Seething Bazelgeuse Ecology

In-Game Information
"The scales of this Bazelgeuse variant burn hotter than normal, increasing in number and explosion radius as time passes."

-Hunter's Field Guide, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Taxonomy

 * Order: Saurichia
 * Suborder: Wyvern Feet
 * Infraorder: Explosive Scale Wyvern
 * Superfamily: Flying Wyvern
 * Family: Bazelgeuse

Habitat
Unlike their regular cousins, Seething Bazelgeuse has not been known to venture anywhere outside the Elder's Recess. Whether this behavior is the result of recent seismic anomaly or simply the variants' natural tendency is also not known. It is apparent however, that regular Bazelgeuse population coincidentally vanish from the New World during the same period the Variant was discovered.

Ecological Niche
Seething Bazelgeuse is a dominant predator like their regular cousins, if not much more so. The Variant species could easily defend its turf even with the recent ecological intrusion that brought the likes of Glavenus, Brachydios and Tigrex into the Recess. Said monsters would rather not fight Seething Bazelgeuse unless they really had to, as a confrontation with the wyvern warrants a harrowing battle and serious injury.

Like their respective regular species, Seething Bazelguese are huge competition for Savage Deviljho in the ecosystem, in which they mutually have few contenders. Fights between the two creatures are among the most destructive clashes in the natural world, with both having tremendous power of their own. Aside from monsters mentioned above, Seething Bazelgeuse have to keep their guard up for Elder Dragons which are not uncommon in the Recess.

Biological Adaptation
While most of their trait remains similar, Seething Bazelguese are much more dangerous than their regular cousin due to their advanced explosive scales. This adaptation is credited to a substance the Commission dubbed "Distilled Blast Fluid", which are naturally produced within a Seething Bazelgeuse body.

The fluid reacts to Seething Bazelgeuse's state of being, either reacting to adrenaline or through other biochemical process and would progressively make Bazelgeuse bomb scales more combustive the longer the creature is in aggravated state. This enhancement peaks when the monster's explosive scales emit a fiery purple glow and produce explosions roughly twice the size and power of normal scales. The scales also gains a sticky property to them in this enhanced state, allowing them to latch to surfaces before inevitably exploding.

There's a limit to this mechanism however, as Seething Bazelgeuse periodically have to "reset" themselves after generating supercharged scales for some time. The process can also be sabotaged through powerful enough blows to Bazelgeuse's scale-making organ.

Behavior
There are no notable differences in behavior between Seething Bzelgeuse and the regular species. The variant however seem to be more accustomed to direct combat on the ground instead of relying on carpet bombing and dive-bombs, which makes them fiercer to monsters and other monsters alike.

The variant have also shown a degree of improved tactical thinking and creativity, often throwing their scales some distance around themselves and up-close opponents. This limits the safe zone their enemy could evade to, making it much more difficult to maneuver around Bazelgeuse's wide-reaching physical attacks. The far-flung scales could also work nicely as weapon or deterrent against enemies that attack from distance, which the normal species were very weak against.