Spectember 10: Apex Predator

This entry is canon to The Neozoic.

Sixty-five million years in the future, the world has become a sweltering hothouse. As the ice caps have melted, all of south and southeast Asia has been inundated by rising waters, and much of it is now covered by a vast network of floodplains and swamps. These wetlands, some of the largest in Earth's history, support a very particular ecology. Herbivorous mammals are few here; instead, the base of the food chain is formed by fish, which in turn are eaten by crocodilians, snakes, freshwater sharks, and larger fish. And these, in turn, are eaten by the apex predator of the swamps.

The Swamplord (Viverratitan anax) is the largest member of the civet family to have ever lived, and one of the largest true carnivores ever, measuring up to fifteen feet long including its tail and weighing over half a ton. It is descended, however, from today's otter-civet, a semi-aquatic civet no more than three feet long. While it will prey on terrestrial mammals if it gets the chance, the vast majority of its diet consists of the other predators in its wetland home, such as crocodilians and large snakes. It is a specialized hunter of massive aquatic prey, dispatching them with the sharp claws on its forelimbs.

Swamplords are sexually dimorphic, with males being up to 20% larger than females, and sporting a golden mane as well as a "beard" and "moustache" on their faces, which they use for sexual display during the mating season. Females raise their young alone, making a rough nest of vegetation on shore where they give birth to one or two tiny, hairless babies. These will be dependent on their mother until they are large enough to hunt on their own.

Despite their immense size, Swamplords are accomplished swimmers, and can reach great speeds in the water. However, when hunting they usually ambush their prey from shore, using their powerful paws to drag their victims out of the water before killing them.