Kentrels

Physique

Kentrels are small true dragons, roughly only 18 inches in height at the shoulder and with wingspans no larger than 5 feet across.

Species

Distribution

Kentrels are found exclusively around the shorelines of the Red Sea. The largest populations are found to the south-west, while smaller fringe populations populate all shorelines and islands.

Lifestyle

Kentrels can be likened to many species of Earth's colony-living seabirds, as they live in large social colonies atop the rocky cliff-lined shores of the Red Sea. Their day to day life consists of solitary hunting or scavenging--which may involve competing with others to steal food--and lazing about in rocky resting areas alongside their close relatives. They are noisy creatures, often calling out with trilling calls and chattering with companions.

Social Structure

Kentrels reside in large colonies of 50-200 individuals. The largest colonies have permanent nesting grounds which have spanned generations, while smaller fringe populations may be more mobile and inconsistent. These colonies exist year round and have semi-permanent populations save for the occasional vagabond who determines to migrate to new colonies.

Having many watchful eyes in a colony helps protect all members from predation, but it also introduces more intraspecies competition over resources. Sleeping at the edge of the colony space makes one more exposed to predators, and as such all Kentrels compete over safer sleeping areas. One evolutionary feature which helps secure this is the division of the larger colony's social structure into many family-based 'packs'. These long-lasting coalitions of closely related individuals & their mates cooperate to mutually secure safe nesting/sleeping space; packs will continually maintain the same owned space, taking turns with each other to switch off who is defending the turf and who is searching for food. With Scourge's lack of day/night cycle, the majority of the year sees bustling activity at Kentrel colonies as individuals are constantly leaving and returning.

Diet and Feeding Behavior

Kentrels primarily consume small aquatic and semiaquatic creatures in the water, but will also opportunistically consume arthropods on the shoreline or recently-deceased corpses.

A Kentrel's primary hunting strategy involves hovering over the waves watching for aquatic fish and arthropods near the water's surface. Upon spotting targets, they will dive down into the water and attempt to capture prey using their maw or sharp foreclaws. They aren't capable of swimming very fast in the water and usually rely on ambush when swimming. They are knowledgeable in the physical strengths and weaknesses of many different kinds of prey animals, such as how to access the flesh of hard-armored arthropods; they have even been witnessed carrying small armored arthropods high over rocky areas and dropping them onto the sharp stones to crack their shells.

While they prefer hunting over water, Kentrels have also been seen chasing semiaquatic arthropods on the shorelines or scavenging washed-up carcasses. They treat carrion with suspicion and will only consume dried, beached carrion or recently-deceased corpses; the high bacterial concentration in the Red Sea's water quickly infests any corpses within it, and Kentrels can easily become sick if they consume too much water or a carcass floating in water.

While Kentrels live in cooperative packs in the colony's resting space, they lose all cooperation when hunting beyond it. They frequently attempt to steal food from one another or fight over access to a larger carcass. 

Hibernation

Kentrels survive the Red Sea's Dark Season through hibernation. During the autumn-like Withdrawal season, Kentrels make themselves busy hunting excessively for food and begin building up a storage of fat. It is during this time that many turn to alternative food sources, such as fruits which only become fertile during this time of the year.

They will be unable to eat any food during the Dark Season, as the light levels are too low for them to see and fly. They will survive those days by entering a hibernation-like comatose state. This heavily contributes to the importance of a pack to secure a safe resting area, as those subjected to sleeping at the edge of the colony are likely to fall victim to the Nightstalkers which become more active during that time of the year. Though Kentrels can easily escape Nightstalkers by flying, they would face the issue of both expended energy and having to land safely while almost entirely blind. The Dark Season sees the highest fatality rates for their species both as victims of predation and to starvation in those that were unprepared.

Lifecycle

Kentrels impress potential partners through a bizarre behavior seen only in this genus: with the scaley plates along their necks rooted to delicate muscles, they can shift these scales rapidly to create a rattling, cicada-like sound. This is accompanied by posing in front of prospective mates and performing an impressive dance that varies per species. Kentrels are monogamous and mate for life, and as thus their choice in partner is a delicate operation.

Nesting

Nesting occurs any time during the Red Sea's Emergence and Rainy seasons. A nest is built out of sticks and pebbles within the family's turf, where it will enjoy the protection of the pack. If there is not enough room to construct nests for all nesting members, they may become aggressive towards each other to secure space for their own offspring. It is often around this time that members of large packs deviate to secure a turf of their own. 

A clutch typically consists of exactly 3 small eggs which are hidden underneath leaves. Within a few weeks, the eggs hatch into helpless newborns who rely heavily on their parents for food and other members of the pack for protection. They may face the occasional threat of infanticide by opposing packs, as well as small predators which threaten the young but not the adults.

Roles in Parenting

Offspring are raised somewhat communally within their pack; though their direct parents are the usually the only ones to provide the young with food, all members of the pack will protect the nest and keep the young warm.

Kentrels have an unusually high amount of same-gendered pairings in their populations, comprising up to 8% of any colony. While these pairings cannot reproduce on their own, they invoke their parental instincts by becoming obsessively protective of their relative's offspring. The high occurrences of same-gendered pairings among Kentrels is likely due to these pairings contributing to the success of their family's lineages by providing for their young relatives while not competing for their own offspring.

Adolescence

Adolescent Kentrels learn how to feed on difficult prey by their parents, but are on their own when it comes to hunting or finding food for themselves over the ocean. At 4 weeks of age, the young Kentrels are capable of flight and take their first flight by diving off the cliffside nesting space. During their young age they usually live off of scraps and scavenging, as well as begging family members for food, until they are capable of hunting on their own. 

Adolescent Kentrels live in a social space separated from that of adults, often socializing with and grooming fellow adolescents regardless of pack relations. Their semi-territorial nature is learned over time, and eventually they mesh into the livelihood of their parental pack.

Pack Progeny

Young Kentrals remain with their parental pack unless they acquire a mate (and move in with their mates' pack) or get kicked out by their superiors due to scuffles over space. Kentrals will only form mate-bonds with strangers outside of their own pack, as their pack consists mostly of relatives. The friendships formed in adolescence remain important factors during the Kentral's adult lives as those that get kicked out of their parental pack will often bond with their childhood companions to form a new pack and secure their own turf.

Ailments & Reasons for Death

At their position in the middle of the food chain, Kentrels often fall victim to predation. Their young are hunted by hive-falcons; all ages are threatened by Sand-Wyverns, Nightstalkers, and large carnivorous aquatics such as Skullsharks. Though Nightstalkers are not a threat for much of the year--being predators who remain in the jungles and are easily escaped by flying--those elusive carnivores become far more active during the Red Sea's Dark Season, and can kill as many as 8% of a population while they are blind and hibernating.

As any creature living in close contact with the Red Sea, Kentrels must also be wary of bacterial infections from the microorganism-infested waters. Any wound they suffer is almost guaranteed to get infected and result in death, and they must even avoid ingesting too much water at once. Older Kentrels with weaker immune systems usually die of bacterial disease long before they suffer physical ailments of old age.