Stride Sauceback

The stride sauceback split from its ancestor. Some swift saucebacks moved out of the beaches and found new, more challenging prey in the xatazelle. This resulted in an evolutionary arms-race between the swift sauceback and the xatazelle. They are built for speed, perfect for chasing down their favorite prey, the gracilxata. While they venture into the wooded areas from time to time, they prefer open ground, which gives them more space to run. They have patches of longer feathers on its extremities to allow some protection from the elements as well as to streamline themselves while sprinting. However, the rest of the feathers are much shorter for aerodynamics. Their legs are longer and more muscular, built in a similar way to Earth's ostriches. Their breathing holes are raised into a fan on the base of the tail, to catch as much are as possible while it runs. They have a more powerful respiratory system to deliver the high-oxygen needs of a marathon predator; small auxiliary air sacs are located in the tail to increase intake and lighten the tail. Like their ancestor they live in packs of 5-10; individuals recognize members of he pack by smell, and the hierarchy is determined by age. They are constantly on the move across West Dixon's open ground, in searching for or chasing after herds of Xatas; those that can't keep up are abandoned. They hunt on the run, singling out a few individuals and working together to pulling them down with their longer maws and hook-like tusks. Inter-pack interaction depends on the circumstance: if one group is eating they will defend their meal, otherwise they will briefly intermingle before regrouping and separating. A pack will only be found lingering in one area when the females lay their eggs; they prefer the tropical and beach areas to lay their eggs since the young need moisture. Reproduction time is the same as their ancestor, except that the young are born more independent and need less care. Individuals live for about 15 years.