Eumeralla Formation, Australia, 120 Million Years Ago

White sparkles of celestial bodies dazzle the night sky. They are the only light seen in a land blanketed with the darkness of Antarctic winter. The vast rift valley here, near modern-day Victoria, connects southern Australia to what is now the South Pole.

The land joining the two continents is made up of freshwater lakes and streams divided by muddy floodplains. These patches of land are covered in lycopods and mosses along with liverworts and grass-like isoetales lying on the edge of the water. These frigid bodies harbor a variety of fish, crayfish, clams, fly larvae, and freshwater horseshoe crabs. Some streams seep into, and cut up another prevalent part of this land, the polar forests.

The canopy of these forests is made up of ginkgo trees, podocarp trees, conifer trees, and tall tree ferns. What would be a mix of greens and browns is tinted in the dark blue of the months-long winter night and bits of white from the occasional frost and snow. Despite this, these woodlands are active with a chorus of tweets, chirps, and trills from avians and buzzing from insects. The floor of this particular patch is covered in dried moss, fungi, dirt, and dead leaves, much of which is covered in a one-inch layer of snow. Compared to the rest of these woods, it is far quieter, and save for a solitary creature scuttling across the ground, is totally sparse of life.

It is a female Leaellynasaura, nicknamed Lea for short. She is a small, two-legged herbivore that reaches a single foot in height and three feet in length. Much of her overall span is made up of a long, flexible tail, half its length curling upward. Her head is small with proportionately large eyes that permit visual clarity in the umbral darkness of the Antarctic winter. This dinosaur's body is covered in downy feathers that allow her to stay warm in a climate of 30 degrees Fahrenheit. This coat is white with black speckles and dark bands on her fluffy tail, only differentiating in color with yellow spots that dot her eyes.

During her rush through these woods, Lea occasionally makes brief stops. In these moments, she softly pans while scanning her surroundings. All she ever finds is the same empty, snow-covered land surrounded by trees. She continues to sprint deeper into the woods.

***

Soon, Lea finds her first obstacle, a gently rushing river nearing eight feet in length. The surface is mainly a noticeably light blue with small masses of ice sliding across it. Although Lea is a capable swimmer, the water is simply too cold to traverse. Thus, she travels further downstream in search of a drier way across.

It isn't long before Lea finds just what she needs. A long tree has fallen on the other side of the river. Its trunk stretches just above the waters, covered in moss and bridging both edges of the expansive stream. With careful haste, she hops onto the large log, causing a small creak in the process. A larger animal would quickly break the log in two. However, at only 50 pounds, Lea is more lightweight and not heavy enough to make the trunk snap.

She also employs a different strategy. As she makes her way across the downed tree, she levels out her tail, making it horizontal with her body. This allows her to balance out her weight as she walks across, ensuring she won't slip. It is a strategy she'll need as her eyes start to glimpse something within the water below, something deadly... and hungry.

Resting on the muddy bottom of the river is a freshwater predator called Koolasuchus. Although its name means "Kool's croc," this beast is an amphibian, the last of the ancient temnospondyl branch. Its appearance is much like a giant salamander with a thinner body and a short, paddle-like tail. Four feet grow out of the body of this amphibian, each proportionally small to the rest of its body. Its front feet have four toes connected by a fleshy web while its back feet have five. The most noticeable feature is its wide, rounded head which alone is over two inches long with a mouth full of dozens of rigged fang-like teeth. Its smooth skin is primarily black with faded beige spots all over.

At ten feet long and weighing over half a ton, Koolasuchus is easily the top predator in the waters of this rift valley. Thus, it could easily make a meal out of Lea... but only if she fell into the water. The body of this large amphibian is not admirably adapted for life on land, as it would only be able to sluggishly drag itself. So, it mainly spends its feeding time in the water, preying on fish and anything else that falls into its aquatic domain. For now, the Koolasuchus lies still, the only movement coming from its eyes as it stares at Lea through the distorted water surface.

Fortunately, Lea will be no such meal for the Koolasuchus, as she safely crosses to the other side of the river. She darts across the wet mud and dives into the thicker woods that lie behind it. The Koolasuchus closes his eyes and goes into a slumber, waiting for another chance at its next meal.

***

Having crossed the river, Lea now finds herself in a vastly different part of the woods. Here, the forest floor is decorated with a wide variety of plant life. Much of it comes in the form of ferns and horsetails that bloom in bright green. There is also another kind of plant present called angiosperms. These are the ancestors of today's flowering plants such as daisies, tulips, lavender, and many more. At this point in Earth's history, they mainly resemble today's magnolias, buttercups, and laurels in appearance.

These early flowers are the food source for other smaller residents of this forest. It is an insect that we in our modern-day recognize as a giant weta. It greatly resembles a grasshopper only differing with its brown coloration and a more bulbous carapace with no wings. As its name suggests, it is also quite large for an insect, being the size of a human's hand. Even after much of this rift valley will eventually be swallowed up by the Antarctic Ocean, it will still survive on what is now the island of New Zealand. The wetas are a common site among the lush forest floor, along with other insects like beetles, cockroaches, booklice, and fleas. They also serve as food for other residents of these woods.

Scurrying through the forest undergrowth are the occasional Kryoryctes. These are small, foot-and-a-half-long, rodent-shaped mammals related to modern-day echidnas. They're squat, four-legged animals with somewhat elongated bodies, a rounded back as well as a stubby tail that is short and tapering. Their snouts are narrower than the rest of their head in addition to having a slight downward curve.

In this extensive bloom of floral and faunal life, Lea is focused on one thing and one thing only... ferns. These serve as the primary source of food for both her and her species. However, rather than simply eating them from where they grow, she instead attempts to yank off parts of them, bit by bit. Such a task isn't entirely easy with how frozen they are by the Antarctic cold.

It is also here that she encounters another obstacle in her forest run, another Leaellynasaura. This one is another female just like Lea, with the only difference being that it's older than her. With how hard it is to come by these precious ferns, neither Leaellynasaura is willing to share.

They settle their differences by trying to scare each other off. To do so, they poof up the feathers of their tails and rapidly wag them in the air. This action serves as a threat display allowing each Leaellynasaura a way to tell the other to "back off." They further reinforce this, they also direct sharp hissing noises at each other like those of a goose. As they start to circle each other, their hissing and tail shivering continue for tens of seconds. They soon stop in place, allowing Lea to take a more direct action. She pounces toward her rival, letting out much louder noises. The other Leaellynasaura lets out the same as she retreats away.

At last, Lea has earned the right to the fern patch, but not all will be perfectly edible. As she turns toward her prize, she starts to see a major flaw in her potential meal. The leaves have started to dry and wilt due to the near-constant, winter winds. Such drafts turned much of the ferns into a decayed brown and deprived them of their nutrition. Still determined to find something better, she dives further into the fern batch.

Eventually, after minutes of constant scavenging, Lea finds a single small fern plant with fully green leaves. Even in a world that's much warmer than our own, this is a rare sight in winter around the South Pole. Thus, she doesn't hesitate to employ her primary tactic of releasing these ferns. Using her ridged, leaf-shaped teeth, she bites at the fern stems, separating them from the plant itself. Like a prehistoric hedge trimmer, she slices through each piece of fern, branch after branch.

It isn't long before the fern is cleared of its branches. For her efforts, Lea now has five, ripe fern branches, the stems of which are held firmly in her jaws. With her newly acquired cargo, she starts to run off.

However, another complication arises. A sudden gust of air howls through the woods. The winds are so strong that they blow the fern branches out of Lea's mouth. Quickly, she scrambles to retrieve them as they are lifted through the air. Her jumps allow her to catch three of her prized ferns. One lands on the ground a few feet away from her. As she picks up her fourth, the last one blows steadily into a muddy pit in front of the bottom of a fallen tree.

Swiftly, Lea follows, stopping just at the edge of the pit. She peers down into the pit witnessing what lies inside. It was mostly moist dirt and mud trickled with partly melted snow. The walls of the half-foot-deep pit are lined with roots and patches of moss. She sees the last of her prized ferns, but it lies on the snout of her most dangerous obstacle yet.

Sleeping at the bottom of the pit is an Australovenator, "Australia's Hunter." It is a lightly built bipedal carnivore with slender legs attached to a somewhat thick body and a long tail. The head of this predator is long and slender with a mouth filled with serrated, recurved teeth. Like all members of the megaraptorid family of theropods, it has long, powerfully built arms. These help to support hands with three fingers, two of which have long sickle-like claws while the third digits have much smaller ones. Its body is covered with a gray coat of feathers with diagonal white streaks scattered throughout. The only parts of it that are unfeathered are its face, hands, and feet, revealing beige, scaly skin.

Such a creature can reach up to 18 feet in length, 6 feet tall at the hips, and weigh over half a ton. This male, however, is only a juvenile, reaching half of his full adult size. Nonetheless, it could still make an easy meal out of a Leaellynasaura.

Desperate to retrieve the last of her meal, Lea lays her cargo down at the edge of the pit before leaping into it. The impact she makes is a soft one, only lightly sinking her feet into the wet soil below. Leisurely she approaches the snout of the dozing Australovenator. She pays especially close attention to her feet, avoiding any root or twig that's present.

Suddenly, the predator springs his jaws open. Lea impulsively jumps back in surprise, a brief rush of adrenaline rushing throughout her small body. Curiously, the Australovenator's eyes remain closed as he lets out a hissing yawn. Gently, the noise dies down as he locks his jaws back up. Despite this moment of movement, the tree fern has yet to leave the surface of the Australovenator's face.

Lea resumes her steady approach. Each of her steps is so soft and drawn out that little to no sound emanates from them. She's even gone as far as to quiet her breathing, making the longest, quietest of inhales and exhales. Anything louder than this can potentially be the difference between life and death.

Finally, after a stretched-out minute of inching, Lea arrives at the predator's face. That, believe it or not, was the easy part. If she wants to retrieve the delectable greenery, she'll need to remove it from the Australovenator's face without disturbing the carnivore from his slumber.

Driven only by pure instinct, Lea clasps her mouth on the branch and pulls it off in just the blink of an eye. The Australovenator remains undisturbed, his mouth agape with only heavy breathing emitting from it. Abruptly, another sound starts to emit from the predator, a snorting sniff that quickly increases in frequency. As these sniffs occur, his nostrils stretch and expand. His mouth and lips also start to lift, causing the Leaellynasaura to cautiously back up. Even the carnivore's eyes start to open ever so slightly. Then after one prolonged, hissing snort, the Australovenator lets out a loud sneeze, prompting Lea to perform a fear-fueled jump and chirp. With such a loud yet brief event gone, the predator returns to his heavy rest. All the little herbivore can do for a moment is stand completely still, adrenaline releasing from her as she quietly pants.

With the Australovenator descending back into a deep slumber, Lea sets her sights back on the rest of her collected ferns. However, looking back to the top of the ditch, she finds yet another complication. A Kryoryctes has found the plucked ferns and is indulging in Lea's precious find. With haste, she climbs back to the top and lets out a series of harsh screeches at the mammal. Easily outsized, the critter retreats into the cover of a fern patch.

After ensuring the security of her prize, Lea wraps her jaws around the remaining ferns. With her full cargo all in one place, she starts to notice something. The snoring of the Australovenator has seemingly vanished. The small herbivore only takes a glance back and sees the carnivore stand up from the bottom of the pit.

Now fully poised on his rear legs, he jerks his head to his right. Upon first glance, he finds nothing but the empty edge of the pit. Curious, the Australovenator pounces to the top in one, effortless leap. He aims his head downward finding a clue to what he had heard. Imprinted onto the ground are a series of tracks made by two different animals, each much smaller than him.

As he starts to scratch the side of his stomach, the Australovenator jerks his head in a forward direction. He hears a light rustling sound, one originating not far away. The predator peers ahead seeing a slight movement of leaves in a patch of ferns to the right. One of the track paths also happens to lead into this bit of shrubbery.

Steadily, the Australovenator steps toward it, letting out a soft hiss, saliva peering out as his mouth barely opens. As he inches toward the bit of vegetation, he starts to ready his signature weapon, his terrifying hand claws. Now standing just above the ferns, he ploddingly stretches his arms out waiting to strike. The predator waits only a moment before striking. With a hiss and a quick grasping motion into the greenery, he makes his kill. The hasty yet loud squeal of his target reverberates through the cold woods.

The Australovenator buries his head into the small fern bed. Gently, he pulls his head with prey now in his jaws. It is the Kryoryctes, its body dangling lifelessly in the predator's mouth. One lucky survivor watches the mammal's fate in fear... Lea. She too has sought refuge in a patch of ferns, just a different one from the doomed Kryoryctes. Peering from the cover of vegetation, she witnesses in horror as the Australovenator swallows his kill whole. Sneakily, Lea takes her ferns by the stem, primed to sprint away.

But with one misplaced step, Lea promptly pauses to a loud snap. With the rest of her body still as a statue, she turns her head down to find a broken twig beneath her toes. Amidst this, she starts to hear gentle footsteps from behind her. Even as they grow louder and closer, she hesitates to turn around. Before long, the thumping of the footsteps finally drew silent. As they do, however, Lea finds herself covered in an unusual shade. Slowly, she flips her head upward, finding the Australovenator right above her.

In the blink of an eye, the predator swings his arms around the Leaellynasaura in a deadly hugging motion. Just narrowly, the little herbivore escapes, sprinting into the thinner forest. The Australovenator gives chase, quickly catching up to Lea with his immense speed.

At the speed she is running and her mouth staying closely tight around the loose ferns, Lea finds herself already sweating. Her focus remains fixed on the ferns ahead of her with only rare, brief glimpses backward. In these glances, she sees the pursuing predator steadily gain onto her. Before she knows it, the Australovenator finds his head just a mere inch away from the little herbivore's tail. In preparation, the carnivore starts to gape his mouth as it gets ever so closer to his target.

In an instantaneous moment, the Australovenator slams his jaws shut. Lea is only able to narrowly slip the tip of her tail out of the way and escape. Rather than continuing the pursuit, the predator stops and breathes heavily.

The Australovenator may be fast enough to keep up with the Leaellynasaura, but it can't maintain such speeds for long. Thus, he'll need to pause to regain his stamina periodically. Lea takes advantage of this, retreating further away from the tired hunter. She never falters, knowing the danger is still ever present.

***

It isn't long before Lea once again finds herself at the river log. Since the first crossing, however, the water in the stream has increased. Now it is so high that it almost touches the fallen tree that once towered over it. She only pauses for a moment to hear the approaching footsteps of her pursuer.

With little hesitation, Lea hops onto the log and straightens out her tail. She steps across the deadwood ever so slower now that it's wet from the rising river tide. Still, it isn't long until she finds herself at the halfway point of the tree trunk. Even amidst her attempts to balance herself on the river log, Lea's mouth remains firmly gripped around the stems of her pile of ferns.

With a loud hiss, the Australovenator bursts out of the greenery behind the small herbivore. He sets his feet onto the log bridging the two sides of the river. As he does, however, a series of creaks and cracks start to emerge from the wood. Lea nearly slips, feeling the frigid water brisk by her small feet.

With little choice left, she continues her careful trek, all her attention focuses on the empty woods she traveled from. She keeps going, the predator once again stretches his mouth around his would-be prey. His jaws snap, prompting Lea to her tail back up into the air. This causes her body to wave back and forth from lack of balance. If she's going to stay away from her pursuer's jaws, she'll need to sacrifice her balance.

Despite this, she finds herself three-fourths of the way over the log. Lea attempts to step and plod her way through the remaining quarter. A loud snap causes a rapid string of crackling. She pivots back to see the Australovenator now halfway through the natural bridge. The middle of the logs bends and cracks under the predator's weight. Lea immediately runs back forward only to slip on the fallen tree's wet surface. She lands belly first on the moist bark as her bridge bends inward.

There's another snap as the logs break apart. Predator, prey, and bridge alike are sent plunging toward the cold waters below them. With both squeals and hisses, the two dinosaurs disappear in a single splash. An eruption of white freshwater springs up high from the abrupt impact.

In the blink of an eye, the aquatic gush vanishes. The log is gone along with both animals crossing it. The disturbed surface of the water quickly returns to its calm flow, but as it does something emerges from it.

A piece of fern pokes out from the stream and inches further away from the surface. Soon, more and more of it emerges revealing a moving batch of five fern pieces. Now closer to the edge of the river, a head plops out, it's Leas! After a quick huff of air, she slams her body onto the pebble-covered silt of land. She lays at the stream fringe, wet and still half submerged. Her body trembles with every breath from the frigid waters coating her body.

However, the Leaellynasaura's troubles are still far from over. With a splash and a loud hiss, the Australovenator bursts from the river's surface. He quickly shakes off the upper half of his body before setting his sights back on the little herbivore. Freezing and tired, Lea is unable to move any further, even from the edge of the stream.

In the blink of an eye, the Australovenator springs up into the air toward the Leaellynasaura. As he does, however, another animal splashes out from the river water, the Koolasuchus. In mid-air, the predatory dinosaur finds his neck trapped in the amphibian's jaws. He hisses and struggles, unable to escape the river hunter's grip. Being much heavier, the Koolasuchus easily drags the younger predator below the surface. With a massive splash, the Australovenator disappears into the frigid stream. The amphibian swims away with its biggest meal all winter and a trail of crimson mist following alongside.

In an unexpected twist of events, one of Lea's potential predators has become her savior. Now relieved of any pursuing carnivores, she drags herself out of the water's edge and shakes herself dry. Partially cold with her prized fern strips, she sprints into the emptier forest from where she emerged.

***

Shortly, she arrives at a hole carved into the ground. It is quite small, only big enough for her to fit into. She slips inside of it, dragging the nutritious vegetation in with her.

After a brief bit of climbing inside, she finds the core of the burrow. It is filled with dirt, dead plants, and old twigs. Amongst this mess, something small emerges to greet Lea with a series of soft chirps. It is they who call this underground refuge "home." They are six baby Leaellynasauras. Each one is only a fifth of their adult size and covered with all-white, downy plumage. Their eyes appear much larger, even more so than Lea's. They also have proportionately short tails that still have yet to grow in fully.

However, these aren't just any tiny youngsters, but rather Lea's own. They all hatched just before the end of last summer. The eggs they emerged from were ones laid by her. Since then, she has been helping to provide them with a steady supply of food, ensuring that they'll continue to grow and survive into adulthood.

Finally, with her arduous trip over, Lea lets her grip loose on her prized ferns. Only milliseconds after hitting the mess below, her brood starts chewing on and ingesting the delicious vegetation. Lea too starts to feast on the greenery having worked up quite an appetite.

Before long, the fern branches are completely stripped of their leaves. All that remains of them are five green, empty sticks. Their hunger satiated; the babies let out small yawns. Eventually, they let their small bodies plop onto the burrow floor and doze off.

Lea then pushes and drags each of her slumbering youngsters into a single bundle before lying behind them. She also employs another strategy for her long tail. Like a sort of natural scarf, the mother Leaellynasaura wraps the fluffy appendage around herself and her offspring. This will help to ensure the whole family gets a warm slumber amidst the polar winds that slip into the burrow.

With exhaustion and a full stomach, Lea slips into a deep sleep. Her run for food now over, she savors this precious time of rest. However, this is a break that will only last until the next day. Then she will need to venture through the Antarctic woods in search of more to eat until her youngsters are big enough to leave the burrow. Till then, she will slumber for as long as she can to prepare herself for yet another rush through the dark woods.