While I continue to work on the main story, here's another look into the lives of the residents of the park. Enjoy!

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A piece of meat fell into the exhibit. It stayed their for only a second before Bathos gulped it down. A second piece was dropped in and was just a quickly devoured by his mate. Following that, what appeared to be an entire horse was thrown into the exhibit, and was rapidly torn apart by a quartet of hungry birds.

Bathos had never seen these strange birds before: they reminded him of his own kind, but their behaviors, not to mention their appearances, were off. Just close enough to his own to feel similar, yet different enough to be off putting. Yet, they were still willing to share their territory with Bathos and his mate, and so they were tolerated.

Large predators rarely lived side by side, but they could coexist if their niches were separate. Bathos didn't know this, but he was an example of it: his kind normally lived near wetlands or swamps, while other killer birds, similar in size to the ones he was sharing his new home with right now, were the rulers of the grasslands. They were forced to share their home with many carnivorous mammals, but share it they had. At least for a time. Many generations before Bathos had hatched, though, the world had begun to change. The forests that had covered much of the land had rapidly begun to go away, being replaced by grasslands. With the change, prey had become scarce: many animals could not eat the grass, and those adapted to do so were very good runners. Those that would survive need to be fast, and have very good senses.

For a wetland animal like Bathos, the new age was not an easy one: older, easier to hunt prey had disappeared, replaced by newer, swifter prey. Other animals had grown larger, or developed weapons to defend themselves with. This was not something the birds were equipped to deal with. Bathos' kind were not the biggest of birds, relying on speed and beak-power to kill. When faced with prey that made this hunting strategy inviable, they had nowhere to go. They were great predators of their time, but that time was now coming to an end. Scavenging was not an option: they lacked a good sense of smell to find carcasses, and besides, mammals had them beaten there. Mammals relied on sharp teeth to feed, which gave them an advantage when feeding: they could cut up food into small pieces faster than birds, allowing them to finish off a carcass before the birds could exploit it. Not only did this mean that they would likely only find carcasses when they were already picked clean, but in the event the birds did make a kill, it was likely that they would have to fight another animal for it.

Slowly, this conflict had pushed the birds to the brink of extinction. Already, their giant relatives had disappeared, driven out by bone crushing mammals. Just a few days prior, it had seemed Bathos kind would be joining them. Yet now, fate had changed, and the birds were living in a new land, with plenty of food, and no real enemies. Life was good.

A sudden bellowing noise surprised Bathos, who turned to face the sound's source. Before him was a massive animal, body covered in leathery skin. It's brightly colored face contrasted heavily with its mostly green body, which was larger than any animal Bathos had ever seen. The creature stared at him for a moment, then quickly bit off some branches from a nearby tree. It chewed them for some time, before bellowing again. Two more creatures appeared, these ones drabber in color than the first, but no less massive. The trio quickly seemed to divide themselves into some sort of schedule: one of them would feed on the nearby greenery while the other two watched. When the feeding one was full, it would take up sentry duty while one of its watchers began to feed. This lasted for a few minutes, before the herbivores decided to retreat.

Bathos stared at the herbivores for a little while longer, before heading toward the delta in his new home for a drink. Folowing the giants could wait for one more day.

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AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!