As the mother rushes to the aid of her wayward ward, she notices a smell drift in towards her on the wind. She takes a moment during her wild gallop to sniff it, her senses working hard to give her a clear picture of whatever she’s smelling.

  The smell tickles on the edges of a memory. Thinking hard, as hard as her fist-sized brain allows, she tries to grasp it and hold onto that memory like it was the tail of a slippery, sneaky snake. A patchy vision forms in her brain, her deep-rooted instincts and her very own experiences filling in the gaps and giving her a crystal-clear image of exactly what she’s smelling. Following that crystal-clear image comes the precise direction and distance of the being creating this very unique scent.

  Realization sinks into her stomach like a lead weight, and she digs in her talons deeper into the soil, leaning forward for that extra little bit of speed. She tears across the landscape, her legs a blur underneath her as she plows through bushes and leaps over fallen logs. In no time at all, and yet simultaneously way too much time at all, she gets closer and closer to where her baby is frantically chirping, calling for her aid.

  She hears its frantic, panicked chirping change into a cry of pain. Her vision seemingly goes red as her heart clenches in her chest, and she smashes right through a row of saplings and revealing the horrifying sight behind them.

  Her darling, beautiful baby, wrapped up in the scaly embrace of what seems to be a pre-adult Titanoboa. Its horrible, green-and-black-diamond coloured body slowly twisting around it, in an attempt to squeeze the life from its fluffy little body.

  There are many natural predators that many egg-layers learn to fear, due to their deadly efficiency at killing and devouring their kind. From cheeky monkeys, to thieving raccoons; from sneaky monitor lizards, to flighty birds.

  But here, in this forest, where the dance of life and death is never-ending, and survival is seen as the ultimate goal, there is one predator above all that Mother Gigantoraptor fears the most:

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  The egg-stealing, chick-snatching, baby-killing, no-good Titanoboa.

  With a scree of anger, she charges ahead, the titanoboa too busy unhinging its jaw to deal with the new threat that is rapidly approaching it. The mother gets right up next to the dastardly snake, her wings flared out so that she seems even bigger to the snake as she finds the perfect target.

  Seeing an opening, she lifts up her leg as high as it can go, and brings it smashing down onto the head of the distracted snake. It bashes into it with a thunderous crack, dazing the snake for a moment. But most importantly: bringing its attention away from her precious baby.

  The horrible thing rears its head back to stare at this new threat, its poor vision seeing nothing more than a massive blob that dwarfs it in size, its sense of smell identifying the slightly cinnamon scent of the mother of its lunch. It rears back and hisses, trying to intimidate the mother away. But she’s not going anywhere without her baby. And luckily for her, she has just the instincts necessary to deal with this particular threat.

  Lifting up her leg again, she kicks it out at the snake, hitting it square in the head and driving it into the ground, stunning it once again. Not letting up for a moment, she lifts it high and brings it back down, stomping the thing over and over again.

  The snake loosens its hold on the chick, letting it fall to the floor where it wheezes for breath once again. It tries to frantically lift its head up, to slither away, to find any purchase or opportunity at all to make a break for it or fight back. But the mother is seeing red, and she has no plans whatsoever of letting this egg-eater go.

  On and on, the mother stomps down on the snake, weakening it further and further. As its wriggling, writhing, and hissing slows and weakens, the mother finally sees her chance. Lifting her foot off of its head, she rears back, striking its skull and putting it down for good.

  Threat eliminated, she rushes over to her baby, watching in relief as it shakily gets back up onto its legs. It lifts its gorgeous, majestic neck in order to peer at its mother, a look of what might just be awe in its eyes before it rushes towards her with frantic, gleeful chirrups.

  Nuzzling close to her little ward, she slowly leads it back to the nest, thankful that once again, she managed to be there on time.