Yutyrannus

*Yutyrannus* was a tyrannosauroid from the Early Cretaceous of Asia.

## Characteristics

*Yutyrannus* are large, robust animals, only beaten out in both aspects by the *Tyrannosaurus* compared to other carnivores in the region. *Yutyrannus* are covered in iridescent green feathers everywhere except their heads and their feet, which can change to black depending on the lighting of the area. Their scaly skulls are white, with black stripes running along the mouth. Atop the snout is a large, red crest paired with two red horn-like crests above the eyes. which are smaller on females. On average, females smaller than males.

*Yutyrannus* are social animals, mating for life with pairs living and hunting together. When hunting, *Yutyrannus* use their feathers to become excellent ambush predators, as they work both for camoflauge and trap the predator's scent. To work out the size difference between sexes, the male will attack first and capture the attention of the target while the female then attacks from behind. This combination tends to overpower and confuse prey before they are capable of fighting back.

*Yutyrannus* are very territorial towards any animal that occupies a similar niche to them, such as *Utahraptor*, and will actively hunt and kill any threat to their niche within their territory. These hunts usually occur within nesting sites, where they will slaughter the adults and then eat the young. In spite of this, the pair present in Vulture Valley were tolerant of the similarly sized *Cryolophosaurus*, which would follow the tyranosaurs in order to scavenge their kills. This was due to the *Yutyrannus* being more efficient predators and the *Cryolophosaurus* being forced to adapt to the role of scavenger upon being outcompeted.

## History

### Life in Vulture Valley

Two *Yutyrannus* were brought into Vulture Valley by the failure of the first particle collider. When the main *Utahraptor* colony left the valley, the *Yutyrannus* began a campaign of eradication, seeking to annihilate the remaining splinter families and the single remaining colony of *Utahraptors*.

   During their mission to Research Station 2, Stalker Force and the *Utahraptor* alpha Sobek were both attacked by the *Yutyrannus*. While the female attacked Xavier Wise and Syd Kinanne, the male attempted to follow the rest of the squad through a hallway, struggling to squeeze through. The rest of Stalker Force, being chased by Sobek, dove to the floor to avoid him pouncing on them, accidentally forcing the raptor onto the tyrannosaur. The *Yutyrannus* slammed Sobek against the floor, but was distracted by gunfire from Xavier while its mate was halted by gunfire from Syd. The distraction allowed Sobek to clamber onto the larger theropod's side and both came out of the door, causing the female to charge through the garage and slam into her mate as the Sobek leapt off and ran away. The mates bickered amongst themselves before leaving the facility, attempting to continue their hunt on Stalker Force until James Molnar destroyed the station with C4, scaring the predators away.

   The *Yutyrannus* would bring the *Utahraptor* population in the valley to its knees, eventually attacking Sobek Colony's main nesting site, but only managed to kill the beta male of the colony when Sobek ambushed the female from a burrow he and his subordinates had dug. The female was torn apart by Sobek and one of his his pack-mates, said pack-mate dying in the attack before her stomach was eviscerated, while the male was forced to deal with a counter-attack from the rest of the pack. Sobek turned his attention to the male after killing the female, whom had also killed one of the raptors, pouncing on the tyrannosaur and knocking it down as it was about to kill the other raptor on him. The blow broke the *Yutyrannus'* leg, and Sobek finished the animal off by stabbing his killing claw through its eye. The remains of the two *Yutyrannus* were then incinerated in the napalm strike that killed Sobek and his colony.

## Trivia

* Yutyrannus is the largest known theropod with direct evidence of feathers.
* In real life, Yutyrannus was not described until 2012. In-universe, Yutyrannus was seemingly discovered by the time of the Vietnam War, similar to Utahraptor.