Greater Hippogryph
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The greater hippogryph split from its ancestor and, as its name suggests, grew even greater in size. Now exceeding the length of the mighty hagloxen, to which it might also appear externally to be more massive in comparison, it is nonetheless extremely lightweight--a mere 300 pounds--due to its system of air sacs, which it has inherited from its ancestor.
Much like its ancestor, the greater hippogryph is a carnivore which snatches prey straight from the water with its long jaws. Due to its size, it can eat a great variety of creatures which would be far too large for its ancestor to handle. It can still fly even after consuming nearly its entire body weight, though it may require a running start and a few tries to take off at that point. It can survive for a few months without a meal, but it prefers not to do this so that it does not become too weak to take off from the ground; in fact, emaciated individuals will refuse to land, relying on thermals to keep themselves airborne, so that they do not become marooned.
Outside of breeding, the greater hippogryph is generally solitary. Due to its high dietary requirements leaving it dependent on larger and somewhat rarer prey, males especially may drive others away from their personal space, which is not so much a territory as a broad span around their current location, which is as big an area as the individual can defend. Females are more tolerant of one another, with the expectation that males won't help them raise their chicks, thus requiring help from one another instead. Amicable interactions between males are not unheard of, however: two males with their eyes on a prey item too large for either to catch on their own may signal an intent to cooperate to one another with their tails, following which they will work together.
The greater hippogryph only has a breeding season once or twice a decade, the exact frequency scaling with its global population and food availability, though following an abrupt population crash its breeding cycle can shorten to as often as twice a year. It nests along beaches, preferring those with a good mix of cover and flat ground to take off, usually in a gap between mangal communities. It almost never nests on the driftwood islands, as they are not sufficiently stable to support a flying creature of this size, but a variety of islands and coastlines are fair game. Many females will gather in one area, where they will help one another take care of their eggs and hatchlings. The most attractive and dominant males will mate with many females around the world, often mating with an entire nesting colony before moving on. If a colony has already been bred by another male, newly-arrived males may attempt to destroy any eggs or chicks that already exist, but just as often the females will try to fight him off instead to minimize losses. This will be more successful the larger the colony is, and they are able to remember the appearance of a specific problem male for as long as 30 years without actually seeing him again, allowing repeat offenders to be ostracized by the female population.
Each female only lays 1-2 eggs per clutch, but breeds several times during one breeding season. The small number even compared to its ancestor reduces the amount of time that any given female will spend gravid and ensures that gravid females are still able to fly, should an inland predator actually big enough to do so try to mess with them. The greater hippogryph retains a pouch for quick transport of nestlings. Each clutch will fledge before the next one is laid. Fledging happens at just 3-4 weeks, but it can take up to 15 years for a greater hippogryph to reach full size, and even longer to start breeding.
As very little can mess with the greater hippogryph and its breeding rate is slow to avoid surpassing its food supply, it is extremely long-lived in order to maximize its reproductive success. Adults that do not die from other diseases, hunting accidents, or rival conflicts will start dying of cancer after 300 years, at which point their anti-cancer adaptations usually start to give out, but if one manages to be lucky enough to avoid this fate it can take as long as 2000 years for any other age-related health conditions to set in. Health usually fails from old age within about a century after it begins, and the longest-lived greater hippogryph known, a nigh-globally dominant male which also sired more chicks than any other during his lifetime, died from heart failure at the age of 2108.
Able to chirp like most saucebacks, the greater hippogryph's tongue calls are high pitched and sound almost unfitting for such a large creature.
- Species by Disgustedorite
- Week 27 species
- Generation 168
- Species
- Extant
- Fauna of Huckian Jujubee Ocean
- Fauna of Huckian LadyM Ocean
- Fauna of Huckian Mnid Ocean
- Fauna of Huckian Barlowe
- Fauna of Huckian Drake
- Fauna of Huckian Fermi
- Fauna of Huckian Kosemen
- Fauna of Huckian Lamarck
- Fauna of Huckian Ramul
- Fauna of Huckian Steiner
- Fauna of Huckian Vonnegut
- Fauna of Huckian Wallace
- Procellatheriinae
- Descendant of Hippogryph