Flying wyvern ecology : Tigrex in Monster Hunter 

Tigrex is the perfect example of how a simple monster can still be amazing: no elements, no anime transformation, no supernova, and it doesn't have a million different unnecessary weapons covering its body. It just has a cool design, great theme music and a fun; satisfying fight and that is all it needs.

“Few things in a volcano probably live at especially high densities, except for Bullfango on powder stone carrying missions.” Delivered with that serious, collected monotone got a very solid chuckle out of me.

I think the reframing of the discussion from “we need new monsters” to “we need new biomes” is a great point. Of course we’re going to be seeing similar, if not the same monsters over and over again on our fifth tropical jungle map. But an environment we haven’t seen before naturally would mean we encounter new monsters as well as the potential of new variations of existing ones.

Tigrex is definitely my favorite of the three main pseudo wyverns. His aggression along with his theme always injects a sense of urgency into his hunts for me. Also there’s the fact that he opens his mouth like a chain chomp when he runs.

Tigrex really works as a more primal, prehistoric take on a Monster Hunter monster, imo. The raw aggression, the powerful, almost literally deafening roar, and the seemingly exaggerated powerful proportions. It really brings through the "untamed power" aspect. One of my favorite monster designs in the series. ...Can't really say I enjoy the fights though- they're definitely terrifying, though.

Tigrex has a special place in my heart. It’s what got me into Monster Hunter; I first saw it when I was 9 and playing MGS on the PSP and I was like: “WHAT?” So I asked my friends what it was from and they said Monster Hunter; And here I am, with over 4K hours in all of the games combined

It’s an odd thought but I love the idea of some of the wide roaming MH monsters like tigrex exhibiting the wolverine behavior of being surprisingly good fathers and occasionally visiting and teaching their wide reaching batch of kits or even traveling with them later on in life

After having heard it, I love the idea of a swimming/aquatic pseudo wyvern. I’d love for it to have Spinosauridae elements to mirror Tigrex’s T. Rex elements.

I hope we get more “primitive” monsters like Tigrex in the future. it would be very interesting to see the ancestor (or the missing link) of various monsters to show how they evolved the way they did.

Tigrex is my favorite boi and he is the reason I knew what monster hunter was at a young age and due to this I have made a rule for myself to never kill a tigrex

3:38 That thing looks like a joke Mother Nature made while drunk that went way too far. I love it.

Glad to see one of my favorite monsters being featured. I'm a huge fan of Tigrex design, of all three main variants actually. I also love its role within the monster hunter universe. Which is also why I'm expecting a comparison to Hyenas, not only do both Tigrex and Hyenas hunt while also feeding on carrion, both also share the similarities of a strong jaw, long forelegs and short rear legs.

I find it interesting how much Tigrex is shown being an active predator, when it’s strategy of largely straight charging appears better optimized to stealing kills in my opinion, with it’s roar acting as an effective deterrence for other predators that may value their sense of hearing after it has driven off the original predator.

I will say I always had an appreciation for Tigrex, not only for the sick design but for it’s three themes across the series. From the classic theme from the Freedom games, the rising tension of the 4 Ultimate theme, and the almost horror movie vibe of World’s.

One thing I’ve noticed about Tigrex, is how he vibrates/rattles his wings when we roars, at least for the most part. There is one roar when he runs away and doesn’t do it, but you can really hear the wings rattle, and I love it

I once made a custom quest in 4u fighting an apex tigrex in the speartip crag, the map where you fight dalamadur. It has a unique quality where monsters don't stop at the edge of the map, but instead fall off then have to climb or fly back up. I wish I experimented with the map more, since it was really funny to watch tigrex fall off the map then fly back on.

I was wondering if you were gonna cover Tigrex's place in Flying Wyvern evolution, but it seems you didn't. It's fascinating to see how Tigrex serves as a kind of look into the early history of Flying Wyverns, showing their roots before most of them ended up evolving into bipedal flyers. And while you don't like Molten Tigrex, I do like how Molten Tigrex expresses gigantism as a form of repressed genetic expression branching into a distinct Rare Subspecies, another aspect of Tigrex's prehistoric origins and signifying that these giant apex predators of the modern MH era are in fact equivalent to modern lions/bears compared to giant precursors being the dinosaurs and cave bears/lions.

The mating behavior of that bat really sound like party from my teen years.

Finally got a well-deserved video on one of the best monsters!

I was extremely excited for this one (after all I’ve never checked discord so much). Tigrex has been my one of my favourites up there nergigante and anjanath but it was also the monster that got me into the franchise with freedom unite. To 9 year old me it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen and seeing the tigrex square off with the 3 hunters in freedom unite’s introduction cutscene was enough to get me to play monster hunter. Plus it made me feel so accomplished when my dad gave up on the game and gave it to his 9 year old son only for him to beat the tigrex he struggled with. After my dad passed away I decided to hunt a tigrex yearly on his birthday as a reminder of both him and the reason I’m even playing this franchise. I just love tigrex and everything about him is perfect to me in terms of design and fight. If anjanath didn’t exist tigrex would probably take my top spot as my favourite monster. I just hope that tigrex never stops returning and he probably never will as he’s almost as iconic as rathalos. The video was executed excellently, I believe that the concept of tigrex getting into long distance shouting matches with one another for a females attention is both funny and a interesting concept to think about. Plus with its courtship behaviour tying into its nomadic behaviour and extreme aggression, then being supplemented by tigrex’s relationship with other monster is all excellent stuff. Very happy you’ve covered the roaring wyvern and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Good day to you

What I personally like about Tigrex design-wise is that they're the perfect example of a stat stick in MH. They don't have any fancy gimmicks or tricks to get around and punish, just pure strength and speed that you *have* to respect while still getting in your own attacks. Makes it a fun and rewarding fight in my opinion.

I remember when i first started playing MH4U and knew little to nothing about the monsters, i thought Tigrex would have a poison attack where it stabs you like a Scorpion would, because his tailspike has a hole on the point like a syringe, something he actually shares with nargacuga

I was wondering why Tigrex hadn’t been featured on your channel already, and I now see that it was most likely because you wanted it to be absolutely perfect when you did get to it. Safe to say, I believe that goal was met. Well fucking done, this is absolutely top tier content.

I don't normally comment, since I just like learning your takes on speculative ecology and reading discussions from people more well versed in the matter. But boy, "Taiga king" in the thumbnail struck me so hard that I have to give you props for that one.

Tigrex shares a lot of interesting parallels with Lunagaron with them being monsters iconic in their snowy habitats that are nomadic and tackle large prey. Even though they're quite new, the two normal lords could have very interesting videos.

Worth the wait, and quite a brilliant video too. Glad to also hear your thoughts on him as well, and I agree with you on your take for old monsters. I hope Tigrex and Goss Harag continue to appear in future games, just give us back Gammoth and the trio of the best cold region dwelling monsters in the series will finally be complete. I really want a game with all three of them! I love Goss absolutely, my favorite monster for sure, but there’s no words that’d describe my joy for if someone managed to somehow get him into GU. But if nothing else I hope all three will be able to appear together in the future. They just work so well together!

I always tought tigrex’s roar served as an alarm to other predators, telling them to get away from a kill. Serving mainly as a tool for intimidating other predators off their kills.

as someone who lives near the largest temperate rainforest in the world, would love to see that represented in the franchise. there's just so much you could do with that enviroment i feel.

I still like the "Desert Species, Tundra Traveler" idea, with the Highlands and Savannahs being midway stops trough their journeys.

Best boi, tigrex Has been my favorite monster since the start

You can really tell there's a lot of love for pseudos when they're being designed and Tigrex totally does show to be the first at that. I love when a monster is so well put together and still leaves all this room to speculate on these videos, so nice. Great video!

"Noooooooo, you're not supposed to be alive, it's been millions of years you didn't change, your prey has surely evolved to best you." "Haha, 170 decibels yell go brrrrrrr!"

Last time I was this early, the Ancient Civilization was still around.

I love how these videos have started being a platform for other creators in this (let's be honest, quite niche) space to show off their creativity and hard work. Your videos a perfect vehicle for these creators to show off their work on as it's some earned advertising for said creators, as well as a visual interest and aid for these videos that are just so interesting and informative.

Fun fact, Tigrex's roar has a surprisingly small radius of effect, at least when compared to other monsters like Diablos and Gravios. I like to think that the damaging aspect of a Tigrex roar also comes from sheer sound pressure literally blowing you off your feet. EDIT: Forgot another Tigrex trivia. In Freedom Unite, after hunting Tigrex for the first time, the Pokke Elder mentions obtaining a unique "Tigrex Screamer" from it. Though it's not an actual item, it gets used in a cutscene to shatter a wall of ice to expand the farm.

tigrex are just as nomadic as me being able to find this post in mere seconds

My favorite of the pseudowyvern trio. Beyond the striking design, his interesting ecology, simple effectiveness, and aggressive fight put him not only at the top of the trio but up there as one of the better monsters for me

You forgot to mention the initial trauma Tigrex throws at you when you take the Sinking Feeling quest. 🤣 Side note, while the Grimclaw deviant wasn't worth mentioning because it's just Tigrex that has been frostbitten probably, I think it's worth discussing how monsters that endure physiological problems offer a surprisingly good fight and justify their unhinged temperament when they're on death row without adding exaggerated attributes like elements, statuses, elder dragon-esque weather control, etc. Bloodbath is also a good example of this where it doesn't backtrack and slap in whatever cool trend other monsters have and instead cranks up what's already good about it up to 11.

Imagine preparing for years to hunt your first tigrex to honor your village, you encounter it, it roars, and you shit yourself for no reason.

YEESSS I kept refreshing my subscribed page, waiting for this to appear

I kinda want to see a video on Teostra and Lunastra since they were the First elder dragon pair that’s both male and female

I've been waiting eagerly for this!

Great video as always. I’m not sure how viable this theory of mine is but said theory is that one contributing factor to Tigrex being so loud is the potential to hunt Diablos and Monoblos. The only evidence I have for this being possible is Diablos’ sound sensitivity and both of them can be found in the desert. Personally I really love the idea of an older Tigrex who specializes in hunting Blos Wyverns. The Tyrannosaur vs Ceratopsian aesthetic also adds to it. The Blos wyverns being larger than Tigrex goes against this theory of mine but I don’t think it rules it out. Tigers have been confirmed to have killed Indian Elephants and Rhinos, granted these are rare events but still. I hope you find this theory even a little interesting, I’ve been waiting for this video to get it off my chest lol

I love his fight. Its like with odogoron, once you learn his patterns it feels like youre dancing with him, avoiding his charge and rolling away from the roar. I still havent killed brute

Tigrex really is one of the best monsters MH has ever created. His fight in Freedom 2 is particularly memorable. It knocks you off the mountain in the beginning and if you played the previous game your ego gets poked at even more. A rematch with the beast becomes your motivation. When it’s finally time to face this menace, he’s every bit as intimidating and challenging as he was built up to be.

wonderful video as usual! love your theory about the jaws being more used for food processing than dispatching prey!

2nd gen Tigrex is terrifying for sure but the one that really got me was the Frenzied Tigrex urgent in 4U which handed me my first carts in that game. He might not have gotten much between those games but one change that did stick out to me was his new 180 turnaround in lieu of turning twice to face behind itself. Combined with the extra speed from Frenzy I was having a rough time.

I like Tigrex for many of the same reasons you listed. It just checks a lot of boxes. I find that Tigrex also makes me consider a lot of things. Like, where does Tigrex sit in the evolutionary family tree for the wyverns? Was it derived from a flying wyvern, or did flying wyverns arise from it? Are Tigrex’s small wings remnants of the True/Flying wyvern’s full sized wings, or did the Flying wyverns develop their flight from Tigrex’s ability to fly? And where do ukanlos and akantor fit in? Are they larger relatives of the Tigrex? Or do they sit on opposite ends of the family tree, one way or another?.

One of the things I like the most from Tigrex (which Barioth also have) is how much the fight is "interactive". Tigrex is very baitable, but also does mix-ups for those baits. And specially, how damaging and breaking his parts makes his attacks either fail or him tripping due to pain or not being used to the injure. Not special to this fight, but it is something I LOVE from my good boy™

The time has come. And so have I.

Tigrex my beloved

The density of bullfango on egg gathering missions, jeez 😂

I was wondering when you’d cover the mascot of your channel lol

The Tigrex has one of the most basic designs yet is one of the most interesting creatures from monster hunter.

Less like a YuGiOh monster & more like an actual animal that could've actually existed in real life. I wish MH went more in this direction personally, but this type of zoological take on the lore is 10/10 work.

I see you fall into the Tie-Grex camp instead of the canon “Tea-Grex”

Coming back again. Your videos are truly unmatched

I'm surprised you didn't mention anything about brute tigrex's roars in comparison to regular tigrex, as in world when he roars peirces through the earbud skill ala the sonic beams of shara ishvalda. In fact the major differance between brute and regular tigrex. This is apparently due to the volcanic areas being too loud for normal tigrex roars and the brutes evolved to compensate.

Oh my God the Tigrex video is finally here! Been waiting for this for so long once I realized what your profile picture was.

Babe wake up new Unnatural History Channel video

I was always skeptical of Tigrex's ecology in high altitude and especially latitude environments so I'm glad you addressed those points in the video and I'm definitely more convinced that it isn't just something Capcom pulled out of their Congalalas. I'm curious but what are your thoughts on the supposedly canon assessment that Tigrex represents a surviving member of basal wyverns, or at least is basal taxonomically compared to all other pseudo and flying wyverns, and that these fall under Theropoda instead of some other group of Diapsids? Over all fantastic video though, never disliked Tigrex and my appreciation for it has grown. Looking forward to the next one.

You're 100% right. You continually harping on water combat's return has convinced me that it would be a _great_ idea and should be included in 6th gen.

Will never forget “collect 5 popo tongue” quest

The concept of a T. rex progressively and unintentionally decapitating the carcass of a Triceratops as a result of consuming it's head first before moving to the rest of the body is actually something really cool

I was wondering if you liked him but then i remembered he was your channel pfp. Honestly i really like him too, i only played World but he was fun to fight even if he's not as tough as he was before. And his design and ecology are really great which is wonderful. Cheers from Brazil, take care lad :> Edit: Also i always loved dinossaurs but tbf that's just one reason i like him, not a bias

Literally have been waiting for a video on this monster for so long. Brute Tigrex is my absolute favorite monster on the franchise

I for one would love to see a ravine or canyon style map. I'm a total layman in terms of ecology, but I remember doing a project at my college surrounding the Arnhem Leaf-Nosed Bat, a small bat that literally only lives in one tiny ravine in Australia and absolutely nowhere else in the world, and finding myself surprisingly invested in its little life. I think a map like that could open up lots of possibilities for fresh designs and combat techniques, like a map that's more vertical than horizontal and more cave dwelling monsters that aren't just parasitic worms like Khezu or Gigganox, or perhaps bat and gecko-like monsters!

When you hear Tigrex do not picture something like this.

There's something so provocative about the sight of a gaping maw flanked by big clawed arms furiously kicking up dust clouds as it rushes towards you.

First video I watch on your channel and the video opens with Tigrex Brown Note speculation. Gonna be a good time for sure.

Tigrex is what got me into MH. I got MHF2 for Christmas in my early teens and at first wasn't sure what to think. But the cool T-Rex dragon on the cover kept me going, and I was in awe when I finally got to fight him. Every game I have played since he is the fight I look forward to and is usually a high point of the game for me. He has some of the coolest looking armor and weapons, straightforward yet engaging fight, and combines two of the coolest animals to exist in history and myth with a powerful and simple design. Love Tigrex and loved this video!

That point about Tigrex likely having evolved to feed on larger herbivores than Popo immediately made me think of Banbaro. To me it feels like it's very plausible that Banbaro could be an important food source for Tigrexes of the New World, seeing as its very large but not large enough to be immune to predator attacks like Gammoth, and of course if the MH dev team ever decides to bring it to the Old World like they did for other MHW monsters in MHR, then it would line up even better with Tigrex's predation habits there.

Tigrex my beloved. Easily my favorite monster, and flagship of my first ever monster hunter game. I like to think that in a prehistoric Monster Hunter ice age there were giant wyvern rex that preyed on herds of gammoth across the steppes, and its echoes live on in tigrex hunting popo in the modern age

Such a cool monster. Got into mhf2 back in the day and Tigrex is, besides Khezu, still the only monster I feel truly intimidated by due to that one mission early on. Great video highlighting an awesome wyvern.

I love the assertion of Tigrex using its roar as a territorial marker as well as a mechanism for mating. This was possibly my favorite video by you so far, I do have a question though, what are your thoughts on grimclaw and to join in with your environmental suggestions for a future game I feel like a cavernous valley coukd be an excellent environment for maybe a burrowing pseudo wyvern or one I’ve thought of for a while like a non snow covered alpine forest or maybe an environment that’s split in half by a salt plain with even terrain that you fight a monster on as you would essentially change ares from like a lush forest or jungle to this barren stretch of land that acts like a one on one battlefield between you and the monster, this may be almost impossible to implement given that environmental effects are a thing and have been for while and it may just be a brief encounte, but capcom focuses on that kind of thing when creating intro cutscenes so who knows it may be cool!

Hey man, your videos just add another level to the monster hunter universe. Explaining these almost mythical creatures in a more realistic take just adds a lot of interesting perspective on the monster many love and enjoy interacting with. I just wish we can fight the owl monster from MHGen that would be awesome.

One thing you forgot to mention that while Tigrex do not have any predators, Tigrex do have a very real danger in Gammoth, who are known to hunt down and brutally kill any Tigrex due to an instilled fear of them due to predation them as children. Gammoth also seem to be the evolutionary hard counter to Tigrex, being a literal immovable wall able to blunt a Tigrex charge, and the added Ice Element a known weakness of Tigrex.

The thumbnail doesn’t get enough appreciation

Rise does NOT need more fire monsters, but an ultra frequency Tigrex with burning Roars (think of World Brutes beam roar too) would be an awesome subspecies

And now we need a video evaluating and rating all the biomes.

Its amazing how this channel progressed, from 1000 subs with the average MH Video being about 20 Minutes Long to 45.000 subs with the average Upload reaching 30+ minutes.

When you mentioned the possibility of a female Tigrex initiating a lek, it brought up a terrifying scene. Imagine being a hunter, tracking a Tigrex female that was spotted near your village. You finally close the distance and start observing. She finds a nicely positioned shelf on a mountain and starts roaring in an odd way, the way you've never heard her sound before. This is not an attacking roar. Soon, you start hearing the responses. First from afar, then closer, and closer. The Tirgrex lek season has begun, and just a stone's throw from your village, what luck.

This is off-topic, but I think a video on the life cycle and inner workings of Gravios would be fascinating. It would be cool to see any real-world analogous of the stone skin. Plus I have always found it cool how the gravios females migrate outside of the volcanoes to give birth. Like sharks going to the shallows

Great video, I feel that bullfango during powderstone quests comment. I personally like Molten Tigrex's fight due to how crazy he gets the more you anger him, dodging all 7 of his back to back charges is terrifying, but I can get behind your complaints about him. I like the non-monster hunter videos too and will be happy to wait to see what your next video is. Sometime in the future I would like to see a fatalis video, as I don't see fatalis as the evil godlike beast that many people still seem to see him as for some reason. In the world of monster hunter fatalis is such a culturally significant monster a lot of his descriptions are very overblown, and seeing a more realistic view on fatalis might be interesting.

the one image of Tigrex you showed at the beginning of the vid had been my background during like, middle school, and I had no idea it came from Monster Hunter

"Babe wake up, UHC just posted."

22:50 itd be cool if this played a part in hunts, or traversing the terrain. leftover carcasses in the landscape, with different appearances to tell hunters who might be in the area and exactly how hungry they really are. tigrex and blangonga could hide other monsters kills, leaving but bone or bloody snow, while a headless popo could tell hunters to look for a *resting* tigrex rather than a hungry one. applying this to other environments might be more difficult and less useful, though. carion doesnt last long in the jungle, and the prevalence of bagle and other flying wyverns means most carcasses are likely carried off or fully scavenged. might still work in the desert, though.

Its triple rush waddle always has me chuckling between swings

hell, if we do get a temperate rainforest like the ones in British Columbia and Washington we might get a bigfoot monster

One thing I've always assumed, looking at Tigrex's roar stance, is that it's wings were being used as an acoustic amplifier. I'm no hitbox expert, but you can just dodge the roar by tucking behind the wings, yeah? Location has a big impact on the use of sound displays. Birds, howlers in trees. Lions on any hill or lump of dirt. My cats in an empty shower. Having a personal megaphone out of your own wings is another factor i consider in the volume and directionality of Tigrex's roars.

Based on their prey of choice, I believe that regular Tigrex should keep it's regular size while Brute Tigrex should keep the size it had in World, to reflect that it goes after bigger and thougher prey

He's pretty easy for me to read now but when I first played 4 ultimate (my first encounter with tigrex) he was a menacing opponent and I remember constantly superman diving out of the way as he charged back and forth in clumsy attempts to avoid his attacks. Now I find him relatively easy to punish for his charges but that's probably just because of experience. Overall, tigrex is one of my favorite monsters because of his unique appearance, his theme, and his intimidation factor.

watching this at max volume with headphones on to get the true immersive experience

Paripuri would be a lovely pseudowyvern to include in a more swamp like or amphibious environment. Having it jump from water to land in quick succession, maybe ambushing the hunter and being a glutton as usual. Would love to see it reworked to fit the mainline games. Repost cause youtube glitched out comments

I was expecting you to compare Tigrex to Deviljio, an example of one species succeeding in adapting to change and another who is failing

The jaguar pseudo-wyvern idea sounds excellent.

40:12 Speaking of, I'm pretty sure the fanged wyverns as a family are actually off shoots of pseudo wyverns, with Magnamalo and Zinogre being some of it's most basal relatives with remnants of the elongated fingers to suppot flight. also tobi kadachi literally having a membrane like a wing to glide between trees

20:58 most wyverns: Which is more nutritious? I kilogram off bone or a kilogram of meat? That’s right! A kilogram of meat. Because meat is easier to get to than bone Tigrex: They’re the same. They’re both a kilogram.

Tigrex is also one of my favorites in fact I don't think there is a single pseudo wyvern I hate. I also wish for underwater combat to come return of Cedues (and with my all time favorite theme) and Abyssal Lagi, maybe an underwater Narkaros fight and finally being able to see an adult Gobul (as all gobyl we fight are junviles as adult live in dark depths of the ocean like Abyssal does). Not to mention the possibilities of more ocean monsters, a whale or lion fish would cool

Another amazing video as always. Can you do an ecology video on the carapaceons, mainly on Daimyo Hermitaur and Shogun Ceanataur.