Psychovulture
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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 #1, 3 (2017)
- Kingdom Kong (2021)
- Godzilla x Kong: The Hunted (2024) [taxidermy]
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.
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.
Electrical blast
Psychovultures can fire electrical blasts from their mouths that 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
Monarch dossier
Psychovultures in Skull Island: The Birth of Kong #1
Trivia
- The Psychovultures' general classification, Ctenochasmatoidea, is a group of pterosaurs.
- The Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure downplays the connection between Leafwings and Psychovultures, describing the latter as simply the "nocturnal counterparts" to the former.[3] However, the Leafwing is still described as a Psychovulture subspecies in its profile from Legends of the Monsterverse: The Omnibus, which was published later in 2023.[6]
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]
Bibliography
- Trent, Sigfried; Bramnik, Michael; Flanagan, Ivis (2023). Kong: Skull Island Cinematic Adventure. Evil Genius Games. ISBN 979-8-9865552-8-7.
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