Neoaima: Isle of the Reborn

Lucas Brown's Account: 19-07-23

I've finally got my first taste of the island. While it's only at the Southern shoreline and the lush tropical jungles surrounding it; I'm excited to see more. The nighttime storms, however, are relentless from what I'm experiencing, and it's virtually impossible to fall asleep over the constantly roaring thunder; it gets to the point where most personnel stay completely awake all night. The storm calms down once every 15-20 minutes and in that time I hear these bizarre bird calls. Dr. Lee confirmed to me that they are the Singers, that Lieutenant Smith mentioned on the way to the base; though their actual name is Sauromimus tragoudi [Singing lizard mimics]. Just by the name alone, I could tell that they were going to be the most outlandish specimens on Neoaima.

Since I was unable to fall asleep, I continued having discussions with Dr. McCoy and Dr. Anderson about both the Ropen and Chelimimus. Coincidentally, Anderson told me that this particular specimen was only 88 years old, this led me to believe that this could potentially be the individual that Evelyn Cheesman sighted in 1935. The wingspan reached 12 feet long though he has mentioned finding fossils that had a 100 foot long wingspan. Cladistics are currently scarce though there are discussions as to which pterosaur group it may have evolved from.

When I asked Dr. McCoy about the Chelimimus activity on the Farallon Islands. He mentioned how it's apparently one of the few locations where great white sharks are not struggling with the inclusion of this marine Dinosaur. They're also particularly rare on that island, and McCoy made the assumption that their activity is low not purely because of competition from sharks but also because those islands are an insufficient nursery, as they do require riverbeds to lay their eggs.

The Chelimimus' made it more dangerous for McCoy and his colleagues to study the island's marine wildlife. They had to stop using shark cages following a frightening incident. McCoy and another zoologist encountered a full grown Chelimimus when it decided to attack them from inside the cage. Because of its slender form, it was able to squeeze through with ease and clamped down on McCoy's colleague. He described its method of biting as gripping the skin with its hook-like beak, dragging its catch closer and then clamping down with the rest of its jaws, digging its teeth into the flesh. Suddenly a great white shark swam by and grabbed the Chelimimus from behind. What occurred next was a bloody and violent tug of war. That zoologist almost lost his arm with how aggressively he was being pulled. McCoy managed to save him in mostly one piece, while the Chelimimus was bitten in half by the shark.

There has also been an on-going debate about the classification between the Chelimimus populations. McCoy wants to figure out why Neoaima's Chelimimus remained behind on the island and how much they differ in size and overall genetics. He also suggested giving the two populations the names C. Volcanus & C. Atlas if they end up being subspecies, though—admittedly due to a great degree of bias—I suggested that the oceanic species should be classed as C. Abaia.