Terapusmordax
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Terapusmordax is a species of flying rodent[3] that appeared in King Kong (2005).
Name
The name "Terapusmordax" means "pungent-bat" while its species name, "Terapusmordax onscenus", means "filthy pungent-bat."[3]
Appearance
Terapusmordax superficially resembles a naked mole rat with bat wings with sharp teeth and claws. Its skin is very thin and almost translucent.[3]
Development
The Terapusmordax fills the role of the Pteranodon from the original King Kong and the Bat Creatures from Peter Jackson's attempted 1996 remake.
Christian Pearce, one of the designers of the Terapusmordax, describes his experience designing the flying rodent as "fun" saying that "You could just try anything you wanted." Though early discussions involving using naked mole rats which would become the basis of the final design's skin,[4] there was a period where Weta Workshop did not know the final brief from Peter Jackson, leading to many pterosaur-inspired designs. During this period, artist Greg Boradmore also created a flying mammal that had a "vulgar" upright posture.[5] After the brief came in that Jackson wanted to stray away from pterosaur designs for what would become the Terapusmordax, Broadmore created another pterosaur design he dubbed "Uglor" that had a Hornbill inspired crest and a bony emaciated look.[6] "Uglor" would later be reworked into the Foeducrista in The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island.[7]
Jackson requested the Terapusmordax to be "as gross as possible".[8] Pearce recalls that Jackson specifically wanted the creature to look infected with its skin bearing diseases and a "disgusting wetness to it" as well as batlike wings, large enough to pick a human being up, and a humanoid shape.[4]
Origins
Despite its appearance resembling a mixture of a bat and a naked mole rat, Terapusmordax belonged to a family of flying rodents named Volucerattidae, which also contained Voluceritis and the Howlers. Terapusmordax, in particular, was the largest of the family.[3]
History
King Kong (2005)
A swarm of Terapusmordax is awakened by King Kong in the ape's lair when Kong finds Jack Driscoll attempting to rescue Ann Darrow from him. The Terapusmordax proceed to attack Kong, which allows Ann to become free from the great ape's hold on her. As she and Jack escape by climbing down a nearby vine by the cliff's edge, Kong begins pulling the vine up towards him with several Terapusmordax circling around the fleeing humans, but Jack grabs ahold of the wing of an attacking Terapusmordax and escapes with Ann. Several of the flying rodents follow them until Jack and Ann fall into a river below them.
Abilities
With light and strong bones, Terapusmordax had good eyesight and were excellent flyers. They were quite manurable for their size, being able to tip and roll in the air in pursuit of one another or winged prey. Their excrement was notably repugnant, having chemicals were so strong that in sufficient quantities would induce burning nostrils and watery eyes. Despite the dung littering the floors of the caves they inhabited and their bellies being caked with it, the Terapusmordax was unaffected by the horrible smell of their dung. This might have a defense mechanism as it drove away predators from their colonies.[9]
Notes and references
This is a list of references for Terapusmordax. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
|
