The Carvers

This guest entry was written and Illustrated by Troll Man.

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When the Serinaustra of old melted away, it took with it nearly all the denizens that had managed to survive upon its frozen surface for millions of years. There were only two major exceptions, the tentacle-faced scroungers and the aerial glacier ravens, both of which were adaptable enough to make it through the rough transition period between the ice age and the hothouse through scavenging the nigh endless waves of dead and dying animals around them until the ecosystem stabilized. Both groups have now greatly diversified into formidable new hunters of the warm and forested continent as prey arrived in great numbers to harvest the now lush foliage that carpets Serinaustra. While some sea ravens did not change much from lifestyles as coastal fishers, kleptoparasitic scavengers, or more ambitious aerial birds-of-prey, one subgroup abandoned the skies to evolve into larger and more fearsome terrestrial hunters.

Nearly three-hundred million years hence, most life on Serina has become truly derived from their initial forms, particularly in the strange menagerie of predators that now roam the lands. However, one group is unusual in that they resemble something that should have roamed this world much closer to the beginning of its natural history. The carvers are a group of flightless, ground-dwelling hunters descended from the morphologically primitive sea ravens, themselves a subgroup of the sparrowgulls, the one group of birds which has remained physically similar to the earliest avians on Serina. However, the world around them has changed drastically, and the carvers have had to adapt behaviorally to a world far unlike that of their distant and immediate ancestors. With free carcasses far scarcer and more difficult to find now, they are no longer mere scavengers, now actively hunting prey with hooked, flesh-tearing beaks, and propelled by long legs. They may not be either the largest or the most numerous predators of the continent, but they are adaptable are quickly diversifying into a myriad of different forms.

The joojub is a tall, forest-dwelling stalker up to eight feet tall. A silent hunter of the deep forest, it is well-adapted to the twilight conditions and months of near-total darkness that sweep over the lands in the winter months. Its blotchy green plumage camouflages it perfectly against the little bits of muted light that filters down from the canopy, while it thin and lithe frame disguise its form amongst the tall boughs of the dancing tree and polepoa groves. Its methods are silent and methodical, slowly creeping up on unsuspecting prey for upwards of hours; it is not unheard for the victim to walk itself right underneath the powerful killing beak of the carver. Nearly all of its prey consists of much smaller animals, such as skueasels, murds, lumpuses, gups, and scamps, which it can kill very quickly and without a fight. Carvers have small spike-like projections on their beak which helps grasp prey, and the joojub kills larger prey that can't be safely swallowed whole by thrashing it back and forth to break its bones or bashing it against a tree. Occasionally it hunts prey of larger sizes, such as young toratoddles or deer-like giraffowl up to fifty kilograms in weight; although stalking the prey may take hours, the attack itself is very quick. The joojub is built neither for sprinting or restraining prey weighing over thirty pounds, but with one downward strike of its powerful beak, it tries to instantly cripple its target in one blow to its neck or back.

Joojubs hunt solitarily because their prey and hunting style does not require more than one individual, but territories are controlled by family groups. These groups tend to be made up of one dominant female, several subordinate males (anywhere from one to six), and their immature offspring. Joojubs communicate over distances with high-pitched whistles, and return to a communal den after hunting. Individuals which have not been very successful in hunts recently can beg another individual to regurgitate food, while a joojub that has had a successful larger kill will usually call over other members of the clan to partake in the meal together. Nesting and rearing young occurs communally; the female lays two to four eggs, and all adults take turns incubating and feeding the young. Groups with more males tend to rear offspring to maturity with greater success, although the brood in a single year can only carry the genes of one male at a time, so the payoff is that there is much less certainty in the father passing on his genes as frequently and wasting his resources on an offspring that shares no close DNA with himself. Nesting begins around the beginning of winter, so that when the young hatch, spring arrives and they can be well-fed on the summer bounty for as long as possible. While young become independent within a single year, they often remain in their parents' territory for two or three years, as they continue to mature and hone their hunting abilities.

They remain active and hunting through the dead of the polar winter, hunting the smaller animals which also remain behind in the longdark swamp. Highly acute hearing allows them to pick out the faint breathing and rustling of hibernating animals inside their underground dens, or detecting the faint outlines made by the reflection of planetlight or auroras of creatures still foraging in the darkness. They can also leap to try and pull down tree-dwelling animals on low enough branches, or wade in wetland shallows to catch fish and other small aquatic animals. Since prey is scarcer and hard to find during this period, feeding one another helps the carvers mutually prevent starvation through the leaner times. Despite their large size, they are lightweight, only weighing about seventy to eighty kilograms, and are easily warded off by other predators, including other carver species. Although like many animals, they become far more aggressive when defending their nests or young. When threatened, joojubs will flash their bright yellow wing feathers, normally hidden beneath their dark plumage, to startle their opponent, and let out a horrendous scream to try and ward them away without having to resort to a physical confrontation. Joojubs are such stealthy hunters and normally only dwell within the darkest thickets, so often this is the first any other predator species has a good look at one and proves very effective against them.

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A much shorter, but more heavily-built carver species compared to the forest-dwelling joojub is the pack-hunting canicrow, a highly social and intelligent hunter of the open savannah. The two species diverged from a common ancestor approximately six to seven million years ago and now greatly differ in build, habitat preference, and general prey choice. Whilst the taller, but frailer joojub hunts smaller prey it can dispatch alone and with ease, the canicrow frequently brings down animals as larger or larger than itself cooperatively (although they are very generalist in terms of prey choice). Adults usually weigh between forty to fifty kilograms, but they can bring down animals more than ten times their mass. Their preferred prey are the great herds of lumps which now roam Serinaustra millions strong, from the bounding, fleet-footed lumpelopes to horned lumps which can exceed one metric ton in weight and armed to the teeth with numerous jutting spikes from their faces. Numbers are essential to the hunt, working together they must kill prey by their collective attacks at once.

Against larger prey, their hooked beaks are meant to deliver severe, but individually superficial wounds, tearing at their hides repeatedly in hit-and-run attacks, particularly on the thigh region to try and rip the leg muscles to bring the animal down. Regardless, persistence and attacking from all sides prevents the animal from defending itself effectively and wearing it down until it eventually succumbs to shock and blood loss. Smaller and fast-running prey is pursued in a group, with flankers preventing the target from breaking off, and attempting to drive the prey into denser brush where escape is unlikely. Often the prey, once securely disabled, is still alive as the carvers tear it apart and begin feeding, because their hunting method is less effective at actually killing the prey and more simply incapacitating it, which for most predators, is good enough, since the well-being of the prey as it's being eaten is generally not a priority.

Clans vary widely in size from as few as two to as many as twenty-five adult members for especially successful packs able to defend a large amount of prime territory. They are almost always lead by a matriarch, who is part of a dominant pair (although she may sometimes take two or three mates) that is given breeding priority. Because of the highly social clan structure allowing for cooperative breeding, they can rear large clutches at once. The packs are able to drive away even the larger brutes, carnivorous skuorcs, and predatory seraphs though their superior numbers, although the more social and heavily-built mordax is a much more fearsome opponent and frequent ecological rival that is often able to bully canicrows from their kills. Both species are known to try and kill juveniles of the other species whenever possible to reduce future competition.

Although formidable predators, canicrows descended from highly opportunistic foragers and have retained this aspect of their lifestyle, for they are not purely carnivorous and often feed upon a variety of soft fruits which fruit throughout the year. Actually, their breeding season is heralded by the appearance of a berry-like fruit from a species of dancing tree in late spring. These extra bits of easily obtainable and digestible nutrients helps the adults get through having to give up much of the prey they have managed to capture to feed the rapidly growing chicks during this period and having to devote much of their time and energy to protecting and rearing the nests. Male canicrows often remain in the natal group their whole lives, while females disperse once mature to join another clan or form their own clan, so sex ratios of clans tend to be skewed towards males. If a clan becomes too large, a number of subordinate adults may leave to begin their own clan, although retain periodic contact with the parent group.