You are in the forests of New Mexico, 90 million years ago.

The air in the Cretaceous forest was thick, damp, and smelled of decaying conifers. You froze as a branch snapped, not with the sharp crack of a predator’s kill, but a slow, heavy pull. Through the ferns, you saw it: a Nothronychus.

It was surreal. Imagine a Velociraptor that had decided to become a bear-sized sloth. It was covered in a downy, hair-like coat of dark feathers. The creature didn't notice you; it was preoccupied, reaching high with a long, flexible neck to grab a sturdy branch with its massive, curved hand claws.

The Nothronychus sat back on its heavy haunches, its huge potbelly swaying slightly, and used those formidable weapons to pull the foliage down, stripping leaves with a beak filled with tiny leaf-shaped teeth. It moved slowly, ponderously, looking more like an oddity of evolution than a killing machine.

Eventually, it turned, looking in your direction with a small head and intelligent, curious eyes.