American Godzilla Biology and Behavior

I like this notion of picking and choosing from these two animal groups. I have one complaint though. Something I've noticed about animals (and people, for that matter) is that the more aggressive something is, the less likely they are to live long. Overly aggressive behavior often leads to an early death.

interesting thought, however...

Godzilla is not a mammal, but a sort of reptilian/fish cross. I wouldn't expect the behavior to be anything close to mammalian....Even though Edwards did base G2014 off of the Grizzlys' behaviors.

In a lot of reptile species - and fish for that matter- the female is larger. That is in order to ensure a larger brood.Varanid lizards, not just the dragons, do spar like mentioned above in the mating seasons. Conflicts usually do not end with blood drawn, or death.

Though with something like Godzilla...

An entire population of these things would surely have their own behaviors and rituals, that while are similar to their reptilian counterparts, would surely be unique to their species.

I'd like to see what the rest of you think!

@CARNOSAUR: You do bring up a valid point, this Godzilla certainly is a reptile/fish creature. Like you I've heard that fish and reptiles tend to have larger females than males. This is especially true in the deep sea (to the extreme for Anglerfish and Black Dragonfish).

For this Godzilla I can see your theory being correct, though because this species smarter and more complex than normal fish/reptiles, it would have a more complex social behavior (to quote you, "be unique to their species").

This brings up another good questions, what would a female Godzilla look like vs the male? I know in birds many have the males being more colorful. In fish and reptiles, many are so similar only the size difference is the real indicator of gender (again, in extreme cases such as the Anglerfish this is an easy one to tell apart).

@Carnosaur,

I'm confused by your statement " I wouldn't expect the behavior to be anything close to mammalian....Even though Edwards did base G2014 off of the Grizzlys' behaviors." How can you say his behavior wouldn't be mammalian at all if the director himself said that he was going to have those mammalian behaviors?

Godzilla has almost always featured mammalian qualities, but this is understandable. As mammals ourselves, we find it easier to relate to other mammals. Mammals are generally capable of a more expressive range than other animals. You can tell when a bear or a gorilla is mad, they narrow their eyes and snarl their lips (much like this Godzilla did), but reptiles, fish, and the rest? It's incredibly difficult to tell how they're feeling just by looking at them.

Females being larger is almost always true in the insect kingdom, and sometimes in fish, but I think it's somewhat rare with reptiles. Crocodiles and komodo dragons, which were significant inspirations to this Godzilla's design, have significantly larger males.

For cinematic purposes, I think they'd keep Godzilla being larger and dominant. Aside from size, I imagine another sign of sexual dymorphism would definitely be the dorsal plates. I would think that the female plates would be a different size and shape. The three rows of plates might be a male-only feature, as far as we know.

When we say more reptilian, I just want to point out that if this is the case and gojira is similar to reptiles then would kind of want to be basing it off reptiles closer to his like. Tyrannosaurus for example, the female was larger and more aggressive. Gojira females were probably larger so they could maybe, carry live young or eggs, defend their young ferociously from predators and be capable of bearing the burden of mating and conflict. Just my theory on that side of this conversation.

The social side of these monsters lives is a mystery and might remain so but let's speculate! I think the animals would of been social, hunting in packs and raising young in a communal way. I think the pack would have been, led by a dominant male and consist of numerous females and young. An idea I got from Peter jacksons king kong would be that the mle offspring could be kept from reaching sexual maturity by pheromones released by the alpha male Instead of just being driven off, this keeps the packs numbers strong and better able to deal with a threat such as a deadly pack of MUTOs! 

They would have been an incredible species to behold if real, battling for dominance in a landscape filled with giants, seeking their next radioactive supplement! Just my two-cents!

All of what's been said has been true. However, Godzilla comes from an ancient line that likely had similarities to other contemporary species from the same periods of time. For example, we don't know how most ancient reptiles would've differed in terms of gender dimorphism and behaviour. We can speculate that, from the single observed living specimen, Godzilla's species was quite territorial, and actively seeked to eliminate the competition.

This seems to extend quite a bit in comparison to other animals, at an almost sentinet-level of focus on this one goal. Now, we move onto general behaviours. With animals, you either go for the highest amount of offspring, with minimal care in actually rearing them, or have very few offspring, but take extremely good care of them. There are occasional mixes of the two styles, but for the most part, this is how it is for animals.

Generally speaking, most large predators, especially ones as large as Godzilla's species, would go for the latter option. For a unique species like Godzilla, reproduction is more limited I would think, and thus parental behaviours are similar to certain large predators of today, and possibly the ancient past, such as the dinosaurs.

Therefore, we can conclude that parents are extremely protective of their young. Seeing as how the one male Godzilla we've seen pursued his quarry at such a brisk pace and without any other distractions stopping him, we can speculate that the males of Godzilla's species take an active role in the protection of young. However, then you're left with the females. Where do they figure into this equation?

With the lengths the lone male we've seen go to to chase down and eliminate his competition, this leaves two possibilities: either the male is the one to go out and find radiation sources for his family primarily, or a family of Godzillas is a nomadic group, and parents share the roles of providing for and protecting their young. And seeing how territorial Godzilla was regardless, it's clear a male won't tolerate ANy competition, possibly even other male Godzillas, and thus may lead to spectacular territorial and/or mating displays and possibly even fights.

Bear in mind, this is all simple fan speculation on my part, and shouldn't be taken too seriously unless you truly want to take it seriously.

I think the introduction of a female and infant of his species into a sequel would be great! To see how the animals react if we say, took the infant. It would give us a better insight into this world where they come from! To see the male and female affectionately nudge each other and call for each other or their offspring would be truly incredible, well, I know what I want in the sequel! 

maybe in the sequel they'll show a simulation of the time godzilla was dominant 

@EVAN123, THEGMAN123, & KAIJUDINOSAURFAN12345: You both make excellent points. Yes this is all fan speculation, but it "feels" like your thoughts could be accurate. Like you, I'm eager to see Legendary Pictures to make the sequel and show us this behavior/social interations even more.

What you said about male Godzillas going into a "spectacular territorial and/or mating displays and possibly even fights", after years of seeing the Japanese Godzilla battle other monsters I've always wondered what would happen if one Godzilla fought another and what it would look like (even if it was to impress the female). With the official story of the American Godzilla, this would easily have happened.

After all, even in the dinosaur times let alone today, the few "top" predators only had their own kind to really worry about. Everybody else in their territory they could handle.

Now because we don't have fire breathing critters I don't know the answer to this next question. During this prehistoric era, young Godzillas would still be learning to use their Atomic Breath. Naturally, being inexperience, their attempts wouldn't be the final product as seen with the adults. Would these early attempts to use their Atomic Breath end up like the scene below (from a Japanese Godzilla film) or just be a weaker form of Atomic Breath?

TRUE AMERICAN GODZILLA - This is an exceptionally fun topic! Let's consider the type of being Godzilla represents: an ancient life-form of which we know very little. That being said, Godzilla might represent a "template" creature from which countless other species evolved - if evolution holds true. With that as the case, behaviors and characteristics we see in many of the animals of today's world might be directly descended from Godzilla's lineage! A very compelling notion, don't you think? Perhaps many amphibians, fish, mammals and reptiles all possess a little of Godzilla's genetic ancestry - making them like him, rather than the other way around. Who knows? Perhaps humans such as the lot of us on this site share a common - though far removed - genetic ancestry with Godzilla's species. He does, after all, possess opposable thumbs, a physical characteristic present almost exclusively in higher forms of mammal - including primates and humans! :)

@True American Godzilla

And now I'm suddenly picturing infant Godzillas (who look NOTHING like Minilla, thankfully) practicing their atomic breaths on each other, and one accidentally slightly not very much scorching another, and that one running to its mother. What's wrong with me?

Also, that, and two male Godzillas in a territorial dispute, flashing their dorsal spikes, since both are very equally matched in size. Both have a relatively equal brightness to their spikes, so they duke it out in a very Legendary (yeah, I know, terrible) fashion. And then the turf-owner uses his atomic breath on his competitors's face, leaving a small burn since it wasn't a super intense discharge.

Yes, I DID think of all that right off the top of my head.

To see these animals together and in their natrual habitat among other colossal members of their ecosystem would be amazing as I've said time and time again, truly breathtaking!

yeah komodo dragon's kick butt! :)