The Gorgon

Varpikes, a clade of active and predatory tribtiles that evolved in the jungles of early Pangeacene Serina, have over the past twelve million years diversified into a wider variety of forms, each exploiting a different and distinct niche in the ecosystem. Though these reptile-like predators are not warm-blooded and rely on their environments to stay active, the pleasant, mild temperatures of Serina at this time has allowed them a considerable degree of room to speciate. Some varpikes have become smaller and increasingly arboreal, but most certainly the most impressive has taken the opposite route, and dropped down to the ground full time. They grew much bigger, even approaching the position of apex predator in their habitat. Eventually one evolved into the gorgon, a 300 lb carnivore of the equatorial swamps with a huge, crocodile-like jaw lined with bone-crushing conical teeth.

The gorgon can grow to a length of almost eight feet and is entirely carnivorous. They hunt anything they can catch as adults, but particularly larger flightless birds and various tribbetheres. They ambush their prey, blending into the thick cover of swampy forest areas and pursuing it in a brief, rapid chase. Their leisurely walking locomotion involves swinging the back of the body left and right as they stride alternately with the sprawled forearms, so that the hind leg angles forward on the same side as the leading arm, producing a steady, if somewhat awkward gait, but to run they adopt a quick gallop, swinging both arms forward at once and then pulling the hind leg up to meet them. They tire quickly after just a few seconds of such exertion, but if they succeed in catching up to their quarry beforehand they inflict debilitating, slashing bites to the hind quarters, and may even climb onto the animals' back with the forearms and pull it down under their heavy weight. They pin it to the ground with the claws and will begin to tear it into manageable chunks as soon as it stops fighting too intensely - unfortunately often while it is still alive.

Such chases aside, the adult gorgon is very sedentary; it needs to feed only every week or two, less if the weather is cool, and spends almost all of its time otherwise basking on the shore or wallowing in shallow water with just its head and sail exposed. This sail, as in other varpikes, is used both to thermoregulate the gorgon, which can flush it with blood in the sun to heat up or against a breeze to cool down, and as an intimidating display structure. Adult gorgons are territorial and will fight for prime habitat savagely and adults will eagerly gobble up even their own offspring if they can catch them. The younger life stages of this species however are somewhat social in that they will loosely cooperate to capture prey, mobbing animals each individual would be unable to handle by itself and sharing the spoils without too much in-fighting. Living in groups also better protects the juveniles from predators, including adult gorgons, as multiple sets of eyes watching for danger are better than just one pair. The young, unlike the adult, are also still capable tree-climbers and will utilize climbing to escape cannibalistic adults. As the young grow bigger and bigger, they begin to require too much food to support more than one individual in a given territory and these juvenile groups disband, the adolescents adapting the solitary nature of their elders.