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When people think of True Wyverns, most will picture scaly winged animals that are capable of elegantly flying through the sky; however, this doesn't mean that all members of this family are so well adapted to aerial travel.
Found in three of the four major deserts of North America, a subfamily, known as the Blos, couldn't be any more different from the typical True Wyverns.
Characterized by their large bulky frame, elaborate head designs, mace-like tails, powerful forelimbs, incredible burrowing abilities, and aggressive temperament, the members of this subfamily are clearly made for a terrestrial lifestyle. But how did creatures that are descended from aerial animals become massive digging beasts?
Around 16 million years ago in North America, Terracordraco arizoni, a particularly large species of True Wyvern, seems to have begun spending a large majority of its time on the ground, where its longer legs and more pronounced hands made it easier for it to walk. Eventually, the descendents of Terracordracos abandoned their ability to fly, becoming increasingly better adapted to land travel, before ultimately turning into one of the largest burrowing animals on the planet.
Of course, without the ability to fly and thus easily escape predators, the Bols wyverns had to come up with a new way of defending themselves from attackers. Over the generations, the crests of their ancestors became more durable and elaborate, with many of these protrusions becoming keratin covered horns. With these weapons at their disposal, along with their huge muscle mass, the Blos quickly became a truly devastating force of nature, easily capable of standing up to any obstacle in their way.
But despite this amazing power, many of the Blos species became extinct during the last glacial maximum. Similarly to other types of megafauna of the time, the exact cause of their demise still remains a mystery. Today, only two members of this subfamily remain, with both of them being desert specialists.
Although both species are very recognizable and incredible, it's usually the massive Kératyrranomos diabonensis which gets most of the attention.
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More commonly known as the Diablos, a mistranslation of the Spanish word diablo, meaning devil, these enormous True Wyverns stand at 2.4 meters in height and 5.8 meters in length.
Despite their massive bodies, it can actually be very difficult to find them. But this isn't due to their coloration matching their environment. Rather, it's because they spend a large majority of their time underground. Similarly to other types of desert animals, the Diablos' burrowing behavior keeps them out of the sun during the day. But unlike these smaller creatures, the larger Blos wyverns aren't just digging for building shelters.
Because of their sizes, these animals have to spend most of their waking hours looking for food. Unfortunately for the Diablos, their dentition, which is entirely made of incisors and canines paired with a ridged palate, only allows them to feed off large soft-bodied desert plants like cacti and euphorbias.
