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クルクルカン
The kurukurukan, singular and plural, are a semi-sapient race native to Taiie IV. They are among the most advanced lifeforms on that planet, bridging the gap between reptilian and avian in much the same way that the archaeopteryx did on (the real) Earth's Late Jurassic period, and stand out among the mostly piscean and amphibian denizens of the young world, where they rule the canopies; they are no match for the giant amphibians and less developed, but larger and deadiler, early reptiles, but reign unchallenged and supreme in the skies.
They look in some ways similar to an artist's depiction of an archaeopteryx.
They are of a serpentine build, elongated with a snakelike head, and squamous, most of the surface of the skin covered in scales. Two upper limbs emerge from their dorsal side at about 1/4 of the way down the body from the head. They are formed into wings, and feathered, but retain a prehensile appendage at the third joint consisting of two two-jointed, taloned digits with a mutually opposable, one-jointed thumb. Three digits are webbed, forming the wing itself, in the same manner as a bat. These digits have three joints each.
The body at the wings' point of attachment is significantly thicker than the rest of the body, due to a much greater density and amount of muscle, giving the strength for the wings to provide lift.
Halfway down the body is another set of limbs, terminating in prehensile appendages with five two-jointed fingers and a mutually-opposed, one-jointed thumb, all bearing raptor-like talons. The legs are quite muscular, of about the same density as the torso muscles that attach to the wings. They are almost froglike, and rest plantigrade when the kurukurukan is on a flat surface. The kurukurukan initiates flight by leaping into the air, and they are capable of astonishing leaps, even without flying, of almost then times the creatures' length. The limbs are ill-suited for walking, however, more for climbing or jumping. When a kurukuran must move on the ground, it crawls with its wings folded, using the digits of the upper limbs to pull itself, while the lower limbs push, its belly barely a centimeter above the surface. They are also capable of slithering by folding their limbs beneath them, but this is slow and awkward, unless the kurukurukan is swimming, a task at which it excels, moving much like an iguana, with surprising speed and agility.
The kurukurukan's tail is thick, muscular, and is fluked on the end. The fluke bears a plume of feathers, which is used to provide stability and steering in flight, and propel the animal through water.
Their skulls are partially-fused, and held together by tough cartilage. This allows the creature to fit its head into very small spaces like a rat, a distinct advantage, because the omnivorous kurukurukan are primarily omophagous, and also feed on small animals that burrow into the ground or the hollows of the large trees and giant ferns of Taiie IV. Their teeth are that of a carnivore in evolutionary transition to being an omnivore. Most of the teeth are fanged, and backwards-curving with small serrations. Its canines are much longer than its other teeth, and straighter, while its incisors are chisel-like, and extremely sharp. The esophagus features a muscular gizzard, lined with mineral deposits at maturity, for help in the digestion of fibrous plant and fungal material. They are also known to swoop down and snatch small creatures off of the ground, or small fish that are close to the water's surface.
Kurukurukan have very highly developed senses of smell, with coiled sinuses having a lot of surface area, assisted by the long tongue, which is pointed and tubelike, rather than forked. Pit glands help the animal detect heat, and its eyes are large, adapted to the dim light of Taiie's lower canopy. Bright lights hurt the kurukurukans' sensitive eyes and disorient them. The kurukurukan has color vision, and there is evidence that it can see into the ultraviolet, but has problems with the red end of the visible light spectrum, wavelengths which do not as easily penetrate the thick atmosphere and heavy foliage of its home. They have fairly good hearing, despite having no external ears, assisted by tiny, downy feathers around the ear canal, and inside its outer portion. Larger feathers, of which the kurukurukan has conscious directional control, provide protection to the aural canal and rudimentary focusing.
The scales of a kurukurukan are largest on the ventral, where they are thick, lateral bands. They are smallest on the limbs. The scales are darker in color on the dorsal than they are on the ventral, and are brightly colored. The dominant color is green, but there are blue, red, yellow, and orange as well, and provide suitable camouflage in the flowered foliage of the early angiosperms of the upper canopy. The geometric patterns formed by the multicolored scales seem to be unique to the individual. There is a mane of plumage around the base of the head, and a crest down the center of the dorsal spine, as well as on the wings and at the base of the tail. Their coloration is similar to that of the scales, but much brighter, and the patterns likewise seem unique to the individual. Other than a measure of camouflage, there is no discernable purpose to the colors, as both sexes seem to have equally bright plumage. The only variation is that the young have duller colors.
The species is, as stated, bigender sexual differentation, and they reproduce sexually, mating year-round. They are egg-laying, the females fertile once every three standard weeks or so, becoming so at about six standard months of age. They gestate in the eggs for a period of about one standard month. The eggs are soft-shelled, tough, but easily rent from the inside by the young kurukurukan's talons and fangs. The young are protected fiercely by both parents, who remain together and with the young until they mature, a period of about five standard months. Kurukurukan have not been discovered for long enough to have discerned their maximum lifespan, but DNA degradation and tooth wear have placed the oldest studied individuals at about twelve standard years, though most of the older adults have been in the nine-year-old range. Both sexes apparently remain fertile throughout their lifetime. When not a mated pair with young, they have no real group structure, but tend to congregate loosely in areas of a few square kilometers, with individuals out side of the denser population areas being rare, and generally being between two relatively proximate population areas.
Females and males are roughtly the same size, only detailed examination can discern sex. They hatch at about ten centimeters in length, and are about one meter long from nose to tail at maturity, with a wingspan of almost three meters. Kurukurukan apparently continue to grow throughout their lifetime, with the oldest known specimen being also the largest, just under thirteen years old, 2571cm in length with an impressive 6324cm wingspan. Until about three months, the young possess rudimentary gills. They can live submerged in water with an adequate oxygen supply virtually indefinitely with them. They possess sophisticated, four-chambered lungs like birds, for efficient gas exchange, and their hearts are eight chambered, keeping their oxygenated and deoxygenated warm blood separate. Their metabolisms are incredibly fast, and most of their time awake is spent eating, with the bulk of the remainder spent looking for food- they are neither exclusively nocturnal or diurnal, being most active at the twilight periods around dawn and dusk, spending a good deal of the middle periods of night and day asleep.
Kurukurukan are not known to fight among themselves, except for 'wrestling matches' that serve social purposes such as bonding, play, and issues of dominance, but are very aggressive to any species which they recognize as either food or a threat to their young. Their thick scales and dense muscle are, at maturity, a solid defense against the teeth and claws of anything about their size, and against considerably larger creatures as well, especially the older, larger specimens, whose scales thicken with their age commesurate with their size. This serves to protect their bones, which are hollow and quite brittle. They kill prey by constriction and biting, not being poisonous, and defend themselves against threats by biting, raking with their rear claws, wing buffets, and whipping their thick tails. They are capable of striking from the ground like a rattlesnake, and do not need to be coiled or raised up to strike like a cobra.
Kurukurukan are surprisingly intelligent, about on the level of a dog or pig, though not quite approaching that of an advanced primate. They have the primitive cunning and problem solving abilities observed in some octopi and cuttlefish, and outstanding memories. They have refined instincts and are incredibly curious, demonstrating a remarkable capacity for learned behavior and recognition of individuals of other species. Specimens taken into captivity for study have shown a proclivity for escape, but on the other hand, initial experiments have shown them to be very easily trainable, and quite friendly and companionable (once they cease perceiving Yamatain species as a threat, that is). Their high metabolic requirements, light sensitivity, and odd activity cycle are seen to be barriers to the kurukurukan having any sort of purpose useful to Yamatai in any tactical or service capacity, however.
Export of kurukurukan from Taiie IV, or their admission aboard YSA ships, is, of course, prohibited pending further pathological and ecological impact study.
(History Snack: The name クルクルカン (kurukurukan) is the katakana equivalent of Kulkulkan, the Mayan name that is the origin of the more familiar Toltec/Aztec Quetzalcouatl, meaning feathered serpent! *^_^* )
The kurukurukan, singular and plural, are a semi-sapient race native to Taiie IV. They are among the most advanced lifeforms on that planet, bridging the gap between reptilian and avian in much the same way that the archaeopteryx did on (the real) Earth's Late Jurassic period, and stand out among the mostly piscean and amphibian denizens of the young world, where they rule the canopies; they are no match for the giant amphibians and less developed, but larger and deadiler, early reptiles, but reign unchallenged and supreme in the skies.
They look in some ways similar to an artist's depiction of an archaeopteryx.
They are of a serpentine build, elongated with a snakelike head, and squamous, most of the surface of the skin covered in scales. Two upper limbs emerge from their dorsal side at about 1/4 of the way down the body from the head. They are formed into wings, and feathered, but retain a prehensile appendage at the third joint consisting of two two-jointed, taloned digits with a mutually opposable, one-jointed thumb. Three digits are webbed, forming the wing itself, in the same manner as a bat. These digits have three joints each.
The body at the wings' point of attachment is significantly thicker than the rest of the body, due to a much greater density and amount of muscle, giving the strength for the wings to provide lift.
Halfway down the body is another set of limbs, terminating in prehensile appendages with five two-jointed fingers and a mutually-opposed, one-jointed thumb, all bearing raptor-like talons. The legs are quite muscular, of about the same density as the torso muscles that attach to the wings. They are almost froglike, and rest plantigrade when the kurukurukan is on a flat surface. The kurukurukan initiates flight by leaping into the air, and they are capable of astonishing leaps, even without flying, of almost then times the creatures' length. The limbs are ill-suited for walking, however, more for climbing or jumping. When a kurukuran must move on the ground, it crawls with its wings folded, using the digits of the upper limbs to pull itself, while the lower limbs push, its belly barely a centimeter above the surface. They are also capable of slithering by folding their limbs beneath them, but this is slow and awkward, unless the kurukurukan is swimming, a task at which it excels, moving much like an iguana, with surprising speed and agility.
The kurukurukan's tail is thick, muscular, and is fluked on the end. The fluke bears a plume of feathers, which is used to provide stability and steering in flight, and propel the animal through water.
Their skulls are partially-fused, and held together by tough cartilage. This allows the creature to fit its head into very small spaces like a rat, a distinct advantage, because the omnivorous kurukurukan are primarily omophagous, and also feed on small animals that burrow into the ground or the hollows of the large trees and giant ferns of Taiie IV. Their teeth are that of a carnivore in evolutionary transition to being an omnivore. Most of the teeth are fanged, and backwards-curving with small serrations. Its canines are much longer than its other teeth, and straighter, while its incisors are chisel-like, and extremely sharp. The esophagus features a muscular gizzard, lined with mineral deposits at maturity, for help in the digestion of fibrous plant and fungal material. They are also known to swoop down and snatch small creatures off of the ground, or small fish that are close to the water's surface.
Kurukurukan have very highly developed senses of smell, with coiled sinuses having a lot of surface area, assisted by the long tongue, which is pointed and tubelike, rather than forked. Pit glands help the animal detect heat, and its eyes are large, adapted to the dim light of Taiie's lower canopy. Bright lights hurt the kurukurukans' sensitive eyes and disorient them. The kurukurukan has color vision, and there is evidence that it can see into the ultraviolet, but has problems with the red end of the visible light spectrum, wavelengths which do not as easily penetrate the thick atmosphere and heavy foliage of its home. They have fairly good hearing, despite having no external ears, assisted by tiny, downy feathers around the ear canal, and inside its outer portion. Larger feathers, of which the kurukurukan has conscious directional control, provide protection to the aural canal and rudimentary focusing.
The scales of a kurukurukan are largest on the ventral, where they are thick, lateral bands. They are smallest on the limbs. The scales are darker in color on the dorsal than they are on the ventral, and are brightly colored. The dominant color is green, but there are blue, red, yellow, and orange as well, and provide suitable camouflage in the flowered foliage of the early angiosperms of the upper canopy. The geometric patterns formed by the multicolored scales seem to be unique to the individual. There is a mane of plumage around the base of the head, and a crest down the center of the dorsal spine, as well as on the wings and at the base of the tail. Their coloration is similar to that of the scales, but much brighter, and the patterns likewise seem unique to the individual. Other than a measure of camouflage, there is no discernable purpose to the colors, as both sexes seem to have equally bright plumage. The only variation is that the young have duller colors.
The species is, as stated, bigender sexual differentation, and they reproduce sexually, mating year-round. They are egg-laying, the females fertile once every three standard weeks or so, becoming so at about six standard months of age. They gestate in the eggs for a period of about one standard month. The eggs are soft-shelled, tough, but easily rent from the inside by the young kurukurukan's talons and fangs. The young are protected fiercely by both parents, who remain together and with the young until they mature, a period of about five standard months. Kurukurukan have not been discovered for long enough to have discerned their maximum lifespan, but DNA degradation and tooth wear have placed the oldest studied individuals at about twelve standard years, though most of the older adults have been in the nine-year-old range. Both sexes apparently remain fertile throughout their lifetime. When not a mated pair with young, they have no real group structure, but tend to congregate loosely in areas of a few square kilometers, with individuals out side of the denser population areas being rare, and generally being between two relatively proximate population areas.
Females and males are roughtly the same size, only detailed examination can discern sex. They hatch at about ten centimeters in length, and are about one meter long from nose to tail at maturity, with a wingspan of almost three meters. Kurukurukan apparently continue to grow throughout their lifetime, with the oldest known specimen being also the largest, just under thirteen years old, 2571cm in length with an impressive 6324cm wingspan. Until about three months, the young possess rudimentary gills. They can live submerged in water with an adequate oxygen supply virtually indefinitely with them. They possess sophisticated, four-chambered lungs like birds, for efficient gas exchange, and their hearts are eight chambered, keeping their oxygenated and deoxygenated warm blood separate. Their metabolisms are incredibly fast, and most of their time awake is spent eating, with the bulk of the remainder spent looking for food- they are neither exclusively nocturnal or diurnal, being most active at the twilight periods around dawn and dusk, spending a good deal of the middle periods of night and day asleep.
Kurukurukan are not known to fight among themselves, except for 'wrestling matches' that serve social purposes such as bonding, play, and issues of dominance, but are very aggressive to any species which they recognize as either food or a threat to their young. Their thick scales and dense muscle are, at maturity, a solid defense against the teeth and claws of anything about their size, and against considerably larger creatures as well, especially the older, larger specimens, whose scales thicken with their age commesurate with their size. This serves to protect their bones, which are hollow and quite brittle. They kill prey by constriction and biting, not being poisonous, and defend themselves against threats by biting, raking with their rear claws, wing buffets, and whipping their thick tails. They are capable of striking from the ground like a rattlesnake, and do not need to be coiled or raised up to strike like a cobra.
Kurukurukan are surprisingly intelligent, about on the level of a dog or pig, though not quite approaching that of an advanced primate. They have the primitive cunning and problem solving abilities observed in some octopi and cuttlefish, and outstanding memories. They have refined instincts and are incredibly curious, demonstrating a remarkable capacity for learned behavior and recognition of individuals of other species. Specimens taken into captivity for study have shown a proclivity for escape, but on the other hand, initial experiments have shown them to be very easily trainable, and quite friendly and companionable (once they cease perceiving Yamatain species as a threat, that is). Their high metabolic requirements, light sensitivity, and odd activity cycle are seen to be barriers to the kurukurukan having any sort of purpose useful to Yamatai in any tactical or service capacity, however.
Export of kurukurukan from Taiie IV, or their admission aboard YSA ships, is, of course, prohibited pending further pathological and ecological impact study.
(History Snack: The name クルクルカン (kurukurukan) is the katakana equivalent of Kulkulkan, the Mayan name that is the origin of the more familiar Toltec/Aztec Quetzalcouatl, meaning feathered serpent! *^_^* )
