Probably one of the most successful video game franchises in recent years, Monster Hunter has always been a series that has captured the imagination of many people with its fantastical yet realistic creatures. From the scary Vaal Hazak to the goofy...
Although they are better known as Lao-Shan Lung, this is actually a misspelling of their Chinese name; Lao Shān Lóng, which means old mountain dragon.
This is a fitting name for these behemoths, as they can grow to be around 24 meters long and 5.7 meters tall at the shoulder. However, thanks to their hip structures, Lao-Shan Lungs can rise up on their back legs, giving them the total height of about 12.5 meters.
Lao-Shan Lungs primarily use this ability to reach food or points of interest that would otherwise be too tall for them to attain on all fours. However this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for their tails.
Despite being light for their size, the back legs of Lao-Shan Lungs still aren't capable of holding up their entire bodies by themselves. To compensate for the fact that they can't rely on their forelimbs to help distribute their weight in these positions, these Elder Dragons keep their tails on the ground when standing up, utilizing them for extra support.
But even with their tails to keep them from falling over due to weighing 57 tons, it still takes a lot of effort for them to stay in their upright posture for extended periods of time.
This is why during the mating season, males try to impress females, who are sometimes called Ashen Lao-Shan Lungs due to their grey skin, by standing upright for as long as possible. Unfortunately for them, they rarely get the chance to attract the opposite gender uninterrupted.
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Despite living all over the old world, Lao-Shan Lungs will always return to specific mating grounds to reproduce with Ashen Lao-Shan Lungs usually arriving before the males. Over generations, the repeated use of these areas as gathering spots, along with the Lao-Shan Lungs' sheer size and dietary needs, has prevented the growth of large plants, creating the perfect stage for males to show off their strength to the slightly larger females.
But as it is so often the case, when multiple males gather in the same area for mating, it's only a matter of time before tempers flare. When Lao-Shan Lung bulls enter standoffs, both participants will stand to their full height, and attempt to make themselves look bigger than their rivals by showing off their horns and spikes. It's also common for the animals to roar at one another, as it further advertises their health and strength.
Most of the time, one of the males will back down, or won't be able to continue standing up and ultimately forfeit. But if both individuals are evenly matched, they may begin wrestling as they attempt to force their opponents to drop down on all fours.
During these battles of titans, both sides use their forelimbs to grapple with their adversaries, while their four clawed fingers cause scratches on each other's bodies. Thanks to their flexible necks, bulls can rear back their heads, and strike at each other's faces and throats with bites and horn jabs.
Since the top portion of Lao-Shan Lungs is protected by spiny segmented armor, and their bottom halfs are coated with 7 inches of thick scales, most of the attacks that fighting males throw at each other aren't life threatening.
