The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island

Cover

The World of Kong: A Natural History of Skull Island is a book created in 2005 by Weta Workshop as a field guide of the Skull Island wildlife presented in the movie King Kong, exposing in great detail the diversity of organisms inhabiting the lost island. Despite of the possible evolutionary inaccuracies that the fauna of the book can possess this book stands out for the detailed descriptions and illustrations in its attempt to expose the fictitious fauna and its variety.

Plot

Skull island landscape from the coast, the rough landscape is product of millions of years of erosion and collapse of the terrain.

Some years after the first expedition and the death of the last Kong in 1933 on New York, Skull island became the main focus of different groups from universities to private organizations to investigate and catalog what inhabits on it, thus creating an exploration race with different expedition groups going across the unexplored regions, but due to the chaotic conditions of the surroundings and the aggressive behavior of most of the native fauna and human inhabitants, many of these expeditions ended disastrously, with lots of casualties in just a year. Thanks to proper organization and funding through three parties, the Legacy project was founded in 1935, being a 3-month expedition to document the island and its inhabitants. Despite some setbacks and incidents, this one was successful in comparison to the previous ones, made evidence of not only the enormous diversity that exists in this island but also exposing the fact that with only one exploration would not be sufficient to be able to collect everything that could exist there. This led to the project becoming a long-term mission, and not only with the aim of cataloging species but also of establishing a permanent base. Unfortunately all of this fell apart in subsequent years, starting during the second expedition in 1936 due to an earthquake of great magnitude that ended up sinking a part of the island, killing 5 members of the team in the process. Thanks to a group geologists it was discovered that the island was doomed to crumble and sink into the sea in few decades. 15 years after its discovery and 7 legacy expeditions (being the last one around 1946), Skull island sank down in the water, disappearing forever taking with it all its native flora, fauna and people as well anything of invaluable knowledge.

Skull island

Skull island topology map (1935)

Environments

Coasts

The coasts consist of very rocky and mostly earthy elements, due to the erosion and fissuring of the coasts leaving and sticking out rocky outcrops that serve as the coast line, with possibly no forms of beaches in sight. These rock coasts, usually as coves, lead explorers into the graveyard-like ancient settlement boundaries of the island before crossing the wall.

Lowlands

The lowlands cross paths with the jungles and swamps, below sea level, and are amongst the more undiscovered area of environments of Skull Island.

Swamps

The swamps are murky and huge; they have various forms of lake-like ponds, billabongs and bogs, consisting of rotting vegetation, standing aquatic trees and various underwater fauna.

Jungles

The most common environment, the jungles of Skull Island cover the entirety of the island by a large amount. Most of the animals on this island live within the jungles.

Waterways

Waterways like rivers are present on Skull Island, and span for miles. One waterway was located near the mountain cavern home of Kong.

Pits and chasms

Perhaps the most treacherous environment, the pits and chasms were amongst sailor's worst nightmare. Rocky, muddy, and dark, various large forms of insects, arachnids and crustaceans lived at the bottom where they fed on anything that fell down.

Inhabitants

Fauna

• Abyscidis, a large cave-dwelling crab-like crustacean that lived in the pits and chasms.
• Aciedactylus, an allosaurid.
• Adlapsusaurus, a dilophosaurid-like oviraptorosaur-basal theropod that lived in the lowland plains.
• Aerosaur, a gliding iguana.
• Ambulaquasaurus, a fish-eating dromaeosaurid.
• Arachno-claw, a spider-like hexapod that lived in the pits and chasms alongside other chasm dwellers.
• Arsartis, a solitary montane dromaeosaurid.
• Asperdorsus, a spiked diplodocid from the jungles.
• Atercurisaurus, a jungle-dwelling stegosaurid.
• Avarusaurus, a partly-quadrupedal omnivorous spinosaurid.
• Bear-Croc, an omnivorous nothosuchian.
• Bidensaurus, a striped gorgonopsid.
• Bifurcatops, a long-legged graceful proceratopsian.
• Birds of the Jungle Canopy, a group of birds that lived in the jungle canopies of Skull Island.
  • Dapper crow, a species of opportunist corvid that steals and hunts what it can find and eat.
  • Dark-wing, a woodpecker-like broadbill.
  • Martial parrot, a relative of the Carrion parrot.
  • Skull Island hawk, a handsome bluish bird of prey.
  • Tiny brightbird, a relative of the common hummingbird.
  • Venom-resistant hornbill, a species of hornbill that has evolved venom resistance.
• Bloodfish, a cyprinid that lived in Skull Island's waterways.
• Brontosaurus, a large sauropod that lived in Skull Island, and perhaps the most famous sauropod that lives there.
• Brutornis, a tall phorusrhacid that lived in the jungles of Skull Island.
• Burglar Monkey, a monkey-like lorisid.
• Calcarisaurus, an ankylosaurid-like agamid.
• Carnictis, a giant, carnivorous, fanged parasitic worm that lived in the mud pools of chasms and pits.
• Carrion Parrots, a group of carrion-eating evolved vulture-like parrots. Species include:
  • Green carrion parrot
  • Red carrion parrot
  • Great carrion parrot
  • Fiery carrion parrot
• Carrion Storks, predator storks that lived in the lowlands whom some have evolved Parasaurolophus-like crests. Species include:
  • Profanornis sordicus: A gruesome-looking flightless opportunist feeder.
  • Profarornis spinosis: Amongst the largest of the Carrion storks, it has thorny projections on its bill.
• Carver, a large and powerful therapsid.
• Centipedes of the Jungle Canopy, species of arboreal centipedes. Species include:
  • Idolon illotus, a voracious arboreal centipede feeding on flizards.
  • Idolon venefaucus, an ambush centipede where it hides in dense leaves and vines.
  • Omnimatercimex harpeforceps, the largest arboreal centipede, it feeds on defenseless young animals.
• Centipedes of the Jungle Floor, jungle floor-dwelling centipedes. Species include:
  • Megapede horridus, the second largest floor dwelling centipede.
  • Gyas gyas, an egg-eating centipede with cracking mandibles.
  • Megapede dereponecis, the largest centipede on the Skull Island forest floor.
  • Megapede humus, a broad-bodied and almost chunky-looking centipede.
  • Megapede imporus, a pale, upland-dwelling centipede that lives under rank pestilence of the Terapusmordax colonies.
• Chaly-Tops, a montane tough-hided Chasmosaurus-like ceratopsian.
• Crustaceans of the Coast, a set of similar and unusual Skull Island crustaceans native to the coasts. Species include:
  • Osteodomus, a bizarre, chunky-looking crab.
  • Lividuscutus, a dark blue herbivorous lobster.
  • Scutucaris, a flat-bodied lobster-like decapod.
  • Cunaepraedator, a small sized, stocky land crab.
• Decarnocimex, a termite/cricket-like ensiferan that lived in the chasms and pits alongside the Weta-rex.
• Deplector, a giant, cave-dwelling crustacean that lived in the chasms and pits.
• Diablosaurus, a rhinoceros-like titanosaurid.
• Dinocanisaurus, a pack-hunting gregarious cynodont.
• Dirt turtle, a bizarre, testudinoid turtle that lived in muddy rivers.
• Dirusuchus, a coastal-dwelling crocodilian from the Skull Island estuaries.
• Discus, a gliding agamid lizard from the coastal cliffs of Skull Island.
• Dracos, evolved gliding agamid that lived in the uplands of Skull Island.

Humans

Skull Islanders: The indigenous people of Skull Island.

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