Monster Ecology: Rathalos & Rathian in Monster Hunter
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- Опубликовано: 25 фев 2021
- The King of the Skies and the Queen of the Land have been prevalent in the Monster Hunter series since day one, but how much do we really know about their surprisingly complex behaviour? Using real world animals and the science regarding them, we'll try to explore more about everyone's favourite fire wyvern couple.
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Hypothesis: The silver rathalos and gold rathian aren't more powerful than the regular variant, they're just more aggressive due to the fact that their bright coloration makes them stand out more to larger predators
and have had to perfect their flames to not be hunted
In the old lore silver rathalos and gold rathian were ancient/old versions of their base version which led to their scales being harder and their weakness being different from there base variants. I am trying to find the lore that talks about this, but it's going to be a hard find, but that won't stop me from trying to find the old lore and bring it to light.
That hypothesis is contradicted by the gameplay. S&Gd have much harder scales than more common variants; most weapons bounce off a lot of the likely targets and even their heads take less damage. Also, their materials are higher overall quality and make much better equipment.
My hypothesis, off the top of my head, is that the S/Gd raths are rarer and tougher than the A/P raths, which are rarer and tougher than R/Gr raths, because their “better” bodies and more aggressive behavior are more energy intensive and dangerous than the weaker bodies and _relatively_ more placid demeanor of the “lower” types, making the stronger variants overall less successful.
They would also have to be more skilled to survive to that age standing out so much
It might be contradicted by the lore, but it honestly makes a hell of a lot more sense than the lore. Firstly, there are actual examples of this in the real world, where things like albinism result in those who survive to adulthood being generally much stronger, more aggressive, or just smarter by virtue of all the less-capable individuals having been eaten or starved to death long before then. Plus, it makes more sense for this to just be a mutation than an ontogenetic factor, if only because I can't think of anything that would result in the colouration shifting like this. My first thought was, "Perhaps whatever biomineralisation process results in the metalic colour is actually happening throughout the entire lifespan of the Raths, but it's hidden by the pigment in the scales of younger individuals and the metalic ones have built this layer thick enough that there's not enough pigmented keratin to hide the metalic colour?" but that wouldn't explain the differences in colouration between the sexes. For the mineralisation to present different colours between the two, it would need to be chemically different in some way, which just doesn't sound very likely in this particular context. And, if we assume that the colour isn't caused by actual metal in the scales, then that actually makes _even less sense,_ because you'd expect the oldest individuals to start producing less pigment due to age, and that whatever structural colour they might have would be harder to maintain for similar reasons. Plus, it just doesn't seem like it would be a trait evolutionarily selected for; it might make sense in a more social species for the oldest and strongest to develop such a colouration to warn off any potential nest raiders (after all, any fight with a nest raider would risk harming the young even if the raider is killed, so best to avoid that in the first place), but the Raths are simply too isolated, not really showing up as anything more than mated pairs and both still being active hunters throughout the brooding season.
Interesting bit of headcanon I've always had in terms of Rathalos culturally (apologies if I commented this elsewhere and just forgot) because of their prevalence in the world I always interpreted it that Rathalos are seen as a sign of bountiful lands. This would be reflective of their breeding habits with the Rathalos helping raise the chicks in his specific, more ideal territory. I took this from one of the CGI cutscenes from Monster Hunter 2, where they show the chief of Jumbo village go on a trek and the village's initial founding, where he only stops and stakes the land when he sees a Rathalos fly overhead, seemingly taking it as a sign that this would be an ideal place or a good omen.
I've always loved the raths. Rathalos particularly.
There's something almost slightly antique about them in the series which makes them seem like an old friend.
Not only that but I often refer to them as the "Jurassic Park T-Rex of Monster Hunter" because although he's still a threatening monster he's almost a kind of hero, almost inadvertently protecting the hunters and representing the kind of triumph over adversity that MH is all about.
About the Ecology I particularly find the differences between Rathalos and Rathian, and especially the individual behaviour of their venom.
Great video as always! Love it.
Today I had a rathalos pitch in and help me out during my first anjanath encounter.
12:55 Jesus fucking Christ THANK YOU for being one of the very VERY few people in the MH fandom that acknowledges the fact that Rathalos is not at all a pushover when compared to monsters like Zinogre and all other monsters comparable to it
When people think astalos can take on rathalos easy peazy. People forget element advantage isnt only factor. Astalos is also a glass canon compare to rathalos. Rathalos would have more versatility due to poison and fire and he sure as hell has more bulk than a astalos.
@@T-REX-KNIGHT yea and people also tend to use the cinematic trailer for MH Generations as evidence for Astalos being way stronger than Rathalos even tho he was caught completely off guard so he wasn’t all there when Astalos attacked him
@@ey992 if Rathalos caught Astalos off guard, I don't think asta would survive
@@redragon8551 considering the fact that Astalos is somewhat based on bugs and bugs aren’t well known to be very durable then yea I don’t think Astalos could survive if it gets caught by Rathalos
Yeah, Astalos is also significantly smaller (almost half the size in some concept art and size comparisons) given how thin Astalos is, he’s probably not as strong as Rathalos either, so chances are the Astalos attacked that Rathalos for the same reasons honey badgers attack lions and leopards, out of fear to make them fear it
I'd love to see a video on the various Fanged Wyverns such as Zinogre, and how they relate to ones such as Jagras or Odogaron
Odogaron will definitely get his own video, although for the Iceborne / Iceborne subspecies one I'm going to try and wait until the artbook for it comes out for the extra info. The other fanged wyverns will definitely feature in one, and Zinogre will probs get one down the line too, was thinking about that this morning.
Personally I feel like zinogre probably isn’t related to any other fanged wyvern. It’s clearly related to flying wyverns in its front heavy body plan and bizarre digits, where it’s possible other fanged wyverns are somewhere between the wyvern family and other lesser reptiles
@@thecanadiandane7262 I have a feeling Magnamalo is similar, maybe they have a common ancestor with Paolumu, all three are very mammalian looking and share a slight vague rodentlike aesthetic that reminds me of marsupials when they adapt into certain niches.
Watching this again Rathalos and Rathaian's different hunting behaviors remind me of Harris Hawks, which are not only one of the few raptors that cooperatively hunt but spend a surprising amount of time on the ground doing it too. Should prey run under cover to escape Rathalos they are then vulnerable to Rathian and either have to face her or break cover to escape. Between the two of them I can imagine them having a high rate of hunting success during the breeding season, especially after the chicks are large enough that they can be left unattended at all times. With their combined skills no creature on land or in the air is safe in their territory.
I was thinking of those "stronger flying monsters" and honestly are any of them really better flyers than Rathalos?
Bazelguese is like a flying dump truck that I can't imagine is agile in the air for its adaptations for soaring and great weight.
Even most Elder Dragons don't seem particularly agile either, sure they are strong flyers but I can't imagine them doing well in a dog fight with Rathalos.
Valstrax...we aren't going to talk about Valstrax.
Yes indeed we're not going to talk about Valstrax if I can help it.
Really the only competition seems to come from Seregios and Astalos. Legiana in the new world but it also seems to have a quite limited range.
@@unnaturalhistorychannel With Seregios' shorter wings I don't think it is as adept a flyer as Rathalos, it looks more comparable to Rathian not to mention it has more armor. Still a strong flyer but I think Rathalos has an edge in that regard.
Don't know enough about Astalos or Legiana, though Legiana looks a tad delicate in comparison to Rathalos and not sure if it could dispute the "king of the skies".
Seregios is more like a rooster while fighting, mainly grounded and using their wings to jump and maniobrate in the air while kicking. Legiana is as agile as Rathalos and Astalos, but like you said, it is way more fragile and their offensive capabilities aren't as strong as them either, maybe if we talk about Shrieking Legiana it could be on their level. In the end the only competition for the "King of the Sky" title that is not an Elder Dragon is Astalos.
@@hekucarrasco2870 from what I noticed it seems that Astalos may be more agile in the air with Rathalos however doesn't have the strength and weight of the Rathalos. The Astalos' lightning abilities probably give it the "oomph" it needs to compete with the Rathalos. Seregios seems like a fast and low flyer due to it's seemingly weaker wings and higher weight/tougher scales. All 3 have their advantages and disadvantages that allow them to take each other on. With this in mind, I believe Rathalos gets the title of "King of the Skies" to due his perfect balance of power, durability, and agility when it comes to areial combat
What’s surprising to me is that a regular bazelguese was able to hold its ground against ruiner nergigante in the air for a little bit.
Anyone that wants a MH game without Rathalos/Rathian deserves to get their Hunting license revoked! (Same for Diablos)
Monster hunter is not Monster Hunter without Rathalos or rathian
@@isaacm7934 That'd be like Street Fighter without Ryu, or Smash without Mario.
It would be like pokemon without pikachu
Ehh, Diablos I can kinda get the argument for because people want Monoblos to return, but with Diablos present that's pretty much pointless in the eyes of Capcom.
Agree on the Raths though, the whole point of their being in every game and inhabiting a wide swath of environments is to show that they really are the king and queen thanks to how prevalent and dominant they are in a variety of ecosystems.
@andrewcrowley6331 to be honestly I'm ok with Monoblos and Diablos being interchangeable as long as Monoblos remains an offline hunt.
I do wish we got a bit more of a reason for why Silver and Gold Raths exist, since their shells are apparently tougher than regular raths and they also have far more firepower as seen in Iceborne. It'd be nice to know what causes that
Annoyingly the canonical reasons never seem be summed up as much more than 'lots of bioenergy' and 'they're just stronk'.
@@unnaturalhistorychannel not gonna lie. The "bionergy" lore point just seemed like lazy worldbuilding to me. This might be due to lack of development and extensive explanations in the lore, but prior to world a lot of the abilities the non-elder dragon monsters have are very grounded and requires very little suspension of disbelief.
But then the bionergy hooey arrived.
@@DJWeapon8 oh really, so what was the explanation for Gold and Silver before Iceborne?
@@handtomouth4690 nothing. The monster guides you can read in game just says "little is known about them".
@@DJWeapon8 I wouldn't really say "prior to World", as the entire series from P3rd and onward had some pretty fantastical elements, Zinogre and Brachy being obvious early examples. In fact, the newcomers in base World are fairly grounded in comparison imo. Anjanath, Pukei, Legiana, Odogaron, etc all feel just as believable as Diablos or Tiggy. The big problem with bioenergy had more to do with Elders than anything, serving as an "explanation" for Xeno/Safi and Ruiner Nerg. I won't deny it's an unsatisfying explanation though, I hope they either expand on it beyond its current mysticism or drop it entirely in favor of more interesting explanations.
In the midst of fantastical beasts like Zinogre or Glavenus, Rathalos and Rathian shows there's beauty in simplicity and natural design. Their design and over all movements almost makes them feel synonymous with living creatures, though nothing close to that exists beyond say dinosaurs. Which brings me to a side note, did you know that monster hunter was released well before the naming of the batwinged dinosaurs, Yi qi or Ambopteryx? The concept of bird wyverns relationship to brute wyverns and flying wyverns almost seemed ahead of its time.
I just want to point out that rathalos as much of a cultural impact, if not more, in Riders culture. Riders are known to have many myths regarding rathalos, and is often considered one of the strongest/most loyal monstie to have. Probably due to the fact that he is, with rathian, one the monsters that creates the deepest bonds with his rider.
Rathian as well, as shown by the anime.
It makes a lot of sense for riders to revere the raths they are also very intelligent. It feels comparable to our worlds horses, hawks and elephants.
The existance of Astalos implies the existance of Astian
Hmm...
Technically somewhat true as all of the Astalos fought ingame are male
@@Madman6884 could be a similar situation as Mizutsune, where only the males are really a problem.
If bioenergy is the reason why azure/pink raths exist then the ones in the old world probably migrated from the new world which explains why they are more common in the new world
My head cannon is they developed in the New World but not necessarily because of bioenergy, it might have only allowed for some mutation due to certain resources in the Recess and Highlands respectively, and that they are a now separate species because I keep reading the pink are gender counterparts to the azure, maybe its a thing where outside of the forests these outcasts live a more spread out lifestyle with the females caring for chicks on her own hence the tougher scales.
Pink is actually one of the best colours for desert camoflauge
This is very interesting. I was looking for any content about using science to make sense of various monsters' ecology, traits and behaviors. I'm looking forward to your next video! :D
Thanks, I was initially fearful people may find it too dry for such bombastic games but I'm really pleased you and others like it!
I think the whole joke about "rath sucks and gets beaten by everyone" is mostly from the "worf effect"
the idea that in order to showcase how badass a monster is he's gotta beat the strongest person in the room.
which rathlaos was basically the poster child for. cuz he's the classic power scale we know
"Worf" effect to be precise
@@muhammadalifto8076 ahh yes. never remember his name, I only know of the effect XP
Even if the trope is not used, Rathalos is still a capable fighter. Right?
well ya, that's why he is used for the trope because of the fact he is a capable fighter. Rathalos is considered the mainline badass of the series.
Azur and Pink are apparently caused by coughbioenergycough effecting the embryo in the egg causing a mutation and the rich nutrients found in the New World....doesn't explain the cause in the Old World unless all the Old World ones migrated from the original source which is the New World. The bioenergy reasoning sucks tbh. Seems like handwave and copout.
Also fun fact but Rathian was the first monster ever created by Capcom and the only monster that had a head that could be decapitated in MH1's early stages.
Yeah...I will openly admit now a lot of Capcom's explanations I'm quietly just going to ignore or try and work around as they do leave a lot to be desired.
I remember seeing that in gaijinhunter's vid, but I never knew you could decapitate in the early concept!
@@unnaturalhistorychannel A modder was trying to get the head decapitation to work in MHW since the ability to do it is still there somewhat but I don't think they managed to do it.
Fun fact: the “Rathalos” on the Monster Hunter logo is actually a Rathian
Oh so that's the cannon reason now?
A little weak but I don't see how it would debunk existing theories either considering the colored individuals seem to live outside of the natural forests
@@kennethsatria6607 That's the reason they gave in MHW yes. And the coloured individuals don't live outside the natural forests. Not since 5th gen anyway.
I was standing right next to an Azure Rathalos in the Elder's recess (he was sleeping) I didn't see him until I noticed the bubbles that come from sleeping monsters.
I've heard that some real-life female birds actually fight over males, and will even kill and eat the eggs and chicks of different rivals. Jacanas birds may be a good real-world analog for Rathian.
Females definitely do, and can have their own very intense competition. From a competitive standpoint jacanas could be, but the females don't help the males with the chicks whereas rathalos and his main rathian raise the brood together.
This is gonna be the best binge of my life. I wish I saw more people analyze the wyverns as if they were real.
I like to think that the reason the Raths are so successful as a species is because they are something of the jack-of-all-trades generalist of aerial predators.
All of the Rath's competitors: Astalos, Seregios, Legiana, and Bazelgeuse, tend to favor a more limited range of habitats, or have very energetically expensive adaptations that require more specific maintenance.
The Rath have 2 advantages in their favor over their competitors, their very wide range of habitats and the simplicity of their unique adaptations:
1: Compared to their competitors, the Rath can easily thrive in a very wide range of habitats: deserts, volcanoes, jungles, forests, savannahs, grasslands, and even some more exotic ones, like the Coral Highlands. The only habitat they seem to actively avoid is the tundra and arctic.
2: Raths only have 2 very simple but easy to maintain adaptations, their flame vesicles that allow them to spit flames, as well as venom glands to inject poison. Having both at the same time by the standards of our world would be excessively overkill, but by the standards of the MH world they are pretty simple.
Meanwhile, their competitors have their own unique strengths and weaknesses that allow them to outperform them on an individual level, but prevent them from being as successful as they are on a species level.
-The Astalos not only greatly prefer jungles and forests, but even surely their diet is very unique to maintain their adaptation to generate electricity through movement, since it is the only Large Flying Wyvern that consumes Vespoid, an insect that is considered too inconsequential by other big monsters. In addition to his hypergressive behavior, it is much more harmful than beneficial; I'm sure Astalos's main cause of death is seeking fights against monsters in a higher weight class. And all of that without mentioning his infanticidal tendencies towards his own kind...
-The Seregios are probably the most formidable opponents of the Rath, but because they prefer high temperatures they have a much smaller habitat range. Besides that he is less physically formidable and his fighting style is highly technique-centric. If facing any opponent with superior mobility and experience, or is simply tough enough to resist its razor-sharp scales, it will treat Seregios like a ragdoll, much like Azure Rathalos did in 4 Ultimate.
-The Legiana have objectively superior aerial mobility, their turns are much tighter, they fly faster and can take off with less effort. But the Legiana are much more fragile built, because to maintain their air superiority they can only inhabit areas with very strong blizzards and air currents, which greatly limits their habitat range and prevents them from being a true natural competitor on a global scale toward Raths. And not to mention that he doesn't have a true breath attack, the small pores in his skin that he uses to generate his ice attacks make him incredibly weak to diseases, which renders him very weak to poison in-gameplay, and would increase even more its fragility to changes in temperature and habitat.
-The Bazelgeuse cannot even be said to be true competitors, both have different ecological niches. And in any case, Bazelgeuse's aerial mobility is much lower than that of the Rath, he fought mainly on the ground. It may only present a problem for Rathians, but Rathalos who fight smart and keep their distance could deal with a Bazelgeuse.
"Rathalos would obviously never be able to fly in real life"
But who says that the conditions in the MonHun world are the same as those on Earth? The air may well be thicker, or the gravity lower, or both! Hunters also have a far lower terminal velocity in the games than humans do IRL, after all ;)
While I would be inclined to say that the mh community has the propensity to cherry pick real life biology and evolution for the explanations of these fantastical beasties, but since like you said the hunters with the added mass of being clad in armor and egregiously large weapon have a lower terminal velocity it immediately rules out the more conspicuous outlandish elements in the series. Any volant species isn't capable of flight, the wing surface area to bodyweight ratio isn't conducive with the capability of generating sustainable lift.
Silver and Gold might be entirely of the fantasy of the Monster Hunter universe. In World they have suped up Flame Sacs that burn so hot they glow through their skin. Considering they can only be found in the Elders Recess and Guiding Lands (and in other Elder Dragon focused areas in previous games) I think there's probably some supernatural cause to their species. The Admiral says the crystals in the Elders Recess have a huge amount of energy in them, and other creatures in Monster Hunter are known to eat rocks. It might be that the gold and silver scales are literally metallic, or at least heavily mineralized.
That's quite likely in my book, since their heads, usually the weakest point on a monster become incredibly resistant to damage. Their heads normally can deflect all but purple sharpness weapons unless they power up their flame sacs, which softens their heads. Breaking the armor on their noggins makes them soft even when not heated up, indicating that you've broken through the metallic layer.
Their greater weaknesses to Water and Thunder make sense, though - water tarnishes silver easily, and gold is a great conductor of electricity. But what puzzles me is how they become outright _immune_ to Dragon element, usually a massive weakness of their kind. It can't be the metallic coating, since they stay immune even when their parts are broken.
The Pink Rathian actually makes sense, in the desert at least, if you compare it to the "Pink Panthers" camouflage of WW2.
7:43 wing design and shape my also be a variable. Rathians wings are smaller, so to sustain a more aerial front for the larger animal would be more taxing.
The gold and silver being eldar level threats may be because of the coloring making them stick out so they have to make up with skill hence the huge threat they pose to a hunter
And you have got a new subscriber! Can’t wait to see more of these awesome videos!
Thanks very much, thrilled you're enjoying them!
These videos are great, you deserve way more attention than your getting. Well done
Would love to see your thoughts on how humans evolved in this world.
Rathalos : "has a favorite wife
One of the Rathians: i'mma leave you for the nice Kut-ku!
Thus Yian Garuga was born
Maybe the reason it’s called “king of the skies” could hint at it having some form of very primitive medieval concubine system in that the males have a “queen” but will also mate with multiple other females in order to ensure his bloodline the best chances of survival.
Perhaps the reason for a king queen pair is in order to more effectively cover larger territories, which would also explain why they’re generally found apart from each other. This could also keep other rath wyverns in check until they get old enough to challenge the dominant king or queen.
Just an idea though.
Pink is actually great for dessert camouflage
"The distant ancestors of Rathalos were likely the size of wingdrakes"
But weren't the ancestors of flying wyverns large top order carnivores resembling Tigrex? I suppose they might have gotten smaller and then larger again, but most all of Rathalos's close evolutionary cousins are extremely large, and the word "flying wyvern" is more or less synonymous with the top of the food chain most of the time and have seemingly been so for a while following the family tree.
Even now there's material in one of the books suggesting that other species of flying wyvern (most likely meaning the Raths) avoid Tigrex because they know it's less troublesome to let it hunt and move on than confront it, so I can't help but feel like Rathalos's belligerence is slightly overstated; or perhaps it's just instinctively adverse to Tigrex and less adapted to avoiding things like Deviljho. Or maybe it's more necessary to deal with Deviljho wandering near nests as Tigrex is unlikely to actively prey on Rathian or Rathalos if otherwise left alone.
As I commented on the Anjanath video, Rathian and Rathalos's models are roughly the same size, though Rathian's tail spikes extend further (where the extra length comes from), and her tail is slightly longer and thicker, but flares less, and lacks a large spike on the end. Her legs are more developed, and her skull is slightly taller. Rathalos on the other hand, has substantially larger wings and a more developed chest and shoulders similar to the Rathian's thicker thigh muscles. Its skull is wider, and it has a deeper bite, but their skulls are the same length. Rathian's body volume is slightly higher (57m^3 to 55m^3 for Rathalos), but I suspect Rathalos might have the edge on hard tissue volume and density.
More so than anything about weight, Rathian's individual wingspan is 26.7m with a cross sectional wing area of a single wing is ~66m^2, compared to Rathalos's at around 80m^2 with a wingspan of 28.4m. Bigger, stronger wing and chest muscles powering substantially larger wings results in easier lift. The wingspan is also less dramatically greater than the wing area, and Rathalos so it introduces more minimal leverage inefficiencies. As far as I can tell, despite the significant muscle mass difference lending to the appearance of broader shoulders, the bone placement is the same for Rathian and Rathalos.
I suspect it is not in fact weight that causes Rathian to be more grounded, but merely that flying for such a huge animal is very energy expensive, and that, especially considering the bulk of Rathians brood in less lucrative, arid environments while caring for chicks, unneeded flight and the associated unnecessary growth is simply not a feasible evolutionary strategy for them to waste energy on. Walking saves calories.
I suspect it is in fact, the very competition for dominance between Rathian and the polygynous breeding of Rathalos that places evolutionary pressure on Rathian to fly less-ironic in that greater flying ability would be a great benefit in those battles for dominance to be the breeding pair. I've noted before that more powerful Rathian individuals (G/Master Rank) Rathian tend to fly more than lower ranking Rathian-perhaps not a coincidence.
I don't think Rathalos and Rathian are venomous, rather I think they're poisonous, though I could be wrong.
Wonderful video, wonderful series, enjoying it very much. I keep commenting on measurements for the creature models, so if you'd like to reach out to me on discord (still "Goji" on a few MH discord channels you can use to find me and PM me) please feel free to, I'm happy to provide the info.
They're probably venomous. Venom is basically a subcategory of poison, one that is delivered via injury, particularly outright injection. Rathian's venom comes from its spikes, and Rathalos' come from its talons, both of which are sharp and pointy.
Fantastic channel! I like your scientific approach to a world I love.
I feel like the Raths would absolutely be of the most agile fliers in the series. A few might be better in that regard, but the Raths would still be the dominant force of the skies in the world.
Raths, specifically Rathalos are really agile and are only rivaled by Steve and Raizex. Both have small frames and Raizex's design being inspired by dragonflies.
@@BoostedMonkey05 I think Legiana might be more agile, but Rathalos is definitely up there still (no pun intended).
@@MadSwedishGamer leg and rathalos are built for aerial agility
@@BoostedMonkey05 Yeah, exactly. They're both agile, but I think Legiana might beat out Rathalos in that regard.
@@MadSwedishGamer i mean it could but Legiana isn't much of a dog fighter like rathalos
This comes at a good time, since I'm working on a sentient humanoid species based on the Rath species. Also something of note quality Rathalos canonical shows up in the Final Fantasy 14 as a serious threat to the main character. Who's been shown to go toe to toe with Near Gods.
Found this hidden gem, I always live these kinds of videos!!!!
I heard Rathalos and Rathian are somehow named after lions, like a japanese version of the word "leo" being a piece of the name, the other half meaning "king" and "queen" respectively. So maybe their mating habits are similar to lions? I just know male lions have multiple mates.
I’ve found a new favorite channel I think very noice
I thought the color of raths was age-related. So for gold and silver rath, they are basically powerful enough to survive decades, if not centuries, in a hostile world so they can stand out as much as they want.
I wonder if the metal Raths are metallic...because they incorporate large amounts of metallic ore into their diets? They're usually found in the same areas that ore-eating Elder Dragons are (either old ruins or volcanos). This may be an extreme adaptation to produce tougher eggs that can survive in these environments, but they still have very low success rates, which is why they're so rare. The metal Raths may have started out as the least successful individuals, driven to desperate nesting grounds because they couldn't claim territory anywhere else. Now they remain in their undesirable territories because they've become too specialized.
I much prefer this than it only being bioenergy, same with the pink and azure raths, but personally I was never too bothered by bioenergy it sounds simply like a resource that helps an ecosystem thrive and so is a factor in subspecies adaptations, and it is drawn in from the earth so plants and the herbivores that eat them would obviously contain this beneficial resource for predators.
As well as massive elder dragons. Its not that insanely supernatural to compare them to something like fossil fuels trapped underground or within millenia old elder dragons.
Great video! Subscribed and looking forward to more MH Ecology videos.
Also, since you mentioned it, Zinogre sucking so much in his turf wars does not sit well with me.
Thank you! And yeah, his turf wars just seem to be Step 1. Get absolutely bodied Step 2. Hit limply with tail.
I've always asumed that the reason why rathalos is called the king of the sky is not cause he's meant to be the strongest flying monster, but for his flying abilities. outside elder dragons, wich are so rare most people will never see one, no monster can really compete with a rathalos in the air. yeah, bazel can fly and is an overall stronger monster, but he's actually not that good of a flyer, in the air rathalos would be very likely the one to come out on top. the only monster that could have an argument for being a better flyer would be seregios, and I think they are more meant to be equals, and considering seregios come from an unknown area, is normal it was rathalos the one that got the title
It's the fight between a bomber and a fighter jet
Astalos would like a word here.
While hunters are possibly of near-superhuman enhanced strength among the humans of monster hunter, either by natural talents or intense training, their ability to easily wield impossibly heavy equipment and survive fatal falls, makes the low gravity planet theory a bit more tangible to me.
This would also make the ability for titanic creatures to support themselves physically, and of large, heavy creatures to move with agility and even fly, much more plausible than if they existed in our world
It's also possible that Hunters are remnants of Ancient Civilisation bioengineering. In essence, they are the offspring of bioweapons/supersoldiers.
@@draochvar9646 Inb4 Panzerdragoon Monster Hunter
Ive just found my new favorite channel 😁
Thank you, welcome aboard!
Hello. I just came by to say that Rathian is my favorite monster. I really love Dread Queen Rathian's colorations and fighting style.
Love the speculation in these videos! As for the metal species, I have to wonder if they're some sort of specialists in desert or volcanic areas, only briefly straying into other locales where they're more likely to be sighted. Those reflective scales would be good for repelling heat, and the sparseness of prey might be why their bodies put so many resources into their weaponry, to ensure they can take advantage of anything they find.
That was great. Hope to see more be it MH or hopfully other stuff i at least know about.
Silver rathalos and Gold rathian are mostly associated with the tower do. Their coloring pretty much blends with the tower depending on the time of the day and weather in the tower.
"There's no real justification for a Silver Rathalos being more powerful"
With Sunbreak's intro cutscene showing him effortlessly take down and barbeque a Bazelgeuse, that's the one line of this video that hasn't aged well.
wonderful concept for videos, thank you
I think silver and gold have those colours for camouflage as they could possibly reflect light making it harder to see them flying
What are your thoughts on the bio energy found in World? And how exactly would it affect the creatures?
I wonder why the Harpy Eagle isn't looked at considering they're a large bird of prey that lives in the canopy of the Amazon Rainforest?
Rathalos doesn’t really select for similar rainforest habitats and even in the ancient forest appears to prefer to more open areas.
I love your content
Im curious as to your thoughts on astalos and it's realationship with the raths are they directly competing predators, is it more predator and prey, or is astalos just aggressive to anything that breaths in its direction? Thank you in advance.
I think a bit of 1 and 3. A mix of Astalos being naturally belligerent and competing with Raths as well. I think it's a bit much for it to actively prey on them.
I call them Rath harassers and not predators when everyone was making memes because of how both Raizex and Seregios came into 5th Gen. And I would love to see a turf war between the Raths and their harassers.
You know what's ironic? Rathalos and Rathian are called the king and queen of the skies and land but in their renders Rathalos is grounded while rathian is in the air just something funny.
i love this.i have always wondered why does rathian have chin spike? keep this up it interesting and entertaining
Thank you! Very glad you enjoyed it. From the first artbook, the chin spike seems to have been from an early idea that she'd use it to feed the chicks, but from her ecology video it seems this idea was left on the cutting room floor. Interestingly another dropped concept seems it was originally conceived rathian would partially eat and regurgitate food for the chicks as her saliva contains various compounds to immunize them against their own venom.
@@unnaturalhistorychannel hmm? Are you talking about the MH1 ecology cutscene? The one where she has meat on her chin spike and gives it to her hatchlings?
I have a theory for pink rathian now that you mention she's found in arid places.
Some animals prefer to hunt specifically at dusk and dawn. At sunset, orange/pink light might help a pink rath blend in with the sand and orange sky better? It's a short opportunity, but it's the part of the day when she can still see but it's also not too hot, and that's why other animals are dawn-dusk hunters too.
My other thinking was that pink is a lighter shade of red. And blue, from the azure rathalos, close to green in color. Close to their opposite sex's color, basically. I suppose the easiest way to achieve a new color would to be having more male hormones as a female, or more female hormones as a male. Basically, it's easier to evolve something when you've already got the genes for it. Perhaps evolving to be 'orange' to live in the desert would take longer than simply having some females be 'a bit more masculine' and therein 'a bit more reddish' resulting in pink.
Particularly, this 'pink rath is masculine' deal would also be easier because, for her to have offspring at all, rathalos (who do not live in deserts and who might not have been raised by a desert rathian) would have to enter her home, so there would probably be gene flow between the pink desert rathians and rathians elsewhere via their sons. This means any progress towards evolving to be orange could end up getting mixed up with green-rathian genes all the time, making it hard to 'just be orange' and easier to 'have more testosterone and be pink'
To keep this adaptive and to prevent pink raths from happening outside of the desert and reduce the number of green raths in the desert, maybe the 'pink/higher testosterone' gene is passed on mother-to-daughter... Along with whatever info they need on desert survival.
Volcanic areas are harsh and rocky, like deserts. But Rathians don't live there. Maybe the sons of desert rathians go there?
My other idea on the volcano was that, perhaps to avoid conflict with larger, adult Rathalos, young male Rathalos would migrate there to live, and then migrate out upon reaching full size, when they were ready to face up the stronger males.
I do believe Rathalos would also fight over Rathians: Polygamous male animals often do. Even if they only dedicate themselves to one female, the more females you are with the more babies you have... Unless, some guy was already with that female, and if she's already pregnant then you can't become the father if some guy already is. Other males also eat food that he could feed to the babies he is dedicating himself to raising. There is plenty of reason for rathalos to dislike each other, and therefore younger males might need a place to stay to survive the jealous or territorial adults.
The volcano, lacking any females, is a great place to go to get away from angry adult males fighting over females.
I wonder, maybe the azure color could be an adaptation of young males to blend in with rocks, later turning red to signal full adulthood? Like young men growing beards. Many animals, including humans, the young animals are hard to tell apart, with female animals sometimes looking like adolescent males. Perhaps very young adolescent rathalos are azure along with theoretically green sisters, then turning red as they age...
And then perhaps, some males never grow out of being Blue for some reason and get stuck being blue, resulting in a fully adult azure rathalos. Maybe this is uncommon because females disfavor blue males, as they look 'premature', and so azure rathalos are less likely to have offspring and therefore more uncommon. (Poor azure rathalos, in this case. No wonder he's angry.)
As for silver and gold, and with them being more powerful... The first thing that comes to mind is, perhaps they change color as they age? Being elderly doesn't seem like it would equate to power. It might equate to experience though. Humans, and other animals, change physically as we age. Perhaps the gold and silver raths are some kind of highly experienced, battle-hardened but ancient individuals. I don't see them with nests, maybe that's why, maybe they are past the age of nest-rearing.
Bio energy, it just work.
Feels like this is a direct quote from Capcom's team.
Oo man. Rathalos in Rise is built different. Easy, but awesome
Idk about Gold Rathian, but is it possible that silver rathalos could have lost the pigment in its scales due to an oversized flamesac? In world, when sliver rathalos is enraged its flame sac shines through its skin, so I would think that silver and gold rathas just have more capacity to produce flames, and maybe the coloration is a bi-product of that. I am not an expert tho, just throwing out an idea.
It could be that when Rathians develop xanthochromism and Rathalos develop leucism, that flips an allele that promotes larger flame sacks
gimme a Tigrex video you heathen
Patience, best boi will get his own video in time.
Taking my Biology class here
Silver and Gold Raths may be so strong because the young get killed of easily, so the once we fight are the strongest and most aggressive of the brood, so much stronger that they can overcome the drawback of their drawback of Silver and Golden coloration.
Combined with the tales of hunters who have taken them down, the myth that they were elder dragon tier might have started, similar to how white tigers are supposedly much stronger then regular tigers.
Here's the problem with that theory though:
Golds and Silvers are objectively tougher and possess more potent flames than any other non-deviant Rath. They are straight-up stronger.
SO: It is probably fair to assume that whatever mutation causes their deviation in colouration also causes other physical traits to be enhanced.
Subscribed. And hopefully much of my server mates lmao.
And I appreciate it!
Rathalos is my favorite monster
I have a question. Do you think Rathalos and Rathian would do well in a mangrove forest or a delta?
Can I ask where you are getting the "Rathalos mate with multiple Rathians" from?
Monster Hunter World Official Complete Works Volume : 1
14:28-14:33 reminds me of Allosaurus.
sure, there's Saurophaganax in North America and Torvosaurus in Spain/Portugal; both can easily kick Allosaurus' tail... but Allosaurus is (or should be) considered king of the Jurassic because his species is more common.
and the lion's called king of the jungle; a true yet false statement, if you ask me. the lion may not live in a jungle, but he's king because at one point there were multiple species all throughout the world - correct me if i'm wrong - during the Pleistocene: the African, Indian, Cave, American and European species.
that's *a lot* of lions!
will you ever do fatallis?
I have discovered something amazing
the rivalry between raths against others of their own species reminds me a lot of snakes, which would fit because theyre kind of reptiles.
my theory for silver and gold rath, is one kind of based in the bright colors and flair of incredibly poisonous frogs and amphibians of course the metal raths arent amphibians or poisonous however, i like to see them as a extreme recessive gene, similar to azure and pink seeming to be reccessive genes that comeout more frequently in those born of parents native to volcanic or arid regions, i believe the metal raths are an extreme of that scale as the games make it clear that their bright metallic bodies are a direct result of having scales that are harder than the hardest metals in MH universe, in other words this gene may be something that appears and develops in the children of raths in areas where elders are far more common i.e. the elders recess or the guiding lands of the new world, and then those children are rarely sighted else where due to the fact that they rarely have to travel away from areas such as the new world for any reason but they sometimes may stray from such areas wether it be because of being driven out by other metal raths or even actual elders, the color scheme may just be a response to warn other lesser monsters that "hey im WAAAAAYYYYY stronger than your average rath so your better off just staying the heck outta my way", as i imagine since most large monster already show vast amounts of risk calculation in regards to the fights they pick over actual life the bright metal coloration in terms of MH is a huge advantage because we know the monsters to be rather intelligent so tell me if a predator saw a rath of gold or silver would actually go "yeah i wanna fight that" when in game most monsters literally flee the area if a metal enters it, while part of that is game mechanic another part may be that its just monsters canon response to something like that, especially since elders like kushala exist to monsters mettalic colors SCREAM danger signals
Tempered monsters are also slightly metallic!
@@drkbluseadragon7336 which only gives further basis for this theory that metallic hues and appearances may be a defensive measure more than a random choice a warning that i'm scarier than your average run of the mill monster
Silver and gold rath might have been tougher because their diet changed to be similar to elder dragon. Hotter flame to melt ore and the ore become their scale.
See my theory is that silver Rathalos and Gold Rathian are More powerful because of the Fact their Coloration are Genetic Mutations granting them with a Disadvantage in terms of colors. This would incentivize Higher aggression, And a more importance for combat prowess. This and due to the Apparent hyper Active Flame sacks in both gold Rathian and silver Rathalos and the More Potent Venom in Gold Rathian’s Tail, I believe that the color mutation is to balance out the positive Mutations on their flame organs and Rathians Venom
They could be coinciding traits of a singular mutation but are so rare because due to their colouration only very few make it to the adult stage. Now make that mutation a recessive gene and it becomes far less unusual for them to be so few in numbers, despite their enormous power.
@@draochvar9646 yeah exactly
How bioenergy works in monster hunter ?
Magic.
I've been attacked by two female rathian on more than one occasion. I assumed lesbian Rathians.
lit
funny behind the scenes fact rathalos wasn't the original flagship of MH1. it was actually rathain to symbolize the focus on wyverns instead of dragons but they thought later that rathian was too basic, being just a traditional fantasy wyvern. so they chose as rathalos the flagship instead. the evidence is the original logo that they kept, if you look closely at its head you will see rathain's chin spike that rathalos does not have. yep rathians are the ones that compete for a mate, otherwise the rathain + yian kutku = yian garuga makes no sense. the meme is that rathain leaves rathalos for kutku but it's more logical that rathalos pick their mates and kutku is the alternative some rathain will resort to. this is highly frequent, as yian garuga are common enough to not be a subspecies but their own monsters that will mate with each other so not all of them are born the same way. hunters, get to killing excess rathains if you're not man enough to handle garuga yourself. do your part lol. the rathain having their own nests but rathalos guarding its nest is the strongest proof in game for rathalos having more than one mate. for the main nest it's logical that the stronger ratahlos protects the young as rathian may not be up to the challenge as often, there is lore suggesting that rathain has a 6th sense for something trying to take her eggs when she's away.
seregios and astalos are said to be better fliers than rathalos but the argument of them being less common, therefore less infamous, still works. astalos, fair point but seregios is fighting the more aggressive azure subspecies there so the base rathalos would be easier to fight likely giving seregios the win. even if subspecies may not have differing abilities that are obvious some have tendencies like azure and silver rathalos being able to stay in the air longer during combat. moving in transit is not the same as staying mobile in a fight, if the subspecies handle this stress better that makes them superior fighters.
They choose rathalos because it uses less poison. They didn't want players being angry that poison was the thing constantly killing them
@@angellara7040 but both of them use both status, yes rathalos uses fire a bit more but it's only made so he almost never uses poison in Rise so that they can make their pathetic dread king clone without altering the AI too much
@@jockpackage1770 rathalos only has two poison attacks and I don't know if he had both in 1st gen. Either way that's not his main attack
@@angellara7040 yes but the AI used them in MHW so he was more threatening by stacking fire blight and poison. in Rise you rarely see poison at all with the AI. in exchange, rise game him what 1 or 2 new fire moves?
Is there a reason why the raths in the NW sound so different than they're OW counterparts?
I love Rathalos and Rathian, I really do; but for Christ's sakes I wish Capcom would stop adding/making a gajillion variants to/for games when they could add more obscure monsters. No joke, monster updates for games like Rise and Stories 2 have stopped being exciting because 50% of the time the new monsters added are gonna be a Rathalos/Rathian recolor (or just recolors in general for Rise >3>). Rathalos is like the Charizard of Monster Hunter, it's a good monster but fucking hell I'm tired of it getting constant attention from Capcom when other monsters deserve just as much spotlight.
Im defintely fine having Rathalos and Rathian. But having both Subspecies and Rare species in the same game feels uneeded. If anything they could easily replace gold and silver with Dreadking and Queen and have dread versions of the subspecies if they must. It makes more sense than having metallic versions without them being drastically different somehow.
Good video, but Astalos totally wipes rathalos in that opening cutscene of generations. Can you also talk about the flying Wyvern ancestor the Eurodraco in a relevant video (I think that was how it's spelled) it has concept art and tufted is the closest relative alive.
It should be noted that Rath is weak to thunder and Astalos showcases a level of aggression far beyond the norm. I think in terms of power they're about equal with Astalos pulling ahead a little due to elemental advantage, and this makes sense considering all the other fated four have rivals they're about on par with/a little stronger than. In a straight up head to head, I think Astalos would have the upper hand but has a pretty fragile body, considering its low health and insect wings. This means that if Rath can take the hits for a while, he'll probably realize that he can brute force his way through Astalos.
A MH game without the Raths is just wrong. I can't disagree enough with the people who want them gone.
Question, how can there be Rathian eggs **and** Rathalos eggs? I mean, only Rathian can lay eggs so how do Ratha**los** eggs exist
um, by laying male eggs like every other egg laying creature? its not that complex. if its a girl its a rathian egg, if its a boy its a rathalos egg
The raths are overrated but I came to appreciate rathian as my world iceborne weapon is her tree. And some of my armor. Gonna try switching to silver rathalos, based on suggestions from other players
Do narga