An Animal Pyschologist In Project Chimera.
At first, Sofia wasn't happy to have been assigned to Project Chimera.
Oh sure, she
loved studying the behavioural differences that had made themselves known in the hybrid dinosaurs she studied (which had been enough to be worth her thesis twice over), but she had been finding herself butting heads with the other members of the project from the moment she had touched down on Isla Sorna.
Maybe it was some meagre animosity between her and the so-called "Real Scientists" (Animal Psychology IS valid!) Or maybe it was just the tropical heat, whatever was the case, Sofia just didn't find herself clicking with the staff members all that well.
So colour her surprised when Doctor
Fucking Wu had dropped by in all of his ghoulish glory, dropped a box onto her desk, grunted something unintelligible while slurping his coffee and shambled out of her workspace before she could even get a word in edgewise.
No offense to the big man, but would it
kill him to get some sleeping meds?
Grumbling to herself, Sofia pulled the box closer to her side of the desk and opened it, spotting several VHS tapes and a hand-written note.
After a quick moment to fish out her glasses, Sofia squinted at the written note:
'Sofia.
Inside this box is your newest assignment and your highest priority, you are to study the contents of each tape within this box and assemble a profile for CHPK-SR-1 "Azula", once complete, send both the profile and the tapes to my desk (personally).
-Wu.'
"Good to know sleep-deprivation hasn't made his handwriting any worse." Sofia noted before she read the contents of the letter again.
Azula? Last she heard about the hybrid was her successful hatching, but matters pertaining to a... certain Allotops hybrid had admittedly delayed her assignment of the said dinosaur.
With a sigh, she wheeled over to her computer and VHS player, bringing the box of tapes along with it as she booted up the monitor and fished out a tape.
After sliding it into the VHS player, Sofia grabbed a nearby clipboard, pencil and a cup of uncomfortably cold coffee.
It was only after the 3rd tape that Sofia started noticing that things were...
off about Azula, at least when it came to her behavioural habits.
For one, the hybrid exhibited a stunning amount of forward-planning, choosing instead to bring her sibling, Morada, to chase a pig into an ambush.
So far, that wasn't exactly uncommon, many pack-oriented or social predators often gathered other members of their social groups in order to maximise the possibility of a successful hunt while minimising the risk of injury or death.
But that was just the beginning.
So, she moved on to the next tape.
By Tape Four, Sofia found herself in for a rude awakening as she watched the security footage of Azula climbing the fence of her enclosure while...
cursing.
Of all the things she was expecting, mimicking Human speech, let alone expletives was... not what she was expecting, it would've been something she would've used to poke fun at the scientists in Project Chimera back when she first joined up.
But after a quick refresher through Azula's profile pointed to the answer:
Parrot DNA, of all things.
It was possible that perhaps Azula had heard the security guards and workers stationed near her enclosure cussing up a storm and attempted to mimic what she heard.
Or at least that was what she had written down in her clipboard.
It was by the 8th tape that Sofia's curiosity turned into concern.
The security footage showed the Allotops hybrid as it butted its head into the tree repeatedly, it looked gaunt, sickly, barely clinging onto life and unresponsive to any outside stimuli.
It was then that Azula had crept into view of the camera, her sibling in tow.
She chirped, growled, tried to provide stimuli to the Allotops even as it continued to heedlessly butt its head into the tree.
Then, after a moment, Azula charged, breaking the Allotops' right foreleg and leaving gouges in its hide before she pulled back and observed.
Testing it perhaps?
It was then that the hybrid climbed on top of the Allotops again, spearing her claw through the back of its head as it finally went limp.
Azula had then climbed off of the Allotops and trilled quietly before walking out of view of the security camera.
It was then that Sofia had leaned forward, her coffee forgotten.
She replayed the tape, once, twice and then thrice again, her eyes pouring over every detail of the fuzzy footage.
This wasn't a predatory attack and neither was it a surplus kill.
A predatory attack would've seen similar results to the pig Azula and Morada had hunted, her sibling would've joined in on the initial attack, and as far as she knew, there were no bite marks on the carcass or missing tissue apart from what Azula had initially inflicted upon it.
And while it could've been possible this was a surplus-kill, Sofia found herself doubting that possibility.
So then... what else could it be?
It was then that Sofia had a thought crashing into the forefront of her mind.
If she was to anthropomorphise a captive-bred undomesticated animal, she would assume that this was a demonstration of a mercy-kill, an effort to minimise the suffering the Allotops was no doubt experiencing, delivered through a clean and quick claw into its brain tissue.
If she was to apply a more rationalising lens, Sofia would posit that Azula had culled the Allotops in an attempt to minimise the spread of a contagious disease.
And if she was to use Occam's Razor, the attack could've simply been a territorial response from Azula.
Options two and three showed a
stunning level of intelligence, enough that Sofia found herself second-guessing them.
There was only one more tape left in the cardboard box, and Sofia found herself swallowing thickly as she reached for it.
Mourning behaviour.
There was no other explanation that could satisfy Sofia in that moment.
Azula had demonstrated mourning behaviour, having dug up several rocks from her enclosure and arranged them in front of the tree where the Allotops had expired, adding twigs, flowers and grass to the small pile.
Sofia had seen something similar when she was stationed in Africa and watching elephants for her thesis, she had seen them returning to the site where their herd members had died (sometimes even years after it had happened - according to the wildlife experts local to the region), often vocalising, encircling and even touching the bones with their trunks if the carcass hadn't been moved.
So what did this mean for Azula, and what did this mean for Sofia's assignment?
...
Putting the tapes away, Sofia's mind buzzed with what she had seen, and already she pulled out a new slip of paper.
With any luck, her request to observe Azula and Morada on-site would be approved, and with it, she'd be able to get a closer look at their behavioural habits and cross-reference it with what she knew about their genetic-profiles.
Wu wanted a profile on Azula? She'll give him the best damned profile she's ever made.
AN: Almost vomited while writing this (unrelated) so it's probably super rough right now, but I got bored and wrote this
@Vault166
