Laevis

Evil and intimidating pseudo-horse

The Makaros (Austrohippus familaris - “familiar southern horse”), at first glance appears rather similar to an actual horse, and to the people of Aeos, it is used similarly. Upon closer inspection, however, its three-toes and flexible upper lip betray its true identity - a litoptern - a unique sort of ungulate endemic to the southern hemisphere distantly related to perissodactyls. It is more specifically a proterotheriid, a clade notable for developing a single weight-bearing hoof convergently with true equines that inhibited our world’s South America. While horses exist on Aeos, they are usually too small to be mounted, or are far too aggressive to make for good domesticates (think zebras.) The sharp spurs and ruffs of fur on his face indicate that the pictured individual is a stallion, as the former are used in intraspecific combat over breeding rights. In most domestic animals, these are usually either filed down or are bred out of some breeds entirely (but others used for blood sports have these enlarged instead.)

While likely first originating from the mosaic woodlands and mountain slopes of central Keiros, makaros have since been transported to every corner of the globe along with the expansion of human civilizations across Aeos. While first domesticated for its flesh, the makaros’ primary purpose quickly shifted toward that of a working animal, being used as a source of transportation as well as a beast of burden. Through selective breeding it has been molded into a myriad of shapes and forms, ranging from elegant pony-sized breeds bred as vanity pets to animals as large and almost as powerful as draft horses. The wild ancestor of the makaros was likely a mule-sized, stocky animal, but centuries of domestication have resulted in almost all free-living populations intermixing with feral domestic stock, resulting in a great variety of body types and coat patterns. What exactly a wild makaros looks like has been lost to time.

Like the horses it resembles, the makaros is a cursorial herd-living ungulate that when returned to a wild state, prefers semi-open temperate and subtropical habitats. Unlike horses, it is primarily a browser, not a grazer (but can survive off grass partially), and it prefers to forage at the peripheries of broken forests. Like most herbivorous ungulates, they form small sex-segregated herds split between natal groups that compose of foals and mares accompanied by a coalition of related breeding stallions that defend them from rivals, and bachelor herds consisting of multiple coalitions that travel together when outside of breeding periods. Herds are nomadic, travelling between mountain slopes and lowland valleys throughout the course of the season, preferring the former during warmer months and overwintering in the latter.

A jotwha (Ailurarctos anthophilovorus, “bee-eating cat bear”)  rests in the relative safety of a gingko tree with a full belly, probably after destroying some poor farmer’s harvest.

In our reality, a somewhat common characterization of Ursus arctos is a sluggish, pudgy and somewhat cute animal that loves to gorge itself on berries and honey instead of cutesy newborn ungulates. In my worldbuilding setting, bears fit this archetype much more closely. Unlike the burly terrestrial true ursids we’re familiar with, most bears are small semi-arboreal generalists belonging to an early diverging lineage of ursoids descending from an animal similar to something like Parictis or Ursavus I dub “Ailurarctids”( “Cat-bears”). Their paws are much more dexterous than those of other bears, and they retain long flexible tails that help them remain balanced as they scurry along tree branches. 

The jotwha ("Yote-wa"), represents a rather typical ailurarctid native to Keiros. It is a cunning and adaptable crepuscular generalist about the size of a large lynx found in virtually any climate bearing sufficient tree cover to sustain its semi-arboreal lifestyle. The jotwha is infamous for its sweet tooth, being rather fond of fruits and surprisingly nectar of specific large flowers as well, which it can access with a long, flexible and sticky tongue. This tongue is also put to use when raiding the nests of eusocial insects such as termites, ants and especially bees, lapping up any honey produced as well as eggs and larvae. While less predatory than other bears, the jotwha is still a bear and will readily add eggs and small animals to its diet. Unlike more derived bears, ailurarctids do not hibernate. In more temperate climates,  jotwha undergo a dramatic change in diet over the course of the year. In the spring and summer, while the going is good, they will gorge themselves on fruit, insects and nectar before swapping to a diet of nuts, tubers and animal prey over the course of the winter and fall. 

Thankfully the jotwha is not an animal particularly dangerous to humans, being rather skittish and reclusive. This is not to say that they are harmless, as their proportionally enormous paws bear (haha) sharp claws that can grievously injure attackers. Sows with cubs can be particularly fierce, and are known to drive off predators larger than themselves in defense despite being much smaller than boars.

Stalking the subtropical mosaic woodlands, prairies, wetlands and pine flatwoods of Keiros, the setskey- Teratorhynchornis atrox ("Fierce bird with a monstruous beak")- represents the region’s most culturally significant large predator. Like other phorusrhacids, or “terror birds”, it is a top order hypercarnivore that combines speed and strength to overpower the myriad of large mammalian herbivores that shares its environment, primarily ungulates and sloths but also glyptodonts and occasionally unguarded gomphothere calves. Average setskey range between 300-400 kilograms and can reach up to 2.5 meters in height, making them one of the largest terrestrial hypercarnivores on Keiros. Setskey do not feature dramatic sexual dimorphism, but females are on average slightly heavier than males and males feature larger keratin crests on their beaks, which are unique in shape in each individual.

Setskey live and hunt together in tightly knit social units consisting of an adult hen, her mate (or two) and their adult offspring. Grown chicks will accompany their parents for some time, joining hunts and raising their younger siblings, until usually being forced to disperse when the next oldest clutch of chicks becomes old enough to do the same, though delayed dispersal can be common in ideal conditions. Young chicks are completely altricial and vulnerable, explaining why communal care is so important in an environment filled to the brim with rival predators such as hoof-hounds and gormacghul.

Like other large phorusrhacids, the setskey is a sprinter, not an endurance hunter. A setskey clan will begin a hunt by surrounding a potential prey item and concealing themselves. Group ambushes are complex and coordinated, with each member of a hunting party having a specialized role. In order to communicate silently, setskey are capable of unfurling the feather frills on the side of their heads like a cockatoo’s crest, flashing them in complex sequences. Outside of hunts, these frills also convey mood and emotional state to conspecifics. The frills are marked with ultraviolet patterning, which while invisible to most mammals, allows them to stand out to each other across large distances and keep track of each party member’s positioning while hunting.

Using its beak featuring keratin serrations and a sharp hook, the bird will strike at a vulnerable location and tear once a prey item is caught. While the beak on its own is capable of causing catastrophic damage, the tongue and palate both sport keratinous barbs which further assist in the task of shearing flesh, gripping the chunk of whatever unfortunate animal the bird has bitten into and pulling it deeper into the mouth like a crude pair of pharyngeal jaws. It is for this grizzly mechanism that Teratorhynchornis earns its name. Unlike cats, they do not use a specialized killing technique and will simply start feeding as soon as the prey can no longer continue fighting.