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Description
Many scientific names have been proposed for the being nicknamed Godzilla (among them Gojirasaurus, Godzillasaurus, Titanus, etc.) but some are preoccupied by other species and none are yet widely accepted. Like other species of kaiju, the physiology that allows Godzilla to reach sizes that completely nullify that of any other animal on the planet's history is still very poorly understood. Its external appearance certainly doesn't give much insight on this, as it for the most part resembles a species of Earth reptile; the most similarities seem to be shared with a megalosauroid dinosaur, with the notched upper jaw and semiaquatic habits indicating possible spinosaurid relations. The row of sharp, serrated keratin-like spikes that runs along the top of the tail, which itself is extremely long and used to lash at enemies with supersonic speed, resembles diplodocid sauropods, but is likely to have evolved convergently. Still, many features are unique to the creature. Over the hips and torso, the spikes are more complex-shaped, losing the regular serrations of the caudal spines for a messier rough texture, and have channels where the hard covering is much thinner, exposing bioluminent patches that flash a light purple when the kaiju faces something it sees as a threat. Two rows of teeth are present on the upper and lower jaw; the external row has the largest teeth at the front of the mouth, creating a trap similar to what's seen in spinosaurids and coelophysoids, while the internal row has the largest teeth at the back, similar to some ancient amphibians.

The largest of predatory monsters, or at least those known to man, adult Godzilla are mostly found in oceans at depths between 100 to 500 meters, seemingly only going through deeper water when they need to travel between suitable territories. They spend relatively little time swimming in open water, and may prefer instead to tread and push off from the sea floor with their legs and enormously powerful tail, either propelling themselves forward, or rising to the surface to take in air with their raised nostrils, which can be closed when submerging. How long they can hold their breaths for, especially when at low activity levels, is unknown. Despite this, they have no trouble moving in shallow water or on land, being also found in both habitats. Juveniles on the other hand are mostly terrestrial, slowly taking more to the water as their proportions and diet change with ontogeny.

Adults prey on multiple other species of kaiju and whales in addition to soaking in nuclear radiation. When feeding on other living beings, the food intake seems to be similar to the predicted for scaling relations for an animal of its size, which is less than might be expected just by looking at one - a food item the size of a blue whale can keep a freshly matured adult fed for a week, although it would require more at larger sizes or if the creature is migrating or spends significant time facing off rivals. Juveniles are generalistic hunters of almost always small prey, running down whatever they can catch with their long legs and slim build (these are so different from those of adults that they were thought for a long time to be entirely separate creatures); while similar to those of a cursorial bird, the legs have the advantage of extra power from the caudofemoralis longus muscles, which unlike in birds didn't shrink to account for the loss of the tail. Once caught, prey is dispatched either with kicks or by being torn apart by the hand claws; the serrated tail spines, although good at tearing through hide when whipped at a target, are largely used for self-defense.

More than two adult Godzillas have never been seen together; even so, the only occasion in which they do meet without fighting is to mate, and the mating process has never been rigorously documented. It's believed that the species can reproduce without a partner, by parthenogenesis or a similar method, but will occasionally have sex in order to keep genetic diversity. Juveniles on the other hand tolerate eachother's presence, even forming swarms if there's a high enough number of them in a certain area. This is probably mostly for protection, because baby Godzilla are common, easy prey for predatory kaiju, but in times of scarcity mobs or swarms of juveniles will gather to attempt taking on larger and more challenging prey items than usual. The coordination with which they do this is unsettling to watch, and it has been suggested that juvenile Godzilla are the most intelligent of reptiles (if they can really be classified as such). Tests on the intelligence of adult Godzilla have never been done.

Godzillas reproduce by laying spherical eggs that seem extremely, even ridiculously small relative to the colossal parent, the smallest barely exceeding 30 cm (1 ft) in diameter. This may be because Godzilla eggs are bound to the same rules as those of normal reptiles; beyond a certain size, the shell is unable to be thick enough to support its own weight while also being thin enough to cater to the embryo's gas exchange needs. An advantage of this is that adults can lay extreme numbers of eggs with relatively little cost to themselves, not unlike many species of fish: it's estimated that a recently matured adult can lay as much as 50.000 eggs in one breeding season, although mothers will try to spread this number out over as many nesting sites as possible, to avoid predators finding them all. The amount of eggs individuals can produce probably increases with their body size, so the clutch of a maximum-sized specimen may number in the hundreds of thousands. Life is harsh on such small hatchlings, so much that even a single individual per clutch would be lucky to make it to breeding age (how long the growing process takes isn't known, but it can be said for certain that it takes the length of multiple human generations).

The most famous feature of Godzilla is its bizarre breath weapon; juveniles can spew fire out of their mouths by combining an internal gas and the heat produced when absorbing radiation, which if not expelled would eventually cook them alive. Besides preventing overheating, it can also be used in self-defense and when attacking larger prey, aiming at vulnerable areas or open wounds to maximize damage. The heat and volume of these increases as the kaiju age, with the amount of energy expelled by adults being so powerful that they can refine their ''atomic breaths'' into a far-ranging electromagnectic pulse around their bodies or a single, concentrated forward-facing ray that destroys anything it comes into contact with.

(The adult represented here, at ~100 m in height, is the minimum size at which they reach sexual maturity. They continue to grow afterwards and the species seems to have high individual variation, with recorded 150m+ specimens, and some believe based on tracks and eyewitness accounts that there may be one or more specimens currently alive that surpass 250m in height. If one were to measure the body of one of these titans, assuming that they exist at all, the length from its snout to the tip of its tail would reach one kilometer.)

Redwood tree (at ~91 m / ~300ft tall) silhouette made by Paleop
Blue whale silhouette from www.northsailing.is/whales-and…
Human silhouette from www.onlygfx.com/20-woman-silho…
Plates based off the NECA Legendary Godzilla figure (2019): images-na.ssl-images-amazon.co…

Other than the Shin and Legendary Godzillas, inspiration was also taken from the GoT dragons, Baryonyx, the tail of diplodocids, and leatherback turtles.

Description
Many scientific names have been proposed for the being nicknamed Godzilla (among them Gojirasaurus, Godzillasaurus, Titanus, etc.) but some are preoccupied by other species and none are yet widely accepted. Like other species of kaiju, the physiology that allows Godzilla to reach sizes that completely nullify that of any other animal on the planet's history is still very poorly understood. Its external appearance certainly doesn't give much insight on this, as it for the most part resembles a species of Earth reptile; the most similarities seem to be shared with a megalosauroid dinosaur, with the notched upper jaw and semiaquatic habits indicating possible spinosaurid relations. The row of sharp, serrated keratin-like spikes that runs along the top of the tail, which itself is extremely long and used to lash at enemies with supersonic speed, resembles diplodocid sauropods, but is likely to have evolved convergently. Still, many features are unique to the creature. Over the hips and torso, the spikes are more complex-shaped, losing the regular serrations of the caudal spines for a messier rough texture, and have channels where the hard covering is much thinner, exposing bioluminent patches that flash a light purple when the kaiju faces something it sees as a threat. Two rows of teeth are present on the upper and lower jaw; the external row has the largest teeth at the front of the mouth, creating a trap similar to what's seen in spinosaurids and coelophysoids, while the internal row has the largest teeth at the back, similar to some ancient amphibians.

The largest of predatory monsters, or at least those known to man, adult Godzilla are mostly found in oceans at depths between 100 to 500 meters, seemingly only going through deeper water when they need to travel between suitable territories. They spend relatively little time swimming in open water, and may prefer instead to tread and push off from the sea floor with their legs and enormously powerful tail, either propelling themselves forward, or rising to the surface to take in air with their raised nostrils, which can be closed when submerging. How long they can hold their breaths for, especially when at low activity levels, is unknown. Despite this, they have no trouble moving in shallow water or on land, being also found in both habitats. Juveniles on the other hand are mostly terrestrial, slowly taking more to the water as their proportions and diet change with ontogeny.

Adults prey on multiple other species of kaiju and whales in addition to soaking in nuclear radiation. When feeding on other living beings, the food intake seems to be similar to the predicted for scaling relations for an animal of its size, which is less than might be expected just by looking at one - a food item the size of a blue whale can keep a freshly matured adult fed for a week, although it would require more at larger sizes or if the creature is migrating or spends significant time facing off rivals. Juveniles are generalistic hunters of almost always small prey, running down whatever they can catch with their long legs and slim build (these are so different from those of adults that they were thought for a long time to be entirely separate creatures); while similar to those of a cursorial bird, the legs have the advantage of extra power from the caudofemoralis longus muscles, which unlike in birds didn't shrink to account for the loss of the tail. Once caught, prey is dispatched either with kicks or by being torn apart by the hand claws; the serrated tail spines, although good at tearing through hide when whipped at a target, are largely used for self-defense.

More than two adult Godzillas have never been seen together; even so, the only occasion in which they do meet without fighting is to mate, and the mating process has never been rigorously documented. It's believed that the species can reproduce without a partner, by parthenogenesis or a similar method, but will occasionally have sex in order to keep genetic diversity. Juveniles on the other hand tolerate eachother's presence, even forming swarms if there's a high enough number of them in a certain area. This is probably mostly for protection, because baby Godzilla are common, easy prey for predatory kaiju, but in times of scarcity mobs or swarms of juveniles will gather to attempt taking on larger and more challenging prey items than usual. The coordination with which they do this is unsettling to watch, and it has been suggested that juvenile Godzilla are the most intelligent of reptiles (if they can really be classified as such). Tests on the intelligence of adult Godzilla have never been done.

Godzillas reproduce by laying spherical eggs that seem extremely, even ridiculously small relative to the colossal parent, the smallest barely exceeding 30 cm (1 ft) in diameter. This may be because Godzilla eggs are bound to the same rules as those of normal reptiles; beyond a certain size, the shell is unable to be thick enough to support its own weight while also being thin enough to cater to the embryo's gas exchange needs. An advantage of this is that adults can lay extreme numbers of eggs with relatively little cost to themselves, not unlike many species of fish: it's estimated that a recently matured adult can lay as much as 50.000 eggs in one breeding season, although mothers will try to spread this number out over as many nesting sites as possible, to avoid predators finding them all. The amount of eggs individuals can produce probably increases with their body size, so the clutch of a maximum-sized specimen may number in the hundreds of thousands. Life is harsh on such small hatchlings, so much that even a single individual per clutch would be lucky to make it to breeding age (how long the growing process takes isn't known, but it can be said for certain that it takes the length of multiple human generations).

The most famous feature of Godzilla is its bizarre breath weapon; juveniles can spew fire out of their mouths by combining an internal gas and the heat produced when absorbing radiation, which if not expelled would eventually cook them alive. Besides preventing overheating, it can also be used in self-defense and when attacking larger prey, aiming at vulnerable areas or open wounds to maximize damage. The heat and volume of these increases as the kaiju age, with the amount of energy expelled by adults being so powerful that they can refine their ''atomic breaths'' into a far-ranging electromagnectic pulse around their bodies or a single, concentrated forward-facing ray that destroys anything it comes into contact with.

(The adult represented here, at ~100 m in height, is the minimum size at which they reach sexual maturity. They continue to grow afterwards and the species seems to have high individual variation, with recorded 150m+ specimens, and some believe based on tracks and eyewitness accounts that there may be one or more specimens currently alive that surpass 250m in height. If one were to measure the body of one of these titans, assuming that they exist at all, the length from its snout to the tip of its tail would reach one kilometer.)

Redwood tree (at ~91 m / ~300ft tall) silhouette made by Paleop
Blue whale silhouette from www.northsailing.is/whales-and…
Human silhouette from www.onlygfx.com/20-woman-silho…
Plates based off the NECA Legendary Godzilla figure (2019): images-na.ssl-images-amazon.co…

Other than the Shin and Legendary Godzillas, inspiration was also taken from the GoT dragons, Baryonyx, the tail of diplodocids, and leatherback turtles.