Oedipus Rex
“My arms are too stubby, I can't gouge out my eyes!”
Oedipus Rex (Oedipus irrumaremater) was the dominant predatory species of dinosaur inhabiting the majority of the southern Achaean peninsula until around 65,000,000 years ago, when it went extinct due to inbreeding and reproductive practices of leaving its young on mountains to be found by shepherds. Sophocles discovered the first Oedipus skeleton in 428 BCE.
Anatomy and Physiology[edit | edit source]
The common Oedipus Rex reached a height of some 18 meters, and lived, on average, to about 30 years of age. There are multiple instances of fights between Oedipus' main competitor Tiresaurus (Prudentia tiresias), a smaller, more agile, species with the ability to see into the future despite having no eyeballs. Oedipus skeletons have frequently been found with broken arms, legs and even (healed) necks. It was also the first recorded species to ever bear children with its mother.
Development[edit | edit source]
- Infancy: Oedipus are commonly born with their feet tangled in the umbilical cord, after a few days the parents, known as Laiusauri, will leave the offspring on a high mountain. The presumed explanation for this behavior is that it expels young from the same niche as their elders and limits intraspecies competition. Once abandoned, the Oedipus are commonly found by young shepherd boys and given to another pair of Oedipus. Scientists are embroiled in debate over this particular explanation, as to date no one has found a fossil of these supposed shepherd boys.
- Adolescence: Recent studies have unearthed several fossils of male Laiusauri apparently having been killed by adolescent Oedipus. It is thought that this is instinctive behaviour in order to prevent the parents from becoming rivals for the developing Oedipus' territory. However no evidence of this in the female of the species has ever been found, suggesting that the adolescent Oedipus had difficulty in identifying one particular female as his biological parent.
- Maturity: The few fossils of adult Oedipus that have been discovered have all been located a considerable distance away from those of younger forms of the species. In addition, all of these bear considerable damage to the side of the skull, which in some cases must have rendered the individual blind. The only instrument capable of such damage is the claw of a mature Oedipus, although scholars are still baffled by this phenomenon.