Biology of Mythical Creatures

Habitat:

Harpies are most commonly found in and around the mountains of the Mediterranean. However they have been spotted as far north as the seas of Denmark and have been found in the Bavarian Alps. The steep rocky slopes and caves and crevices provide ample housing for these humanoids, allowing for perfect nest making. The mountains make for easy landing and takeoff for hunting trips. The sea, lakes, and rivers, valleys and plains are all hunting options for the Harpy which the coasts of Italy are known for.

Behavior:

Harpies are close cousins to the Angelic species, however, harpies have more bird characteristics than their family: this is most noticeable in their actions towards humans. Harpies similarly keep their distance from humankind, however when they do approach it is not in the helpful way with which Angels are most commonly associated. Harpies are known to steal livestock, particularly sheep, or pick off traveling wagons of their bountiful supplies. In worst case scenarios they pick off wrongdoing humans to eat or to feed to their young. Harpies are very territorial even with their own kind. They prefer to keep in small family troops of three to six away from much else beside smaller mountain dwelling creatures such as goats or rams. Harpies are intelligent enough to create simple weapons of their own to hunt and gather with. Northern dwelling harpies are even known for creating clothing to cover the featherless parts of their bodies during the harsh winters. Harpies have bird vocal chords making any sort of reasoning difficult due to their short patience and seeming lack of understanding when it comes to human communication.

Life Cycle:

Harpies have a life-expectancy of around 60 years in the wild. Like other Monotremes they lay eggs, and although they are unique, among monotremes in actually having defined nipple for breastfeeding. Most young spends time with their fathers in the cave until the females are old enough to fly, at which case they climb on the mother’s backs and are dropped into the ocean at greater and greater heights learning to glide and then fly. Males rarely receive this training as most lack the hollow bones that allow for sustained flight, more than a mile or two at a time. Males instead tend to plant primitive gardens fertilized by stolen extra goods. Occasionally females in larger family units help in these gardens rather than hunt but it’s rare for males to hunt into the sea along females unless there’s a harsh winter or are by themselves waiting for a female mate.

After 14 years females are chased out of caves of their births to seek their mates while males stay home to tend to gardens and dying parents. Female harpies then search for mates by inspecting nearby caves and eating the fruit of the male’s cave to see their ability to raise plants and the soil of the cave. Females take their time on this process, stealing food from multiple males trying to woo her. Some get lost and wind up building nests along the tops of cities where there’s plenty of food to steal.  Females tend to not choose males that have still living parents so many harpy mates tend to be between older males and younger females.

Harpies can live up to 80 years in captivity but females rarely survive in the wild after their feathers start to fall out at 55. Males tend to die not long after unless they have a still living daughters to provide meat for their gardens. Though more often harpies thieving incites violence from humans. An estimated 30% of wild harpies die at the hands of humans.

Diet and Hunting:

Harpies traditionally feed on large fish in the Mediterranean. From their perches on mountains over water, Harpies can easily spot when and where a fish draws too close the surface and snatch them up. Harpies usually don’t eat fresh fish but instead take them back to  their caves and hold them over a fire just long enough to get diseases out. However these natural hunting exercises are becoming less and less common as intelligent harpies learned long ago an easy way to  get quick cooked food was to steal it from humans. In fact  because harpies steal from picnics and outdoor banquets, the Greeks named them harpia or “snatchers”

While Harpies have no qualms about killing fish themselves, a reliance on stealing human food has led to a raise in scavengers, and hungry harpies looking for human food have been known to take up dead cats, dogs, small bears, and even humans away with them. Some have even displayed vulture-like behavior in waiting for the prey to die. Others take a more direct approach and harass sickly or emotional unstable animals and humans, often driving them to suicide before ripping off what they could carry to their dens. Even more disturbingly, these victims are not cooked and eaten like their fishy prey. No human remains have been found around harpies cooking fires but from excavating the gardens the males keep, and what little human to harpy communication has been correctly interpreted, harpies plant their non-fishy victims in the males’ gardens supposedly to increase the edibility and taste of plants. Even stalks and weeds planted in corpse-nurtured garden are quickly devoured by vicious harpies.

Variations:

Icaria angelus = Angel (malak and seraph)

Icaria Karas = Tengu (hana and kuchibachi)

Gallery:

Harpy Bone and Muscular Structure by Rob Wilf

Harpy General Drawing by Olivia Moffat

Harpy From Pathfinder By Wizards of the Coast

Greek Depiction of Harpies

Tengu(Hana)

Kuchibachi Tengu

Icaria angelus malak

Icaria angelus Serph or Archangel

Credit:

Life Cycle, Diet and Hunting, Classification, Harpy Bone Muscular System: Rob Wilf

Behavior, General, Harpy General Drawing, Habitat: Olivia Moffat

The most noticeable feature of a kappa, however, is the dent in its head through which the creature carries water. Many members of Order testudines can  absorb oxygen through various parts of the body, and those in the Chalum family can absorb their oxygen through the uncovered skin on top of their head. Despite its natural specialization for water, the part does still allow the Kappa to move on land - so long as the water stays on the head. Scientists theorize that this indicates Kappas are an evolved form of sea-turtles that adapted to breathing only water, but are now making the transition back from to land.

Rob Wilf

Respiratory system:

Lungs are already ill-favoured in many turtles. Their large skeletal plates restrict diaphragm movement, making respiration challenging. Many species, including sea turtles, have compensated for this fact by developing secondary respiratory characteristics in the mouth, anus, and in certain species anywhere in the skin. Kappas have developed specialized dents in their heads, with a thick lining that resembles gills, to serve much the same purpose; absorbing oxygen in the water directly without the use of lungs.

These dents on the top of the creature’s head are referred to as Chalum bowels.Kappas dependence on these bowels seem to suggest that they are descents of deep sea turtles who became completely reliant on these constructs to breathe. However, as our deep-sea archeology is still leagues away, no current fossil records support this. The Kappa’s dependence on bowels for respiration led to scientists at one point believing that the lungs of a kappa are simply vestigial and indeed lack airways. However, recent autopsies have revealed neurons growing on the lung tissue. Scientists hypothesize that as the species evolved to be more intelligent, they simply lacked the cranial capacity to grow their primary brains and instead resorted to using the vestigial tissue for a conduit. In Layman’s terms, the lungs and brains of kappas have switched places.

Rob Wilf

Behavior: 

Kappas are generally seen as mischievous spirits, often stirring up trouble. However, they have also been noted as extremely concerned with manners, making them extremely finicky creatures. Kappas are often blamed for drownings; while trying to wrestle humans, after the human has drowned the Kappa will drink their victim's blood,  eat the liver, and many believe they may go for the victim’s soul. Besides humans, Kappas will also target important livestock and drown them, though if a Kappa is caught doing so they will apologize either verbally or in written terms; this is mostly due to their extreme vulnerability on land.

If one finds themselves confronted by a Kappa there are a small handful of ways that one could escape. Bowing very deeply as to spill the water out of its head bowl, as Kappas see politeness as the utmost importance, then re-filling the head bowel with water indebts the Kappa to the human. Another manner of escape is to go for the Kappa’s arms; they are very easily breakable due to weak tendons - just keep in mind that Kappas are very good at wrestling.

Although Kappas may seem quite malevolent in their nature, like any species, some individuals are worse than others. Various Kappas can be quite curious about human civilization and culture, some can be befriended through gifts and offerings of eggplant, soybeans, buckwheat noodles, or human children. In some areas it is common practice to eat cucumbers before entering bodies of water so the Kappa of that area will let you pass without harm, but in others it is suggested not. If the Kappa is pleased by the offering it may help irrigate farmers land, bring fresh fish which is a sign of good luck, help with illnesses, or bone setting.

To this day there are festivals to appease and please the Kappas, these take place during the equinoxes when the Kappas migrated.

Olivia Moffat

Diet/Hunting:

Kappas have a great love or vulnerability for cucumbers. Many festivals involving Kappas have cucumber sacrifices. People who go on Kappa hunting trips in Japan use cucumbers as fishing bait. Kappas will also eat other vegetables like eggplants. Vegetables are not the only things they eat however, as their diet is omnivorous. They have been known to eat people, specifically small children.

With a body similar to turtles, the Kappa’s webbed hands and feet give the them a predisposition to swimming. The Kappa spends most of its time in the water. Attacks can be expected to occur beside rivers or streams due to the good hunting conditions for the Kappas. Like a turtle, the Kappa also has a very powerful jaw, which is also great for hunting. These traits are good for aquatic hunts, but on land they are not as fast. The attack on a human would consist of dragging down underwater until the victim is fully drowned.

Bella G

Life Cycle: 

Although there are few references in mythology or popular culture as to how kappas procreate, it appears likely that kappas are oviparous meaning their young hatch from eggs. Given the creature’s similarity to certain semi-aquatic turtles, these eggs resemble riverbed stones and kappas hatch among them.

Kappas spend their lives in and around their home river. They tend to outlive the people studying them so it is difficult to gauge their age but scientist estimate  they have life spans ranging from 250 years to over 1,000 years. kappas are unchallenged in their body of water. On land kappas run the risk of being tricked out of their freedom, but are still formidable.

Although this apparently means that a kappa can live for centuries, it is unclear whether the kappa is actually immortal. Stories exist of kappas being defeated through battles of wit, where they are forced to spill the water out of the dish in the top of their skulls. This defeat includes the creature going into stasis until the dish is filled again. This type of defeat may also include death, but it is unclear whether or not this is always the case. Kappas can also lose limbs without harm, and are extremely hard to kill.

Thea A-L

Gallery:

Credit to Anderson Kolaki

Edo-period illustrations

Warriors of myth

Editors: Tony V and Bella G

Main Illustration: Olivia Moffat