"Dino" Deathmatch: Creeps from the Deep - Mosasaurus vs. Livyatan · 7:29am Sep 9th, 2018
Proofed by Lance Omikron!
It's Mesozoic vs. Cenozoic!
Species: Livyatana melvilli ("Melville's Leviathan")
Family: Toothed Cetacean ("Dolphins" and "Sperm Whales")
Length: 16 meters (52 feet)
Weight: 60 tons
Armament: Battering ram head, sonar system, crushing bite, thick blubber and skin for bulky frame
Ever since a small hoofed carnivore snapped up a fish on a salty shore and ventured further over the incurring generations, a lineage of mammals has called the sea home. While many impressive and awe-inspiring members of this family called Cetaceans have come and gone, from the reptile-like Basilosaurus to the truly gargantuan Blue Whale and bizarre looking pink river dolphin, very few would argue that the member that has most lived up to the group’s legendary sea monster namesake is one named after another sea monster. Discovered as recently as 2008, Livyatan melvillei is a whale of a whale. Named after the biblical titanic sea monster (English name being “Leviathan”) and author of Moby Dick, Herman Melville, Livyatan belongs to the family Odontoceti or “Toothed Whales”; a group that today contains some of the most successful predators to ever swim the ocean through the combination of agility, speed, and intelligence.
In terms of build, one could favorably compare Livyatan to what happens when you throw a modern sperm whale and orca into a blender. While of comparable length to the modern sperm whale, the third largest animal on the planet after the Blue and Fin whale, Livyatan was proportionally much more robust and had a more agile frame with fewer adaptations for deep diving. This along with the prey available to it being chiefly large sharks and baleen whales all point to Livyatan being the largest macropredatory mammal of all time as currently known, with a projected mass of over 50 tons. This is where the orca comparison comes in, as in terms of the niche and overall proportion, it’s the closest living comparison. Orcas are apex predators across all biomes they venture into, regularly hunting down and killing dangerous quarry like multiton elephant seals, other cetaceans, and large sharks up to great whites.
And Livyatan is basically an orca with its mass multiplied by nine. And it certainly was packing weaponry in the form of an enormous head with teeth over 1 foot long, the largest non-tusk teeth of any known animal at up to 50% longer than Tyrannosaurus rex teeth and four times the mass. And unlike a modern sperm whales, it had teeth on both its top and bottom jaw which would slide past each other when Livyatan closed its mouth; sharpening the tips. Bite force studies on cetaceans are very poorly understood, but it is known that a non-fully grown orca is capable of chomping down with over 19,000 N of force. Given its greater size, huge teeth which were clearly built to withstand a lot of pressure and extremely robust jaws, Livyatan very likely had a crush force far higher than this and might be in the running for some of the strongest jaws of all time.
While soft tissue was not preserved with the skeleton, it is known from the shape of the skull that Livyatan had the same echolocation and sonar abilities modern relatives have. This bio-acoustics sonar helps modern toothed whales to both analyze their surroundings even in pitch blackness as well as communicate. Many species can also focus their sonar clicks into a narrow range and release a loud pulse that violently vibrates the ear canals and auditory systems of prey, disorienting or even stunning them like the auditory component of a flashbang. Sperm whales especially are keen to these sonar clicks by focusing the sound through specialized fluids in their head (the organs that hold such are what give them their squared-off head shape) and projecting them back towards the skull before firing again, doubling up the pulse. The resulting bang produces a wave that exceeds 230 decibels directed outwards, louder than the Battleship New Jersey firing all 9 sixteen inch guns at once and 15 db higher than a space shuttle launch.
And like modern sperm whales, these same waxes and fluids used for the sonar pulses can double in reinforcing the whale’s head for use as a battering ram, just like a bull sperm whale did in 1820 when it rammed and sunk the 238-ton ship called the Essex and inspired Moby Dick.
Livyatan advantages
-Far heavier than its opponent in both cases
-More crush force with its jaws and larger teeth
-Sonar gives both potential for a ranged attack as well as enhanced perception
-Greater bulk means vital areas have more mass around them
-More intelligent than opponent
Livyatan disadvantages
-Skin is easier to penetrate than opponent
-Only two flippers means less maneuverability
-Sonar clicks will consistently give away position to those that can hear them
-Slower in a straight line and in turns than opponent
Species:Mosasaurus hoffmannii ("Hoffmann's Meuse River Lizard")
Family: Aquatic Varanid ("Monitor") lizard
Length: 17 meters (55 feet)
Weight: 20-25 tons
Armament: Massive gape and jaws with two extra rows, heavily serrated teeth, very agile and nimble frame, keen senses of sight, smell, and hearing, light scale armor
Mosasaurus, a name that has carved a path through history ever since the first fossil was discovered decades before the first dinosaur was ever known. The fact Napoleon was dispatched to steal the original fossil in the middle of a war is hardly the most bloody piece of relation to this aquatic titan. A member of the Varanid family, it was a cousin to relatives as great as the Komodo dragon, Megalania, Titanoboa, and King cobra, and as small as the dwarf blind snake. When the Pliosaurs largely went extinct by the middle Cretaceous, the lineage of monitor lizards cast their eyes to the sea and never went back. What followed was at first an amphibious and then aquatic lineage of super predators that dominated arguably the most predator-infested seas the world had ever seen before or since.
If one threw a shark and a Komodo into a blender, Mosasaurus is pretty close to what would be the end result. Superbly adapted to living in the ocean, this reptile even cast aside the ability to lay eggs and birthed its young live at sea so that they may never need return to the shore again; an extremely rare trait for a reptile. Sporting a double-hinged jaw, they could open their mouth to an enormous gape and chomp down with great speed. If this wasn’t enough to just engulf the prey and swallow it whole, the shark comparison quickly comes into play with over 70 teeth lining their jaws. This includes a special set of secondary jaws on the roof of the mouth, which aid in snaring, snagging, and shredding prey after it was already bitten-into. Each of these teeth can be up to almost three inches long from gum to tip, are recurved and heavily serrated on all sides to snag, shred, and saw through skin, flesh, muscle, and bone.
Studies of soft tissues showed all Mosasaurids had fleshy flukes attached to the ends of their tails, which would greatly aid in propelling them through the water in a side to side motion. Skin impressions show that, while they still bore the tough scales their ancestors had for defense on land, Mosasaur scales were specially designed in a hexagonal pattern to reduce drag and disturbance in the water. These same scales also showed a color difference when looking at their melanin structures, showing Mosasaurs had a dark covered top and lighter colored belly like sharks. While they didn’t undulate their body like a snake, they were extremely maneuverable due to having all four limbs evolved into flippers for which they could use for steering. The ability to turn on a dime, cause lessened water disturbance due to their scale’s surface texture, and coloration which makes it harder to see from above (dark back against the deep water background) and from below (white belly against the lighter surface) means Mosasaurs were effectively the stealth fighter jets of the seas.
Bite wounds on prey and wear patterns on Mosasaur skulls detail the typical attack method. After closing in on prey using a specialized organ shared by their Varanid kin to taste and smell the water, the Mosasaurus would dive under the target. Using its very powerful eyesight, granted from massive eyes, it would position itself beside or below the prey and accelerate. Like an oncoming train it would gain in speed and yet make little noise to give it away. Before many prey could be aware of what was coming, 15 tons of sea lizard would crash into it at up to 30 mph with its mouth open. The jaws would snap shut and jostle back and forth on their hinges, sawing and hacking into the impact wound. Tear off chunks of bone and flesh, swallow them whole.
Mosasaurus advantages
-Much sharper teeth and far more of them
-Sensory methods (smell, hearing, sight) don’t give away its position
-Much more maneuverable with four flippers
-Wider gape than opponent for larger bite
-Scales are more durable than naked skin
Mosasaurus disadvantages
-Smell and hearing is less precise than sonar for tracking unseeable targets
-Not as intelligent as the mammal
-Much lighter than the opponent and less mass around vitals
Polls favored the whale to win, but only by an extremely narrow margin of 15 to 14, but most voted that the Mosasaurus would win in one way or another because another 11 voted for the fictional version. Time to see who was right....
======================
In the oceans of the Lost Lands, two patches of the sea were melded together. A chunk of Niobraran Sea from the late Cretaceous of what would one day be the heartland of North America found itself spliced next to a chunk of deep water hailing from the Chilean Shelf dated to the Neogene. Two apex predators pick up the traces of food and the sea is torn asunder by their converging wakes. Homing in on the song of an injured baleen whale, a bull Livyatan torpedos across the deep waters and homes in on the surface. At over 50 feet long and weighing in at 60 tons, he is burlier and seasoned as evident by the scars of teeth, tusk, and marine sloth claws crisscrossing the front of his head; but in the peak of health.
Two miles away, all the fish on a reef scatter with even a great white shark ducking for cover as a long, slithering shadow passes over. Turning all four flippers into a current as it threshed the silty shallows with its fluked tail, a buck Mosasaurus of over 55 feet in length and 20 tons in mass cruised along. A healthy adult in his prime, his mating instinct had just begun to kick in and it was driving his already territorial nature to a higher and higher degree. But for now the task was food, and it homed in on the scent of blood with relished intent. It was a strange scent, but it knew wounded prey when it sensed it and as it bore closer, it began to pick up on the sound of its cries.
The baleen whale, already bleeding out heavily, had expired before the predators closed in from opposing directions. But its quiet death caused the Mosasaur to pause. Now without the currently-a-carcass whale drowning it out, it was hearing something confusing. Clicking. Loud, consistent, clicking coming from the other direction of the carcass. It had beaten whatever it was making the noise to the carcass, but they were still coming. Unaccustomed to sonar pulses, the reptile was tempted to steal a few bites before backing off to be wary of the newness, but curiosity and caution with a bit of aggression won out. Diving down to the darkness of the deep water below, the Mosasaurus paused and waited, looking upwards to try and figure out where the call blaster was coming from.
The Livyatan finally was able to see the now free meal ahead of it. It was what it couldn’t see that made it pause. Able to visualize the surroundings for thousands of meters ahead of it, its sonar clicks were picking up something else large in the same area. Below it. The Livyatan pitched itself downwards and scanned, picking up something large circling wide about four hundred meters away. Usually, it would have written it off as another baleen whale of perhaps the now deceased one’s pod, disregarded it entirely and proceeded towards the free carcass before it for food without a need to hunt. Times were scarcer where it had been just minutes before and the world was growing colder, chances like this weren’t as common. But it was the movement of the target that seemed wrong, along with the density and shape. It wasn’t a whale and it was a bit longer than the bull was.
Not taking any chances and privy to another predator who attacked from below in the form of a massive shark, the Livyatan dove into the darkness with the intent to either chase off or engage the opposer. The Mosasaurus, able to see the massive whale coming towards it, hissed and rushed off into the near pitch black darkness. In this place the whale was blind and it could barely see, relying more on its sharp hearing to keep tabs on where its rival was.
Two forms circled about in near blackout. Water was churned and moaned from sudden rushes or sharp turns within the inky blackness. A reading on sonar that was chased after, a twist-about and lunge based off a glimpse in the darkness or response to a sonar pulse. A cat and mouse game was at play, but the question of who was the cat and who was the mouse was subject to opinion and perspective. The Livyatan swung its head about, sonar pings ringing through the darkness and illuminating something it couldn’t see nor directly hear in bands of sound. The Mosasaurus sped up, nimbly dodging an oncoming ram attempt by the whale in a barrel roll-like twist to the side. With its swim pattern and body covering, it made nary a sound as it slipped through the darkness again; stalking about to find another opening.
They were locked in a stalemate. Every time the Mosasaurus would try to come up under or behind the slower whale, the rebounding sound would clue the Livyatan into where the reptile was and allow it to turn itself around and face its menacing jaws towards the aggressor. But every time the Livyatan tried to get a read on the Mosasaurus, the more agile reptile would silently slip away into the dark fog and dodge its oncoming toothy charges or ram attempts. The stakes and the competitors were speeding up, constantly arching around in the shade to rush or flank their rival apex predator. Sometimes they’d lock eyes as they passed alongside their opposite, blank expressions of pure instinct and intelligence meeting between the glimpses of teeth and fangs. Sooner or later though, one of them was either going to mess up or land a hit in the dark haze, or risk breaking off and being bore down upon. And they were both running low on air and patience.
Pulling back, a dark shape swung around in a wide arc and barreled forward at its opponent, jaws wide. A wide bite was crushed down, snapping and twisting against flesh with the taste of blood. Crunching down with all its might, teeth hit flesh and stabbed deep. A cry of pain was emitted, blood tricking up from the darkness. A deep, rumble built up before seeming to dissipate. Then, the hum and rumble coalesced and exploded.
C-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c...cccccCCCRAN!
The resulting crash was favorable in comparison to the crack of thunder, except within the depths of the sea. The massive pulse of sound seemed to vibrate the entire ocean
A new pained hiss rang out with agonized bellows, thick bubbles shooting up from the dark haze. The Mosasaurus rapidly ascended out of the dark fog, jaws covered in gore and blood. But a large portion of the red trailing its body was its own, leaking from its shattered eardrums. The entire world was nothing but white noise. A point blank sonar pulse had rendered it deaf. Frantically ascending, to recapture air in its lunges, it couldn’t hear the mass bursting out of the darkness below anymore.
The sonar clicks it was deaf to were deeper and more frequent, a change in the Livyatan that wasn’t isolated as a large chunk of its flank was trailing blood from having the top layers of skin flayed off. It wasn’t just territorial or hungry anymore, the bull was angry. In a normal state like their dance below, the reptile outpaced it by several knots. But stunned and dazed, the whale was rapidly catching up. And with jaws agape, caught it.
Over 120,000 pounds of whale rammed into the thinner reptile going 24 knots, striking like an oncoming train. A train with teeth that crunched down. The two titans of the sea breached the surface of the illuminated waters in a torrent of burst sea, the Mosasaurus’ neck and back of its head caught in the Livytatan’s jaws. Echoes through the waters that chased the booms of impact were filled with sickening creaks and crumbles like grinding rocks. The Mosasaurus' head was crushed to an ichorous, messy pulp by the time they fully splashed down.
Crunching through the bone, the whale all but decapitated the lizard and began to feed. It tore off chunks of the reptile it liked before returning to the prized, rich blubber of the carcass. Some mackerel sharks had come by to feed but quickly gave way to the mammal. Even the 7 meter prehistoric great whites dared not chance a gander at the whale’s bleeding wounds. They knew their place well....
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So why did the Livyatan win in our scenario? The whale had several key advantages over the lizard that actually drastically swung the odds in its favor. Unlike the Brontosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus fight, which ended in a 75-25 chance victory in the Sauropod’s favor, I’d rank this battle more along the lines of a 85-15 or maybe even 90-10 odds in the Livyatan’s favor.
One of the first big factors that bled into the others was sheer size. While the Mosasaurus was of comparable length, it was far, far less massive. This was akin to comparing a cheetah to a lion. Even drastically high balling the Mosasaurus’ mass to 20 tons, it is still three times lighter than the Livyatan and a more average estimate of 10-15 tons would make it four to six times lighter. But given this is underwater and smaller predators have taken down larger prey in nature, sheer mass wasn’t the decisive factor, but it was a heavily contributing one as it related to all the others.
Size is defense and the Livyatan was far more well-protected than the Mosasaurus was. While its skin by itself wasn’t as tough an epidermis as the Mosasaurus’ scales, it was far thicker. Modern sperm whales have skin up to 10 inches thick across their flanks, with the thinner patches being between 2 and 7 inches thick. Adding in the large sheets of blubber under that hide and the Livyatan basically had a suit of armor that was anywhere between one and a half to three feet thick before any vitals could be reached. In a straight up bite, the Mosasaurus could barely get through just the first fourth of this body covering and in some areas like the trunk it could only get through the first sixth. Cutting it would certainly hurt it and the Mosasaurus’ serrated teeth could do that, but it wouldn’t really damage it all that much. The Mosasaurus could cut through that armor with a long enough time to bite into it and if it got a moving start to ram into the whale, but because the whale had advanced sonar it wouldn’t be able to stealthily take it by surprise to do so.
Between the whale’s sonar and the lizard’s variety of sensory apparatus, neither one of them could really be taken by surprise by the other; meaning a head-on confrontation was inevitable. While the Mosasaurus was marginally faster in both a straight line (about 28 knots vs 24 knots) and more maneuverable, the Livyatan wasn’t exactly outclassed and its constant sonar pings could give it updates on where the Mosasaurus was at a quicker pace than the Mosasaur could position for a good ambush even in total darkness; allowing it to turnabout and dodge or counter-attack.
Being smarter with a much larger and more advanced brain also would have clued the whale into the fact even if the lizard wasn’t a whale and didn’t echolocate, having a 230 dB sonar burst go off in one’s ears point blank would still hurt. The Mosasaurus having sensitive hearing only made this much worse for it. What might disorient or stumble a comparably sized shark outright destroyed the reptile’s entire hearing structure, which is crucial for balance and proper orientation underwater. Livyatan especially had a powerful sonar ability as the dish shaped depression in its skull would have allowed it to build up multiple pressure waves of sound before releasing it all at once in a focused direction.
Plus having basically your ears and probably some other delicate internals like optical blood vessels and neurons explode from the auditory equivalent of an artillery barrage can’t be very pleasant. In essence, the whale Fus Roh Dah'd the sea dragon.
Being smaller also meant the Mosasaurus was at a far greater risk of serious harm if the whale ever got a hold of it. Between it’s smaller frame, thinner diameter, and the whale’s gargantuan bite force; there really was nothing protecting its vitals from those 14-inch teeth crushing anything they came down on. The Mosasaurus’ bites could certainly hurt the Livyatan, but they’d have to be very frequent and long-lasting to be able to dig in and do any lasting damage. Livyatan only had to land that one big hit, which was made much easier by disorienting and stunning the reptile with the sonar pulse.
While the Mosasaurus could do something if it managed to get ahold of the Livyatan’s fins and tore into them, it was simply too small for this strategy to bear much fruit unless it was repeated. And the Livyatan certainly wasn’t going to sit there and let it do that. And in this competition between a mighty glacier who could tank anything thrown at it and a speedster who couldn’t risk a single hit, only one big hit was needed.
Still the reptile had the means to damage or kill the mammal if only circumstances were a bit different. If the Mosasaurus was larger to bite harder, had bigger teeth, a larger gape, some armor plating to go with more mass to protect its vitals, and a quicker swim speed; the odds could change drastically...
Well… how about that!
===========================
A month later and the bull Livyatan, recovered with a new set of scars, found itself accidentally swimming into another temporal disturbance. Temporarily set apart from the Lost Land, it felt the seas around it suddenly warm. Transported to the oceans of 2018 in a world where the past returned to the present, it swam off to investigate. For what reason? Food of course.
Miles away, the former star attraction of Isla Nublar was relishing her freedom. Yes, this was far better than her lagoon. She’d explored there within a few days, this lagoon seemed to go on forever. The prey here tasted different unless they were sharks, but she’d become accustomed to them. The big mammals especially were filling and common if she knew where to check. A pack of the medium-sized black and white ones tried to put up a fight, but they quickly found her hide too tough and jaws quite lethal.
She was eating quite frequently, sharks, turtles, whales, a few humans in the surf. She was gorging for a reason. InGen cloned her before a landmark discovery was made regarding the monitor lizard kin they’d spliced her incomplete genome with. When denied a mate, a female could split her own genome and replicate the recombined pieces, self impregnating. She was devouring a grey whale both for her and for the eggs growing inside her, no longer delayed due to being out of her cramped lagoon and with bountiful food. Life had found a way.
And, based off the clicks and pings the modified Mosasaurus was hearing, a challenge.
ROUND 2 - LIVYATAN vs. JW MOSASAURUS
Looking forward to part two.
*Sees profile of the JW Mosa*
Theme park monsters indeed. Jesus Christ, Wu, what the hell were you thinking? There's attracting an audience and then there's creating an ACTUAL SEA MONSTER!
Liv, please, save us from this artificial beast.
Still reading through, but this article just reminded me of something.
Tarb, do you remember a program on Discovery(?) that went through the "top 9 deadliest oceans of all time" and the #1 they called "Hell's aquarium"? I used to have most of it on VHS from when I taped it off TV, but I can't find it or any reference to it online for the life of me.
4933729
I believe you're thinking of 'Chased by Sea Monsters', a BBC documentary made by the same people who did the 'Walking with...' series. While it did air on the Discovery channel, it aired on BBC first.
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4933799
EMS has it. It was hosted by Nigel Marvin and Hell's Aquarium is what they called the Cretaceous oceans. Awesome show and pretty up to date (giant Lioplurodon withstanding along with some other details).
4933842
Agreed, I actually own it on DVD (the Discovery channel version at least), and I still enjoy to this day.
The IRL Mosasaur may be a distant cousin of the Komodo Dragon and other varanid lizards, but I'm pretty sure Dr. Henry Wu must've used some Saltwater Crocodile genes (or perhaps even, gods forbid, a sample of Gustave's DNA) while making the JW Mosasaur because DAYUM!!
Also, I really like the picture depicting the Livyatan as a dire sperm whale with orca-inspired colors.
EDIT: the JW Mosasaur giving virgin birth? Now that's an ecological nightmare.
Yes I won my bet! Dude I love this honestly I love the details in the battles this was awesome. I thought the livyatan hide was thicker but all in all well done man keep it up. Only one question were are these prehistoric aquatic beasts coming from how did they survive this whole time?
This was a great fight! I was rooting for the Mosasaur, but I didn't mind the Liv pulling a win, I liked both of my SeaBois. Though I do have a few questions about these two.
1. How do you think these two ancient predators would react to seeing a Human for the first time, if they weren't feeling particularly hungry?
2. Think we could one day cover the last scenario in the RPG'verse where the Mauve Shirts(who are now probably in their 50's at this point in time) have to hunt down either Livyatan, or the pregnant Ingen!Mosa like Moby Dick, or Jaws? Of course, this is something that could be done when you have time after the San Diego scenario.
You have a good day, Tarb.
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I see. Upon investigation, I have concluded that you guys are correct. I think I might have run across this one in my fruitless search, but overlooked it because I thought it was something else. For the longest time I thought the title of the show I was looking for was "Hell's Aquarium".
Also upon further inspection: These are loafers.
mensdesignershoe.com/avactis-images/stemar_shoes_sorrento_soft_deerskin_penny_slip_on_loafers_brown_0.png
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Happy to help, Heat!
4933901
Gustave is not some giant monster croc, he's just a very unusual aberration in nature
4933993
Why would a trio of environmental activists hunt down a whale or Mosasaur, anyway? I'd rather they just hunt a Megalodon
4934232
Because these are prehistoric super-predators roaming about with few things in the modern natural world that could seriously challenge them aside from the Kaiju, and Climate Change. The Ingen!Mosa especially given that she could self-reproduce. It's like the reason why Snoke was created for the Sorna, because the unrestrained Tyrannosaurs would've overpopulated, and pretty much crash the whole ecosystem with no checks and balances in place. The same thing applies here.
4934236
Now that you mention it, maybe whaling for Mosasaurus ingens could actually be justified
4934314
Exactly, an eighty foot beast of a superpredator who has no contemporary equal that preys on anything it feels like, and can self-reproduce, combined with an ecosystem that still has yet to fully recover after centuries of Human exploitation. It would practically be an environmental crisis.
4934221
And the fact that he's still alive and feeding makes him all the more terrifying. Gustav is the closest thing we have today to a prehistoric apex predator.
Okay, Henry, buddy, can we talk? I know you like to think of yourself as just doing work when you're creating these things, but did you ever stop to think, "Hey, maybe taking an apex predator from the time of the dinosaurs and making it EVEN BIGGER isn't such a good idea."?
But in all seriousness, Liv's got his work cut out for him in the next round. Gustav is a hell of a lot bigger than the first Mosa and probably a hell of a lot tougher. That being said, since it's technically a hybrid animal, that may work against it. Keep in mind, they never have a complete DNA strand in the JP universe, so they have to pull from other species. And Tarb has said multiple times that hybridization just results in an overall weaker creature. But, then again, Gustav might be able to coast through this one on size alone.
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Bit of a catch 22 there with hybrids. If one picks very specific traits and splices animals that are fairly similar to each other in behavior, the end result can be quite strong. The reason the Indoraptor is logically weaker than a Utahraptor is because it is, at its base, a Dromaeosaurid that was missing a crucial element of being a Dromaeosaurid (wings and feathers) and implanted with genes of vastly different animals not related to it (canines, felines). By comparison Snoke was made with animals that were fairly similar in terms of behavior for a majority of his genome, and a vast majority of his genome was just one genus (Spinosaurus), with the closely related Suchomimus being the next biggest source (so it's like filling out a Spectacled Bear's genome with Black Bear genes, not all that different). The more deviant genes he had put in him were also all from reasonably close relatives or shared similar behaviors (Allosaurus is a Carnosaur which are kin to Megalosaurids like Spino and the crocodile and raven genes are from fellow Archosaurs and all generalist carnivores). While he isn't as good at being a Spino as a legit Spino, he's still functional.
To spout a comparison, Snoke is a finely tuned, modified Mac truck with a different suspension, engine, and loading supports that were well checked before being used; the Indoraptor was a sports car with tank treads.
Eyeballing it, I'd say the InGen Mosasaurus is a legit Mosasaurus or Tylosaurus base genome with added elements from monitor lizards (scales) and crocodilians (scutes). Might also be a snippet or two of whale genes for size. All of which behave in a somewhat similar way. So it shouldn't suffer the same hybrid efficiency degeneracy. She might not be as effective of a Mosasaur than a legit Mosasaur and in a competitive environment with the real deal she might be more powerful in a straight up fight, but not at surviving.... Then again, she's not in the Cretaceous no more.
So hybrids with random 'awesome' species that look or act nothing alike = Bad
Additions onto a base genome done with genes of similar animals = Can be good
Also I think the Mosa needs a female name if she's carrying eggs XD
4934623
I think she could be called Regina, but that's just me
This got a chuckle out of me
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If the Ingen!Mosa needs a female name, think we could use Ariel?
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Hey, Dive! How would you feel if we do a scenario where we have to hunt either Livyatan or the Mosa like Jaws & Moby Dick?
4933963
The 'Lost Lands' is weird place that randomly grabs different places out of space and time. It's a Turok joke but basically imagine if there was an island that for 2 square miles it was a piece of Jurassic old growth forest, but then you walk out of that space and immediately you're standing in a Pleistocene Tundra. Different land or sea spaces mean their animal and plant life gets brought along for the ride. It's just an excuse to have creatures from different time periods meet.
4934666
As long as I'm not Quint.
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If ya'll willing to risk a Deep Blue Sea, could see about getting a school of four intelligent, trained sharks as you're hunting dogs/raptor squad.
4934879
Hmm I dunno about that. Sharks aren't exactly like doggos, but on the other hand. Three middle aged men alone wouldn't really suffice to bring down these oceanic super-predators so we're might need the back-up... And a bigger boat.
4934886
Actually sharks can be quite intelligent and docile. As long as you're not Samuel L. Jackson, it's a well known fact cartilaginous fish hate Pulp Fiction.
I can offer either four modified, suped up mako sharks or a combination school of a mako, a great white, tiger, and hammerhead. Basically you have four AI Depth players tagging along.
4934890
Alright, I'm not entirely opposed to the shark idea, and I might take the combo school for their variety of skills, but I must point out the alternative of perhaps using a dolphin pod.
And given the gravity of this scenario, it could warrant government intervention with assistance from the Navy, and Coast Guard?
4934685
Dude that is actually awesome.bro like how do you do it how do make a land that crosses between space and time this is so awesome I love words expansions!
Well...
Now I know what Kyogre is based on.
4934892
And what if this battle here was canon to the Amalgamverse and we also had to deal with the Livyathan if it survives?
4935315
Ahh then while the whale would still pose quite a considerable threat to the environment because of his sheer power. I think we might be able to get away with perhaps capturing, and containing him since the Livyatan here is a male incapable of parthenogenesis, nor mating with any modern cetaceans. And he's a 100% authentic specimen of Livyatan Melvillei in good health, so the potential for scientific research into a live prehistoric animal that isn't a hybridized clone would be an enormous once in a lifetime opportunity.
It'd be like if an actual live Tyrannosaur showed up in our time. Practically everyone in the scientific community would want to take every chance they can get to study it.
4935315
4935323
We'll see what happens, but I can confirm that unlike Snoke and Castiel, the Livyatan would be too genetically different from other living Cetaceans to crossbreed. The closest relative it would have of comparable size would be a modern Sperm Whale, which belongs to a different Taxonomic genus, supergenus, and family. Unless I brought in the canon of Steve Alten's Meg series with its hidden caches of ancient predators, it would be an isolated specimen.
4935342
Let's hope that 'Shark Squad' can be called off before they attack the Livyathan
So round one goes to the Megalodon's rival. Can't wait to see how Ingen's marine predator fares against the cetacean.
4935315
Considering the number of large, whale eating predators in the 50-100 meter range, I suspect a single livyatan will not be a huge stressor for the environment....
4934623
I suppose that's the reason ligers (a hybrid of lion and tiger) can exist. Lions and tigers share a similar ancestry, so they can technically bread a hybrid offspring if the conditions are correct. The downside is they ultimately have to be raised in captivity due to the fact that the species aren't the most compatible in terms of what the offspring gets and their hunting grounds don't really overlap.
4936490
Such as Zilla, right?
4937140
Among others, yes.
Epic!
I especially like the two basically spending the first bit trying to hit each other because both had the proper senses to keep track of each other.
Very much looking forwards to the next round...