Aging

The sedentary lifestyle of incubating eggs was beginning to wear thin for Ophelia. The rest of the clutch was already being miniature menaces around the lake, chasing waterfowl with their tiny tails paddling furiously behind them. But this one, this solitary silent egg, still waited in the nest. She could feel movement when she pressed the end of her snout into it and she had taken to gently rocking it to try and encourage it to hatch. There was a chick in there...

A final jab with his snout sent sunlight flooding into the eyes of the fresh hatchling. He brought his forelimbs up to his face, shielding his vision from the blinding rays and tried to retreat back into his egg. The hollow casing rocked backwards, tipping over and causing the Suchomimus to spill out of its protective embrace. He lay stunned for a minute, looking up into the blue sky that swam through the grey buildings. The clouds drifted across their azure exp...

Cryolophosauruses had a particular hunting style. They didn’t have the stamina of the larger theropods on the island, nor the powerful pounces of the raptors; they couldn’t chase their prey until it tired or heckle it in a large pack, peppering it with wounds until it collapsed. But they had speed and a swift bite, and they had to use that to their advantage. One strong bite to the back of the neck to end things quickly was the ideal way for a hunt to go. ...

Swavelli had made good on her word; she was on a mission to find the ocean. She’d been trekking through the bayou for weeks, on the hunt of where the sun set every night. And she’d made good on her unspoken word, too, because Seffe was still with her. Both of them had grown significantly on their journey, and Seffe had learned many words, much to Swavelli’s chagrin. There were times where his constant chatter about what kind of frog t...

The first thing he remembered was being moved around, shuffling around in his eggshell. He didn’t know at the time, but it was his mother, rearranging the eggs in her nest. The eggs were close to hatching, so she was naturally anxious, wanting everything to be just so when her new babies made their way into the world. But one thing bothered her more than anything else, and that was this egg in particular. It was a strange shape. Too round...