SCP-1265: The Mesozoic Preserve

An instance of SCP-1265-A, image recovered from a camera within SCP-1265. Photographed by Agent Alain Bénéteau.

Item #: SCP-1265

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Site 1265, which contains SCP-1265, is to be publicly maintained as a wildlife preserve by the Safe and Clean Planet Initiative, a Foundation front company. Scientific discoveries made by the Foundation regarding wildlife within SCP-1265 may be published following corresponding evidence being found in the fossil record.

Civilians wishing to travel through SCP-1265 are to be treated with Class-D (Anterograde, Selective) amnestics in order to be unable to remember instances of SCP-1265-A that they come into contact with. All untreated civilians found to have come into contact with SCP-1265-A instances are to be treated with Class-A (Retrograde, General) amnestics, implanted with false memories, and released.

Every six months, eggs laid by SCP-1265-A are to be harvested for incubation and study before being released into the wild at full maturity. Full procedures for care of young specimens of SCP-1265-A, including imprinting procedures, see Document 1265-I.

Description: SCP-1265 is an irregularly shaped area of land measuring 50km² within the Congo basin, Africa. SCP-1265 is mostly contained within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but approximately 15km² is contained within the neighboring Republic of the Congo. The majority of SCP-1265 is uninhabited, save from some tribal villages, and contains flora typical of the Congo basin.

SCP-1265 is inhabited by several species known to be extinct, mostly from the clade Dinosauria. These animals, collectively designated as SCP-1265-A, appear spontaneously in groups of five approximately once every 30 days, and are not necessarily found on the fossil record within Africa; instead, they appear to be selected based on the climate they lived in during the Mesozoic Era. Instances of SCP-1265-A are incapable of leaving SCP-1265, as they dematerialize upon crossing the border of SCP-1265, and reappear in an area within three kilometers of the border, sedated. SCP-1265-A are also not chosen based on particular period of the Mesozoic, but the Cretaceous and Jurassic are the most well-represented, with sparse population of Triassic-period dinosaurs. In addition, several non-dinosaur reptilians, such as pterosaurs, are known to exist within SCP-1265, but are not commonly seen.

SCP-1265-A instances, even carnivores, show no aggression or fear towards humans unless provoked; to date, the 3 Foundation personnel killed in SCP-1265 have died as a result of accidentally provoking a 1265-A instance, as opposed to being actively hunted by a carnivorous species of SCP-1265-A.

Notably, there are few large carnivorous or herbivorous dinosaurs present as SCP-1265-A instances, and a lack of dinosaur species whose fossils have been found in North America. For example, species such as Tyrannosaurus Rex and Brachiosaurus have never been sighted in SCP-1265, but species such as Spinosaurus and Kentrosaurus are relatively common. Proportionately speaking, there is a 5:1 ratio of non-American dinosaurs to American species.

Finally, there are several instances of SCP-1265-A that have not yet been discovered in the fossil record, collectively known as SCP-1265-α. SCP-1265-α instances are known for being unusually aggressive, and will often charge at or attempt to attack researchers and other animals within SCP-1265 indiscriminately. As of yet, Foundation researchers have been unable to determine the origin of most instances of SCP-1265-α; some have been found in the fossil record, and as such, have been reclassified as instances of SCP-1265-A. Notably, SCP-1265-α instances are reclassified as SCP-1265-A usually lose all aggressive tendencies.

SCP-1265 is believed to have existed for at least 200 years according to historical records. Several instances of SCP-1265-A have been integrated into the folklore of several tribes in the area near SCP-1265. Objects such as SCP-346 suggest anomalies similar to SCP-1265 may exist elsewhere, though no additional instances have been found. For further details, see Interview 1265-01.

Interview 1265-01: An interview conducted by Dr. Welles in a Mboshi village 5.5km away from the perimeter of SCP-1265 regarding SCP-1265-A sightings. All dialog is translated from the Lingala language.

<Begin Log>

Dr. Welles: What can you tell me about the monsters?

█████: There are several of them in the jungle, almost all of them in the water. They do not eat people, though; not most of them, except for Nguma-monene (Roughly, "Large Python"). Nguma-monene is like a big snake with legs, walks on all fours like a dog, and has big ridge on its back. That will eat you if it catches you*.

*Note: This is believed to be an exaggeration; to date, no record of SCP-1265-A instances consuming humans have been found.

Dr. Welles: Tell me about Mokele.

█████: Mokele-mbembe ("One who blocks rivers") is the largest of them all. It is big enough to block rivers, and makes the lakes rise. It can breathe underwater, but is not a fish, and the Earth shakes when it walks. There is also Mbielu-Mbielu-Mbielu, the beast with planks on its back.

Dr. Welles: [produces illustrations of Camarasaurus and Kentrosaurus from his pack] Are these Mokele and Mbielu?

█████: Yes and no.

Dr. Welles: No?

█████: These do not have feathers. Everything else is right, but Mbielu has feathers; so does Mokele. They are almost like birds in that way, but they do not fly. The ones that do fly have no feathers.

Dr. Welles: What else can you tell me about the area?

█████: It is hexed, the Mokeles and the Mbielus and others cannot leave it without vanishing. Nor can their eggs or meat; years ago, hunters tried to bring back the carcass of a Mokele. It took the whole village, and when they reached the edge of the area, it simply vanished.

Dr. Welles: How many people have gone into the area in the past several years?

█████: Many. They are hunters, but they do not want to kill. They wanted to find Mokele and nothing else. They never succeed, for whatever reason. It is because they do not look in that one area for Mokele, we tell them it is dangerous, and it is. All people know that area is dangerous and not to go near it.

Dr. Welles: That will be all. Thank you for your cooperation.

<End Log>

Note: Administration of amnestics was deemed unnecessary due to the familiarity the majority of the village had with SCP-1265.

Collected Notes Regarding SCP-1265-A: Notes taken during a monthly expedition through SCP-1265 by Dr. Neill.

I still find it fascinating that almost all instances of SCP-1265-A (well, the dinosaurs, at least) are feathered, not scaled. All I have to say is this: Chen, eat your heart out. This blows Yixian out of the water.* Weng's come across a few carcasses, and he's joked a few times about wanting to see what they taste like. I don't trust dinosaur meat, especially given what was found at that farm in China. There are some trilobites in the water, however, and the natives sometimes come here to fish for them. They taste like prawns.

*Note: Pei-Ji Chen was one of the three paleontologists that described a fossil of Sinosauropteryx prima in a 1998 issue of Nature. The Yixian Formation in Lianoning, China, started producing fossil evidence of feathered dinosaurs in the 1990's, with Sinosauropteryx being one of the first to bear feather imprinting.

As noted in the main description, the majority of them are from the clade Dinosauria, and are all suited to fit the climate of the Congo. Several of them are quasi-amphibious, such as the Kentrosaurus, which prefers to spend time in water. Observation has shown that it can hold its breath for up to an hour at a time. As such, Kentrosaurus native to this area have large amounts of algae growing on their plates and spikes, occasionally giving the illusion that they are a living bush of some sort. Kentrosaurus are usually quite docile, but we've seen that their thagomizers (Clinical term for the spikes at the end of a Stegosaurid's tail) can take down small trees.

Despite the theory created by Mr. Russell in the 1980s, there is absolutely no evidence that Troodon would ever have evolved into the so-called "dinosauroid"*, but are rather intelligent. They have been seen using rudimentary tools in a manner similar to chimpanzees in order to pick fruit from trees and throw rocks at prey in order to injure it.

*Note: In 1982, Dale Russell hypothesized that if they had not gone extinct, Troodon would have evolved into a more humanoid form, known as a dinosauroid. There is no evidence to support this claim.

We found a family of Baryonyx today. As it turns out, they're semi-aquatic. They use their tails to shoot through the water to chase after fish and chomp them up like crocodiles or gharials. They appear to be associating with a clan of Spinosaurus.

Dr. Moore was very disappointed about seeing a live Spinosaurus, and I honestly can't blame him. They're mostly quadrapedal and have feathers more like ducks than anything else. Their skeletal structure are completely unsuited for walking upright, and the less said about the so-called spine, the better. Scientifically fascinating, but as a life-long dinosaur enthusiast, I must grieve for such a titan.

We've made an incredible discovery: a four-winged flying dinosaur, with wings on both its arms and its legs. Weng speculates that its a completely new species of Microraptor, native to Asia. It's colored like a raven, its plumage is an iridescent black. Since it's not been found in the record, it's a -α instance, and those things are tetchy. Weng nearly got his finger bitten off sedating it. If it's ever found in the fossil record, we'll name it properly. For now, it's just Microraptor foundationii.*

*Note: Fossils of this species were discovered in 2012, and the animal has since been publicly classified as M. hanqingi.

We finally found something that isn't feathered. It's a species of crocodile called Postosuchus, which originated from the Late Triassic. It was drinking at the edge of a lake when suddenly a pack of Coelophysis jumped out and attacked it. Several of them went for its throat, cutting the jugular; as soon as it bled out, they began stripping the corpse to the bone. It was astounding, almost like piranha tearing apart a cow in the Amazon.

We managed to collect the skeleton, and Weng noticed that the thing had three shattered ankles, as if it had fallen and landed on their feet; probably the reason why the Coelophysis were able to take it down so easily.

We saw a magnificent fight between a Therizinosaurus and Carnotaurus. The Therizinosaurus practically decapitated the poor carnivore, which was about the same size; the Therizinosaurus then did something rather odd: it cut open the Carnotaur's corpse and dipped its claws in the blood, before scoring the trees around it with dinosaur blood. I believe this was done for the purpose of marking its territory; it's actually rather fascinating, if somewhat gruesome. The Therizinosaur then ate a bit of flesh from the Carnotaur and left the area.

Dr. Moore has apparently never seen a Dilophosaurus outside of a certain movie; he was absolutely shocked when he saw one, and it wasn't a 2 meter long creature that acted like a dog, but rather a 6 meter long creature that looked like it could bite off his head. It ran away, but we managed to get some good pictures. Also found some footprints from an unknown sauropod.

I… honestly have no idea what on Earth we saw today.

We found a new instance of SCP-1265-α. It appeared to be ceratopsid, with a single horn, and four short, stumpy legs. But it had a long tail dragging along the ground, uncharacteristic of ceratopsids, and didn't have a frill of any sort; instead, it almost seemed to have floppy "ears" near the top of its head. It was also quite aggressive and was engaged in combat with a Pachyrhinosaurus for unknown reasons; it ended up goring the poor thing. We decided to head back to the site after that.

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