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Sausophrey: Difference between revisions
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Having integumentary wings allowed the sausophrey to evolve slotted wings, something which membranes are far too heavy to accomplish. This allows it to soar with shorter wings than a membrane-winged creature could, a valuable boon given the fact that it must also walk on them, and it doesn’t need to rely on favorable winds. It takes advantage of thermals to fly high into the air with little energy. Its tail spike has been modified into a crest-like rudder, similar to the vertical tail of an airplane, and it is brightly colored for communication. The “tail-crest” also has ultraviolet markings which are not visible to the naked eye, but which glow pink under a blacklight. While on the ground the sausophrey covers its “tail-crest” with its tail feathers and walks primarily on its inner toe like its flightless [[Argusraptor Complex|argusraptor sp.]] cousins, with its outer toe bent back to prevent its primary flight feathers from dragging.
The sausophrey primarily consumes small ground fauna such as [[shrews]], [[nodents]], [[lizatokages]], [[spelunkhoes]], and small [[saucebacks]], but it is also not impartial to snatching up sluggish [[phlyers]] which have not fully warmed up for flight and young or grounded [[skysnappers]]. It essentially sees any small fauna that isn’t in flight as a potential meal. Without talons, it catches and kills its prey entirely with its mandibles, doing so by swooping down and snatching in a manner similar to the extinct [[Notooth Snapper|notooth snapper]]. Its mandibles bypass wood armor and short spikes. It cannot taste garlic and is tolerant of the taste of ammonia (which is present on the skin of most [[plents]] anyway), so it is therefore largely unaffected by the strong flavor of certain nodents.
The sausophrey can be a major threat to the [[Shepherd Harnessback|shepherd harnessback]], as it sees its larvae as food and will snatch them right off the backs of their hosts. As the sausophrey soars high in the sky where wind interferes with echolocation, the shepherds don’t “see” it until it’s too late, and many larvae are lost to predation. This has begun to place pressure on the shepherd harnessback.
The sausophrey is less social than its ancestor. It still nests in groups, as it nests on the ground and depends on group protection to ensure its eggs are not stolen by predators. However, outside of breeding season, it is solitary and even territorial. Nesting occurs mostly in the cover of shrubs, and it will use its leg feathers to assist in incubating its hard-shelled eggs. Like many Terran ground birds, sausophrey chicks hatch covered in down feathers and can flee from predators on foot soon after birth, though they cannot yet fly.
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