Sandy Wyvern Hawk
This descendant of the Wyvern Hawk (Draconiraptor volturcephalus) has altered the coloration of its feathers to a tanish-yellow in order to better suit an ambush hunting lifestyle in the sandy deserts of Zone E, which allows it to take down tough prey with more ease. Besides for its coloration and behavior, the Sandy Wyvern Hawk is structurally nearly identical to the Wyvern Hawk as it is closely related and hunts in a similar manner.
The Sandy Wyvern Hawk retains the exposed skin on its head to prevent blood being caught on its feathers whenever it eats, whether it feeds on fresh kills or noticed carcasses. They will most commonly prey on large prey such as Strutis (Strutiocheilius azurelotus), Water Strutis (Strutiocheilius papius), Hornears (Strutioceras oploaftius), and Snaghorns (Strutioceras richnoceras), although they may also opportunistically hunt Western Desert Wyverns (Ammogerakus gymnocephalus), Asshole Pelicans (Thalassaraptor katharagnathus), Seavyrns (Thalassaraptor ptisipteryx), and Short-Tailed Avianaquarius (Avianaquarius tropheus).
The Sandy Wyvern Hawk prefers to hunt rather than to scavenge, but it will still feed from dead and rotting muscals as there is no way for them to know when their next opportunity for food is. When they do hunt large prey, they will slowly creep behind it before they fly and pounce onto it to give them the element of surprise to more easily take down unsuspecting prey which do not expect a fight. The Sandy Wyvern Hawk's preferred method of killing is to induce a bite to the side of the neck with its serrated teeth, which will ensure blood loss, before leaving its prey to die. This allows it a large sum of food with low effort, although hunts may occasionally fail if their ambush does not work or if their prey notices them before they are attacked; if it is a Hornear or Snaghorn, the Sandy Wyvern Hawk will leave off to search for other prey to reduce its risk of injury.
The Sandy Wyvern Hawk stands at sixty centimeters (60 cm) at the hip and can grow up to one-hundred ten centimeters (110 cm) in length. The wingspan of this wyvern is often found in the two-hundred forty centimeter to two-hundred fifty centimeter (240-250 cm) range, which helps it to occasionally soar to locate food in times that food is scarce. The Sandy Wyvern Hawk uses its darker mane to attract mates, which is less saturated than that of the standard Wyvern Hawk to not stand out in a place void of dense covering. Having a bright neon orange feather coloration on the mane was detrimental to hunting as it made them stand out to prey more easily, and they conpensated for that by eventually developing darker colors as a means to display health instead which showed up as it increased their chances of survival, and they ended up surviving to breed more often than those with the bright coloration. Once a pair has mated, the female will lay anywhere from two to four (2-4) eggs and partially bury them into the sand. The eggs take anywhere from four to five (4-5) weeks to hatch, and the parents take care of the chicks together for two to three (2-3) months until the chicks know how to hunt and are ready to leave on their own.
