The Dangerous Forests

The Dangerous Forests is the only place, besides the Elkorn Volcano area, that is the 2nd most dangrous place of this region in Montana. This is Terrence the T-rex's home territory. The entire area is covered in nothing but Monkey Puzzle forests & a watering hole smack in the middle of the territory. Other predators can wonder here, but they'll have to face the king of this place himself. If you're a carnivore, enter at your own risk! If you're a herbivore, watch your back cause you may never know who is stalking you in here!

A forest with two faces

The eastern part of the Great Woodland is the driest, because of it's proximity to the Elkhorn volcano and the Ashlands, since the volcanic ash buries some lands. Alas, the northeastern edge of this land offers a fertile landscape, rich in forest vegetation and only small dinosaur, like Troodon and Stegoceras, seldom the large Ankylosaurus. Why? This is the territory of an adult Tyrannosaurus male, and any larger herbivore that comes here alone will fall victim to attack, as well as other predators, while the smaller ones are much too small to catch, and Ankylosaurus is too heavily armored.

Despite this, occasions of larger herbivores coming do happen. Now, for example, one particular herd of horned dinosaurs just entered here. Since they are walking through a relatively thick forest, they are closely packed together and form a long line. Still, they are no ordinary horned dinosaurs - they are Triceratops, the largest of their kind. Measuring up to 9 meters in length, they weight 3-4 times as much as a rhinoceros! This is a fairly large herd, consisting of 44 individuals, most of them adult females and juveniles. However, there is one very viewy individual - Conan, the herd leader, who walked at the head of the group.

Conan is the largest member and by far, the most powerful. He has lead the Triceratops here to look for good vegetation, because the smell was enticing. Nevertheless, the animals stay weary of threats. Adding to this, there is a pungent scent in the air, a scent that Conan knows is that of a predator. He grunts, to let his scouts know that they must hold their guard, because in a forest like this, they are literally cornered.

The deep forests in this region of the Elkhorn Range of Montana is indeed a dangerous place to be if you're a herbivore like Triceratops. But, it is a paradise of one particular animal. The 'king' of the forest. A 3 toes foot comes down on a branch, snapping it as a massive, 5 ton animal walks through the forest to the watering hole. An animal known-as Tyrannosaurus rex! This male is Terrence, & he's the ruler of this territory, & none enters without his clearing! He approaches the watering hole to slurps up a few laps of water when his nose catches something. He raises his head & sniffs the air. He was getting hungry & he has picked up the scent of one of his favroite prey items, Triceratops! With a snort, he walks off, heading for the same herd Conan leads & hunt them, but he needs to plan an attack before he moves in.

The herd continued their trek through the thick forest landscape. Luckily, they can stay together, because they are walking along a path that was wide enough for them to at least pass. Even with this, they are tightly packed together and their regular herd formation is slightly unstable - usually, the adults from a large ring around the juveniles, to protect them, but now, the herd has stretched a long way, and it's harder to see what's ahead.

Triceratops have poor vision, since they have side-facing eyes to keep a look out for predators, and lots of blind spots, like at the horns or the frill. But it's not what they always use to detect predators far away. Their sense of smell is keen and their hearing is acute. Another thing that ensures their survival in a perilous world is social life. A herd as big as our herd would not give in, and a lone T-Rex would have to do much more to make a successful hunt at a herd of these giants.

Their brow horns are over a meter long and are pointed. Even though, with some precision a Tyrannosaurus could bite off half the horn, when it is jabbed into a Tyrannosaurs chest cavity or abdomen, it inflicts a mortal wound that will kill the predator through a combination of shock and blood loss. Also, their frills are massive - a swipe of one of them could easily give the predator a nasty bruise if it could try and bite the herbivore's soft throat.

Good thing is, the herd have reached a clearing in the forest, which is large enough for the herd to spread out and find food. And there was plenty of it - ferns and edible flowering plants everywhere. Soon, they spread through the opening and began to forage, while keeping an eye on their young. This is no reason for the herd to let it's guard slip - forests are usually dangerous places, because they offer a lot of shelter to predators.

Terrence soon found himself at the edge of a forest, & ahead was the herd right in his view. He remains perfectly still & begins stalking the herd. The wind was blowing to him, perfect as the Trikes couldn't smell him. T-rex is the consonant killing machine, it's skull is a lethal weapon. Though T-rex was around 40 ft long, it's not the size of the animal that matters, but the size of it's bite! The bigger the mouth, the bigger the bite.

T-rex's skull is huge, over 5 ft long, filled with air spaces to accommodate an elaborate network of nerves & muscles, it's brain is the size of a gorilla's. It's teeth are banana-shaped, & it's jaw is powerful enough to crush bone. While it's arms are too short for grasping onto prey, its body is massive & robust. It's ribs are an interlocking array of bones designed to help it breathe. Equipted with strong, sturdy legs, T-rex is braced to spring to an attack.

The clearing that the Triceratops herd descended to was rich in healthy greenery. There were plenty of ripe ferns, herbaceous as well as tree ferns. Triceratops, like many large herbivores today, requires large amounts of food to stay active. But unlike Sauropods, who swallow stones to grind food in their stomach, Ceratopsians move their jaws up and down, grinding their food into a pulp, then swallowing it with little problem.

The youngsters, along with eating, take some time and play together. Their horns and frill differ those of the adults, and with age, they change in length and shape. The youngsters, despite having horns from birth, are very vulnerable, and if they wander away from the group, they can be picked off by a predator with minimal effort, because of their inexperience. So, they stay in the center of the group and socialize.

Terrence continued to stalk the herd. Keeping his binocular-like eyes locked upon them. He checks the herd for any weak, sick, young, or old members of the herd. He soon spots it, an elderlly Triceratops that's just days from dying of old age. He slowlly beging to approach, keeping himself hidden & trying to stay as quiet as he possiblly can. He takes very light steps, to be such a heavilly built predator. But wasn't watching his step as he accidentlly steps on a branch, wich snaps! Hearing this, he now knows his cover maybe blown & looks at the herd.

The Triceratops herd grazed on. They are among the last and largest of the Ceratopsians. Their rhinoceros-like hide is impervious to most predator teeth. Alas, these large herbivores, despite being heavily armed, heavily armored and living in groups, have only one natural foe - Tyrannosaurus!

A loud snap echoed in the forest, and one of the scouts could hear it too well! He took a short look around, grunting in surprise from the sound. Scanning around, he seems to notice something moving in the trees, but is still unsure. He rapidly smells the air, and the scent is all to clear - this was a Tyrannosaurus, and it was preparing an ambush! The scout began to release loud calls and grunts, alerting the herd of the approaching danger. Quickly, the herd begins to join together into a circle, while all the younger and older individuals instinctively strive into the center.

This may seem like the herd are cornering themselves, but in fact, they have made a nearly impenetrable wall of thrashing frills and sharp horns. This way, the herd can survive attacks much better than if it was to stampede - if they scattered, a Tyrannosaurus could effortlessly take out one of the individuals from behind, biting their soft neck hide and killing them by squeezing the windpipe and choking the herbivore, or breaking the neck. This way, almost no casualties occur.

It was now or never! Terrence had to make his move or try again later & go more hungry. He walks up to the very edge of the forest & growls as he watches. His target, the elderlly Triceratops, had moved in the protection of the center of the stronger adults. With a strong lunge, he explodes from the forest & runs toward the herd. They thrash their horns & roar at him. Terrence stops & roars at the adults. Head on, nothing can be more menacing than the horns & frills of an angry Triceratops!

As the Tyrannosaurus made it's charge towards the herd of Triceratops, they showed no sign of baulking before this threat. The male was not very large, but it was powerfully built and robust, which makes it no less dangerous. The Ceratopsians were roaring, thrashing their massive frills, digging the ground with their feet, stomping, making mock charges at the predator, trying to intimidate it and make it leave the herd alone. Conan was in the front, roaring loudly and showing off his brightly colored frill.

The truth behind a natural foodchain is that food can bite back. Not even predators like Tyrannosaurus always succeed in their hunts. For example, lions succeed only in two hunts out of five. That is due to their pray being larger and having formidable weaponry, such as Triceratops have massive skulls and horns.

Knowing full well what he's now up against, Terrence stayed where he was & snapped his jaws at the males to try & get them to seperate so he can go in for the prize- the elderlly Trike! But the armed herbivores are proving to be a big challenge for him. He decides to try something else, & begins to cicle them, to see if there was a weak spot in this massive wall of horns & frills. If there was, he would attack, but it would be a very risky move if he does so. He will have to be carefull here. One wrong move, & he could get severlly injured here.

Conan and his herd defended their fellow members relentlessly, thrashing their massive skulls at this predatory attacker. Some of the members within this circle peak out to see who could be attacking, but they quickly walk back after seeing what the threat was, to avoid any injury. Conan, the herd's leader, was still at the head, roaring and showing off his colorful frill, threatening Terrence. Sooner or later, he makes a mock charge and thrusts his head forward, to attempt and intimidate the Theropod. He soon walks backward, as he knows that this Tyrannosaurus can leap by him and attack the center of the herd.