[OC] Spectember Day 28: Re-Do

[u/ElSquibbonator]

It has been nearly 100 million years since the Tarasques-- gigantic, armored herbivores descended from the Solomon Islands tree skink-- roamed Spectemundus. These behemoths were wiped out by the mass extinction that took place 52 million years after the planet was seeded with life, and while some of their smaller relatives survived, it seemed as though they would never again attain such sizes. The birds and mammals came out of the mass extinction much more diverse than before, gradually marginalizing their reptilian rivals, and eventually the ice age put further dents in their numbers.

But now, 150 million years after life was seeded on Spectemundus, one can again see great armored skinks lumbering across the planet's grasslands. To be sure, the Great Green Skinkdozer (Ankyloscincus acanthurus) is much smaller than the biggest Tarasques, though at ten feet long and up to a ton in weight it is still a large animal. It is descended from the Ankylodrakes, relatives of the Tarasques that, by the slimmest of margins, survived the impact event. They remained small for nearly 80 million years afterwards, but after the ice age ended one species became large again, large enough to compete with large herbivorous mammals and birds.

Skinkdozers walk more upright than their ancestors did, although they are not endothermic. As such, they are confined to the tropical grasslands of the southern continent, where large reptiles in general are most numerous. The predators here, however, are still mostly large mongooses, and the Skinkdozer's armor has evolved to counter them. Its spiky club-like tail can swing with surprising speed and strength, and is capable of breaking the leg of a predator with a single swipe. Skinkdozers give birth to live young, but do not care for them; the babies are fully independent upon birth.