| “ | The sloth also boasts impressive defences. Small bones beneath his skin act like chainmail. Adults are virtually indestructible.
— Walking with Beasts Narration
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” |
Megatherium was a species of giant ground sloth which lived in South America from the Early Pliocene through the end of the Pleistocene. It was one of the largest land mammals ever to have lived in the Americas and the largest member of the sloth family ever to existed. Megatherium could grow to lengths of 6 metres, could stand at heights of up to 2.1 metres and weighed up to 4 tons. They are generally believed to have been strictly herbivores however there has been some debate as to whether they may have occasionally hunted or scavenged meat because of the skeletal structure of their powerful forearms which had more in common with carnivores than other plant eaters.
Megatherium was believed to have been driven to extinction by humans with remains being discovered in known human kill sites. However the habitat it lived in was also shrinking around the time of it's extinction so that may have also contributed to it's demise.
Battle vs. Ankylosaurus (by Wassboss)[]
“Attention all Hunter’s Guild Members, the Ankylosaurus has escaped. Please can you be on high alert.”
“Again?” Muldoon says with a sigh as he sees the message pop up on his email. For some reason the DFederal Zoo always has problems with the Ankylosaurus and it always seems to find it’s way back onto the streets. Thankfully he’s already planned ahead for this scenario and the last time it escaped he fitted it with a tracking chip so after punching in a few details into the tracker he is able to find its location. Within a few minutes he has gotten the transport truck and driven to its location but when he gets there, he finds to his surprise that it is not the only animal in the vicinity and he lifts the radio attached to his belt up to his mouth.
“Is anyone else available,” he says.
“Munro here, what is it that you need?”
“I’ve just loaded up the truck to go and get the Ankylosaurus but there is another creature here. Looks like a giant ground sloth of some sort. I’ll need you to come over with the second transport truck as soon as possible. Looks as if things might get ugly. I’ll send over the co-ordinates to you.”
“Got it, will be there as soon as I can.” Muldoon puts down the radio and watches from the truck as the Megatherium shuffles towards the Ankylosaurus which has adopted a defensive position, head turned away and it’s clubbed tailed raised and waving slightly. The Megatherium does not seem to be raises up onto its hind legs, letting out a low rumbling growl. As it leans in close to try and swipe at the dinosaur with it’s claws, the Ankylosaurus swings it’s tail, smacking the giant sloth on the right shoulder. The Megatherium however does not seem to be deterred by the blow and the claws come down on the Ankylosaurus’ thick plate armour but they barely leaving a scratch. The Ankylosaurus again swings it’s clubbed tail and this time it strikes the sloth on the ribs. This time the Megatherium does take notice and drops back down onto all fours. Another swing which careens off the same area is enough for the Megatherium to decide this is not a fight worth having and it shuffles away, leaving the Ankylosaurus alone in the street.
Muldoon gets out of the truck, taking a bushel of ferns from the passenger seat. He approaches the Ankylosaurus slowly, waving the food in front of it. It walks towards him and he leads it up to the trailer before tossing the ferns inside and the Ankylosaurus walks in with not hesitation, being well used to the trailer by now. As he raises the door and slots it into place, he hears the sound of a truck approaching and looks towards where Munro is driving up with the second trailer. Muldoon points to where the Megatherium was heading and he gets a thumbs up from the fellow hunter. “Let’s get you back home,” Muldoon says quietly as he gets into the cabin and drives off with his cargo in tow.
“So how does this Ankylosaurus keep escaping anyway?” Wass asks.
“It’s a quirk in the automatic housing system. Because it’s classed as homeless for some reason it keeps getting teleported out of it’s enclosure at the Zoo and gets put randomly into the streets,” Peter Parker says, sitting in the chair in front of his desk.
“And is there any way to fix this?”
“If it had a battle then this issue would be sorted. Or that’s what the kid in the red hat said when I spoke to him,” Peter says.
“And you say it was seen getting into an altercation with another creature while it was out?”
“Yes, it was a giant sloth apparently.” Under his mask, Wass raises his eyebrow in confusion.
“But we don’t have a giant sloth here. That’s very odd. But I guess this works for making sure the Ankylosaurus is classed as having a battle. Did anyone else get hurt?” he asks.
“Yes. That’s how I found out about this. I heard someone shouting as if they were in pain and I found this man lying in the street with a massive gash in his chest. He was ranting and raving about some sort of portal or something. At first, I thought he was just delusional but he seemed really convinced which is why I thought I’d bring it to you” Peter explains.
“Did he mention anything about this so called portal looked like?”
“Apparently it looked as if there was shards of glass floating in the air.”
“Hmm. That to me sounds like something called an anomaly,” Wass says leaning forward in his chair and Peter can hear the interest in his voice as he talks. “ This is something we might need to keep an eye on. What happened with the man after this?”
“I took him to DF General for treatment. Then once I’d made some enquiries I came straight here.”
“Right. Are you aware of a Professor Nick Cutter?” Wass asks.
“Yes actually. He’s the professor of archaeology at the university I go to.”
“Good. If this is what I think it is then we’re going to need him. But before we make any moves, I’m going to send Bruno to interrogate this witness. You didn’t happen to catch his name, did you?”
“He said his name was David Koresh,” Peter says. Wass pauses in the middle of dialling Bruno’s number and sighs.
“I knew that bastard wasn’t finished caused me trouble.”
Expert's Opinion[]
Ankylosaurus won this fight because it had the more effective natural weaponry, with it's club being able to do a hefty amount of damage to the Megatherium. The Megatherium however would struggle to find a way to hurt the Ankylosaurus as it would need to find a way to navigate around the thick plate armour and it was unlikely it would be able to do this without getting a few whacks from the tail of the dinosaur. Ultimately the Megatherium would've decided it was simply too much hassle to deal with and retreated to leave the Ankylosaurus the victor.