thermohaline. Since the blue whale's migratory habits are based on ocean temperature, a disruption in this circulation, which moves masses of warm and cold water around the world, would most likely have repercussions on the animal's biology. Changes in ocean temperatures would also cause a decrease in blue whale food sources: warming and lowering salinity levels would cause a significant change in krill distribution and abundance. Sadly, these gentle giants that we still don't fully understand are still far from out of the woods; luckily, environmental conservation associations around the world are doing their best to preserve these magnificent titans. 4) The liopleurodon (chapter 119), whose name means 'smooth-edged tooth', is a pliosaur that lived about 160-155 million years ago in the sea that covered much of Europe at the time. This animal was one of the largest predators of the European Jurassic sea. Its dimensions were doubtful for a long time due to the scarcity of finds, often creating errors: in the documentary 'Walking with dinosaurs', for example, it is described as 25 meters long and weighing 150 tons (although already at the time estimates of over 20 meters were considered doubtful). Paleontologist Tarlo later suggested that total body length could be estimated from the length of the skull, which typically represented one-seventh of the entire body. Applying this report it turned out that the largest known specimen of liopleurodon reached a length of just over 10 meters, while the standard length would be between 5 and 7 meters, with a body mass between 1 and 1.7 tons. However, new research on Kronosaurus (another pliosaur) and the discovery of a complete liopleurodon skeleton showed that their skulls were actually about a fifth of their total body length, suggesting a maximum total length of 6.39 meters. Despite this size problem, the liopleurodon was very successful in the cinematic world: it appeared, as already mentioned, in the documentary 'Walking with dinosaurs' and later in its spin-off 'Sea monsters'; he also appeared in the TV series 'Primeval' and in the zany cartoon 'Charlie the unicorn' on YouTube, and also in one of the movies of the franchise 'The Land Before Time'. 5) The elasmosaurus (chapter 119) is an extinct marine reptile, belonging to the plesiosaurs. It lived about 80 million years ago in North America and is known to be one of the longest-necked plesiosaurs (which could have up to 71 cervical vertebrae). It was 14 meters long and weighed up to two tons, making it one of the largest plesiosaurs ever to exist. The elasmosaurus was a slow swimmer but could chase after schools of fish; the long neck could allow the elasmosaurus to hide under the shoals and, slowly moving its head, to approach the preys from below. The animal's eyes, equipped with stereoscopic vision, may have helped it find small prey. These included small bony fish, belemnites, and ammonites. The elasmosaurus also swallowed small stones to aid in digestion. These animals lived in open oceans and did not return to shore even to lay their eggs: a specimen of another plesiosaur (polycotylus) is known to have fossilized with a fetus present inside it, indicating that plesiosaurs were viviparous. It appears in one of the movies of the franchise 'The Land Before Time'. 6) Livyatan melvillei (chapter 123) was a prehistoric Miocene cetacean, related to modern sperm whales. Based on the size of the skull found, about 3 meters long, a total length of between 13.5 and 17.5 meters is assumed. The largest teeth are 36 centimeters long, a considerably larger size than the teeth of sperm whales and are present in both the mandible and maxilla, unlike sperm whales, which have them only in the mandible. The teeth and the shape of the skull, which suggests the presence of powerful muscles for the jaws, suggest that the Livyatan melvillei attacked its prey in a similar way to modern orcas, tearing off the flesh with a bite. Its prey may have been other cetaceans, such as right whales, hyperodonts, delphinids and porpoises, sharks, sea turtles, seals and seabirds, as well as a wide variety of bony fishes. Livyatan was at the top of the food chain and its only real opponent and only predator was the megalodon: some fossil remains testify that these two animals were probably often involved in fierce battles. Although the shark most likely won most of the time, it is very likely that the cetacean was also able to kill its rival. 7) The mosasaurus (chapter 123), whose name means 'lizard of the Mosa river', is a marine reptile that lived about 70-65 million years ago in Western Europe, Morocco and North America. The genus currently has five species: the type species M. hoffmannii, M. missouriensis, M. conodon, M. lemonnieri and M. beaugei. Mosasaurus was one of the largest genera in its family, as well as being one of the last mosasaurids to evolve before the KT extinction. The largest known species, M. hoffmannii, could reach a length of 17 meters, slightly longer than its closest relatives such as the tylosaurus. Furthermore, the mosasaurus was also the most robust among the mosasaurids, especially the skull equipped with a jawbone connected very tightly to the skull. The body was long, thick, and barrel-shaped. The eyes were relatively large, but provided poor binocular vision, and the olfactory bulbs were underdeveloped, so experts believe that mosasaurus lived near the ocean surface, where it preyed on fish, turtles, ammonites, plesiosaurs, and even smaller mosasaurs. Even if it was able to dive to great depths, it is more likely that they did not venture into too deep water preferring to stay close to the surface, where it was easier to find food. The mosasaurus has enjoyed quite a lot of success among the masses: it has appeared in the 'Jurassic World' franchise (albeit very inaccurately depicted), in the films 'When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth' and 'Primeval (2007)', and finally in the documentaries ' Amazing Dinoworld' and 'Prehistoric Planet'. 8) The argentavis magnificens (chapter 123) is the largest flying bird ever discovered, whose name means "magnificent Argentine bird"; it lived at the end of the Miocene (6 million years ago) in the central and southern part of South America, in particular in the territories of present-day Argentina, where a good number of fossils have been found. Estimates for argentavis indicate a wingspan of 7 metres, a height of 1.5 meters and a weight of 70 kg. This bird was carnivorous and could behave both as a predator and as a scavenger. The name of the argentavis that appeared in chapter 123, Scuttle, is a reference to the Disney film 'The little mermaid': the seagull that appeared in the film has the same name. 9) The shonisaurus (chapter 124), whose name means 'Shoshone mountain lizard', is a shastasaurid ichthyosaur that lived about 215 million years ago in what is now the Lüning Formation, Nevada, USA, in which at least 37 unfortunately incomplete fossil specimens. it is considered one of the largest ichthyosaurs that ever lived and perhaps also one of the largest marine reptiles ever, with dimensions that could reach and exceed 15 meters. Many paleontologists hypothesize that the prey of this animal were giant squids, just like the prey of today's sperm whales. 10) The megalodon (chapter 124) is an extinct species of large shark known for having large fossil teeth, and in fact the name means "large tooth". It lived from the Miocene to the Pliocene (between 3.6 and 4 million years ago). It was formerly thought to be a member of the family Lamnidae, making it closely related to the great white shark, but there is currently unanimous agreement that it belongs to the extinct family Otodontidae, which diverged from the great white shark's ancestry during the Early Cretaceous. Scientists suggest that the megalodon looked like a larger version of the great white shark, although some experts believe it may have been similar to the basking shark or bull shark.) Considered one of the largest and most powerful predators to ever exist, megalodon fossil remains suggest that this giant shark reached a maximum length of 18.5 meters with an average size of 10.5 meters. Its large jaws could exert a bite force of 102,000 to 125,000 Newtons, although some studies propose as much as 180,000 Newtons for some colossal specimens; only crocodiles like purussaurus could overcome this force. Some cryptozoologists argue that megalodon may have become extinct more recently, or even survived to the present day. While most experts agree that the available evidence demonstrates that megalodon is extinct, the idea of a surviving population of these sharks appears to have piqued public opinion, but evidence to support this theory is generally scarce and ambiguous (such a shark could hardly hide due to its size, since it would not be able to survive in great depths due to lack of food). Due to its popularity, however, the megalodon has appeared in countless cinematic works that it would take too long to list, the most famous of which is the film 'The Meg'. 11) Now, let's talk about some references. Both the ship S.S Venture and Captain Englehorn appear in the film 'King Kong' of the 1933. The captain is the one who saves the protagonists twice, while the ship... well, it's his ship. Jean Rasczak, on the other hand, is a character from the 'Starship troopers' franchise. Many other characters have appeared over the last few chapters, especially in the NMWA, but we'll talk about them later; in the meantime, you can try to guess some in the comments. That said, I'd say we're done! Merry Christmas to you all!