Shaghoof

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Common Name:Shaghoof

Genus: Agesevalda

Species: dasýtrichosklísi

Endemic To: Norarctica

Habitat: Tundra

Diet Type: Herbivore

Diet: Grasses, Ground Shrubs, Lichens, Mosses, Rocks, Roots, Tree Leaves, Woody Plants

Height: 13 Ft(3.9 Meters)

Length: 42 Ft(12.8 Meters)

Weight: 9 Tons

Features: Elongated Rectangular Head, Enlarged Expandable Orange Nostril Chambers, Wide Flat Beaks, Pointed Head Crest, Large Orange Eyes, Medium Length-Thick Neck, Thick Muscular Rectangular Body, Shorter Forelimbs, Forefeet Ending In Five Multifunctional Digits, Enlarged Spiked Foredigit, Three Flexible Mid-Digits, Stiff Pointed Hind Digit, Large Digitigrade Hindlimbs, Hindfeet Ending In Three Hooved Toes, Elongated Stiff Tail, Extremely Thick, Shaggy, White and Creamy Brown Fur-like Feathers, Male:Large Forward Jutting Back Hump, Female:Large Back Hump.

Lifespan: 15-20 Years

Sexual Maturity: 3-4 Years

Hatch Period: 4 Months

Clutch Size: 12-16 Eggs

Personality: Confident, Even Tempered(Interspecies), Aggressive(Other Species), Quick To Become Dangerous If Threatened

Aggressiveness: High

Sociability: Medium

Group Type: Herd

Herd Size: 4-16, 100(Mating Season)

Description:The Shaghoof is the second largest species of Agesevalda, with a height of 13 feet, a length of 42 feet, and a weight of 9 tons. Their extremely thick, shaggy fur-like feathered hide  possesses countershading, being white on the upper-frontal areas and creamy brown on the lower-hind areas. They have a relatively elongated snout with a pointed head crest along the top of their rectangular head, and near the end of the snout are pronounced nostril chambers that are orange in color. These nasal structures are important for survival in the Tundra, as well as for communication, as they are highly muscular and filled with blood vessels. This allows them to warm up the air entering the airways as well as control how air flows throughout their nasal passages. They are able to constrict the passageways in order to prevent snow from entering during feeding, or expand it in order to intake more oxygen after extensive exercise, and this constriction and expansion process allows them to enhance and alter their vocalizations.

Their mouths are composed of a set of thick jaws ending in a beak that is thinner vertically and wider horizontally, with thick molars within. Their eyes are relatively large, though this is negligible as both their tears and saliva possess an enzyme that allows them to act as a natural antifreeze, preventing frostbite. Dietary wise they are somewhat diverse and they are known to change their preferred diet based on the season, and when food is abundant, they prefer succulent and nutritious grasses, lichens, and mosses, while in the winter time they are known to primarily consume the woody parts of plants, ground shrubs, roots, and even minerals via rocks. They primarily consume rocks to use as gastrolithes to break down woody plants within their crop, but rather than regurgitate them their stomach acids are strong enough to completely break down stone, and so they will simply digest them as food. Their digestion results in the production of a large amount of methane, which mixes and escapes with their breath when they exhale, resulting in a foul smell that deters anything that isn’t a Shaghoof and allows them to signal their position and presence to others.

Both sexes possess a large back hump, however females have a flatter ridge while males have a larger back hump that is more forward jutting than the female. This hump also provides them with greater torque during a grapple, and aids in survival as they store a lot of fat around it, which their body breaks down during the winter. Their hind legs are much longer and larger than their forelimbs, allowing them to achieve a bipedal stance, and due to their stiff tails they can maintain this stance for long periods, allowing them to have a higher vantage point, exert greater force in a stomp, and even run for long distances. They can also use this stance in order to use their spiked thumbs in either combat or foraging, as they allow them to break off parts of woody plants, dig up and break apart roots, or aid them in digging through snow. The hooves on their hind legs are also broad enough to prevent them from sinking into the soft snow on the ground.

The Shaghoof is a migratory Metafauna native to the tundra of Norarctica, with their hide providing a level of camouflage for their native environment, they live in herds of up to 4 constantly roaming the land in search of grazing areas and watering holes. They are incredibly protective of these resources and are known to bully away other herbivores or carnivores to protect these resources. They are known to live further into the Tundra during the summer months and will migrate southwards to warmer pastures during the winter. The Shaghoof lives in small herds of around 4 members typically, they do not have a rigorous hierarchy aside from the eldest individual leading them. They are quick to make strong bonds within these herds, even if they have not known an individual within the herd for too long. They are quite vigilant and if one spots a predator it will produce an alarm signal before immediately going on the offensive, producing aggressive calls and movements such as foot stamps, tail swings, and scratching at the ground with their thumb spike. Should the predator not back down it can be a fatal mistake, as not only will the main individual grapple onto the attacker and dig into it with its thumb spikes, but its previous calls will attract the other individuals who will charge into the opponent, knocking them over and pinning them to the ground, while the original individual either stomps the predator to death or eviscerates it with their thumb spikes. 

During the mating season multiple herds will come together to form a colony of up to 100 individuals within specific nesting sites during the fall. Once fully gathered the males and females will separate, as will the existing offspring who will gather away from the adults, lest they be attacked during the heightened emotional state of the adults. The males will gather together and begin producing the loudest vocalizations they can, with a female selecting the male she enjoys the song of the most, approaching him and then pairing off to go mate. This process continues until every female has selected a mate and mated with them, with the unchosen males forming a temporary colony and leaving together to go find other colonies before the winter sets in. Once all females have mated the males and females will rejoin the existing offspring, with paired individuals or previously existing herds taking in the existing offspring and forming a temporary larger herd of up to 16 individuals, before heading southward.

After reaching their destination the females will typically dig out a pit, fill it with leaves and soft plant material, and lay their eggs inside of it. The mothers will sit on the nest for a period of 2 hours after laying to recover energy, establish their scent and create a bond with the nest itself. They will then cover the eggs with more vegetation to cover the scent of the nest and camouflage it with the surroundings. Once covered the mother may go out and forage, returning periodically to lay on top of the nest and provide warmth, while the decaying plant material maintains it. After 4  months the eggs will hatch and the herd will raise the young communally until the next breeding season, eventually allowing the offspring to go off on its own upon reaching maturity. 

Abilities: Charge, Cold Resistance, Complex Communication, Grapple, High Physicality, Stunning Kick, Tail Smack, Thumb Claw, Warding Stomp

Powers: Sonic Boom

Naturia: Wind

Disambiguation

Charge: They are able to use their large size to charge into and plow through opponents, and depending on how much larger they are this can result in broken bones.

Cold Resistance: Due to their thick coat of fur-like feathers, large size, nasal chambers, and antifreeze-like enzyme in their tears and saliva they possess a high resistance to the cold.

Complex Communication: Thanks to their complex nasal passages, nasal chambers, and resonating chamber within their pointed head crest they are capable of producing a complex repertoire of vocalizations to communicate with members of their herd.

Grapple: They are known to use their thumb claws to dig into the flesh of an opponent, giving them better torque during a grapple, and they can use this grapple to push around an opponent and even shake around smaller opponents like a ragdoll.

High Physicality: They are known for their extreme strength, durability, and stamina as they are capable of keeping up with militarized vehicles and even knocking them over, their thick skin and feathered hide also makes them resistant to high impact projectiles.

Sonic Boom: The Shaghoof can infuse its vocalizations with Naturia wind energy in order to amplify their vocalizations in order to achieve a sonic boom, and while they mostly limit this to something that can stun a particularly aggressive opponent, under extreme circumstances they can amplify it to shatter stone, knock an opponent out, or cause an air embolism within the lungs that results in their death.

Stunning Kick: They can use their strong hind legs to deliver a particularly powerful kick, which can cause damage to the digestive and respiratory system in humanoids.

Tail Smack: their thick, stiff tails make for excellent blunt weapons and can be used to smack away opponents which approach them from the rear or knock over small vegetation.

Thumb Claw: Their thumb claws are thick, sturdy, and serrated allowing them to deliver slashes, swipes, and stabs.

Warding Stomp: The Shaghoof can rear up onto its hind legs to gain greater height over a target, stomping downwards with their forelimbs to either knock down an opponent or crush them if they are smaller than they are.

General Weaknesses: Age, Illness, Injury, Nasal Strain, Separation, Sonic Backlash

Naturia Weakness:Fire

Disambiguation

Age: Young and elderly Shaghooves are generally more vulnerable to predation than healthy adults.

Fire: The Shaghoof is particularly vulnerable to Fire and Fire Naturia attacks from either predators or weapons.

Illness: They are vulnerable to many maladies which can result in them becoming an easy target for predators. They are particularly vulnerable to nasal diseases as a large amount of mucus can impede their ability to vocalize or produce a Sonic Boom.

Injury:Shaghooves are vulnerable when injured.

Nasal Strain: overuse of their Sonic Boom can result in their nasal passages becoming strained and can even result in damage to the internal structure, resulting in nosebleeds or a permanent dampening of their vocalization ability.

Separation: Separation from their herd can result not only in an increase in vulnerability but an increase in stress, aggression, and anxiety within the separated individual.

Sonic Backlash: The Shaghoof is not immune to the effects of their Sonic Boom, and have been known to receive damage to their beak or bone as a result of releasing a particularly powerful Sonic Boom, though these injuries are not severe most of the time it is not unheard of for a Roundhead to accidentally blast off a part of their beak by accident.

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