Dino Deathmatch 2: Indoraptor vs. Utahraptor! · 7:50am Jul 2nd, 2018
Proofed by Lance Omikron!
Felt like celebrating the latest movie, which while not flawless I do highly recommend as it makes for a good monster and action movie. I decided to mix it up a bit for this next deathmatch. Instead of pitting two real-life prehistoric creatures, I’ll be seeing how the fictional monster matches up against its closest real-life counterpart. I mulled around the thought of “JP T.rex vs. Real T.rex” or “JP raptor pack vs. Dakotaraptor/Deinonychus pack” or sillier ones like “JP midget spitting Dilophosaurus vs. Real polar bear-size Dilophosaurus”. But then I got thinking about the outright fictional creations in the movies and how they might mesh up against something that isn’t a direct 1-to-1, but it’s pretty close. And since the Indominus rex was last film, I’ll use Dr. Wu’s currently final creation and according to director interviews, the last hybrid of the franchise. The Indoraptor-
Height: 3 meters (bipedal), 1.6 meters (quadrupedal)
Length: 7.3 meters
Mass: 997 kilograms
Body Covering: Scales, scutes, some quills
Armament: 20 cm “Killing claw”, hand mounted talons 10-15cm long, conical, crocodilian teeth, strong arms and legs, broad, long tail, echolocation
Genetic Splicing: Indominus rex*, Deinonychus**, unknowns (likely some bat, feline, and human)
* (Tyrannosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Abelisaurus, Carnotaurus, Majungasaurus, Therizinosaurus, cuttlefish, tree frog)
** (listed as Velociraptor in film)
Specially engineered as a military attack animal, the Indoraptor is basically an Indominus rex at 1/7th the mass and a third the size. Sporting a dark color scheme outside of a yellow stripe down its side, it’s hide is covered in osteoderm scutes that are strong enough to easily repel tranquilizer darts as well as rifle fire. The Indoraptor has both superb vision from its base genomes in the form of Tyrannosaurus and other Theropods, as well as probably acute color vision based off its reaction to red lights on loan from likely feline and primate donors. And if need be, it can locate prey in total darkness by clicking its claws against the ground to echolocate. Unlike actual Theropods, the Indoraptor has extremely flexible arms and can both pronate its wrists and even run on all fours for a burst of speed. It’s hands are also very dexterous, sporting a thumb and being shown to have the ability to manipulate objects.
It too sports a “killing claw” on its toe from its Dromaeosaurid donors as well as extremely sharp talons on its hands. Backing these up are very well anchored, conical fangs set into the jaw. These jaws easily tore the arm off a man after a few seconds and the Indoraptor clearly could throw its weight around behind its jaws and claws as it effortlessly smashed through thick glass and museum displays.
The Indoraptor is both highly intelligent and highly instinctual, hardcoded to lock onto a specific task and not let up until its target is dead, not caring who or what gets in its way. Film raptor and likely human genes contributed to this high problem-solving intelligence, and the Indoraptor even sports a degree of sapience in showing pleasure and homicidal playfulness with some of its helpless victims. However, all of this does come at a price: due to the mishmash of genetic donors and being raised in isolation, it is insane. In essence, a psychopathic monster with the mind of a slasher killer and the abilities to back it up.
Armored, powerful, smart, and fast. Mills got far more than he bargained for….
And to go claw to claw with the monstrous hybrid, only the greatest of the true raptors would suffice.
Species: Utahraptor ostrommaysorum
Height: 2 meters (neutral stance), 2.5 meters (reared up)
Length: 6.5 meters
Mass: 820 kilograms
Body Covering: Plumed feathers, avian scales (only on snout, hands, and feet)
Armament: 24 cm “Killing claw”, hand mounted talons 6-12 cm long, recurved, heavily serrated teeth, extremely powerful legs, wings
Named after the late-and-great Dr. John Ostrom (famed namer and studier of Deinonychus and a revolutionary Paleontologist) and Chris Mays of Dinamation (a non-for-profit animatronic dinosaur company), Utahraptor is not just a big raptor from near Salt Lake City. By far, Utahraptor o. is the largest and most heavily robust Dromaeosaurid to ever be known to exist. Even if they were scaled up, other “raptors” such as Deinonychus, Velociraptor, and the newly found Dakotaraptor would be far leaner and lighter at the same height or length. Dakotaraptor, which approached Utahraptor in length and height, but at 450 kilograms it fell short of Utahraptor’s original projected size of 500 kilograms. Subsequent studies indicated Utahraptor was substantially heavier and more robust than thought before, bumping the mass up even more. Utahraptor isn’t just the biggest of its family, it’s by far the strongest even at parity. This came at the cost of travel speed, as Utahraptor’s top estimate is only 20 miles per hour due to its shorter legs and bulky frame slowing it down. However it’s legs were anything but weak and could be used to both kick and jump with incredible force.
Contrary to popular belief, the JP series “raptors” are far too small and light to be Utahraptor. Blue’s official stats peg her at roughly 150 kilograms and 4 meters in length, 60% a Utahraptor’s length and less than 1/5th the mass, meaning she is physically and proportionally smaller and leaner. So while it will have a slight size advantage, the Indoraptor will have to contend with something much closer in size to itself.
While Utahraptor lacks its film compatriot’s sapient level intelligence, it still would have been rather clever for a dinosaur in it likely was on par with modern predatory birds. Covered in thick feathers including wings on the arms and a tail fan, it was far too heavy to fly or probably glide, but it did have the functionality of using said structures as rudders for steering whilst running and jumping. It probably also could enact a “wing assisted incline run” by digging its claws into a surface and flapping its wings to run up a vertical face. Its iconic claws functioned poorly as slashing weapons unless given sufficient force, but could function quite well as stabbing, pinning, and ripping tools in a kick or stomp. Its other primary weapon were its jaws, which were designed to strip flesh and crush into bone. It’s much smaller relative, Deinonychus, had a bite force comparable to a spotted hyena. With it’s greater size and bulkier frame, Utahraptor no doubt could chomp down even harder.
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Far and away in the old growth forest that would one day be the salt fields, deserts, and cities of Utah, a single male Utahraptor scouts about for new territory. The son of Red and her mate, he'd recently started the process of gradually leaving his mother and father’s pack, his mind is honed to finding an ideal location and attracting a female with display or gifts. Then, like a modern emu or cassowary, it was breeding, hatching, and raising his daughters and sons on the agenda until they were strong enough to do as he just had. He was an healthy young male, large for his species and fit with years of experience ranging from bringing down Ornithopods to raising his younger siblings. The storm above was brewing and he didn’t want to get rained on after smelling the water and hearing thunder’s roar. Diving for the forest, he didn’t notice the time and space from the Lost Lands warp the landscape around him. As far as he knew, he just jumped over a log. But in the process of landing, he had been flung into 2018 California.
The voices kept churning in the Indoraptor’s mind, a byproduct of so many different species’ instincts forced to cohabitate inside one brain. Seek, investigate, hide, run, go into the forest, stay inside, walk on its hindlegs, run on all fours. Like a chorus of voices and demands clawing and gnashing at the inside of its skull! It was maddening even before it was released, but at least back then its world was the interior of a small cage. Now it had the whole manor to roam. And it had been leaving a red stained path where it went. The little human, it could smell something different with her when it first reached out towards her beyond its cage. The difference was intriguing and after it flushed her out from the pack with the adults and wounded the adult female, she was alone.
It crept along the rooftop as the pale moon illuminated from high above. The conflict gnawed at his mind again, some demanding he run off and explore the rural lands around, others telling him to socialize with the humans and form a unit, and others begging him to attack any easy, mammalian prey that abounded around him. Genes noting he should be quiet when stalking and hunting were overridden by genes coded in with the intent of making a showy theme park attraction or scary military asset, spurring him to roar out into the night.
The Indoraptor had long since gone insane beyond help.
Within Lockwood Manor, Owen Grady locked and loaded with the only assault rifle he could find and ran after where Maisie had fled to with the Indo in pursuit; the man-at-arms intent on slaying the dragon in the castle-like manor and putting an end to this. Within the lower levels, a freed Deinonychus by the name of Blue rushed along following her father figure’s scent, detecting a pungent odor akin to the very creature who slew her sisters.
They didn’t get to Maisie’s bedroom quick enough, the terrified little girl who’d lost everything tonight hiding in her bed from the monster peeking in through her window. The Indoraptor saw her and slowed it’s breathing at last. Finally, focus. It took its time entering the room after undoing the latch to the window-door and nudging it open. It could rush in and rip her apart in a second, but it didn’t. It was paused, gaining a rare moment of clarity. The instinctual voices shut up and it approached, able to hear only the whimpering and muted sobbing the shivering lump under the blankets was making. It drew up a hand, sliding it over the blankets to start and take them aside as it tilted its head at the little girl.
Why he didn’t attack was anyone’s guess. It could be he heard Owen rushing down the hall. He could have been somewhat curious about the little one and didn’t wish to immediately harm her. Or maybe it was the rasping, rumbling hisses it heard coming from the courtyard. Given he seemed to hiss and turned back to the window the moment it heard the latter, that was the most likely reason. The Indoraptor smelled something many of its instincts agreed upon. Namely how much they hated it. The Tyrannosaurid and Carnosaur side decried it as a threat, the Dromaeosaurid side ragingly labeled it a rival. The Indoraptor left Maisie’s room just as Owen burst in, jumping off the balcony just as the ex-Navyman got his sights trained on it.
The Indoraptor landed in the courtyard, hissing and cackling before letting loose another large territorial call to demand whatever fool challenged it to show themselves. It got its answer when a massive weight landed on its back after springing out from a shade and blindsided it. Killing talons ineffectually tried to dig through tough scutes to seek a spinal blow but found no purchase. The Indoraptor dropped to all fours and rolled to throw it’s attacker off.
The Utahraptor tumbled off but skillfully rolled away and sprang up to its feet in a moment’s notice. The Indoraptor hissed and faced its opponent, keeping on all fours as it excitedly clicked its claws rapidly on the cobblestones below. Its opponent’s display was just as distinct, if not different. A hissing gurgle, akin to what a vulture might make, sounded off as the Utahraptor held its wings out and puffed up its feathers to look as big as it could and stand as tall as it could.
Instinct honed by generations telling it what was a threat to any of its future children and mental conditioning hammered into its mind from grueling experiments told both raptors the exact same thing.
Attack!
They collided head on and the Indoraptor won out, thanks to a slight mass advantage and being on all fours. It’s head rammed into the Utahraptor’s chest and knocked it over. Soon it was on top of its enemy, but in the case of fighting a Dromaeosaurid, that wasn’t always a good thing. Just as the Indoraptor snapped its jaws at the dodging Utahraptor’s throat and tried to dig its hand-born talons into the feathery predator’s stomach, the natural predator managed to get both legs braced against its stomach. Kicking out and down, its claws only managed to scrape the first few layer of belly scutes off, but the Utahraptor did manage to lift and throw its rival away by action of its legs. The Indoraptor went sailing back and slammed into a car with such force it shattered the parked vehicle’s windows instantly whilst denting the side.
Shaking off a momentary daze, the Indoraptor raised hackles it didn’t have and shrieked. The recovered Utahraptor turned tail and fled into the forest, disliking the wide open area the fight was in. Dropping on all fours, the Indoraptor rapidly burst into a pursuit and quickly gained on the much slower beast. Running alongside it through trees and shadows, the Utahraptor squawked in pain from the hybrid gnashing it across the side with its opened jaws and bared teeth, trying to snag a hold and pull it to the ground. Losing some blood and feathers in the process, it fanned its wings out the side and effectively pulled an airbrake, letting the Indoraptor overshoot it. The hybrid dug its claws into the ground to pull a turn, sprinting aside to dodge the lunging snap of the Utahraptor’s jaws cracking the air beside it. The chase renewed again, almost like a ground based version of two birds of prey in a dogfight. The Indoraptor was far faster in a straight shot, accelerating up to 35 miles per hour with ease and up to 40 with effort, a large ways ahead of the Utahraptor’s 20 miles per hour, 25 with effort. However thanks to its tail fan and wings acting like rudders or air foils, the Utahraptor was far more maneuverable and easily dodged the hybrid’s head on charges only to force the hybrid to abuse its speed to avoid retaliation strikes.
This continued for a long minute that both saw in slow motion, dodging and speeding between trees, until the shift finally came when the Utahraptor springboarded off a nearby tree and turned in mid-air to meet the Indoraptor head on with teeth and claws at the ready. Thrown to the hybrid’s side by momentum, the two were soon caught in a whirlwind of motion as the Indoraptor tried to dislodge its attacker. Spinning around and snapping its jaws, the Indoraptor soon hissed in dulled pain shooting out from the base of its tail. The Utahraptor had a hard time penetrating its scales at first, but sheer force and determination exceeded the defense and it finally drew blood with a bite to the flank of the tail. Returning the favor, the hybrid managed to snap its jaws shut on the Utahraptor’s own tail and use both its long, strong neck as well as its momentum to pry the offender off and swing it around. Letting go after a strong spin, the Indoraptor watched the Utahraptor turn around in the air, extend its arms to the sides and puff all of its feathers out, slowing its fall before disappearing into several thickets of shrubs it crashed through.
The forest turned eerily quiet and still. The Indoraptor hissed and clicked its claws against the ground, sending out pulses of sound into the woods to try and detect the unseen predator. It could hear a scraping noise in the distance, smelled its breath and blood that spilled across the forest floor, but it couldn’t pick it out from the shrubs. That and the sense it was being watched was not putting ease to an already chaotic mind. It roared, turning and rushing away from the thick foliage to head back to the manor; both to clear some space as well as get back to Maisie. No telling where she was or if what it needed to keep away from her had found her by now. It had an order to killing and it couldn't miss a target!
(2:16)
It got several paces away from the tree line before a massive weight leapt down from the trees and crashed into its back. The Indoraptor bellowed and rolled onto its side and back, its calls soon cut short by a powerful bite clamping down on its neck. An adept climber, the Utahraptor had pounced down from the large tree it quickly ran up. He silently applied more and more pressure, its teeth starting to rupture the tough skin and the pressure closing the windpipe. With the Indoraptor’s jaws focused on thrashing about to try and dislodge its foe and the Utahraptor’s jaws focused on trying to choke its enemy to death, they both slashed and tore at each other with their talons. The Indoraptor, with its more dexterous arms, grabbed and bear hugged the slightly smaller raptor across the back, raking its claws across the feathers to pierce them and shred the hide under it. Eight gashes opened up across the Utahraptor’s back as its own claws rammed forward and snagged into the softer scales on the Indoraptor’s flanks.
Following up its arm attack, the Indoraptor cocked a leg back and kicked out. Its killing claw did dig into the enemy’s stomach, but the rounded tip failed to bite in significantly. Still, it was more than enough to cause some pain and spurred the Utahraptor to let go of its bite. The Indoraptor threw its arms to the side and kicked out with its toes, launching the Utahraptor off itself and giving it enough breathing room to rise as it gasped for breath. It rose back up and snarled with raspy breaths as it bled from its neck and sides lightly. The Utahraptor was in worse shape, bleeding from several wounds across its side, deep gashes in its very muscular back, and one puncture near the gut. But it refused to falter or yield.
The Utahraptor forced away the weakness and glared at the odd rival predator. Its look, its smell, its actions, its voice, it was wrong. All wrong. Like every definition applied to the hybrid in the predator’s mind had been flipped. It didn’t like it, not a shred. And it was most certainly a danger to any nest or offspring he might rear. And in his mind, he was still close to the nesting ground for his father, meaning his sire and younger siblings were at risk as well. This thing had to die and without a pack, he was the only one to do it.
The Indoraptor saw the Utahraptor approach, the feathered predator emitting a shrill chortle as it fanned out its wings and tail fan to look even bigger and gave the Indoraptor pause. The hybrid knew it was taking damage, and yet consistently refused to back off. It wasn’t like the humans it stalked and slaughtered, it wasn’t showing fear; something it was built to pick up on and activate its kill drive. Instead, if only for a flicker of action, it was the Indoraptor who backed away. It bellowed out loudly again, snapping its jaws and rapidly clicking its claws in a threat display that completely flew over the Utahraptor’s head. The Utahraptor rose up and the Indoraptor crouched down, both trying to intimidate the other and only the former succeeding. The feathered one advanced and the scaly one backpedaled towards the edge of the forest and back towards the manor.
Finally the pace was broken by the Utahraptor charging forward and closing the distance. Reacting on instinct, the Indoraptor crouched down and lunged forward on all fours. But in doing so to gain more speed, it sacrificed its height advantage. The Utahraptor sprang up, avoiding the Indoraptor’s headbutt and grabbed onto its head and neck with its arms. Broad wings obscured the hybrid’s vision and hand borne talons managed to pierce its hide. The two tumbled and thrashed about with the Utahraptor hanging on as it tried to land a kick or stomp with its powerful legs and the Indoraptor flailing about to grab or snap at its foe. Managing to grab the Utahraptor by the foot, the Indoraptor yanked it down off its neck and back and chomped down across the feathery chest with as much force as it could. Snapping back and forth with the sound of fracturing ribs, the Indoraptor slung his rival about before smashing him into the ground and throwing him away.
The Utahraptor’s blood trickled through the hybrid’s mouth as it watched the feathered creature sail through the air and smack into a tree with enough force to smash off a tree limb. But after a moment of being phased and knocked down, it went limp.
The Indoraptor relaxed it's breath and let out a loud, cackling roar before turning and running back to Lockwood Manor. Soon enough, history aligned to its proper course. The Indoraptor caught up to the heroes whilst they were fleeing back through the museum and looked upon the adults with vile intent when he saw their hands on Maisie. It glared at them through the glass window to the museum, stabbing a claw through the glass to pry the window back.
Maisie screamed and hid behind Owen and a recovered Claire, of whom they had come back for. But just as Owen adjusted the sights on his rifle and Blue came running into the room, the navyman and former park director noticed something.
Illuminated in the pale Moonbeams and moving silently in the night, was something blurry behind the Indoraptor. It was running up the side of the building behind it and doing what almost seemed like a flapping motion. When the Indoraptor tore away the glass and began to advance inward, one could glimpse an array of feathers before something of equal size slammed into the Indoraptor from behind. The Utahraptor and Indoraptor tumbled through the air, falling to the museum floor. The raptor of scales curled into a ball and hit the ground hard, falling through an armored Nodosaurus skeleton and sliding across the ground in a shower of shattered fossils and wires. The raptor of plumes managed to slow its fall with its wings, sailing into the back of an altered Triceratops skull and sending the skull tumbling off its mount and towards the humans. Owen and Claire hollered and dove to the side, Claire grabbing Maisie and Owen grabbing Claire to avoid getting impaled by the flying set of horns propelled across the room from over half a ton of raptor slamming into it. Blue jumped over the skull and nimbly landed atop it, eying the two intruders with her back to her alpha, half wondering who she’d end up having to engage.
The Indoraptor smelled and heard Maisie scream and instantly, it was sent into a berserk fury. Scrambling off the ruined floor and stomping on fossils in its way, the hybrid gripped the ground with all four limbs and catapulted itself off it. The Utahraptor’s bulging leg muscles tensed before it sprang, launching itself off and to the side and letting the Indoraptor crash through another display. Shrieking, as if daring the silent predator to say something. It made no utterance, only blankly staring at it like a hawk would. A hawk the size of a record scale polar bear that ate scaly prey. The Indoraptor, so used to things running from it, screaming or uttering at it, reacting in submission or terror from it, was many things. Infuriated was the chiefest, practically the default reaction within a manic mind. But on some level, be it the Deinonychus genome reacting to what its genetics said was a larger predator or some fragment of humanity recoiling from the unnerving glare of a predatory bird, the Indoraptor was afraid of it. It wanted it dead, now.
And the Utahraptor wasn’t obliging. Rapidly dodging and weaving around the brutish lunges and snaps the hybrid lashed out with, subtle movements in the tail fan or wings kept up a constant maneuverability to the degree its rival couldn’t match. Springboarding off dented walls, jumping behind displays, or rolling to the side. It couldn’t get pinned down for long. And every chance it got, it did the same thing. Forced to jump up and back to dodge a slashing arm from the Indoraptor that utterly shattered the glass of a Sauropod display, the Utahraptor cocked a leg back and kicked forward to ram its claw along the section of the stomach it had attacked earlier. Each blow knocked off several more scales or pried off a scute.
But the natural predator’s luck finally ran dry when it was forced back against an Maiasaura skeleton and got caught in the ribcage. The Indoraptor’s jaws snapped shut on the Utahraptor’s arm and it twisted around to a sickening crack. The feathery creature barked in pain as it was smashed through the skeleton in a shower of bones and bent metal. The structure fell onto both of them, forcing the Indoraptor to let go and toss its rival away just as the Utahraptor reflexively braced its legs against the Indoraptor’s stomach and kicked off. Both went shooting out in opposite directions, breaking into the displays on either side of the room with the Utahraptor.
Blood fell to the ground on both ends. The Utahraptor slowly rose, one of its arms clearly broken as it lay limp with half the feathers torn out. The creature’s golden eagle-like coating was stained red and dirtied in multiple places by grim, dust, and stone chips with its breath haggard. The Indoraptor was no better as it limply pulled itself out of the remains of what had been a small Carnosaur skeleton. For the first time in full, a river of red seeped from both its stomach and mouth. The area the Utahraptor had been working at the whole fight was gushing, having been impaled into by the nearly foot-long talon and had a piece of its flesh torn out from their separating.
A pin drop could be heard as the moonbeams shone through from the shattered window they’d both entered through. The Indoraptor snarled and bellowed a loud roar that was met with silence aside from the small shift of its rival’s feet side stepping to circle. The hybrid hissed, having been done with this mess the beast created. Part of it demanded to attack, part of it demanded to check Maisie, part of it longed to kill the adult humans, and part of it wanted to flee. No, it would not be scared of this overgrown bird!
The Utahraptor fought as hard as it could when the hybrid charged and quickly closed the distance after vaulting over a museum mount, but it couldn’t get out of the way from the psychopath. It was tackled with a loud crack, its bruised ribs from earlier shattering. Nature could try as hard as it could to make a monster, but it could only make a predator. It took a human mind seeking a weapon of death to engineer a monster. It ignored the burning feeling in its gut from the claw frantically digging it. It snapped its jaws shut on the Utahraptor’s neck and crunched as hard as it could, relishing the metallic taste that greeted it. Its left arm grabbed the one remaining limb and twisted it back, popping it from socket as its other hand impaled into the Utahraptor’s gut and came up red to the elbow. The Utahraptor was crushed, smashed into a wall, and torn in two by the enemy it dared to challenge; the young buck who’d never have a family. The Indoraptor saw it, tasted it, smelled it, and cherished it. It saw the dead people in the elevator, the foolish hunter whose arm it tore off, pursuing Maisie through the house after reaching for her, being locked into its cage for days, months on end until it was brought into the showroom.
It saw its whole life and what it wanted to happen flash before it’s eyes when the Utahraptor, not pinned, crushed, and disemboweled as was dreamt, sprang up. Time crawled to a still pace as the Indoraptor kept its one-ton mass surging forward and the Utahraptor kicked out with both extremely powerful legs like a cockfighter in the opposite direction. Both feet met the charging Indoraptor’s head with such force its skull dented it and was bent backwards with an extremely loud crunch. Neck snapped and head half crushed, the thoroughly mortally wounded hybrid slid across the floor in a limp heap, smacking against the wall. Its last flicker of sight was of the tiny human it pursued across the mansion, even it maybe not knowing why in the end.
On some level, it was a mercy kill.
The Utahraptor, thoroughly exhausted and firmly battered, huffed and gasped for breath, slowly advanced forward to make absolute certain. If the Indoraptor wasn’t dead yet, it certainly was when twin talons were rammed into its chest and a broad snout pulled its heart out. The body restrained under it, he started eating it.
The humans were quick to leave, departing with only one entity company to the killer in the hall. The sound of tapping claws spurred the Utahraptor to look up from its perch to see Blue staring back at it from the doorway with tense muscles. The Utahraptor warily cast an eye towards the mammals, finding it odd to smell and see them so big. It's attention was yanked away when it saw Blue advancing forward slowly at a circling angle.
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Reasons for winner
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So why did the Utahraptor come out on top in the scenario? Wasn’t the Indoraptor made to be as suped up as possible and be bigger, stronger, and faster? Well it was certainly bigger (though only marginally) and faster, however stronger is actually very debatable. Blue, a 150kg animal, gave the Indoraptor significant trouble. Now one could argue the reason she lasted as long as she did against it was because the hybrid was distracted by constantly going after Maisie, but it couldn’t have been to a very heavy degree as it was clearly shown attacking her multiple times. Blue also managed to knock it out of a window despite being far lighter, implying she did manage to overpower it to some degree or another. A Utahraptor would be much heavier (thus harder to throw around) and far stronger while also having more mass to cover and protect its vital areas.
“The movie calls it the ‘Deadliest creature to ever walk the earth’ though.”
Said by an auction guy who was stupid enough to want to sell the prototype. He was embellishing to make a sales pitch. Are you going to seriously tell me that in the JP universe, a 1 ton Indoraptor could trump the likes of the Indominus rex, JP3 Spinosaurus, or any of the adult Tyrannosaurus?
The Indoraptor had all it had because it was a hybrid. And it lost because it was a hybrid. Hybridizing two different species doesn’t always, or even usually result in something with the best traits of both. Usually it involves diluting down what is already there. Think of it like mixing drinks. If you mixed half a cup of milk and half a cup of coffee, you don’t end up with 1 cup of mixed drink that has the exact same calcium quantity of 1 cup of milk or the same caffeine amount found in 1 cup of coffee. Great for if you want a nice drink, not too good if you’re trying to make a functional lifeform.
Mixing two different animals isn’t like mixing dog breeds or having a biracial couple. At the end of the day, a dog is a dog and a human is a human (in fact, mixed breed dogs are healthier because they are dogs in their natural, un-inbred state). An animal is a functional animal because all of its body parts, instincts, senses, and abilities mesh together to make it work.
A tiger couldn’t prowl unless it has
-the coat pattern to blend in with the tall grasses
-broad paws to dampen the sound of its footsteps
-the instinct to tell it to be silent when stalking
-the low profile to avoid being seen in outline
-the exact right muscle structure and skeleton to move in such a way
So what happens if you gave a tiger crocodile scales for protection, grizzly bear arms for power, cheetah leg proportion to run faster, and bat echolocation to use sonar? Something that sounds good on paper and could certainly be dangerous… but would utterly fail at being a terrestrial ambush predator like tigers excel at.
The Indoraptor is a good fighting animal, hence its application as a weapon project, but its gene splicing was also its undoing. None of its body parts mesh with each other because they were taken from different animals meant to function with a whole body tailor made for a specific purpose. One can’t have T.rex jaw strength and raptor leg muscle power with a serpent’s flexible neck because jaw power requires a specialized neck and chest to exert it, leg muscles need a specialized center of gravity to align and work correctly to their best, and a flexible neck is the opposite of what you want for powerful jaws and a strong torso.
The Indoraptor had a ton of abilities, but no cohesion between them and having so much modification made them watered down compared to the real thing. This is why the only actual hybrids in nature that are healthy or possibly functional in the wild are between animals that are already extremely close to one another in behavior, habitats, and diets. It’s why a mule, made by union of a comparatively similar horse and donkey, is far healthier than a pumard, a sickly offspring of a puma and leopard.
The Utahraptor by comparison had fewer abilities, but each was able to directly feed into the others. A stout neck both supplied good anchoring for strong jaws as well as protected its vitals. Lightweight but dense feathers reduced losses to agility and the broad wings on the arms complimented high leg muscle power to pull off high velocity turns and parachute jumps. Powerful legs not only allowed for more spring in jumps but also gave the wings and talons enough force to dig into walls and wood to perform an incline run and help the Utah get the drop on the Indo. And a broad, flexible tail with a large fan assisted in shifting the mass around and turning about to outmaneuver its rival.
And due to its spliced mind, the Indoraptor lacked the proper instincts to make full use of its abilities even if it could do so. Its constant utterances and calls meant it couldn’t hide, the tic or echolocation ability reliant on it constantly tapping its talons meant it blunted its own claws, its peg shaped, crocodile-like teeth in a lean jaw without instincts or physical ability to do things like a deathroll meant it couldn’t tear or crush as well as any pure strain, and its four legged running and long body meant it would have a hard time turning at speed.
Giving an animal the traits of another and making it the best it can be is not as simple as dragging and dropping in genes, it’s a matter of body and mentality. The Indoraptor was made to be a weapon and at that it performed nicely. But that doesn’t make it outright better than the sum of its parts. A dog is a far superior companion, attack animal, and working animal than a wolf, but there aren’t too many dogs out there that can trump a wolf one on one.
The Indoraptor is a big muscle car with a semi-truck engine, tank treads, and a tanker truck suspension. That’s not as great as it sounds. Want a good muscle car, you need muscle car parts.
This is also not focusing that most of the Indoraptor’s special abilities like echolocation in the dark aren’t really that effective on the Utahraptor. Echolocation is great, but you’ll find it less useful when up against someone who can run up a vertical surface to get out of focus range and can see you just fine in a dark night with its own vision.
The one thing that kept the Indoraptor in the game was its durability. Shrugging off rifle fire is no small feat and certainly would be good defense against claws and teeth. However the Utahraptor’s raw power, ability to outflank its rival, and the fact it as a predator would focus on targeting a weaker spot over and over again; the end result could only be forestalled. The Indoraptor, with contradicting instincts telling it how and where to attack with less effective weapons, would have a much harder time killing the Utahraptor before the natural creature overcame its defenses. The addition of feathers also meant the Utahraptor’s outline was obscured. Big, puffed out plumes on the tail, legs, arms, and head meant some swings or snaps taken there have a good chance at just hitting feather and nothing else. Those same feathers helped the Utahraptor to out-maneuver and keep out of reach of the Indoraptor’s attacks.
By being able to out flank and control the vertical distance of the fight, the Utahraptor was able to target and wear down the Indoraptor. Ironically the one trait almost none of the Jurassic Park series raptors, the feathers, turned out to be a huge X factor that proved to be a 'feather' in the Utahraptor's cap.
Simply put, this is a battle between a calculating, experienced, well designed predator and a crazed maniac that can’t use its body to the best extent. One knows where to target and use its abilities to the best extent, the other lashed out at random and relied on luck.
Utahraptor
+ More experienced
+ Predatory Instincts > Manic Mangling
+ Larger and sharper claws with serrated fangs
+ Body worked cohesively to function
+ Feathers gave it a huge advantage in maneuverability
+ Night vision canceled echolocation's advantage
- Less durable
- Slower travel speed
- Lighter
Indoraptor
+ Scutes bought it time
+ Too crazy to back down for awhile
+ Heavier and faster for more impact power and speed
+ More flexible arms
- Crazy and has conflicting instincts
- Abilities overall weaker than sum of parts
- Blunter claws and teeth lacked heavy serrations
- Higher intelligence = Higher potential to feel fear or act irrationally
- Not as good at climbing
- Far less agile
Q: The Indo only lost because it didn’t finish off the Utah though.
A: The battle I wrote was only an example scenario. Not every conflict goes the same way, but the end result be the same. I just wrote it this way to be more exciting. The Utahraptor could have killed the Indoraptor quickly or after a while in a number of ways, such as suffocating it by clamping down on his throat. I just went for more dramatic.
Q: Wouldn’t the feathers make the Utah much less durable?
A: Scales aren’t very durable either. Both are just thin sheets of keratin unless you get into bony scales like osteoderms. In fact, the higher length and width of the feathers just makes it even harder to bite or claw through and thus, harder to hold onto.
Q: Could any other raptor take on the Indoraptor one on one and win?
A: Probably not (unless your name is Blue). Utahraptor is the most powerful of its family by a pretty wide margin, and while I’d imagine a Dakotaraptor or Achillobator could give it trouble, the Indoraptor is simply too big for most Dromaeosaurids to handle.
The raptor who took the feathers and put them in its cap synched the win, the victor is Utahraptor!
*Claps loudly*
A wonderfully written, explained, and executed death battle, my good man! It was exciting, it was tense, it was thrilling, and most of all, it was well reasoned. You brilliantly make the point that, while the Indoraptor would be an excellent creature for going around murdering humans (and isn't that just a lovely mental image), in seeking to do anything else it would be rather lackluster. Also, I especially enjoyed the peaks into the decayed and broken sanity of the Indo. Makes his brief reign of terror just a wee bit more tragic on top of the horror already at play. Overall, masterfully done and I hope to see more in the future.
Perhaps one detailing the I. Rex versus an appropriate Theropod? Or even the Mosasaur of the films versus the largest ocean predator in history, the Sperm Whale?
The lesson here being that if you're going to engineer a genetic hybrid dinosaur for military applications, its best to hire on some actual experts on animal biology and behavior to make sure that you're blending together the right traits and not just tossing everything and the kitchen sink in there for funsies.
Little spoiler talk from the movie, just forewarning anyone who hasn't seen it:
I got to wonder if any of the groups that managed to get away with a few dinosaurs for future gene splicing and study, including Wu, might actually learn from the issues of the Indoraptor and start focusing on developing ways to make their creations more effective. On a mental level they'd either need to surpress the conflicting instincts and focus soley on developing a sapient mind that can be trained, or surpress the sapient traits and find a way to boost specific instincts that support and work with the physical traits given to any given hybrid.
But of course the next logical step to take things to the next level is to add cybernetics. You know you won't be satisfied until this series delivers on a cybernetic T-Rex armed with lasers and missiles.
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You mean like the Super Raptors from Killer Instinct?
Cybernetically enhanced and genetically adjusted to give them the human-capacity for learning, tactics and adaptability.
Easily one of the best fight from the movie and from here.
But It’s very sad story indoraptor reason being it grew up in a small cage it had no family be loved with it wasn’t in a warm nest it was in a cold lonely cage no interaction’s with other creatures. It slowly but surely loses its sanity because they forced it with one intention kill.
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Not familiar with those, but I wouldn't say no to the idea. Mostly at this stage i feel like I'd enjoy seeing a film in the series that fully embraced the B-movie mad science and kicked things up to the next stage with intergrating cybernetics into the dinsoarus, because really where else do you go after the genetic hybrid thing? As Tarb describes in this death match one of the Indoraptor's problems was its fragmented mind, filled with too many conflicting instincts which also competed with its sapient mind. You'd need a way to get around that issue. One way would be to refine the gene engeineering to the point where you can fine tune the brain to have only the specific instincts you want, or to surpress instincts to such a point that you only have the sapient mind to deal with. Of course the problem with just having the sapient mind alone is that you then have to train it for whatever you want the creature to do, which could take years, and cause issues of loyalty and control since you can't garauntee a sapitent creature is going to do what you want it to do.
But add cybernetics to the mix and you can have all sorts of fun. Not only enchancing the dinos to be even more bulletproof, but to give them built in ranged weapons to offset the fact that guns are still humanity's primary advantage over... just about everything else on the planet. Then one could also perhaps use an installed A.I chip into the dino's brain to kick in and give it direction and control over all those instincts, or load the sapient mind up with all sorts of combat programs in order to skip the needed years of trianing. Sure it's all just sci-fi mad science, but then so is genetically engineering dinosaurs, so far as I'm concerned it'd be kind of a fun and entertaining thing to see in the series.
And clearly the Indoraptor would have done better here with a built in chainsaw arm and laser eyes. Just saying.
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To be perfectly frank, the idea of using any animal in modern warfare is utterly beyond stupid UNLESS AND UNTIL the animal is fully sapient.
Using the example of the Indoraptor shown in the film, while it was able to resist rifle fire pretty effectively and of course could completely murder any human that stepped within its claw range, it wouldn't last very long at all the moment heavy weapons or vehicle mounted arms came into the picture. Bullets from an assault rifle are one thing, shots from a .50 caliber anti-material round is quite another. And don't even get me started on explosives.
But aside from their durability issues, dinos, or any other combat animal, would not be anywhere near worth the effort put into raising and caring for them compared to the combat potential they put out. One of the biggest expenses any military deals with already in the real world is the feeding, housing, training, and shipping of their troops on a day to day basis. Using combat animals adds even more onto the personal cost, without actually having more trained soldiers to show for it. It would take years to grow an animal which has in the end less lethality than a regular man armed with a rifle and could be trained in a few weeks.
The really big dinos would take even longer and would effectively just become huge targets for rockets and other explosives, let alone tanks, IFVs and aircraft. No theropod that ever existed would survive the personal attention of a helicopter gunship. And that's before you remember that in all likelihood none of these animals would listen well to human commands in the first place, and could only serve as 'drop and forget' terror weapons, which are not what most modern militaries are looking for these days.
In the end, combat animals simply do not offer nearly enough benefit to outweigh the huge costs and ineffectiveness of them.
However... if these animals were to be made fully sapient, suddenly the game changes. See, what makes us humans so dangerous in the first place is two things: our ability to think, plan, and prepare, and our ability to communicate clearly and rapidly. Now, imagine if you will an animal with the physical power of a raptor but still able to think, feel, and 'talk' just as well as a human could. That would change EVERYTHING. Having alternative sapient species on the field would allow for better use of the abilities of animals like dinosaurs without the incumbent risk of using a potentially uncooperative creature to do your bidding.
Of course, then you get into all sorts of icky ethical questions like "are they human or animal?" and "are we allowed to raise up a sapient creature purely for war without giving it any other option?"
But pffft, who needs to worry about those right?
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Again, I'm not talking about the original Riptor, who had an actual human brain. I'm talking about the Super Raptors. They're only genetic modifications are to give them the CAPACITY of human intelligence, not actual human genetics, and their cybernetics run mostly along their bone structures, acting as enhancements to what would typically be their weakest areas.
The most prominent of these enhancements run along their spinal columns, eliminating the potential of a disabling blow to what is generally considered a weak-spot on almost all vertebrates.
Very well done, Tarb! A perfect blend of facts and fiction, and we learn something cool along the way!
*Applause* Fantastic!
I’ll admit, biology isn’t one of my stronger subjects, (which isn’t to say I’m hopeless, I’m just not the best) but I can pinpoint why the Indoraptor lost, at least in the movie. The Indoraptor was raised in isolation for its entire life. Most animals, especially the JP film raptors are social animals, meaning they need some kind of interaction or positive figure to function. Because of this, the Indoraptor was out of its damn mind.
Compare this to Blue, who was raised with three siblings and Owen as a father figure. Blue had a relatively stable upbringing (aside from her fight with Echo over who was the leader) and had some maternal instincts to boot. This is shown during her training, when Owen would show signs of weakness, Blue nuzzled up to him to make sure he was okay.
So, why am I bringing up Blue’s maternal instincts you ask? Because the term “momma bear” exists for a reason. Mother animals are fiercely protective of their young and will beat you down eight ways to Sunday for looking at them funny. Because of this, Blue went on the offensive against a physically superior foe to protect her family; specifically Owen. And it ended with the Indoraptor impaled on a Trike horn.
Okay, I have to say that the fight had me on the edge of my seat. You did an amazing job describing the mindset of the Indoraptor as an insane psychopath with conflicting instincts and the Utahraptor as a predator and social creature that recognized the Indoraptor as a dangerous threat. The fight was like an episode of Death Battle as you acknowledge the higher speed and strength of the Indoraptor in comparison to Utahraptor, but also noticed that Utahraptor’s feathers were better for protection and maneuverability and how it’s far more powerful legs gave it the ability to overcome the Indoraptor. The best part is your acknowledgment that manufacturing a hybrid with the best parts of every predator doesn’t mean that it could use those parts to its fullest potential since some of the Indoraptor’s abilities/features ended up weakening the others. Overall, I found this fight to be amazing, so thanks for writing it.
Somehow, I knew the UtahRaptor would win. This brings back memories of that fight we did in the RPG awhile back between a feathered Deinonychus and a Scaly Hybrid Raptor that's alot like this match today.
*sigh* I needed this win to console me after Mexico's loss against Brazil in the World Cup. Can the next Dino Deathmatch involve a Carcharodontosaurid? Any member is fine. It could be somebody like Acro, or TyrannoTitan, or even Giga.
Nicely done. I do have to wonder about the follow up, though.
Considering the size difference, I suspect The Son of Red (Red Jr.) would not see Blue as a challenge the way it saw the Indoraptor. More likely, he will think she is trying to be intimidating in order to steal a bit of his prey.
I suspect a good suit of Plot Armor would let Blue finish Red Jr. off, considering how beat up he is. However, the real question would be if Blue feels the need to attack Red Jr, who at this point is just eating and defending a kill. Heck, after going for some of the choice bits (ie: the liver and other nutrient rich organs), Red Jr. may well let Blue enjoy some of the leftover meat. After all, it would be easier to eat his fill and then back off then risk a fight over leftovers in his current condition....
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Yeah it's a reason I left it ambiguous as to if they'd fight or not. The Utah isn't threatening Owen and company so Bkue would have little reason to attack and it would have little reason to do likewise. She might just be trying to keep his attention or making contact to ensure Owen gets away.
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It's funny, before I saw pics of Utahraptors with feathers, the only time I remember them was from Walking with Dinosaurs, (which I still honestly enjoy to this day). Just seeing how powerful these guys were when hunting down Iguanadon was truly awe-inspiring, and it's their size that actually inspired the raptors from Jurassic Park.
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Quite and the fact they had feathers made then even more badass because now they're basically a polar bear sized ground eagle with teeth.
Though for a bit of film and book history, the JP raptors are actually scaled off Deinonychus, who is in-between Velociraptor and Utahraptor in size. The JP raptors are the upper-end of what they thought was Deinonychus' size range at the time, which by chance happened to overlap with the lower end of Utahraptor' original scaling. Utah was actually discovered during post-production of the movie and caused SFX director Stan Winston to joke, "We built it, then they discovered it!"
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Lol, true that! I'm definitely interested to see what the next prehistoric rumble is gonna be like.
Sorry if this is too many questions, but:
Hypothetically, how would the Utahraptor's arrival and victory have changed things moving forward? Would it form a pack with Blue, or would she have finished it off? If he survived, would the humans even attempt to treat his injuries?
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I doubt Blue would pick a fight unless the Utah went after Owen, of which it has no interest in doing. She has been alone for years and as a social species, might try to form some contact as she did with the Indominus. Not sure if they'd form a pack though given they are different species.
A very well written fight and good explanations as to how the Utahraptor came out on top over the genetic amalgamation.
Yeah, about that scene in the movie. I couldn't help but remember all those times you kept mentioning how a Deinonychus' jaws would have enough force to sever a guy's arm, and I thought "Wouldn't it be so savage if we see that onscreen?" And when that scene happened in the movie. I was like "Damn, Tarb. They finally actually kinda did it!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7BUeyjQJDc
Alteori did their take of this battle and Indoraptor/Ripper won. Thought you would be interested in the second perspective.
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I was, in fact I asked permission for a video response.
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I look forward to it, just let me know when it's up. They made a lot of theory videos for Jurassic world and Fallen Kingdom so you should listen to them. Some sound legit to be honest like it could have been true.
So is the Indominus Rex any better than it's descendant?
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Indominus I see as preforming better at fighting another animal* of comparable build because her body design isn't as altered as the Indoraptor. She's basically a Carnosaur with bigger arms, different shaped claws, and a stout body. I don't see her preforming as well in some cases (like trying to kick without raptor claws to make it worthwhile) , but she is pretty solid. I do however thing a healthy, adult pure Theropod or a less altered splice could give her a very big run for her money.
*Just to clarify I think the Indoraptor is a better anti-human weapon than a Utahraptor, just not as good a fighter
You know, since the newer estimates of the Utahraptor's weight came out, this fight is looking worse and worse for Indo. Current estimates put the Utah at 2200-4400 pounds (or 998 to 1996 kg). The low end estimate puts them about equal and the high end estimate has Utah being twice as heavy. Even going middle of the road, Utah is 3300 pounds (1497 kg), which means it's still significantly larger. Indo already struggled with killing anything that wasn't human. Pit it against a predator that is now of equal or greater weight, and likely comparable or greater speed and strength and we're all going home with some Indo teeth.
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Not every day when I feel more and more vindicated.
I would will hold on the upper and estimate as I can't find a very good source for it, but it isn't unfeasible given just how robust the genus was. Besides realistically the Indoraptor should weigh significantly less than it is claimed to because of how skinny it is. Being so skinny means having less padding and protection around its vital areas. I wrote out the fight to make it more interesting, but it is entirely possible a big Utahraptor would just bumrush (or the Indo rushes it in a foolhardy attempt) the Indo, grab it by the neck or head in its jaws, and crush it.