by David Pratt
Both Troodon parents felt happy at their brood, even if it was small. Olla snatched up the eggs that had failed to hatch and started to eat them; replenishing all the nutrients she lost laying them. She would then regurgitate food for her two chicks. Bladefoot was happy. His future was starting to take shape. All he had to do now was keep the two chicks safe.
Chapter 10
Meanwhile, back at the T.Rex nest, Thunder Blade and Stan had also been blessed with two healthy chicks, which were also male and female. Thunder Blade had kept the temperature in the nest consistent so the young would be mixed sexes. Only the egg thieves had taken their toll. Not Ornithomimus, but furry Didelphodons that burrowed into the nest at night. Not to mention the changing environment had affected the egg-shells. Both T.Rex parents had noticed how mammals were becoming more and more widespread, which wasn’t good for animals that had to nest on the ground.
The good news was that the T.Rexes had timed their nesting with the migration of the Edmontosaurus. Although Edmontosaurus numbers had reduced due to volcanic eruptions further north, there was still other prey that was also breeding here. The two baby T.Rexes wrestled around with one another and tried to hunt any insects that crawled around, with little success. Stan had to nudge the babies away from one another whenever ‘games’ turned too violent.
Stan’s stomach rumbled and he got up to act on that feeling. ‘STAY WITH THE INFANTS!’ Thunder Blade growled at him and blocked his path. Her mate was starting to annoy her. ‘HEY! IT’S MY TURN TO HUNT AND KILL!’ Stan protested. ‘YOU GAVE US OFFSPRING! YOU TAKE CARE OF THEM WHEN I TELL YOU TO!’ Thunder Blade roared, using her larger size to assert herself.
Stan sat back down with the two cowering babies. Getting into a fight with an adult female T.Rex didn’t appeal to him. Besides, she could bring something back for him, like a nice tender hadrosaur leg for instance.
Thunder Blade began to walk off, using her superior sense of smell to track her prey. She set off to the waterhole, knowing that was the best place to set up an ambush…….
This water hole, like many others in Alberta, was teeming with life. Although volcanic activity had ravaged the area, plants were quick to recover, sucking up all the nutrients from the volcanic soil and growing strong. The air was thick with blood sucking insects that constantly annoyed a herd of Edmontosaurus.
The Edmontosaurus’ grazed on the horsetails, ferns and water plants. They quickly filled their stomachs after the migration from Alaska with over 1000 teeth and a broad ‘duck’ bill. They were more than capable of dealing with even the toughest plants. With an ‘eat any plant you put in front of me’ attitude, the Edmontosaurus and its relatives were the most common and widespread dinosaurs in North America and Asia.
The Edmontosaurus’ constantly called to one another, checking the surroundings for predators. They knew that giant crocodiles would ambush them from the water as well. They kept moving along the water’s edge making it harder for a giant crocodile to set a trap. Unfortunately, another hunter was watching them.
Thunder Blade made little noise as she stalked the Edmontosaurus herd from the tree line. She too felt the annoying biting insects and tried not to let them distract her from the task at hand.
Stan had told her about his unsuccessful attack on them months before, but that was because he’d made mistakes. Firstly, he’d tried taking on healthy forty three feet long adults which, although a good hunter as he was, had been pretty foolish. Thunder Blade almost chuckled at the thought. This herd however was a mixed bag of ages and sizes so a kill was almost guaranteed. All she had to do was pick off one of the sick ones. Then she could treat her new chicks to a nice slab of regurgitated Edmontosaurus meat. And Stan could feed as well, that whinger! As much as she needed Stan that young male could get on her nerves at times. There were times where she could bite his head off, literally!
As the Edmontosaurus’ moved on, she broke into a trot. Then she sprang her trap, bursting out of the tree cover onto the nearest sub adult Edmontosaurus, which at nineteen feet was roughly half her length. She bore down on her prey with a bone shattering bite to the neck. The dying Edmontosaurus writhed in the jaws of the female T.Rex before Thunder Blade let the body crash to the ground. The other Edmontosaurus’ didn’t hesitate to bolt into the forest this time. They wouldn’t dare try to face off with Thunder Blade, although they’d tried that with Stan. Thunder Blade dragged the body away from the water’s edge seeing as she didn’t fancy having dinner interrupted by giant crocodiles.
The Troodon family that shared Thunder Blade’s territory were also bringing up baby, even if it was at night time. Both chicks had imprinted well on the parents. Rick and Serena had literally hatched as miniature versions of their parents, so they were fully capable of walking and running, good for keeping up with Mum and Dad! Already they were trying their hunting skills for themselves, stalking and hunting insects and spiders amongst the scrub. They would stay with Bladefoot and Olla for a year. Bladefoot could only imagine the look on the Bird-Mimic’s faces when they found that their old nest had been abandoned! Eating the un-hatched eggs also denied the egg thieves their food.
The first lesson that Bladefoot taught his young was to avoid that Ornithomimus that was loitering around by day. Light Foot had again been seen hanging around and Bladefoot knew the rest of her flock wasn’t far away. Her objective was obviously the Troodon young. Bladefoot had snarled at her when she’d got too close to his chicks which sent her scampering off and the chicks had learnt quickly. Bladefoot also warned his chicks about other predators, such as monitor lizards.
However the biggest threat to his young was Cutter. He knew that Cutter would kill Bladefoot’s young if they were un-attended to prevent him having any future competition which was all the more reason to be extra vigilante. Bladefoot didn’t fear his T.Rex neighbours too much. He was too small for them to worry about.
His chicks started peeping at Olla’s return. The chicks had already teethed and started ripping into the opossum that Olla brought back. Already the chicks associated mammals as food. As the parent Troodons had caught prey, he had shown the chicks what had made good eating: mammals, lizards, frogs, invertebrates.
Something that the parent Troodon couldn’t teach their chicks about was the environmental changes that had affected the majority of their brood. Bladefoot had been looking up in the sky in the evenings and noticed that the clouds were scarlet red. He didn’t know it, but this was an effect of all the volcanic activity in the area. Bladefoot didn’t understand all the changes that were going on, but a consistent thing was the sun rising and setting. Eventually, the sun did lower and the moon rose.
The night was his time, but thanks to the female T.Rex who’d made a kill in the day, he wouldn’t have to go chasing down mammals tonight. ‘I knew it was a good idea having a T.Rex around.’ He grinned at the fact that his plan had worked. His father Kane had taught him well: always exploit any situation to your advantage. Now he could pass on those teachings to his own chicks. Amongst the noises of the night, he heard the faint sound of a male Troodon’s mating calls. ‘Cutter.’ Bladefoot sighed. Well not everything was perfect at the moment. Cutter was still trying to find a female and was not willing to wait until next breeding season.
Then Bladefoot smelt fresh kill in the air: the dead Edmontosaurus. The Troodons rushed to the carcass, not having to worry about running into a T.Rex. As they feasted on the dead hadrosaur, training plans formed in his head for his young. Although Troodon chicks were good hunters from an early age, Bladefoot thought it would be a good idea to give his young some new lessons nonetheless. Olla had read his mind. She knew that hatching young now when other dinosaurs were breeding was a good idea.
As a species, Bladefoot hated walking around at day time, especially when he had two chicks in tow. But the chicks were always hungry and there was only one rule for a youngster in the Late Cretaceous: grow fast or die young! So the adults had to stay with the young as they practised their
hunting skills and they were always hungry. In a way, Bladefoot was glad that his first brood was shortened. Could he imagine trying to take care of twenty four chicks!?! That could wait ‘till next year! He knew that Olla was pretty strained too. All that mattered was getting Rick and Serena to adulthood, everything else was on a back-burner, including rest.
The Troodon family had been walking through the forest with Olla leading the way. Olla apparently knew of a location that she guaranteed would keep the family fed until Rick and Serena could leave. Bladefoot had a hunch what that may be and it was confirmed in his mind by the low pitched booming noises up ahead. The trees were once again starting to thin out and Bladefoot knew that he was heading into open country once again, but this time it would be to his benefit. Memories of the Torosaurus stampede were still fresh in his mind. Olla had led her family to a Parasaurolophus nesting site!
The Parasaurolophus nesting site was situated on an old dried out riverbed. Dozens of tall large nests around six feet in diameter littered the old riverbed. Each nest was guarded by attentive Parasaurolophus parents, who used plant material to incubate the eggs, as they were obviously too big to sit on them. The eggs themselves were laid in a shallow hollow at the top of the mound. The Parasaurolophus adults had been coming here for years, judging from the layers of dirt, mud and rotting vegetation piled on top of each other.
The first reason why the Parasaurolophus nested here was that there was plenty of space for the adults to move around without trampling the eggs or young, secondly it was close to the forest so the adults didn’t have to walk far to find food/nesting materials and thirdly, being in an open area made it harder for a predator to launch a direct attack.
The stench was awful; the nests stank of rotting vegetation, not to mention faeces from the babies/adults. The nesting colony was also very noisy; the Troodon family were nearly deafened by their booming calls. Although the Parasaurolophus had played it well, the colony did attract egg thieves. Already Bladefoot could see two Ornithomimus with eggs in their hands being chased off by an angry adult Parasaurolophus! Sky Rider was circling in the skies above waiting to land at any un-guarded nests. For a species that didn’t like thievery, Bladefoot and Olla had stumbled on a constant supply of food for their own young. Indeed, Troodons had relied on nesting hadrosaurs for their own breeding success ever since they evolved ten million years before Bladefoot’s time.
However Bladefoot didn’t want to take the chicks in yet. ‘Olla, please stay hidden with Rick and Serena. I’ll go and get food.’ Bladefoot instructed his female. Olla agreed, taking the chicks back to the forest border while Bladefoot moved towards the nest, playing nest robber himself.
As he approached the nests, the adult Parasaurolophus were quick to react, rearing up on their hind legs and bellowing at him. But Bladefoot knew that trying to raid the nests by night would be too risky as all the adults would be back and the nests would be better defended than they were during daylight.
Day time at the colony was like a dinosaur commute, with the adults taking turns to look after the young and gather food. All Bladefoot needed to do was find a nest that was un-guarded. He felt no remorse about robbing young lives. The survival of his own young depended on him and in the Late Cretaceous it was catch as catch can!
The adult Parasaurolophus kept their eyes on Bladefoot as he tried to get into the colony centre. Bladefoot even had to duck down low to avoid any sonic boom sounds. That was why the Parasaurolophus nested in close proximity to one another; it made nest guarding so much easier. Yes, egg raiders like Bladefoot would take their toll, but plenty of young would survive to adulthood.
Suddenly, the adults turned away from Bladefoot. Bladefoot tried to scan in the distance to see what they were kicking off about. Sky Rider had landed on an outer perimeter nest and was snacking on the babies. Although the adults had been quick to react, Sky Rider had been even quicker and had bounded into the air before the angry parents reached him.
This was Bladefoot’s chance. He approached a nest where the guard faced away from him. Bladefoot had to be careful now. He knew that tail would send him flying! Crouching down low he crept up to the babies. The first thing he noticed was the stench of the nest itself. Although Bladefoot was disgusted by the smell it didn’t deter him. The babies looked up at him with naïve eyes. Their legs weren’t fully formed, so they would only stay in the nest for a few weeks. The young were about thirty centimetres in length. Such morsels would provide plenty of food for Bladefoot’s family, if only for a limited time. Hadrosaur young were very quick growing, reaching a length of five feet in the space of a month. ‘It’s now or never!’ Bladefoot snatched the nearest baby from the nest and bolted before the guard had time to do anything.
Bladefoot ran as fast as he could through the colony with the screaming infant in his jaws. As soon as he got to a safe place he put the unfortunate baby out of its misery with a throat bite. ‘Good job well done’ He congratulated himself, feeling a massive adrenaline rush. He fed himself first, but would return to the colony to snag another baby for his family. The crèche, it would seem, would turn more like a bloodbath.
Back in the forest border, Rick was practising his hunting skills under the watchful eyes of Olla. Young Troodon attention spans were short and although he’d been watching the nesting hadrosaurs the rustling of a shrew-like mammal in the undergrowth drew his attention away. Olla looked on as Rick locked onto the mammal, then began stalking, keeping low to the ground as possible. Rick was already learning to use ferns as cover and the mammal had no idea he was there.
But as Rick raised his head to check on the mammal’s position, his prey turned and saw him. The sight of Troodons was enough to send the mammal scurrying off and Rick didn’t hesitate to give chase. Although Rick was fast the mammal seemed even faster, weaving through the undergrowth at lightning speed! Rick tried to use his tail to change direction and keep balance. The mammal was almost at the safety of its burrow when Serena’s jaws came down from above, seizing the mammal! Her sharp teeth made short work of it and she gulped it down as Rick chattered in protest. ‘Hey that was my prey!’ Rick was not happy at all. ‘It is finder’s keepers!’ Serena asserted herself. Rather than chase the mammal she’d taken the smart option and ambushed it at its burrow where she knew it would return.
Olla felt very impressed with her daughter that moment. ‘Sometimes, the will of the smart can prevail.’ Olla taught her son. Rick piped down, knowing that if he was going to be a successful hunter like his father he would have to practise. His temper cooled as he began chasing grasshoppers again. Grasshoppers were always plentiful!
Chapter 11
A month had passed since Rick and Serena hatched. Both chicks had doubled in size. In the Late Cretaceous, growing up fast was one guarantee for survival. Bladefoot rested with his family under the shade of monkey puzzle trees. The Troodon chick’s metabolism had slowed, which meant that Bladefoot only had to hunt at night now. Bladefoot preferred not having to be up all hours of the day and night to keep his chicks well fed. Over the past four weeks Rick and Serena had learned to catch prey, but there was one more lesson that Bladefoot and Olla had in store for them, when the time was right. Bladefoot had kept his family well fed on baby Parasaurolophus’. And if he wasn’t raiding their nests, he was scavenging dead Edmontosaurus’ from his T.Rex neighbours. Bladefoot felt good to rest as he hadn’t had much decent sleep in ages!
He relaxed as a breeze wafted through his feathers and the sounds of the daytime animals echoed through the land. T.Rexes wouldn’t bother with him so he wasn’t too worried about them, for the moment. During the past month, Bladefoot had shown his chicks some more dinosaurs and they had become quick to familiarise themselves with their potentially deadly neighbours.
Bladefoot snored lazily, saving his energy for the night-time hunt. Suddenly, he picked up vibrations on the forest floor. ‘What now?’ His eyes opened, feeling annoyed that his nap had been disturbed. The vibrations were coming f
rom the nearby fern prairies that criss-crossed Bladefoot’s territory. ‘Don’t tell me, not another damn stampede.’ Bladefoot raised his head. His family didn’t seem to stir at the sensations.
Looking out into the distance, he caught a glimpse of the Ornithomimus flock sprinting through the fern prairie. Bladefoot estimated that they were moving at a top speed of sixty miles per hour. Bladefoot’s family began to stir, also seeing the stampede. But the flocking Ornithomimus were keeping to the open. Bladefoot saw how they changed direction in sync of one another, like birds in the skies above. Then he heard their panicked cries. Bladefoot got up, wondering whether it would be a good idea for him and his family to start running themselves. But the Ornithomimus bolted past him in the distance, trying to avoid the tree lines.
Then, Stan smashed his way out of his hiding place, scattering the flock. As the Bird-Mimics jostled and crashed into one another, one adult female lost her footing and fell down. Before she could get back up, Stan had seized her in his jaws. Bladefoot recognised the hapless Bird-Mimic as Light Foot, the thief who’d eaten and trampled half his eggs! Light Foot screeched in agony as the Ornithomimus flock ran away without her. Stan snapped her leg like a twig and picked up the struggling Bird-Mimic in his jaws, carrying her off into the forest.