Stilts (AKA "Abed's Gazelle")

edited April 2015 in Creature Contest

More records from planet Rotenmeer! introducing "Stilts":

Stilts, also known in the scientific community as 'Abed's Gazelle', is a species of herd animal native to Rotenmeer. Stilts are polyamorous, with a dominant female taking on a harem of men. The females give birth, but despite mammalian appearances, nursing and child rearing is exclusively done by the males, thanks to a crop-milk secretion from their ventral abdomen. 
Stilts have earned a unique classification to Rotenmeer in a family called 'marborids'. Stilts mainly travel open plains to court and obtain water, of which they can go without for long periods. The other bulk of their time is spent in the safety of the plentiful Bursic trees, where they graze on the tree's grass-like foliage, walking along their smaller hind legs.

For speed, Stilts are hard to match on open plains, their front legs lock together in full stride, creating a long gate that covers ground quickly. In time of emergency males will pick up offspring with their back legs while fleeing.

This species was seen openly during initial planetary surveys, however it was researcher Abed Halabi who took it upon himself to follow this species for upwards of 3 months, personally documenting a great deal of the information known about them, their family structure, and even basics of their communication system. 'Abed's Gazelle' has been described as sounding strikingly similar to zebra, sea lion, and yawning dogs.

Stilts main senses come from their large eyes and impressive 14-nostril nose, which has demonstrated being able to detect scents from as far as a mile away.These tall creatures are especially docile, though able to kick in times of desperate defense, they're more likely to run from potential predators, and are extremely inquisitive.

They travel in herds of up to 50, with perhaps a half dozen of them being female's who are easy to spot with their brightly marked noses. these markings are used typically to attract and court males, as well as being useful flags in times of a crisis. Sometimes several packs will merge during migrations, at such times offspring ready to leave will be dispersed with other herds. Females give birth to one or two at a time, but once entering adulthood rarely go for longer than two weeks without being impregnated, with each gestation taking about 2 months. Despite the imbalanced male-female ratio in herds, Stilts are extremely romantic, and competitions to mate or raise offspring between males are rare, taking on a more communal role.

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-Dave

Post edited by david wentworth on

Comments

  • Incredibly cool art!
  • David, I really like how much you thought these guys through. It would be cool to see how the front legs work normally, such as how they get up and down. Tried your link, didn't work. 
  • edited April 2015
    Thank you for your kind words! :D and also, thank you for telling me the link was broken!*edit: fixed link*  this link below should work, and if it doesnt, you cant find my website page links on my main website also linked below :)

    https://www.facebook.com/artofDavidWentworth

    www.davidwentworthart.com

    Post edited by david wentworth on
  • No problem, okay the facebook link works, but your website did not. Gotta love trying to put links on discussion boards! Believe me, I have been there. 
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