Fell Drake

          The fell drake is a mammalian Drake Species. There is noticeable sexual dimorphism in size between males and females. Males tend to run around 10-15ft while females are around 15-20 feet long. Fell drakes stand around 3-5 feet tall at the shoulder. There is no dimorphism in height like there is in length. The average fell drake can weigh around 600-700 pounds with empty flight bladders. Male's base body weight will always be slightly less than females; this is because the males are more likely to have the added weight of young therefore their base weight must be able to compensate.

         The Fell drake's head is half as much larger than the head of a creature of similar size. The head is usually blocky and wider around the powerful jaws. The nose is rounded and slightly raised though not defined any more than that. They have round intelligent eyes positioned at the front of the face. Their ears are perky and upright. Fell Drake ears are highly mobile able to be turned in almost any direction so the drake can better pinpoint where a sound has come from. The hearing of a fell drake is quite keen matching that of a canine. The muzzle of a Fell drake is wider than it is long giving way for larger teeth. Their dentition (top: 3.2.4.2 Bottom: 3.1.4.3) is unique since they have 2 upper canines. The fell drakes teeth are positioned to that it forms a scissor bite. The tongue is long and fleshy with slight forking at the tip as though someone had snipped the tip. Atop the drake's head are two hollow bony protrusions that look like horns. These "horns" are used by the drake to make half of the calls it makes. Air is forced through them much like blowing on the end of a bottle and they make several noises from honking to Trumpeting or bugling.

         Unlike most Draco species a fell drake's neck and head doesn't make up a 3rd of its length. The neck is around medium sized for a creature of its length and rather stocky and well defined. The fell drake has a thick well sprung chest which is well muscled. The fell drake is stocky yet agile to deal with their mountainous surroundings. The torso and abdomen are well proportioned giving them a lean appearance. Down the fell drake's back is a row of spines. These spines consist of a thick cartilage and the spines grow long enough to just over lap one another. The spines can lay flat or stand on end depending on the mood of the drake.

         The fell drake's limbs are proportionate to one another legs being slightly more muscular. There is a dense concentration of the muscle in the shoulder area where the wings attach. The fell drake has a total of 3 digits on each front paw with a two inch claw on each. Each front paw also has a slightly curves 1 3/4 inch long dew claw set up further on the inner part of the wrist that is fully opposable as a weapon. The hind legs of the fell drake is even more dangerous than the front. Each rear foot has 6 toes; the inner most toe has a 6 inch retractable claw while the other 5 of their toes have 2 inch non-retractable claws. The fell drake's hind legs are more muscular than the front to support the drake standing on its hind legs as well as to give more power to the creature launching itself in the air.

         The fell drake's wingspan is equal to its body length. The sails are broad and taper with the drake's body down to the tip of the tail. The sails are well supported by bony spines, which stem from the vertebrae at regular intervals, starting at the base of the tail down the body to the tip of the tail where the final spines cause a 3 pronged effect with the actual tip of the tail. The actual construct of the main wing is comprised of 3 finger joints and 3 cartilaginous spines that attach at the lub of the wing, closer to the shoulder. The way the Fell Drake's wings are formed often gets them mistaken for an amphiptere cross breed. The tail of the fell drake makes up half of its body length. Close to the base of the tail is a fleshy flap of skin that surrounds a hard cartilaginous structure that is used in mating. The fell drake's tail is heavier and semi prehensile to aid in their standing on their hind legs. The fell drake is covered in thick, mid-long length fur. There have been known to be those individuals with shorter fur that live at lower altitudes. Fell drake colors range in the shades of yellow, browns, blues, and greens. Normal patterning takes the form of a solid base color with rosettes. Patterning can vary with each individual due to centuries of selective breeding and the introduction of captive individuals to wild populations. There are still populations of the original marking. There is no color dimorphism in the sexes of the fell drake.

         Male fell drakes are the main carriers of the young within the species. Their genitalia is best described as a "pouch sheath." The pouch opening is located at the front of the thighs and extends to the first third of the drake's tail. The male's Penis is concealed just inside the opening of the pouch where it can easily extend from the pouch for the male to urinate. The fell drake's penis can extend to around 30inches. The semen of the fell drake is a really remarkable substance. While it is a sexual fluid it is also an antiseptic. This is because while in the pouch the young will be fed by their parents, and they will most often eliminate within the pouch as well. The male will often ejaculate within the pouch and then spread the semen with his muzzle and tongue to clean out the pouch. He will also tend to the female's pouch if she has young in hers.

         Female fell drake's pelvic bone extends further out than the male's pelvic bone. It is in this cavity that the female's genitalia is concealed by a small slit. The female has a pouch just as the male does, but her pouch is rear facing. This is to enable to passing of the eggs from female to male in an easy safe manner. The female's pouch is located at the base of the tail and extends the first third of the tail. The eggs pass through the uterus of the fell drake and straight to her pouch internally.

         Fell drake's sweat through their mouths much like canines. Their sweat glands are located in the tongue where the drake can easily dispel extra heat from its body. While their digestive system is much like that of any mammal, fell drakes do have an interesting adaptation that not many mammals have. They have a second stomach that functions like a crop commonly found in avian species. This "crop" allows the drake to swallow bits of meat down and partially digest them in order to regurgitate them into their pouches for their young as well as feed any small young who are in and out of the pouch. Fell drakes expel waste much like any mammalian creature though the location of the anus lies nearer to the tip of the tail to prevent contamination of the pouches.

         Fell drake lungs are a success in ingenuity. Their lungs must support the drake in flight lest it die from lack of oxygen. To produce enough fresh oxygen and prevent "stale" air within the lungs the fell drake has a straight through "exhaust system." The lungs themselves are long cylindrical lobes that run the length of the body from throat to an open lobe on the base of the tail above the wings sails. This cylinder style lung set up allows fresh air to always flow through the lungs and supplying the body with fresh oxygen. Small sacs along the lungs keep the air pushing through it and out the rear lobe when it exhales. The fell drake has a powerful heart to keep its circulatory system fairly efficient. As they are mammalian fell drakes they are warm blooded. Their body temperature sits at a steady 120 degrees. Hypothermia for a fell drake will set in at around 100 degrees and hyperthermia can set in at 140 degrees. The fell drake's ability to fly comes from 4 sacs, 2 at each end of the body. Each set of sacs is connected to a small gland that is connected directly to the stomach. When the fell drake drinks more than its daily need of water the flight gland kicks in. The flight gland separates the hydrogen from the water in the drake's stomach and pumps it into the 4 flight bladders. The remaining oxygen rises to a set of small clusters of blood vessels in the flight gland, and from there the oxygen goes straight into the blood stream. This flight system is prominent in most draco species.

         Fell drakes are above average in intelligence. They have an extensive memory when it comes to learned and practiced habits. They are quite acceptable at problem solving. Their agility gives them above average ability in the thinner air in the mountains they live. They're more clumsy fliers at lower altitudes. When they are not flying they are climbing. They are excellent climbers utilizing every claw and the thick paw pads to grip even almost sheer walls. Running speed is a subjective thing for fell drakes. Their top speed can range in the 25-30mph range, but how long they can hold that speed depends on how full their flight bladder is. With a fuller bladder they can run longer without having to rest their muscles. The same goes for climbing. The front flight bladders are connected to a small gland at the throat, which enables them to spray the hydrogen from the flight bladder as a breath weapon. They can also chew the deadly fruit of the chloricluster bush and breathe the hydrogen into their closed mouth to produce hydrochloric acid to spit at their enemies.

         Fell drakes communicate with a versatile language of calls which have been described by researchers as sounding like the calls of Swans and howler monkeys. They also utilize body language to communicate. The entire body can convey as many messages as one single part. Body language combined with the sounds that fell drakes make create a picture perfect language that any one with an understanding of these majestic beasts could interpret. Most commonly fell drakes live together in mated pairs, or families, which consist of the parents, any daughters that have not been paired, and any immature young the pair may have. Commonly single pairs will consist of a pair that has lost their young or a male with an immature female. Just as common as pairs and families are the roving groups of males. Roving groups will consist of as many as 20 members of varying ages. Rarely Fell drakes can be found alone or unbonded pairs. The most common individuals found alone are female. Single males are more often found with a clutch of young. These Lone Fell Drakes are usually individuals who have lost their original mate. Unbonded pairs are usually only together long enough for the female to transfer her eggs to the male and then leave.

         Within a family the bonded pair is always the most dominant members. Any mature daughters that the pair may have stand next in the hierarchy with any other young following next according to age. Gender plays no role in the immature young's hierarchy until the females become mature. Within Roving groups Age and strength are strict identifiers of hierarchy. Males compete in everything they do from hunting to traveling to fighting off enemies or raiding families or pairs in which the female is immature. Families keep territories around 20sq miles in size, and will defend them with gusto, from all other drakes with the exception being roving male groups. Roving groups are welcomed as the mature male young a family has can disburse with the roving groups and any daughters the pair may have can be taken by the rover who impresses the pair the most. Once the rover has been accepted to take one of their daughters they are allowed to leave the territory unharrassed, however if he were to return he would be chased out just as any other drake would be. Usually a family or pair will traverse the border of their territory, leaving fecal markers as they go.
    
         Roving groups do not keep a territory, but travel place to place and raid the territories of other fell drakes they come across. Mated pairs and their young will usually travel the border of their territory once a week depositing fecal markers to warn off other drakes from the territory. If there is an encounter within a territory the resident pair and their eldest young will actively chase away any intruders stopping once the intruders have crossed the line. Roving groups will not be chased as actively by a pair. This is because the parents want their mature sons to disburse with the group and their daughters taken by the best males of the group. Single Fells keep small overlapping territories one female can overlap with as many as 6 single males. They use the same fecal markers though their scent changes when they are single, to denote they are single, and roving groups will avoid single females at all costs. Single males are sought out by rovers as a single male is the one most likely to have young on him. If he has no young he is usually confused by the appearance of the rovers and reacts by keeping a wary distance from the group dropping every now and then to show his belly and empty pouch.

         Fell drakes will usually den in caves. The cave they choose will always be the highest cave they can find. Fell drakes prefer cozy caves and will usually choose caves that are just big enough for the pair to fit. Any mature daughters they have will find a cave of their own close to their parent's cave and any other young the pair has will squeeze in with their parents or their sisters.  For the best protection they will locate their den nearest the center of their territory as they can and will use the same den over and over again throughout their lives. Fell Drakes are diurnal creatures though they do not become torpid at night. Their sight is not as clear being more adapted to seeing in the daytime. Some individuals have been known to be out at night, but they never fly at night.

         Fell Drakes are carnivorous beasts. They hunt animals depending on the size of their family. If the family is particularly large they'll hunt larger prey. They hunt as a family by splitting into two groups with one group taking to the air and the other traversing the ground for the hunt. The largest drakes in the air will keep higher altitudes to make their presence less threatening while the smaller drakes can hold lower altitudes. The family will communicate back and forth through calls and different body language to determine the best course of action and the best individual to attack. Once they have chosen a prey item the largest of the family members will pounce as a unit.

         The smallest of the family members will always hold back to prevent getting in the way or getting hurt. Once the prey is taken down the hunters will rend the item to pieces and toss the pieces around to feed the smaller members while eating some themselves and filling their crops for any young within the pouch. The family will remain with a kill until everything edible is eaten. Some roving groups take a different approach to hunting. While most will hunt as a normal family would some roving groups come across packs of lopphore and will follow the pack through its migration. Due to the lopphore's lack of intelligence these lucky rovers do not have to work as hard to hunt. This not only gives them plenty of food, but the group is also led through many different fell drake territories as well. In lean times it's not uncommon for fell drakes to search their territories for any high protein items they can find such as insects, legumes, nuts, ect. Families have even been known to relocate their territories closer to human farms where they can raid livestock and or fields.

         Fell drakes mate for life. Once they have mated with a drake they will not mate with another drake as long as their mate lives. A drake that has lost its mate will mate again, but only with those of the same gender. Often females will be taken into a family where she will bond with the females of the family and lone males will be visited by rovers who take a special interest in them. These drakes will meet other lone fell drakes of the opposite gender only when there is need for a female to pass her eggs. She'll leave the family for upwards or two -three weeks searching for a lone male. If she fails in this she will deposit her eggs somewhere leave them and return to her family. Lone males will keep to their modest territory not even seeking a female to receive eggs from. If a female happens along he will take the eggs she has for him and care for the young with as much gusto as any parent.

         It is not uncommon for Families to take in Lone females and for Roving males to bond with lone males. These bonds are beyond procreation. If a female is taken into a family she will bond with the females in the family. Not as strongly as she did her mate, but a bond none the less. She will engage in sexual activity with the mature females of the family, but will ignore the male as far as mating goes. She will accept him as a fixture in her life but will keep her distance. He likewise will do the same. He only has eyes for his mate. Often Lone males will form passing bonds with rovers. This will usually be a one on one relationship with the rover bringing food to him and also engaging in sexual activity. If a female comes along and the loner receives eggs from her the rover will continue to remain with his bond mate until a female is born to him. At this point the rover will take the female draylett and leave. It is very rare for a rover to remain with the lone male even after he is mated with the loner's daughter. In such a case the loner would be treated much like a female taken into a family and the daughter would pass eggs to her father as well as her mate.

         To get a mate a male drake must compete for her from her parents or steal her from another male. Usually both methods follow one another. A roving group will come across a family and will compete for their daughters. Those males that win the females will flee with her while the other males are distracted, trying to see if there are any other eligible females associated with a family. after that the roving group will split and follow any males that were able to win a female. Those with immature females are a prime target as there is less chance the pair has mated by the time they are caught up to. A male has to use his wits to escape the onslaught that will ensue from his former gang mates. Younger females are often killed in accidents where a male is swarmed by the roving group trying to take possession of the female. A mated Female cannot be stolen under any circumstances. Usually males who have won a mature female from her family will mate with her before they have even left her parent's territory. This ensures that she will fight off any other male that comes to try and steal her. If a roving male appears and does try to steal her form her mate he will be met with resistance by the pair using physical and vocal displays. If the rover persists the pair will attack him.

         Fell drakes mate all year round, although the females produce eggs all year the male will only fertilize them when food is plentiful. Despite the fact that they do physically mate Fell drakes do not fertilize their eggs in this way. Fell drakes are one of the many drake species to mate for the sheer joy of it. The act also helps to keep the females genitals clean. To procreate the female produces infertile eggs, from 10-16 of them, and passes them to the male's pouch. This is done by the female standing with her tail to the male. She'll turn her tail slightly ensuring that the wing spines are out of the way. The male will then straddle her tail moving up until the pair can connect the openings of their pouches. This difficult task is when a new pair is at their most vulnerable.  Older pairs who still have immature young as well as mature daughters always have someone to watch and warn for trouble.  The female will pass 1-2 3inch infertile eggs to the male each day until her clutch is passed to him. The male will fertilize the eggs as they come to him stopping when he has deemed the clutch large enough. This can leave infertile eggs in the pouch.

         The male fell drake will carry the eggs for around 40 days before they hatch. The young are born 4inches long, completely hairless, blind, and with ears and nostrils closed. They will remain in the pouch for a week living off the yolk sac as well as the shells of their eggs and any infertile eggs that may be within the pouch and whatever their father stuffs into the pouch to them. at the end of this week the drayletts' eyes, ears, and nostrils are open. It is this time that the drayletts begin coming out of the pouch to explore. It is at this time that any female young may be picked up by rovers. The drayletts will live in and out of their patent's pouches fleeing to them when there is any sign of danger and sleeping there at night. When the drayletts get to big to all fit into the pouch less and less of them spend nights in the pouch, but instead huddle into their parent's cave around them. Once they are too big for even this the drayletts will find a cave together near their parents cave to nest in.

         All drayletts grow at a steady rate with females growing more than males a year. All drayletts reach 90% of their adult size by their third year. It is at this 3 year mark that all the mature bucks of a clutch will start developing an interest in exploring further and further away from their parent's cave and eventually either form a roving group together or leave with a roving group that has come for their sisters. The females do not fully mature until they have reached 5 years of age. Female fell drakes will remain with their birth family until she is taken by a roving male. One in fifteen fell drakes is female so competition is high when a roving group comes across a family. An immature female taken by a rover will be cared for by the male as a parent would care for her until she is either stolen by another rover or the pair is mated.

         Fell drakes are well known for their longevity. The oldest one found was around 89 years old. It is suspected that with the longevity of captive individuals, the oldest being 163 years old, wild individuals could possibly well live as much as a hundred years. The average life span stands around 75-85 years. Usually those individuals who have been found and their age determined have been individuals who died of massive injury and or other circumstantial causes. Others that have been found were living individuals who came from captivity and are now living in the wild once more.

         Fell drakes have long been thought of as having evolved from amphipteres. The way their wings are set up suggests they could have split off from the amphiptere line when they grew legs. Others believe they are an ancient cross between mountain drakes, which have the same well adapted paws for climbing, and amphipteres. Whatever their origin these magnificent beasts have made themselves at home among both drakes and Amphipteres. They will not actively chase away Mountain drakes, which are well known for "paying" the larger drakes to remain close and not harm the mountain drake packs. Smaller species of amphiptere, usually those up to half the size of a male fell drake) are accepted as they will often endear themselves as "pets" and bring food items to those they are "pets" to young fell drakes, who in turn will keep them around. Larger species of amphiptere are accepted more readily than mountain drakes are thus leading to more suspicion that the fell drake is evolved from amphiptere stock. Usually Fell drakes won't bother amphipteres within their territory unless food is scarce and the two species are in direct competition for the remaining resources. Fell drakes are in direct competition with any other predatory drake or draco species and will usually display aggression towards any they meat even if the draco is MUCH larger than the fell drake.

         Fell drakes are not hard to domesticate. If one is willing to put forth the effort a fell drake can be quite a valuable beast to have at one's side. For the best results the handler must get an egg or a hatchling under a week old. This allows the draylett to bond to the surrogate human as a parent. Another method is for a handler to capture a drake that has lost its mate, though this method requires the handler to bond to a drake of the same gender. These first two methods can be quite difficult but are rewarding. The third method is done by whole handling groups. They will take any unmated bucks and raid wild families just as a roving group would, because any mature males within the family will also leave with the domestic group. Fell drakes are a particular species. If a handler wants to bond with a mature drake they MUST bond with one of the same gender. If they do not the fell drake will look at them as a mate and will attempt to mate with the handler. If a handler drake pair has bonded like that the drake will chase off any potential mates that are introduced to it. If the Drake is to be a riding drake the handler can file down the spikes that grow along the back in the area where a saddle would be placed. They can also be disbudded at a week old so that the spikes do not grow in at all. Male Fell drakes are often "milked" by handlers and their semen used as an antiseptic. This is a closely guarded secret amongst fell drake handlers. Often times Handlers will also use fresh semen to artificially fertilize eggs gathered from a female.

         Fell drakes are most often found in tropical mountains. They prefer these warmer climes because of their habit of living in the higher peaks of the mountains. They are found in Atreyu and the earth realm, though they are less common in the earth realm. In the earth realm they are apart of myths and legends few being seen as they keep high into the mountains and keep out of sight of humans as much as possible.