Disclaimer: What? Pokemon belongs to Nintendo? Oh darn.
A/N: Modified slightly from its original version.
Common Name: Dialga
Scientific Name: Adamaspina cosmicos
Description: Dialga is one of the largest pokemon, measuring an amazing 30 feet long and standing 7 feet tall at the shoulder. Dialga's head is held even higher, 9 feet in the air on a two-foot neck.
Dialga are impressive pokemon, even apart from their size. Immediately visible to any onlooker is the 'crest,' an enormous resonance chamber that extends from the back of the skull, sometimes twice the length of the cranium proper. Dialga have several interesting skeletal features. These include a bony ridge along the sternum, with backswept spines and a blue spot in the center, three bony plates along the back of the neck, and an impressive 'fan,' of modified vertebral spines above the pelvis, connected by fleshy webbing. A pair of very complicated, branched horns extends from either side of the head, just behind the eyes. These horns project outwards a short distance, then branch into three 'tines.' One tine, the longest, parallels the crest, sweeping backward, and another tine pokes straight up from the forehead. The final tine extends downward, curving along the jaw, then away from it. Dialga also have osteoderms (body growths embedded in the skin) around their ankles and toes, which are believed to help strengthen the foot. All of a Dialga's bony growths are light gray in color
Dialga's fine scales are midnight blue in color, with a sky blue stripe along the neck, crest, forehead, limbs, flank, and tail. Dialga's eyes are red, and are ringed with black. Their lower lips are pale grey, as are their long claws, brows, and the medial stripe down the face.
Range: Dialga are endemic to Sinnoh, and were once widespread throughout the region.
Habitat: Dialga's natural habitat is Sinnoh's lowland forests. However, habitat destruction and disturbance have pushed these top predators into more upland regions. Today, they can be found in the Spear Pillar Range.
Call: Dialga are renowned for their call, an echoing, trumpeting roar amplified by the resonance chambers extending from the backs of their heads. So awe-inspiring was this call to early peoples that it was poetically named as the 'Roar of Time,' a moniker that remains today.
Female Dialga hum and oooooh to keep in contact with their young.
Diet: Dialga are herbivorous, and browse on treetops and shrubs with their wrinkled, flexible upper lips. . They eat an immense amount of food: over 600 pounds of foliage per day!
Life Cycle: Dialga require a lot of food, and territories with abundant browse are at a premium. Dialga defend their territories by roaring, advertising their fitness and size with the quality of their voices. If one Dialga wishes to challenge another, it must go through a series of ritualized movements, spreading its fan, strutting, and tossing its head. If display is not enough, the Dialga wrestle, locking horns and pushing back and forth. Occasionally, they cannot disengage after such a match, and end up stuck together by the horns until they starve.
During the mating season, male Dialga become more lenient in their territoriality, allowing females in for a short while. After breeding, she is expulsed again.
Dialga are one of the few pokemon that give live birth. Females gestate for 13 months, then give birth to a single 7-foot long baby, which is nearly helpless and lacks most of the bony projections of the adult. The female secludes her child in dense undergrowth to protect it from predators, and feeds it for up to a year.
Dialga take up to 8 years to mature, and can live to be over 60.
Relationship with Humans: Dialga were worshipped by ancient people as the god of time. Many antique sundials and hourglasses can be seen inscribed with images of Dialga, and a famous archeological find, the 'Adamant Orb,' is believed to be a type of shrine to the pokemon. The species is valued today as well, but for different reasons. Dialga's size and might make it extraordinarily valuable to trainers, and it is on the verge of extinction.
Pressure on lowland populations has been slowly pushing Dialga up the mountainsides for decades, putting them into the range of the alpine Palkia. Dialga young are especially vulnerable to these predators.
Many conservation efforts are underway to try and protect this magnificent pokemon, the symbol of eastern Sinnoh, but public safety concerns and pressure from the battling industry have kept Dialga from being added to the 'threatened' list. In addition, no captive breeding efforts have been successful for this pokemon.
Naturalist's Notes: Fully grown Dialga have no predators, as they are well-armed with claws, spines, and a powerful tail. Young Dialga, however, can fall prey to Giratina, which seem to target them preferentially.