supine position

Unlike mammals, slomen have a less refined feeding system, and the chicks have to puncture the pouch to get to the "soup". The holes are very small, much like the tips of the drinking teeth of the babies. The teeth aren't very visible in the image, but they form a triangle from the bottom jaw that directs flow into the mouth. They also help with breaking the megg, these chicks have no other teeth. The younglings generally start walking on their feet no later than two months. This is when they are fully covered in fuzz and may start growing new teeth. Though that walking isn't exactly competent. Much like baby birds, they wobble around and fall at every step, especially if they try to run. Before their famous good-enough-walk they often crawl around on their ankles, with a few just ignoring that they have legs, instead dragging themselves by their arms everywhere (a behavior important to correct early).

Slims start getting their stripe-fluff latest by half a year. These feathers are more solid than the cottony covering and all show a unique stripe pattern. While they may walk just fine, they aren't yet good speakers, and even among their age, they use signs a lot more than speech. Complex words and signs come with a better understanding of concepts. Before any of that, they can't be trusted running in the fields without an older sibling. It can sometimes take over a year before a running child can be trusted with running. By this point, some children will also slowly gain new coloration that, in some cultures, will decide their gender early. This isn't always a good idea, with how long the coat takes to develop and how much assuming has to be made based on older siblings and parent colors. So most slomen until a certain age are not gendered. The new colors always start higher on the body. So most often, the face is the first to become fully covered in "adult" feathers. But yes, this transition takes their whole childhood and only becomes faster at puberty, where other changes come.

They come from temperate climates, where they roam the forests, eating animals of many sizes (usually based on pack size). Most often, they are seen in pairs (commonly of siblings), but this rule isn't unbreakable. Sometimes, packs reach over 6 members that stay together for a long period of time before they eventually separate into smaller groups. This adaptability might be why their domestication came quite naturally. From the bobole's point of view, slomen might have been great hunting buddies.

Bobole are intelligent hunters that rely on visualizing the path of their prey more than on communication between members. This makes them both adaptable and stubborn when working in bigger groups or with slomen. The usual strategy is for one individual to stay low, watching the target, while others chase it in the other's direction. The unmoving bobola waits for the moment the target is close enough to strike it. In case it fails, the one chasing will still be available on the other side to mayhaps save the hunt.

With smaller prey, they can be useful chasing the target for slomen too. But with their stubborn attitude toward their technique, it's more common for them to help keep the watch on prey and track it.

In an active hunt, the slomen direct the bigger prey to the usually-larger-breed bobola to deal the first hit, keeping the animal in grasp for a person to kill it with a weapon.

Some breeds are very territorial. For this, you will rarely see them in Ciwa, where you could consider them outlawed. Not because they could hurt a person, but because a kula could be at risk. The sacred feral population must live on.

Unlike a dog, bobolas are not as flexible to train. Little funny tricks are meant for a kula. These orbs are loyal and follow direction, but they take a lot of time to do their natural behaviors in ways most useful for people.

The easiest is for them to protect family members from threats, which is why many cultures have at least one devoted to the household kids and follow them on their mischievous journeys even when they sneak around the adults. Of course, one must establish what a threat is early on. Nobody wants an anxious bobola who bites their aunt.

In some regions, if you were to visit a village, chances are you would see them sitting by every third settlement, either sleeping or watching you. Sellers might even take them to the markets to keep thieves away.

Now, you might find these orbicular animals somewhat similar to the put-tut, but they are hardly related. Bobola are actually genetically closer to the 'slomland' bird than to slomen themselves. Just like with the raptorial shape before the mammal overtaking on earth, the upright biped is popular with convergent evolution. However, since vertebrates of the continent don't have true tails to balance them horizontally, most bipedal animals here keep their head high.