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Dancing with Dinosaurs


Deep in the arid landscape of Early Cretaceous Utah, the sun was just beginning to rise, the starry night slowly pushed away by glorious dawn. The morning light crept into the boulder-cave where two creatures were sleeping, curled and cuddled up in each other’s warm, feathery bodies. As the glow of a new day lit up the cave’s entrance, one of the creatures groggily lifted their head and opened their eyes, blinking back sleep and letting out a wide yawn that showed two rows of wickedly-serrated teeth. Smacking their lips, the Utahraptor fully opened their eyes, the nictitating membranes over them sliding aside and letting the light in.


This Utahraptor, also known as a dromaeosaurid or raptor-kin, slowly untangled themselves from the limbs of their mate, stood up fully in the still-dim but brightening cave, faced the entrance, and stretched. They stuck out first one long digitigrade leg behind themselves, gently pulling muscles in the long limb, then placed their foot back on the dusty floor. They then stuck out the other leg, stretching it like the first. Their winglike arms, which were covered in feathers and reminiscent of bird wings, though tipped with three long, taloned digits, were next. One of these limbs stretched, then the other. Finally the Utahraptor gave a soft trill, then shook themselves all over, dusting themselves off and re-settling their pretty feathers, their long tail swaying behind them.


Their morning ritual complete, the dromaeosaurid turned around, looking toward the curled form of their mate, still laying on the floor. The other raptor-kin, a male, was usually in the habit of joining his mate for morning-stretchies, but this morning, this was not the case.


The first Utahraptor, who was neither male nor female but something in between, was smaller than their mate, and they decided to use one of their mischievous tricks to rouse the sleeping dinosaur. They began by creeping closer to him, quietly, as if stalking prey. The raptor-kin’s mate was facing away from them, and as the awake creature inched toward the sleeping one, they noticed his ruffled black feathers, accented with white and blue stripes that ranged over his body. They took a moment to preen their own feathers, which were mostly white and accented in blue and black, with a spotted and rosetted pattern. This important task done, the dromaeosaurid went back to their plan of getting as close to their mate as possible, as quietly as possible, making sure their talon-tips on their toes weren’t fully touching the ground. One toe’s long sickle claw, the largest on each foot, was held aloft naturally anyway, but they didn’t want to take any chances.


Finally, the Utahraptor was close enough. Nearly touching the other dinosaur’s back, they lowered themselves into a pouncing position, gave a wiggle of their rump and tail, and pounced!


What they expected to happen, a resulting squeak of surprise and then a playful wrestling match, did not happen. Instead, the black-feathered raptor-kin gave a groan and curled up tighter. The white raptor nosed at him gently, sensing something was wrong. They slid off of their mate’s larger body, sniffed gently at his face and let out a soft “bwee” sound.


The black dinosaur let out a soft, low-piched growl, his usual response to Bwee’s high-pitched calls, but Growl did not open his eyes. His masculine tall-feathered head crest was flat, tight over his head, instead of raised in concern and curiosity, as Bwee’s smaller blue crest of feathers was at that time.


Growl’s demeanor worried Bwee. He was obviously not feeling well, though the smaller dromaeosaurid didn’t get the feeling that it was life-threatening or serious, at least. Still, Bwee decided that, since Growl was larger and usually protected his smaller mate from danger, their job had become taking care of the creature who always took care of them.


The spotted raptor-kin stood up fully and walked around their mate, edging to the cave’s entrance. They peeked outside, looking all around for danger, not only out of caution, but also some fear. Bwee was never without their mate when they left the cave, and the excitement and trepidation they felt when looking out into the wide world, and knowing they had to go into it alone, was almost overwhelming.


Bwee cocked their head, gave a couple clacks of their toothy jaws, and fluffed up their feathers, preparing and gathering their courage. With a final look back at their ruffled and sickly mate, they gave a “bwee” of determination, and moved swiftly out of the cave, darting briskly amidst large boulders and into the trees of the dry forest within sight of their home.


—


About an hour later, Bwee’s smaller form, crest raised in delight and pride, returned to darken the entrance of the cave briefly while they made their way inside. In their jaws was a fat brown mammal they had managed to hunt all by themselves, though not without some trouble. The raptor-kin’s muzzle was trickling blood from a bite and some scratches. Still, they were undaunted, and with full confidence that this would help Growl feel better, they set the prey beside him and chirped a few times to get his attention.


With obvious effort, Growl turned over to face Bwee and the kill they had made. Weakly, he lifted his head, and with barely-opened eyes, looked at the food. He let out a grunt, almost apologetic, and let his head rest on the floor again, closing his eyes once more.


Bwee sniffed at the mammal, and nosed it closer to the black dromaeosaurid. When Growl only let out a snort and moved his head away from the food, Bwee lifted their head, chirped and clacked their jaws thoughtfully.


The smaller Utahraptor looked around the cave out of habit, and found nothing useful. If the answer wasn’t in the cave…


Bwee looked outside the cave again. Their last venture outside didn’t go too badly. What Growl needed was somewhere out there. They had an idea of where to look, but it was out there, far away, and was possibly very dangerous. Still, they would do it. For Growl.


The white-feathered raptor-kin nuzzled their mate’s muzzle, then walked to the cave entrance once more. They sniffed the air, then, in a burst of energy, they started running north, away from the safety of the cave and the Utahraptors’ hunting forest, and towards the arid grassland and the mountains far on the horizon.


Over the following hours, the sun rose high in the sky, and the safety of shadow all but disappeared. Thankfully, though Bwee saw a couple of pterosaurs flying high in the sky as the Utahraptor moved through the yellow-grass plains, they didn’t seem to be a threat.


The white Utahraptor continued on for a while longer, knowing they were getting closer. In the distance were some massive long-necked sauropods grazing on some bushes. Bwee took a wide berth around them, not wanting to cause alarm, but halfway around they suddenly stopped in their tracks. Sniffing the air, Bwee’s eyes opened wide, crest flattening as they lowered themselves closer to the ground. The white Utahraptor had made it to very dangerous territory, and they needed to be careful.


What they had smelled was a fresh kill, and they knew the only hunters in this area were part of a large pack of Utahraptors. Bwee and Growl had come across the pack once before, when they had been exploring for a territory of their own. The other Utahraptors had screeched and darted after the pair, furious that their territory was being invaded by outsiders. The white and black Utahraptors had fled south until they had stopped being pursued, and had found the safety of their cave soon after.


Bwee’s plan was to hide near a group of bushes and observe the rival dromaeosaurid pack to see if any of them were sick like Growl. But first the spotted raptor-kin had to find them. Starting with a fresh kill site seemed like a good bet, so, while staying low to the ground, Bwee headed towards the scent.


It didn’t take Bwee long to find the kill. A large iguanodon had been taken down, and scavengers had already begun descending upon it. The raptor-kin looked around. Where could the pack have gone?


Bwee skirted around the leftovers of the carcass, where smaller reptiles and dinosaurs were busy pulling the last scraps of meat from the bones. They started watching the goings-on, interested in the small squabbles between feasting creatures as they fought over the best bits. The raptor-kin trotted around a large boulder, their attention on the scavengers.


Turning the corner around the large boulder, Bwee gave an amused chirp as one small scavenger bit the rump of another to chase it away from a choice scrap. They turned their attention to where they were headed just in time to realize they had stumbled right into the large Utahraptor pack, whose sizable, multicolored members were laying around randomly, some sleeping, all digesting from their large iguanodon meal.


Several things happened at once. Bwee let out a squawk of surprise and alarm. Several of the rival raptor-kin lifted their heads, saw the smaller raptor-kin brazenly walking through their group, and flattened their crests, hissing and growling menacingly, beginning to rise to guard their clan. Bwee looked around desperately, and saw a chance they had to take.


The smaller white dromaeosaurid had spotted what looked to be the Matriarch of the pack. She was larger than the other Utahraptors, colored sleek dark brown with light-colored speckles and a white chest and belly, and lacked a masculine head crest. She was located near the center of the pack, atop a small rise in the landscape. With hardly a thought more to what could be a disastrous plan, Bwee darted for her position, staying out of reach of the other raptor-kin who were becoming alarmed and snapping and swatting as Bwee dashed past.


The rosetted Utahraptor slid to a halt in front of the large female, who hissed and rose to her muscular back legs, preparing to pounce on the intruder and rip them to pieces. But Bwee had other plans. Before the Matriarch could react, the smaller dromaeosaurid began to dance. They swayed their hips and tail and bobbed their head in the usual courting ritual of a female, while also lifting their head crest, rippling their wing-arm feathers mesmerizingly and letting out long hooting calls as a male would do. They also let out a few of their own special “bwee” calls.


The female Utahraptor blinked slowly, frozen in her attack-preparation stance, obviously surprised and not quite sure how to react. The rest of the pack was much the same, and a few of the other dinosaurs looked around at each other, unsure of what to do. After a moment of watching Bwee’s dance, the chocolate-brown female gave a few clicks and stood up fully, towering head-and-neck over the white Utahraptor. She looked down at the strange creature, and gave a few sniffs in their direction. Her eyes opened up wide, apparently smelling Bwee’s particular scent with its hints of masculine and feminine undertones.


As Bwee continued courting the female in their own particular way, the Matriarch seemed to make a decision. Suddenly, she lifted her head to the sky and let out a loud screech that made the smaller raptor-kin jump into the air in surprise, but they wove the jump into their dance and did not stop.


Shortly after, a beautiful male Utahraptor, this one a brilliant purple with an orange head crest, trotted in from the edge of the pack. The rest of the raptor-kin in the clan let him through, but did not take their eyes off the strange show. The female greeted the male with a couple soft chirps and a nuzzle to his snout, then turned her attention to the dancing raptor-kin, which the male, who was seemingly the Matriarch’s mate, did as well.


With both sets of eyes on them, Bwee turned their attention to the male, facing him and hooting, raising their crest and lowering it, and swaying their tail. The female gave a chirp and clacked her jaws, amused. The male looked at the brown Utahraptor and chittered in a sort of chuckle.


As if on cue, the larger dromaeosaurids began to dance as well, the female bobbing her head and swaying her hips, the male hooting, moving his head side-to-side and flashing his colorful wing-arm feathers in a dazzling display. Bwee trilled in delight, dancing with the larger raptor-kin pair. The three, to the pack’s eyes, seemingly were all courting each other, and the clan seemed to be rippling with various reactions, some with amusement, others with disdain, and still others who were so caught up by the excitement that they had started to do courtship dances as well.


After a little longer, the large female ceased her ritual, and clacked her teeth again. Bwee and the purple male stopped dancing, looking up at the female, who leaned down and nuzzled each of them affectionately. She gave the male an appreciative lick to his cheek feathers as well, as if soothing him and letting him know he was still at the top of the hierarchy of the clan, second only to herself. The male looked back at Bwee, and clacked his jaw, seemingly amused at the thought that this pipsqueak was at all a threat to his position.


The rest of the pack seemed to relax, most of them laying down once more. The smaller raptor-kin was accepted in the clan’s presence, at least for now, and they could go back to resting after their meals.


The female trilled softly to Bwee, and cocked her head. Bwee took her gesture as questioning their presence in the pack’s territory. To communicate their answer, Bwee faced south, toward their cave that felt so small and far away now, and did their dance again for a moment. Then the white raptor-kin laid down in the grass and stopped moving, mimicking how Growl had been acting.


The Matriarch cooed softly and looked at her mate. After a few seconds of thought, she nudged the purple Utahraptor with her snout. He gave a couple of small chirps and headed off, weaving through the lounging pack members and heading away in a brisk run.


Bwee looked at the sleek brown dromaeosaurid quizzically, cocking their head as she had done. In response, the female laid down and trilled, looking up at Bwee, then to the ground beside her. The smaller raptor-kin laid down alongside the Matriarch, stretching out their legs as they allowed themselves a small rest. But they were worried about Growl, and they looked southward, giving a long, slow sigh. They needed to get back to him, but they still hadn’t found anything that would help him. Nobody in the pack looked sick as far as Bwee could tell, so –


The white raptor-kin’s thoughts were halted by a firm nuzzle to their cheek feathers. Bwee looked at the female, who chirped and looked in the direction her mate had headed. The white-feathered dinosaur understood that the female was waiting for him to return, and felt that she wanted Bwee to wait with her. Bwee, tired from their journey and missing Growl terribly, leaned to the side and found the female leaning into them, giving them a feathery place to rest their head for a moment.


It was mid-afternoon when the shimmery purple raptor-kin returned. Bwee had fallen asleep with their head leaning on the large female’s side, and she gently roused them by beginning to preen Bwee’s blue head crest feathers. Bwee yawned and looked up at the male, who was standing close by, and holding something flat squeezed between the long taloned digits on his forelimbs.


Bwee stood up, and the Matriarch followed suit, rising up to stand tall, then walk toward her mate. She greeted him with her signature nuzzle, then leaned down and took what he was holding between her lips. She turned and faced Bwee, and the spotted raptor-kin looked up at her. The Matriarch was holding the stem of an unusually-shaped leaf between her lips. It looked a bit like a fern frond, but had seven pointed leaflets that all met in the center of the leaf.


The female made sure the white dromaeosaurid was watching, then tilted her front half toward the ground, laying the leaf upon it. Then she took one of the leaflets into her mouth, bit it off of the leaf, then stood up and swallowed it. She chirped at Bwee, then clacked her jaws.


The smaller dinosaur was a little apprehensive at the idea of eating a leaf, but the female seemed fine, at least. Bwee leaned down and sniffed the leaf, not expecting much. But to their surprise and fascination, they felt a small surge of playfulness and energy just with one breath of the unassuming piece of foliage’s scent. Their curiosity piqued, they took a leaflet into their muzzle and bit it off with their razor-sharp teeth, like the female had done. Bwee swallowed the piece of leaf, and waited. It wasn’t long before the white raptor-kin started feeling the leaf’s effects; Bwee trilled as they started feeling very good all over indeed. They felt their energy renewed, and they desperately wanted to run and play in the grass.


Bwee looked up at their new friends, the Matriarch and her mate. The white dromaeosaurid moved closer and nuzzled each of them, giving the female’s feathers a little mischievous nip and slight tug. The Matriarch chittered, a happy sound, then leaned down and picked up the stem of the leaf between her lips once more. She moved her head between Bwee’s front limbs, holding the leaf there. Bwee squeezed their wing-arms, letting their talons meet in the middle and hold the leaf between both sets of digits.


The female nuzzled the white dinosaur’s cheek feathers, then chirped. As Bwee watched her, she looked south, did a few steps of her courting dance, then looked back at Bwee, then finally turned her attention to the leaf.


Bwee finally understood. This leaf was a gift, a kind of medicine to make raptor-kin feel better, and she wanted the white-feathered creature to take it to their sick mate. Bwee trilled in happiness, as they had found what they had been seeking, then head-butted the female’s chest feathers gently in gratitude. Not forgetting the male’s efforts, Bwee gave his chin a nuzzle of thanks. The purple Utahraptor chittered and preened his wing-arm feathers self-consciously.


The Matriarch crooned softly, sounding a little sad. Bwee chirped and looked at her, then, with the leaf still pinned between their talons, they lifted and lowered their head crest, spinning in circles and doing their courtship dance. Finally they stopped and trilled again. Both the male and his mate trilled back, and clacked their jaws.


The female looked south, and then back at Bwee. The rosetted dinosaur got the hint. It was time to return home.


With one last “bwee", they turned south and started moving through the lounging pack of Utahraptors, some of which looked at Bwee with friendly interest. Once they reached the edge of the pack, they turned one more time to look up at the hill where the Matriarch and her mate were standing. They both trilled a goodbye, and Bwee responded in kind. Then, the white dromaeosaurid started running south, toward their mate and the familiarity of their territory.


–


The sun was just starting to set when Bwee reached their territory and was able to see the boulders that surrounded their home. They had not stopped running the entire time they had been heading south, possibly thanks to the leaf’s effects, but they put on a new burst of speed when they saw home, now bathed in orange light.


When Bwee finally reached the cave, they stepped inside quietly. Everything in the cave was quiet, including Bwee’s poor mate Growl, who was still resting in the back of the rocky alcove. The white raptor-kin made their signature “bwee” noise, and stepped close to Growl’s curled form. Growl gave a little “grr” in return, and opened his eyes a little, though his nictitating membrane was still half-closed.


Bwee crouched close and laid the leaf by Growl’s snout. The blue-striped dromaeosaur continued laying down, breathing slowly. As the scent of the leaf made it to Growl’s nostrils, his eyes suddenly opened fully, their brilliant blue irises and round pupils fully visible. Bwee trilled happily, and was just about to indicate to the larger dinosaur that he should eat a leaflet, when Growl took it upon himself to snap up the leaf, swallowing the uneaten portion in a single gulp.


The white raptor-kin chittered, watching their mate closely. After a moment, nothing had happened. Growl was still laying on the ground, and Bwee was out of ideas. Disappointed, Bwee turned to face the cave entrance, looking outside.


The second they turned their back, a large feathered force plowed into them, pouncing onto their back, chittering and chirping and growling with happy energy. Bwee was pushed to the floor and squished by the bigger male, who HUGGED them with his wing-arms, then jumped up, chirping! Bwee, both annoyed and delighted, pounced into their mate’s chest feathers, nuzzling and licking his snout. Then they nibbled his tummy feathers, which they knew would tickle Growl as retaliation for scaring them. Growl chittered and backed up away from the tickles, nipping playfully at the smaller dinosaur.


The two Utahraptors nuzzled into each other’s feathers. Bwee had survived their adventure and helped Growl, who was feeling much better. Bwee’s stomach gave a fierce rumble, and the white raptor-kin bwee’d at their mate. The black dinosaur growled in response.


The pair moved to the cave entrance. This evening, they would hunt and feast, then snuggle back in the safety of their cave to rest. There would always be a chance for a new adventure. Bwee was even thinking of taking Growl north to meet the Matriarch and her mate someday.


For the creatures of Early Cretaceous Utah, the day was ending, but life would continue, grow, and flourish, for all the days to come.


THE END