Terror Hawk
A descendant of the Wyvern Hawk, the Terror Hawk is descended from a population which flew over Zone 4 to reach Zone D. It is 3.5 feet long with a wingspan of 8 feet, and its large size compared to every other predator present allows it to take down anything it finds as well as chase any local predator from its kill. The tips of the fingers making up its wing membranes have pliable flaps of skin on them that effectively cause the Terror Hawk to have multiple smaller wing tips instead of one large wing tip, which reduces drag, allowing it to soar for extended periods of time without flapping while still being able to turn quickly to take advantage of thermals. As these skin flaps are associated with its fingers, it is able to adjust their position to change exactly how much drag it creates as well as control them with muscles or tendons, allowing it to have very fine control over its flight speed.
The Terror Hawk has similar mating practices to its ancestor, with mating dances showing off the color and health of its feathers as well as the fattiness of its dewlap. It digs a shallow nest in the ground where it lays 2-4 eggs, which it guards and incubates until they hatch, which takes 4-5 weeks. The parents raise the semi-altricial young together, bringing them food by day and warming them at night with their wings, until they are around 2-3 months old and can hunt for themselves.
Despite living in a cooler environment than its ancestor, the Terror Hawk retains an unfeathered head; its methods cause its face to become covered in large amounts of blood, so much like a vulture it found a featherless head more advantageous to prevent the growth of decomposers on its face.
The Terror Hawk’s primary prey is T. gigaslothus, which it strikes from above to avoid its tail, tusks, and arms. It follows T. gigaslothus’ migration, justifying its presence in multiple zones from the start. Its other top choices for prey include D. herraborealus, D. purpurus, and M. terrastial. It will also happily eat D. raptordracornis if it can catch it. It will also try to eat any predator that gets in the way of its food. It may also hunt P. vorax around dawn or dusk, and it will happily gobble up parents, eggs, and young of A. neofoundus, D. albatrogornis, R. subaquatica, and P. unculodon nesting on the shores. All of these are killed by a dive for the throat from above, its serrated teeth slicing through flesh, feathers, and even bone to tear through vital arteries and cause their prey to bleed out in seconds if the attack doesn’t straight-up decapitate it; if this proves difficult, it will hold them down with its sharp dewclaws and hand claws and continue to tear into them, sometimes with assistance from a mate. If none of its normal prey is available for it to kill, it will scavenge instead.
