Deviation Actions
Description
[I made a soundtrack for this painting, which can be heard here: soundcloud.com/oviraptor-space… ]
Mongolia, late afternoon in the Campanian Age of the Late Cretaceous:
Hunger pangs and hot winds, bleached bones of a half-remembered feast and the faint scent of fresh prey. The swift thief wakes and begins his crepuscular patrol, wary of rivals, nimble and silent between the whispering dunes.
Perhaps down to the arroyo again, where that lizard had lingered too long on the sunny rock near the bank and was pierced by the hunter's claws, swallowed whole; or towards the oasis where that old, fuzzy mammal had been too slow in returning to its burrow. Or maybe to the Protoceratops nesting grounds – a tasty hatchling would fill his belly nicely – but the place triggers unpleasant memories now: his mate grappling with an aggressive bull 'ceratops, her feathered forelimb caught in its beak, and her talons lashing into its underside before the dune collapsed and entombed them both, sand too deep to dig through...
Instincts war within, briefly, the urge for nutrients winning out over the incessant drive towards genetic legacy, and the swift thief prowls into Djadochta dusk, moments lost in deep time.
[Please don't use or reproduce without permission, and thanks for viewing, reading and listening!]