Psychovulture

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Psychovulture
A female Psychovulture from Skull Island: The Birth of Kong
An alpha male Psychovulture from Kingdom Kong
Class-
ification
  • Vultura Insanus (cryptoozological classification)
  • Ctenochasmatoidea (classification)[1]
Species Avian reptile
Wingspan 5-9 feet[1]
Relations Leafwing (subspecies)[2]
Enemies Humans, King Kong
First appearance Latest appearance
Skull Island: The
Birth of Kong
#1
Godzilla x Kong:
The Hunted

The Psychovulture is an avian reptile superspecies which inhabits Skull Island in the Monsterverse. Psychovultures appear in Legendary Comics' 2017 miniseries Skull Island: The Birth of Kong and 2021 graphic novel Kingdom Kong.

Name

The Psychovultures' cryptozoological classification, Vultura Insanus, comes from the English word "vulture" and the Latin word insanus, meaning "crazy" or "insane."

Design

Psychovultures resemble hairless bats, though they lack prominent ears or noses and have stronger legs.[3] They also display sexual dimorphism. Males have hair on their back in the shape of a mohawk, and females have hoods resembling that of a cobra's.[4] An alpha Psychovulture appeared in Kingdom Kong, significantly larger than the others.[5]

Behavior

Psychovultures are omnivores, favoring fruit, squirrels, seafaring birds, and fish, and are the more aggressive cousins of the Leafwings.[1][3] They hunt at night utilizing echolocation and thermal vision, and while they are generally solitary predators, they will call other Psychovultures for help if they are attacked themselves.[3] Their behavior in both Skull Island: The Birth of Kong and Kingdom Kong, in which they swarmed their targets before dark, is therefore anomalous. Feeding on a species of poisonous pufferfish that lives off the coast of Skull Island drives them into a frenzied state, attempting to kill anything in sight, including members of their own species.[1] Psychovultures that survive this berserk period appear to search for more pufferfish to experience it again.[3] They are also scavengers, as they descended to feed on the fresh carcass of a Sirenjaw that Kong killed in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong.

Comics

Skull Island: The Birth of Kong

"The People Who Came from the Sky"

A swarm of Psychovultures attacked the V-22 Osprey transporting a Monarch team led by Aaron Brooks to Skull Island. One struck the side of the aircraft with a bolt of electricity, causing it to crash on the island. They circled the Monarch agents who parachuted from the plane as they fell, but allowed them to land.

"Valley of the Fallen Gods"

After King Kong fought and killed a Sirenjaw, several Psychovultures and Death Jackals descended to feed on the carcass.

Kingdom Kong

A group of Psychovultures attacked Kong while he rescued a Sker Buffalo pinned beneath a fallen tree. One also targeted a nearby Monarch helicopter, but its electrical blast was negated by its exterior shock grid. From this safe vantage point, seismologist Houston Brooks watched Kong open the fight by swinging the tree as a club, felling several of the creatures. An alpha Psychovulture dove at his left eye and tried to gouge it out, while another set the tree aflame with electricity. The helicopter pilot, Delgado, asked Brooks if they should intervene, but he was confident in Kong's abilities. Swinging the burning tree, the ape killed four more of the Psychovultures, and the rest retreated. He turned his eyes sadly to the Sker Buffalo, who had perished in the battle.

Video games

Abilities

Flight

Psychovultures are capable of flight.

Thermal vision and echolocation

Psychovultures have thermal vision which allows them to find warm-blooded prey at night, even up to two feet underwater.[3] They also possess echolocation.

Lightning Blast

Psychovultures can fire electrical blasts from their mouths, called Lightning Blast in Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers. These blasts are powerful enough to take down a V-22 Osprey with one shot.

Physical abilities

Psychovultures prefer to use their claws in close-quarters combat, with one alpha drawing blood from Kong when he tried to scratch out his eye in Kingdom Kong. Like Leafwings, they will work in tandem to carry off larger prey.[3]

Screech

Psychovultures can scream loudly enough to temporarily deafen humans.[3]

Durability

In Kingdom Kong, Kong killed several Psychovultures by clubbing them with a branch, which he continued swinging after one set it on fire with an electrical blast. He also crushed one in his jaws and grabbed another out of the air.

Gallery

Trivia

Video

Psychovulture profile posted on Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers social media accounts
Psychovulture Alpha profile posted on Titan Chasers social media accounts

See also

References

This is a list of references for Psychovulture. 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]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 KSI MYTHOLOGY PSYCHOVULTURE V2.jpg
  2. KSI MYTHOLOGY ICARUS WING V2.jpg
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Trent et al. 2023, p. 90
  4. @whoiszid (31 July 2021). "I don't have authority over the species' canonical behaviour, but the inclusion of alphas were necessary for me to allow believability to how the PV could cut a grown Kong. The same PV from SI:TBOK would be nothing but a swarm of miniature minions 😆 Mohawk = ♂ Cobra hood = ♀". Twitter.
  5. @whoiszid (31 July 2021). "That's correct. It's an alpha in the flock, significantly bigger than the rest although it's tricky to tell with everything in motion and at different distance. I also made the design slightly different to set it apart, both male and female 🤓". Twitter.
  6. Napton, Robert (2023). Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus. Legendary Comics. p. 437. ISBN 978-1681161174.

Bibliography

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