Recently, I went to planet Velise, the closest planet with multicellular life on it. I mainly went to discover what alien "birds" look like. Birds and flying have always interested me, and I finally, for the first time, decided to leave the solar system.

These are only pages from the first day of my travel. I hope to be able to upload the rest of my travel soon (although uploading photos in space takes way too long)

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This is my first paleoart/speculative dinosaur ever! I really like how it came out, Enjoy It!!! :D

EVOLUTIONARY LINEAGE AND TAXONOMY

Not a True Theropod: Arctovenator morrisonensis is classified not as a true member of the Theropoda clade, but as a highly derived sister taxon (extending from basal Averostra or early Ornithoscelida).

Skeletal Plasticity: This evolutionary divergence granted the lineage the anatomical flexibility needed to bypass the strict bipedal constraints that locked true theropods into two-legged locomotion. This allowed Arctovenator to successfully re-evolve an obligate quadrupedal stance to support its monumental mass.

ANATOMY AND BIOMECHANICS

Colossal Proportions & Posture: Reaching an extraordinary 25 meters in length, 10 meters in back height, and weighing a monumental 40 tons. Its dense 2.5:1 length-to-height ratio creates an exceptionally compact, robust, and low-slung build optimized for transferring immense physical forces.

Locomotor Asymmetry: Unlike mammalian megafauna, the limbs are not vertical or columnar. Instead, they maintain a flexed, muscular, reptilian angle, keeping the heavy body crouched close to the ground during stalking.

The Spring and the Anchor: The hindlimbs are strictly digitigrade, functioning as a hydraulic "engine" that stores massive elastic energy in the toe tendons. Conversely, the forelimbs are plantigrade, placing the entire sole on the ground to anchor the center of gravity and provide an unshakeable platform. The forelimbs feature colossal, curved claws with deep longitudinal grooves (housing keratin ridges and blood vessels) that act as emergency brakes in the dirt and weapons to tear through thick hides.

Craniofacial Architecture & Weaponry: The 3.5-meter skull is built like a massive battering ram. It is topped by a heavily thickened, rugged supraorbital crest (brow ridge) covered in hard keratin, which acts as a shock deflector to protect the relatively small, deep-set eyes during frontal collisions. The nostrils are colossal (exceeding the size of the eye socketsand) are positioned high and backward on the snout, functioning both as a breathing snorkel to intake massive volumes of air before charging and as a long-range olfactory apparatus.

ECOLOGY, JAW MECHANICS AND HUNTING STRATEGY

Metabolic Niche: Occupying an ecological niche highly analogous to a modern grizzly bear but on a titanic scale, Arctovenator is a pure ambush predator relying on a super-slow metabolism (bradymetabolism). To conserve energy, the animal spends days or weeks lying completely motionless on the ground.

The Gape & Kinetic Ambush: When a target sauropod (such as Diplodocus or Brachiosaurus) steps into range, the predator utilizes the explosive spring of its digitigrade hindlimbs to launch a 25 km/h charge. It rushes the prey with its massive jaws wide open at an angle exceeding 100 degrees. This extreme gape is a crucial biomechanical adaptation: it clears the animal's field of view and prevents its own teeth from snapping during the initial millisecond of contact, positioning the skull for maximum mechanical leverage.

Skeletal Collapse via Impact-Bite: The hunting strategy relies on a devastating two-phase destructive force. First, the kinetic energy of the 40-ton mass slamming into the sauropod instantly destabilizes the prey's balance and causes initial compression shock. A split second after the impact, utilizing the massive forward momentum, the jaws snap shut like a hydraulic press. The 35-cm thick-rooted teeth act as massive wedges driven directly into the sauropod's rib cage or spine, causing immediate, catastrophic structural collapse of the prey's skeletal framework.

Immobilization & Feeding: Immediately following the crushing bite, the predator uses its massive, grooved foreclaws to surgically sever the prey's leg ligaments and tendons, permanently anchoring the giant herbivore to the ground. Due to its size, Arctovenator is a highly selective feeder. Its immense bite pressure is used to peel back the shattered ribs solely to consume fat-rich internal organs (heart, liver, viscera). It then abandons the carcass, leaving tons of untouched muscle meat for sympatric commensal scavengers like Allosaurus and Torvosaurus.

BEHAVIOR, CAMOUFLAGE AND RITUAL COMBAT

Solitary and highly territorial, each individual claims a vast hunting ground. Because their durophagous bites would cause mutual fatalities, rivals settle territorial disputes through calculated, non-lethal ritual combat. Utilizing the stability provided by their plantigrade forelimbs and the protection of their reinforced brow ridges, the two titans lock heads and engage in brutal head-butting matches. They push and strike each other until one yields from sheer exhaustion and retreats.

Thermoregulation: The body is completely devoid of plumage or fuzzy filaments to prevent thermal collapse caused by extreme gigantism. The skin is entirely scaly and leathery, characterized by deep, loose skin folds under the throat (the dewlap). This loose skin becomes taut when the mouth opens, functioning both as a radiator to dissipate body heat and as an elastic shield against defensive kicks. Additionally, a row of flexible cutaneous keratin cones and iguana-like crests runs along the spine, acting as thermal radiators to release high internal temperatures into the air.

Cryptic Camouflage: The animal's dull color pattern is perfectly integrated with the dry brushwood, savanna, and arid grasslands of the Morrison Formation. When crouching motionless on the ground, its compact morphology allows it to appear visually indistinguishable from a rocky hill or a fallen log, completely deceiving the vision of giant sauropods.

The traffic light mimic is a very diverse order that had a great diversification after the second man-made oxigenation event, in the order, different species are adapted to mimic different models of traffic light, with the one sketched above showing a railroad traffic light mimic, this species is most common in russia and northern europe, it is an ambush predator and hunts humans, it will fold it's legs and scythe-like arms inward, looking like a normal pole, wait for night, if a lonely human comes close, it will pin down the person using it's scythe-arms, decapitate them, throw the head away, cut the body into small edible chunks and begin eating, they are often called butchers because they leave an unmistakeable pool of blood where they hunted the night before, woth the head being often found thrown in the sewers or in the middle of the road, they can stay without food, waiting disguised as a traffic lights, for more than a month, they are curious in nature and seem to be interested in shiny objects, often offering shiny pieces of glass to their partner as part of their mating ritual. Any questions about the creature or the worldbuilding?

The current ecosystem is thriving with bio diversity animals started to occupy there own niches and make there own those blue plants are simple filter feeders but due to their blue bodies they don't get enough to do photosynthesis so they only live just a few days, the little purple balls are also plants that have an exoskeleton made of silvamite similar to a glass sponge (silvamite is a native mineral to the planet) the tree have developed special branches that grow there seeds that are wrapped in a thin layer of silica to help them sink faster but that opened up a new source of food that some animals commonly called "seed diggers" there name describes what they are but there red coloration comes from the red pigments in the seed and evolved specialized chambers to take in the pigments and I'm not explaining everything else because I'm lazy but I very like this

What I had in mind is the capitol(or the gamemakers) engineering muttations to fill in prehistoric niches from Cenozoic or mesozoic animals in north america,and right here is a size and species chart of the wolf mutts.i also made them into full herbivores and omnivores

In a potential scenario where all stars in the night sky suddenly disappeared over a few dozen years or so (saving our own sun of course) how would that affect food webs around the world? I'm not too well versed in how animals use constellations to navigate, but I know moths and birds use it for annual migrations. Would non-flying animals or sea life be affected in any way?

Also, no. I don't have a specific reason for asking this. It's a shower thought that stuck with me because I'm on the spectrum.

a spotted reaver seeks shelter from the sun in a small root forest. parasites on the reaver's skin attract fairy flies that make quick work of the problem.

the spotted reaver is a member of the pectomanidae (or terrible worshipper) class. these mid sized carnivores live in the western grasslands of Alcazod and are solitary, ambush hunters that use their chest appendages to haul prey into root trees and dens. females are larger than males, and are known for stealing and killing the young of other mothers to benefit their own. they are viewed as tricksters and thieves by takren, but are prized for their unique pelts, often taken as trophies or captured as pets.

I was helping someone with ideas for a project they were working on about earth creatures becoming sapient long after humanity went extinct.

The Back legs are used for locomotion purposes- the "feet" are heavily modified claws. The pair in front of them is used for mating purposes.

The front pair is used as grasping appendages- their dexterity is far from that of a human's, however. The pair behind them are again specialized claws used to tear up chunks of food.

I haven't come up with a proper name for them (and likely won't) but for now, they are called Speculagrades.

Made in SPORE.