Mainland Island

 

Mainland

Mainland is the largest island in the Floating Isles, and it sits at the center of them. More than anywhere else, this is where the dinosaurs take over. Nearly every habitat on this island has some kind of dinosaur, and most of the large animals that can be seen here, whether predator or prey, are dinosaurs.

Lesser Bear Dragon On The Shore
Of The Central Lake

Like the other islands, Mainland has a single, central up-flow of freshwater which forms the large Central Lake. (This is known to be an up-flow of water by the fact that two large rivers are flowing out of the lake, but there is no visible source of water flowing into the lake.) The lake is teeming with life. Large Slow Sharks move through the open water, feeding on the thick plant growth below. They are hunted by packs of Spikefin, which attack them from below. Lake Dactyls fly overhead and dip their beak into the water for fish. But they often have to pull away quickly when Bird-Snare Cuttlefish reach up from the water to grab them.

Massive Longneck Family

Herd Of Hornless Ceratops With
Two Giant Tanks

Around the lake is a wide stretch of open grassland known as the Savannah. This is where the largest land animals on the island can be found. Massive Longnecks move in small family groups, feeding steadily as they travel. Herds of Hornless Ceratops, Giant Tanks, and Great Flash Beasts move across the plains in large numbers. These herds draw in predators. Packs of three to five Allosaurs follow them closely, picking off weak or separated animals. Larger ones—Giant Allosaurs—will take on bigger prey directly, and specialize in prey that prefers to fight rather than flee. The Giant Rider, a huge flightless bird, also hunts here, using its hooked toe claws to anchor itself onto its prey's back and deliver powerful bites from above.

Brown Dart Being Chased
By The Greater Dart

Surrounding the Savannah, the land breaks into rocky hills and cliffs. Smaller grazers live here, including the Fanged Lightfoot and the Spikeface. They stay close to the uneven ground where they can move quickly, but they are still hunted by Saberdogs, which are also well suited to moving through the rocks.

Saberdog Preying On Young Spikeface

Between the mountains and the coast, dense forests spread across the outer portion of the island. Rivers split these into the Upper and Lower Forests. While both forests have similar kinds of animals, many of the specific animals are unique to their own forest. Each forest has its own versions of riders, longnecks, ceratops, stegos, duck-bills, tanks, and allosaurs. For example, the Lower Forest is dominated by the Light Allosaur, while the Upper Forest has the larger Crested Allosaur. Smaller animals like Sprinters, Razorbacks, and Lightfoot are common in both, moving constantly through the undergrowth.

Ghost Dragon Hunting In The
Upper Forest Of Mainland

One part of the northern forest, tucked between a river fork, is distinct from the rest. This area is known as Ghost Territory. It is the only place where the Ghost Dragon lives. This predator is almost never seen clearly. Most of the time, it shows up as a distortion or a trick of the eyes as it moves. When the light hits it just right, the shape can be made out—a tall predator with a narrow head and two rounded crests. It is one of the few animals here that seems to rely more on not being seen than on speed or strength.

There is one animal that moves freely across almost the entire island from forest to grassland. The Hell Grazer can be found in the Savannah and in both forests without much concern. It is a large herbivore, but it is built like a predator, with strong jaws and a powerful bite. It also has the added defense of spraying fire when threatened. Between its size, its strength, and its temper, very few predators will risk going after it.

Hellgrazer Defending Itself
From A Pack of Allosaurs

Along the coasts and beaches, the island meets the Ring Sea. The Greater Bear Dragon moves between land and water here, sometimes going out into deeper water and waiting along the bottom with its jaws wide open to ambush prey. Even this animal is not safe, though, as packs of Ridgeback Allosaurs will hunt it. These large allosaurs are strong swimmers themselves and use the shoreline during their hunts. Because the Ring Sea is freshwater, many land animals come here to drink, and these roaming packs of Ridgebacks make the shoreline one of the most dangerous places on the island.

• Naturalist Note: Mainland represents the most complete example of dinosaur-dominated ecosystems within the Floating Isles. While there are some herbivorous dinosaurs on Haulout Island, and the Ridgeback Allosaur can sometimes be seen on the shoreline of other islands, Mainland is where they are truly plentiful.
  
  From Daniel's other writings, we can see that the Massive Longneck is a diplodocid-type sauropod. It may be identified as Seismosaurus, Diplodocus, or something closely related.
  
  What Daniel calls Allosaurs appears to include any large, three-fingered predatory dinosaur. This likely spans several groups, including allosaurids, carcharodontosaurids, or megalosaurids. The standard Allosaur that Daniel describes on the Savannah seems to correspond to Allosaurus itself. By contrast, the heavily-built Giant Allosaurs could be forms of carcharodontosaurids such as Carcharodontosaurus or Giganotosaurus. The coastal Ridgeback Allosaurs align well with the carcharodontosaurid Acrocanthosaurus, though they may represent a separate variant of this genus rather than a direct match.
  
  The Savannah herbivores also seem clearly defined. The Hornless Ceratops is consistent with Pachyrhinosaurus, while Giant Tanks align with ankylosaurid Edmontonia. The body design of the Great Flash Beasts almost certainly indicates that it is Parasaurolophus, though the reported ability to produce flame is a new discovery unique to the Floating Isles.
  
  The forest systems show strong regional divergence. The Lower Forest Allosaur is remarkably similar to Eustreptospondylus, while the Upper Forest form aligns more with Cryolophosaurus, especially the shape of its head crest. This pattern likely extends across multiple groups such as ceratopsians, stegosaurs, hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and sauropods, with each forest supporting its own localized forms.
  
  Rather than dinosaurs, the Rider family is a group known as dromaeosaurids. Their discovery on the Floating Isles, along with Daniel's descriptions of them, and especially the samples that returned with him, help us identify these creatures as true (though unusual) birds. Of the five species of rider, four of them live on Mainland. This includes the largest, the Giant Rider, which corresponds well with Utahraptor. 
  
  The Ghost Dragon is most consistent with either Sinosaurus or Dilophosaurus, based on cranial structure. Its reflective integument represents a previously unknown adaptation among theropods.
  
  The central lake ecosystem is equally unusual. Slow Sharks appear to line up well with Cretoxyrhina, though their herbivorous feeding strategy is highly atypical. The Spikefin corresponds to Hybodus, while Lake Dactyls are consistent with Caerodactylus.
  
  The Hell Grazer, though closely resembling Carnotaurus, shows significant deviation from previous interpretations of fossil evidence, particularly in its defensive behavior. The Greater Bear Dragon aligns with a large spinosaurid, such as Suchomimus, while the Lesser Bear Dragon is more similar to Baryonyx.