|
The correct title is unknown. |
- « "Stocky, well muscled, maybe a type of primate; huge sharp claws, the ability to camouflage, as if disappearing into it's environment." »
- — Abby's Sketchbook[src]
Camouflage Beasts, sometimes shortened to Camo Beasts, were fast and agile humanoid creatures from the future, which possessed the ability to camouflage themselves against numerous backgrounds by chemically changing the tone of their skin.
Characteristics[]
Camouflage Beasts appeared to be a derived form of primate, which possessed traits of multiple species, and bore a resemblance to the Madagascan aye-aye. It possessed yellow, sunken, catlike eyes, which seemed to contract depending on the creature's mood, large ears resembling those of the aforementioned aye-aye, long, sharp fangs, and highly muscular limbs with deadly claws. The Camo Beast stood at approximately two or three feet tall, and possessed a hunched bipedal stance. Camouflage Beasts apparently had a significantly longer lifespan than most modern day mammals, as one Camo Beast was still alive in the present fourteen years after it had originally come into the present through an Anomaly.
The Camo Beast camouflaged against a sofa minutes after coming through the Anomaly. (Episode 3.2)
Camouflage Beasts' most unique and notable ability is that they could chemically change the tone of their skin so as to perfectly blend in with any background; this ability to become almost invisible both allowed Camo Beasts to evade being spotted by other animals such as humans, and gave them a major advantage over their prey and enemies in a skirmish. A Camo Beast's 'default' skin tone was a dark reddish-brown colour, but it could change it to pitch-black, pale-grey, bright yellow, and presumably many others, at will. Camouflage Beasts were capable of immense levels of speed and agility when agitated; able to move very swiftly across rooms to avoid being aimed at and surprise enemies and could even cling to walls like lizards.
Camouflage Beasts possessed very high levels of intelligence and a large memory span of over fourteen years. One Beast recognised an Anomaly as a gateway back to its home after fourteen years marooned in the present, and Abby Maitland suspected that the creature had actually been waiting for the Anomaly to reappear so it could go home. It is also thought that Camo Beasts could even be intelligent enough to possess their own language, as one Camo Beast appeared to make a hissing, whispering, muttering noise to itself when it was alone. Camo Beasts were very dangerous to humans, as when a Camouflage Beast encountered and was agitated by human contact, it would become extremely vicious and aggressive; relentlessly cornering and launching an attack against said humans in a deadly, savage frenzy.
Camouflage Beasts, when provoked and agitated by human contact, would apparently kill the human victim by dragging or pinning them down and then using their claws to savagely rip and tear into the human's torso, until they were dead or until the Camo Beast was driven to flee by more humans' presence. Camo Beasts are apparently carnivorous or omnivorous, and probably devoured smaller animals, as Emily implied that the Camo Beast encountered by the ARC team would have gone after and devoured animals such as housepets from the local neighbourhood without an easier food source. Though extremely dangerous, it was possible for a human to partially tame a Camo Beast by regularly feeding it pieces of meat - the Camo Beast would then go to these humans for food when hungry, and it would also stop the Camo Beast from hunting live animals for food (although it wouldn't stop it attacking humans who disturbed its lair). (Episode 3.2)
History[]
It is unknown what species the Camouflage Beast evolved from in the future, but it possessed characteristics of the aye-aye, felines and primates. Abby Maitland's sketchbook suggested that the Camo Beast could be a descendant of chimps or other modern day apes. (Primeval Evolved)
Incursions and encounters[]
Episode 3.2[]
- « "The creature, can camouflage itself!" »
- — Abby Maitland
The Camouflage Beast snarling at Abby Maitland and Ryan Mason. (Episode 3.2)
A Camouflage Beast came through an Anomaly to a secluded house in the mid 1990s, and attacked three kids who had broken into the house. While one of them, Patrick Quinn, escaped through the Anomaly into the home of the Camo Beasts, another, Ryan Mason escaped the house. After this, when the Anomaly closed, the marooned Camouflage Beast remained hiding in the house for the following fourteen years, using its ability to camouflage itself to evade capture. However, noises from the Camouflage Beast were still heard, and led to rumours that the house was haunted. A little girl, Emily, discovered the Camo Beast at some point, and fed it sausages at night so that it didn't try to kill anyone in Emily's neighbourhood.
The Camo Beast shortly before returning through the Anomaly (Episode 3.2)
Fourteen years after the Camo Beast came through the house Anomaly, when the ARC team travelled to the house looking for an Anomaly and visited it numerous times, the Camouflage Beast watched and sometimes even stalked them around the house. At one point it even attacked Abby Maitland when she was alone in the house.
When Ryan Mason and Jimmy Keel entered the house one day, and the ARC team went in to rescue them, the Camouflage Beast launched an attack; killing Jimmy by ripping into his back, and using its agility and camouflage ability to evade the team's attempts to shoot it. During the Camo Beast's attack, when the Anomaly it originally came through reopened, it returned through.
However, for reasons unknown, the Camouflage Beast then came back into the house through the Anomaly and attacked Jenny Lewis. Danny Quinn then took the creature by surprise by shooting it over and over until it fell back through the Anomaly. It is unknown whether or not the Camo Beast survived the numerous gunshots it sustained from Danny or even if it was the same creature as the one that entered the Anomaly.
The Camouflage Beast eating sausages from Emily. (Episode 3.2)
Episode 4.7[]
After Patrick Quinn escaped through the 1990s Anomaly into the Camouflage Beasts' time period, he spent a matter of years there among them. He had to kill many Camo Beasts to survive, until apparently he eventually escaped to another time period.
Trivia[]
- Like the Giant Burrowing Insect, it was never mentioned what modern species the Camouflage Beast could have been descended from; however the Camouflage Beast physical appearance was based on the real life Madagascan aye-aye which it resembles.
- Initially, the episode was meant to start with the discovery of a dead body covered in what seemed to be knife wounds from a human attack, but came from the large claws of the Camo beast. This scene was scrapped, but the large knife-like claws of the Camo beast were retained.[1]
- It is unknown what mythical creature Cutter, based the Camo-beast on, to use in his Matrix to predict the Abandoned House Anomaly. Due to the Camouflage Beast's resemblance to a gremlin, it has been suggested by some fans that the Camo Beast may have inspired the folklore of gremlins or possibly the Hopkinsville Goblins.
- The Camouflage Beast is the only creature incursion during Nick Cutter's era (Episode 1.1 - 3.3) that Cutter does not encounter. It is also the first creature that Danny and Patrick Quinn encounter.
- Some fans believe due to a statement by Helen Cutter in Episode 1.6 that the Future Predator can camouflage itself like the Camo Beast. However, it is likely that Helen was actually saying the Predator was simply skilled at hiding and blending in with its surroundings; not that it could chemically change its skin's colour to match backgrounds.
- The ultimate fate of the Camouflage Beast from Episode 3.2 is left unknown but it is likely that it is dead as Danny shoots it in the head and even if it did not die immediately from the headshot, such a small creature could not survive that many gunshot wounds.
- The Camouflage Beast was never called so onscreen, but the name has been applied to it in Primeval Evolved and in other spin-off media such as comics and sticker books.