Megalania

Tier: 3
Type: Semi-aquatic carnivore
Passive growth time: 2 hrs 31 min

Pack size: 7 sub adults/adults, 1-18 juveniles/adolescents
Hierarchy: Decentralized

Mating bond: Ambiamorous
Nest size: 1-6 offspring per pair

Diet tags: Carnivore, piscivore, non-cannibalistic, opportunistic, scavenger & ovivore
Preferred food: Fish, Tier 1-4 herbivores & carnivores
Species specific rules: If they have at least 4 sub adults/adults, they can also hunt Tier 5-6 herbivores & carnivores

Behavior

While smaller in size, Megalanias are tenacious in personality. Everything about them is extreme. While they can be affectionate, their methods of affection often show violence. Hissing at once another to welcome each other home is typical, with closely bonded groups nipping one another from time to time. They are powerful creatures that when on the move can cover large distances, devouring anything caught in their path. In a pack, they rarely back down. They hate other Megalanias, whether solo or grouped, viewing them as rivals or food sources. Entire packs have been wiped out due to this competition. Megalanias often only grow in number when they meet other packs or individuals of the same number, any group smaller than them will be annihilated.

Recommended behaviors

╸Aggressive towards other Megalanias. Activity ranges seldomly overlap
╸Megalanias often hang out in canyons, mountains and overall rocky and uneven environments where their prey has fewer escape routes.
╸In the result of altercations with other Megalanias, individuals often suffer from infections caused by the rival's venomous saliva ending up in the wound. This causes a long and slow healing process that leaves deep scars for both parties.
╸Megalanias are very stubborn, they will not back away from a challenge easily.

Mating

Most are not monogamous in the slightest, pairing up long enough only to produce offspring, and then abandoning their mate. Instances where a pack has been together for an extended period, pairs will often return to each other each season rather than taking a new mate. Instinct drives these reptiles to be aggressive throughout their life, and courtship is not exempt from this. Males and females will fight one another as their show of courtship, often not brutal or deadly. It is more so a fight to dominate the other. Once one partner successfully pushes the other into submission, they will mate, and this dynamic will remain until they part ways. If neither submits, the fight will grow prolonged, often resulting in the loser being cannibalized.

Nesting & offspring

A female Megalania will find an area to nest, close to her pack. They will help guard the clutch and protect the hatchlings. Once born the Megalanias become unnaturally aggressive, guarding an area and chasing off as many predators as possible, even to their own exhaustion. The young are born starving, within minutes of hatching they are snapping, fighting, and practicing on one another, the clutch shrinking as they devour their weaker siblings.