The Night Feeder was a monstrous enigmatic dinosaur that brutally killed its victims at night-time and was able to attack with unnatural stealth and speed.
Appearance[]
The Night Feeder was a theropod or theropod-like dinosaur that was similar in size to Fang. Not much is known about its appearance due to the fact that it remained unseen for most of the time, and its silhouette was barely visible even while being burnt alive. However, judging by its form when first shown, the Night Feeder heavily resembled the Raptors, albeit with a few characteristics unnatural to dromaeosaurids. As seen from the Night Feeders' brief silhouette, it had long claws akin to those of a Baryonyx or Therizinosaurus, a relatively short tail, and sharp fangs lining its lower and upper jaws, which likewise resemble a Baryonyx's.
The Night Feeder was covered in a kind of black tar-like substance, as Fang's face got covered in liquid when she tried to bite the dinosaur. It is likely that this tar-like substance is a natural trait of the Night Feeder, using it to blend with the darkness around it.
Personality[]
The Night Feeder was a mysterious creature that killed anything within its vicinity seemingly not for food, but perhaps rather for sport and/or territorial reasons, as slaughtering an entire herd of ceratopsian dinosaurs would have provided it with enough food for weeks. Judging from how it never leaves the forest, and how it kills other large-bodied creatures in its vicinity, the Night Feeder can be considered a highly-territorial creature.
Notably, the Night Feeder appeared to be extremely photophobic. When exposed to any form of light, be it sunlight, fire, or even faint sparks, the creature would recoil in fear, and try to flee, and continued exposure to light appeared to disorient the Night Feeder and send it into a panic.
History[]
The Night Feeder is first seen swiftly killing a Smilodon that had wandered into its territory. Spear and Fang later stumble across the Smilodon's partially eaten, mutilated remains the next morning. Fang herself is sent into a state of alarm at the scent of the beast.
The following night, The Night Feeder embarks on a murderous rampage of a Triceratops herd that was travelling through the forest. Hidden by its invisibility, the creature spent the night terrorizing and cutting down the entire herd. Nearby, Spear and Fang overhear the panicked cries of the ceratopsians, but ultimately decide not to intervene.
The next day, during a wind storm, the Night Feeder stalks Spear and Fang as they continue to head through the forest, but the creature does not attack due to its fear of daylight and the harsh winds. Later on during the night, the Night Feeder continues to stalk Spear and Fang as they huddle around a small campfire. When the campfire blows out, the creature finally makes its move and attacks. A fierce chase ensues, with the Night Feeder clawing its way through trees and other obstacles as it sprints after Spear and Fang. During the chase, Fang temporarily tackles and bites the Night Feeder, discovering that the creature is covered in a oil-like substance. Lost and disoriented by the mist, Spear swings his spear wildly in a panicked fit of rage when the creature attempts to deafen him and Fang with its piercing screeches, accidentally striking the ground and creating a spark, causing the Night Feeder to recoil in fear. Spear creates another spark, frightening the Night Feeder to outright abandon the chase and run away. Now knowing the creature's weakness, the tables turn as Spear and Fang go on the hunt.
Pursuing the monster through the forest, Spear, riding Fang, sets fire to dozens of trees, terrorizing the Night Feeder. Eventually, Spear manages to surround the creature in a circle of fire, effectively trapping it. With nowhere to go, the Night Feeder paces nervously before Spear chucks a flaming spear into its chest, igniting the oil-like goo covering its body and causing it to erupt in flames. The creature swings its claws and snaps wildly as it burns, screeching in pain before succumbing to the flames.
Abilities[]
- Agility: The Night Feeder could sprint at unnaturally fast speeds, outrunning most creatures in the series. This is shown when the Night Feeder caught up while chasing a herd of Triceratops and Spear, and also shown when it passed through dozens of trees. The Night Feeder could also dash very quickly, lunging at a Sabertooth at visibly high speeds.
- Loud Screech: While chasing prey, the Night Feeder uttered a high-pitched, shrill screech-like roar. This loud screeching visibly caused harm to Spear and Fang's ears, and possibly served to disorient or simply terrify prey while hunting.
- Claws: The Night Feeder's most dangerous offensive tools were its long, sharp claws. The claws were extremely powerful, able to cut clean through many objects and creatures, being able to dismember them, and even reduce them to guts and bones only from a single swipe. This is most notable when the Night Feeder is shown slaughtering the Triceratops herd. The Night Feeder's claws were even shown to cut through trees, and make them collapse from a single strike.
- Camouflage: The Night Feeder's most impressive feat was the ability to become virtually invisible in poor light conditions, such as nightime or a dense forest, which enabled it to confuse its prey and also perform quick, sudden attacks. However, if exposed to light, The Night Feeder would become visible, enabling other creatures to see it.
- Skin oil: The Night Feeder appeared to secrete, or otherwise cover itself with, a gooey tar-like substance. This substance acted as a defense against bites as well as to dissuade attackers from trying to bite it again. It seemingly aided it in its stealth ability, and possibly served as an aerodynamic lubricant to achieve such great speeds.
Trivia[]
- The Night Feeder was apparently meant to initially have a completely different design in the pitch animatic for the episode it starred in. The creatures' design in the animatic is shown to have longer arms with bigger hands, a larger, spherical-looking head, and more crooked teeth.
- The substance that was on the Night Feeder appeared completely visible against Fang's snout, suggesting that it was part of its ability to blend in with its dark surroundings, possibly by having light-absorbing properties like the real world substance Vantablack. Furthermore, this liquid bears similar properties to petroleum or an oil substance, which might be a reason why it was so flammable and afraid of fire. Another reason for this creature to have an aversion to light could be because its camouflaging ability depends on the absence of light, since hunting in a well-lit area would make it stand out because of its dark camouflage.
- The identity of the Night Feeder's species is a matter of question. If it is a real dinosaur, then, with its hybrid raptor or spinosaur-like design with therizinosaur-like claws, it may be connected to the lesser-known true theropods, such as of the family megaraptora, of which are noted for their elongated hand claws and proportionally large arms. It is also possible that the creature is a unique fictional species altogether.
- There are similarities between the roles of the Infected Argentinosaurus in "Plague of Madness" and the Night Feeder. Both have committed intense massacres, leaving their scents in the carcasses of the victims which causes a strange reaction in Fang and finally, the two died by fire. However, the sauropod itself was the tragic victim of its own infection, while the Night Feeder was fully aware of its actions.
- The Night Feeder might be a reference to the Predator/Yautja from the Predator saga, since both are stealthy killers with potent hunting capabilities. Coincidentally, both received a design change before the final showdone.
- Given its appearance and camouflage abilities, it is possible the Night Feeder was inspired by the Indominus rex in Jurassic World, but unlike the latter, the Night Feeder is extremely frightened of light.
- The sounds it makes is from King Ghidorah's sound effects from Godzilla: The Planet Eater.
- The Night Feeder is the second villain in the franchise who lacks any redeeming qualities, predated by the ape shaman.