Diablosaurus

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Diablosaurus rufus ('Red devil lizard') is a fictional dinosaur described in the 2005 book The World of Kong, an encyclopedia about the ecology of Skull Island as depicted in the 2005 remake of King Kong.

Physical appearance

Diablosaurus is a large quadrupedal herbivore of about 20-25 feet (6-7,50 m) long, standing up to 11,5 feet (3,50 m) tall. It looks very mammalian in appearance, having stout, hoofed feet, a short tail and a head very similar to that of bovines. Unique in dinosaurs, it has flexible, muscular lips. Its rust-colored head sports two large, blunt horns which are the largest in males. Occasionally, a Diablosaurus has three horns. On the neck and back, Diablosaurus has armored plating consisting of large knobbly spikes and smaller, mozaic-like scutes. Overall, the creature resembles a large bull or rhinoceros.

Ancestry

If the creature's strikingly mammalian looks aren't strange enough, its descendance surely is- Diablosaurus descends from the sauropod group. These creatures, for instance Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus and Skull Island's Brontosaurus baxteri, are well-known for their size, long necks and tails, and elephantine legs. Diablosaurus has a short tail and neck and, while certainly not a small animal, is not nearly as big as most sauropods. Its armored plating suggests that it might have evolved from the Titanosauridae family- some titanosaurids had armored plating on their back, very similar to Diablosaurus's.

Behavior

Adult Diablosaurs are fairly safe from predator attacks, but youngsters are not, so the adults often protect them. Despite this, it is not a very social animal, primarily forming small groups with direct relatives or partners. Especially males are known to live solitary. It's possible that the animals identify each other using the configuration of their horns and armored plating, which seems to differ greatly between animals (it may even be unique in each specimen).

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