Ch 5 - An Extinct Biome

Dusk was approaching when we began working

on the operation that would answer what kind of fluff the

Deinocheirus had. With satisfaction as I stood up from

the rock to execute our plan, Lane leaned back and so

did the others to see what would happen to me during the

action. We already knew that the animals seemed to be

peaceful with us, but the Leader was causing me to dread

with his size and unbridled violence. Besides, I was

going to try to touch a cub with its mother not far from

me — it would be risky, no doubt. I climbed down from

our rock through the connection to the hill and circled

the flock, studying the surrounding logs. A few feet

away from the log one of the cubs was clinging to, and

just outside the limits of the flock, a tree intertwined

with branches and vines. I carefully climbed the trunk,

crossing my feet around it to cause more friction, and

stopped to plan my next move. The Kaiaimunu cub was

still about three meters above me in its tree, and with its

back to me, a female was feeding on some branches.

Being the closest female, I reasoned she was the mother

of the brownish baby. I then looked at her scythes and

felt certain nausea as I remembered an experience. When

I worked at McLaughlin Park, I had seen a colleague be

attacked and killed by a mother bear that had been

surprised. The images returned to my mind as I

compared the modest claws of a bear to those daggers of

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a Kaiaimunu. I controlled my breathing and climbed a

little further; I was now at the cub's height and, with a

little effort, stretched to reach him. From my trunk, I put

my hand against its down, and now, from so close, I

could see how similar the creature was to an anteater, but

covered in brown feathers. Its beak, covered with

keratin, stood out in a short snout, and its closed eyes

further increased its fragile appearance. The little animal

didn't show any reaction to my touch but was still asleep.

I then slid my hand against the direction of its feathers,

which pointed downward, and lifted a few. Underneath,

another layer, one of much smaller and more clustered

feathers, must have served for the cub's thermal

insulation — the theory was right, indeed. I moved my

hand again, this time flattening the feathers, putting them

in place, and let my hand rest on the cub's back, feeling

the warm temperature emanating from his body. I felt

comfortable, almost as if I were hugging a teddy bear,

and admired this amazing little creature for a few

seconds.

Then a roar woke me up from my trance, and

when I opened my eyes, I saw the female Kaiaimunu

shooting towards the tree, ready to slice me with her

scythes. I returned to my trunk and practically

plummeted from the tree, holding on a few times on the

way down so that the fall wouldn't kill me before the

female could even reach me. I fell to the ground, hearing

her roar much closer, and started to run; looking back I

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could see her great claws tearing at the thin trunks that

blocked her path, while she opened a way through the

forest, trying to attack me. I could feel her immense

energy and her angry roar at what she thought was an

attacker. Ahead of me, the Lanes shouted for me to run

faster as if I wasn't already doing so. I sped up as fast as

I could, knowing she was still there, and jumped up to

grab the log closest to the boulder and climbed it as fast

as I could, reaching for the hands that were pulling me

away from the edge; the huge scythes making the wind

blow behind me. Anthony Lane and Lucy dragged me

over the rough surface of the rock as far away as

possible, close to where Keene was standing, while the

female still brandished her claws and scratched the rock;

her cheeks quivering with the force of the ferocious roar.

Slowly, she withdrew, sometimes still turning and

roaring again, frustrated that I was still alive. My heart

was pounding wildly, but I allowed my head to drop to

the hard rock and stayed there, watching Lucy's face,

which looked at me with a dreadful expression, and

Lane's, who looked down, sorry for letting me go. Then I

heard Keene's quiet voice comment:

— Males are unnecessary, after all.

Lane made an expression of disbelief at this

comment, and Lucy didn't even change her expression.

Directing her gaze toward the clearing, Lane said, still

with his hand on my shoulder:

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— God, it's obvious that this species would

survive extinction with that kind of protective behavior!

I could only agree internally as to save what little

spirit I had left to control my breathing. My chest was

still burning from the prolonged exertion and my skin

from the lacerations that the branches and trunk bark had

caused. Being positive, though, there was something to

be grateful for, as none of those injuries were worse than

being torn apart by the female. To take my mind off the

constant pain, I tried to meditate on everything that was

going on there — the flock, the system as a whole, and

wondered — how was it possible that there were only

cubs and adults in that population? Where were the

adolescents of the species? I remembered seeing some

smaller Kaiaimunus, like the small male that was bullied

by the Leader, and even some females were smaller than

the others; I could see that now. This indicated that they

were younger individuals, but even they would be much

older than the cubs. Perhaps, the younger males left the

flock to form their own, and these younger ones we saw

were then the great Leader's cubs. There was a lot to

think about, but the lack of a logical conclusion made me

lose my train of thought and start feeling pain again. We

were exhausted and would sleep hungry that night.

⬫⬫⬫

The next day, I woke up slowly and noticed that it was

already warm. Everyone had been considerate enough to

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let me sleep for a little longer, which I took advantage of

to close my eyes again and rest on the cold surface of our

rock. All around me everything was quiet — somewhat

too quiet for my comfort — and I opened my eyes and

sat up to look around. To my left, Lane was snoring and

Lucy was sleeping peacefully next to her father. Still

sleepy and with cloudy eyes, I looked over to the edge of

the rock and came upon a figure looking directly at me. I

rubbed my eyes and realized that it was Keene — the

man sat cross-legged looking into my eyes.

— Good morning, Kevin, — he said, without

emotion. — The meeting with Mom brought you three

down, didn't it?

— Dr. Keene? Were you up all night? — I asked.

— Of course not; I just didn't black out as you

did. And the worst part is that I didn't get to drink my

coffee.

— Why not?

— For the same reason that we slept on this rock,

instead of going to our tents; rub your eyes and you will

see.

I obeyed and realized what he was talking about.

The rock was surrounded by the flock, which was now

moving through the Ambungi jungle, devouring the

vegetation on the way. Instinctively I looked for the

female from the day before, but apart from the size, there

was nothing to differentiate them, and I soon gave up on

my search. While searching, though, I saw that the large

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male was standing near the tree line, the same place

where I had discovered him. Leading the pack, he was

spearheading the way, along with the other males, whom

I nicknamed the Guardians.

Listening and taking a closer look, I could feel a

slight vibration that the rock radiated from the ground

below us. I looked again at the animals, but they didn't

run, they didn't even move. Turning to the only being

fragile enough to feel what I felt, I asked:

— Did you feel that, sir?

— Feel what? — said Keene, with a puzzled

expression.

— That vibration. — But the vibration was

already becoming a tremor, and it increased.

— What the hell is this? — shouted Keene,

hurling himself away from the edge. Anthony and Lucy

Lane woke up screaming as well, not understanding the

terrible chaos around us. The Deinocheirus were still

motionless, continuing to eat, at most dropping a few

leaves from their cheeks; their calm was almost

disturbing. Then, from the northwest, we saw the source

of what was already a strong earthquake. Another group,

one of huge green, quadrupedal creatures, galloped

toward us, often turning their heads to look back and

emitting their roar, one not nearly as severe as that of the

Deinocheirus. The latter remained motionless as the

newcomers joined their pack, finally calming down and

stopping roaring so desperately. The largest animals

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were up to 5 meters long, as far as I could tell, and were

like gigantic ungulates, but with a long tail and scaly

skin. Their hooves increased the resemblance even more,

although their feet were reptilian and these animals had

functional hands. Long indigo stripes ran down their

flanks as if ink had dripped onto their backs at the

moment of creation. Stepping forward to get closer to

me, and thus to the flock, Lane stared at them for a

moment and, opening his hands in an act of disbelief,

recognized them:

— Probactrosaurus? But...how?

⬫⬫⬫

Without paying attention to our presence, the

animals blended as if they were a single species, to the

point that there was an almost perfect sequence of

probactrosaurus and Kaiaimunus.

The only exception was still the edges, where the

Guardians were the prevailing sight, having cleared the

way for the second group, accepting them as the newest

protégés of their formidable weapons that would make

any bayonet look like a butter knife. It is fair to say that

there was a separation in the center as well, for no

probactrosaurus dared to come near the stage of the great

Leader; terrible marks on the flanks of some of them

explaining why. — Probactrosaurus from Papua, —

declared Lane.

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— Hadn't they been sighted in Rabaul? — I

asked, remembering my research.

— Precisely, — answered the Doctor. — And

they haven't been seen since. The town mayor even

wanted to use one of the animals as a tourist attraction,

but there was no way to capture the creature before it

disappeared once again into the dark jungle.

— And the bastard was left empty-handed? —

Keene asked with his usual acidity. — Splendid!

— Well, yes, — Lane went on to say. — And

look how peacefully they integrated with the

Kaiaimunus, who were so hostile to us.

— And why were they running around as if in

panic? — I asked, somewhat worried. Lane simply

lowered his eyes, lost in his thoughts, and raised them

slightly to also have a worried expression, but remained

silent.

— Dad? — called Lucy, with no answer. — Dad?

— she repeated softly, touching his shoulder as if to

wake him from his trance. — What do you think caused

this stampede? — Lane turned slowly toward her with a

dead look in his eyes, like an old man no longer

conscious. Looking then at Keene, the spirit returned to

him, and his gaze was now pleading. Keene frowned and

agreed with a vigorous nod of his head, approving

whatever the two of them were thinking. Lowering his

eyes again, Lane said:

— A predator...

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— A predator? — repeated Lucy, instinctively

looking side to side and taking special care to look in the

direction from which the pack had fled.

— Don't be such a coward, Anthony, — Keene

said contemptuously. — The behavior of prey doesn't

confirm anything, and you taught me that yourself.

Stephanoaetus mahery, remember? — Letting scientific

knowledge absorb his fears, Lane answered:

— Yes...yes, the Malagasy crowned eagle, extinct

half a millennium ago with the colonization of

Madagascar. It is believed to have fed on lemurs, so the

animals still overreact to the sound of any bird of prey,

even if it is too small a bird to pose any threat.

This phenomenon had already been repeated a

few times during the history of life on Earth. On the

American continent, for example, some imported camels

gobbled up Larrea tridentata bushes (also called

chaparral, as a medicinal herb in Mexico) with gusto,

even though this plant does not even exist in its arid

habitat on the African continent. It turns out, however,

that the latter is not its original habitat, because camels

originated in America 45 million years ago, where they

coexisted with the chaparral, and in time crossed the

Bering Strait, ending up where we find them today in

their wild state — Africa. The American antilocapra is

also a good example of these behavioral remnants. Such

ungulates reach speeds that only a cheetah would be able

to surpass, even though there are no cheetah species in

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America. Nevertheless, thousands of years ago, the

reality was different, as this predator was very much

present. When it moved to Africa and became extinct in

America, the antilocapra kept its incredible speed.

Finally, Persea americana, the avocado, has no seed

disperser these days, but thousands of years ago, the

megafauna of huge armadillos and giant sloths had

gastrointestinal tracts large enough to swallow its fruits

whole and deposit them in the soil, along with their

feces.

— Maybe you're right, Jacob...maybe, — Lane

said, concluding the conversation, knowing that he was

no longer in control of the expedition.