Hopping Wyvern
With their biggest threat in Zone E, the cat hawk, being nocturnal, a population of least wyverns (Genaialong elachistus) split off and became diurnal, though they retain their burrowing habits. At 6 inches long and 3 inches tall at the hip, the hopping wyvern is a bit taller than its ancestor, an adaptation for its primary method of fast locomotion--hopping.
Long-tailed wyverns such as the hopping wyvern are simply not as good at flying as their short-tailed predators. Developing longer legs and a hopping habit helps the hopping wyvern make up for this to some extent--instead of spending a lot of energy to take off with its wings against the drag of its long tail, it can leap into the air and fly or glide from there. Hopping also has another benefit--in combination with fluttering and gliding, hopping makes a very fast and efficient means of ground locomotion. This makes the hopping wyvern incredibly fast, and it can travel great distances without running out of stamina. It can easily clear a 6-foot gap in a single leap, and it can jump 2 feet into the air to take off or escape from peril. Unlike its ancestor, both the dorsal and ventral sides of its wings are covered in downy feathers, as its greater use of its wings necessitates that they have something to keep them warm.
The hopping wyvern also improves on its ancestor’s ear. The tympanic membrane now has a ridge of skin--a small ear flap--raised above it on one side, amplifying sound to allow it to hear better. This allows it to better detect potential threats as it forages for food.
Like its ancestor, the 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 any time 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 8 weeks old. The offspring stay with their parents until they are fully mature at about 6 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.
The hopping wyvern has the same diet as its ancestor, and like its ancestor it stores extra food in its burrow to eat during hard times. Like its ancestor, in addition to foraging for various polyph matter it also scavenges for meat. Its main predator is D. gymnocephalus, the only diurnal predator at the time that may have interest in eating such a tiny creature.
