Greater Hopping Wyvern
20 cm long
With the extinction of small cursorial herbivores such as the Struti (Strutiocheilius azurelotus) and the Dwarf Struti (Strutiofulicus mesomasaous) in zone G along with the extinction of the draconiraptorids in the region, a unique opportunity for the local Hopping wyverns (Genaialong pidimatreximus) presented itself. Combined with competition among themselves, some began to move into this empty ecological role and became a distinct species.
Like its ancestor, the Greater Hopping Wyvern is cursorial and saltatory, escaping predators by hopping away at high speeds. The enlarged pinna of its ears help it to detect approaching predators and bound away at a moment's notice. Due to the longer legs in proportion to their body compared to their ancestors, the ancestors of the Greater Hopping Wyvern were able to escape predators even when growing to a larger body size. It retains the ability to fly, but does so even more rarely than before; when fleeing a predator, its goal is to find and hide in ground polyphs where its sandy spotted plumage keeps it hidden (often using the polyph Erimopinnus phylloakidus as a shelter), so flight rarely comes into the picture. However, if cornered, it may still try to escape by taking off into the air for a short distance, similar to a chicken. At night, like its ancestor, it will sleep in a burrow it dug out with its clawed wings. The burrow includes food stores, which it can fall back on during hard times.
They are primarily herbivorous, feeding on the polyphs Donus cendra, Donus flitzanius, Hierba noncortexus, and Paralius paralius that grow in the area but the females will also feed occasionally on carrion to obtain the calcium needed for their eggs.
Like its ancestor, the Greater Hopping Wyvern is sexually dimorphic. Males have “beards” of feathers on their jaws as well as longer eyelash feathers than the females. Males display their sexually dimorphic features to potential mates at anytime during the day, though the sunrise and sunset remain popular due to it being what they instinctively expect, causing a healthy male against a red sky to be an impressive sight to them; like with the ancestor, the length of the beard and eyelash feathers are strong indicators of health. After the female has chosen a mate, the male moves into the female’s burrow. They mate underground, and the female then lays a clutch of 4-8 eggs. The parents take turns incubating the eggs until they hatch, and then they feed their babies on a combination of fresh food and food from their food stash until they are about 12 weeks old. The offspring stay with their parents until they are fully mature at about 10 months old, after which they go out to make their own burrows and eventually find a mate, beginning the cycle over again. Mated pairs will attempt to breed twice a year, with them mating again after the first group of youngsters are able to begin foraging for their own food. Once the second clutch of eggs hatch, the youngster's older siblings from the first clutch aid in their care along with the parents and as such learn the skills necessary for when they eventually have their own hatchlings.
