Isla Muerta[]
Illustration by Tomozaurus of JPLegacy
Length: 11.5 feet
Height: 2.5 - 3 feet
Weight: 5 tonnes
Coloration:
- Adult and juvenile (both sexes): Mottled brown with a cream underside.
Diet: Leaves and branches. It will also feed on floating plant matter in water, using its teeth to drain the food before swallowing.
Preferred Habitat: Primarily Swamp and grassland. Scutosaurus wanders widely in search of food, although it often prefers to stick closely to riverbanks and other wet areas where plants are more abundant.
Social Structure: Solitary/ very small herds.
This fierce-looking animal is in fact a herbivore. It has short, pillar-like limbs with wide feet and a solid, muscular body, giving the animal a slow, ambling gait. Its tail does not reach the ground. Its back is covered with bony lumps, and older individuals also develop protrusions on their lower jaws and a small nose horn. Underneath the skin are rows of hard, bony plates, or scutes, which act as chain mail. Its teeth are serrated.
As Scutosaurus is not built for running from predators, it uses its armor to protect itself from the teeth of predators such as Smilodon, Dire Wolves; and Inostrancevia. The young however, are much softer targets and have to be guarded closely by their mothers until their armor hardens.