Fantastic Field Notes

Observations from a young magizoologist

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Al-mi’raj (XX)

[portrait of a domesticated al-mi’raj (C) Leesha Hannigan]

The al-mi’raj is a large semi-domesticated rabbit native to southern India. It has a short coat or brown or black fur, and both sexes grow a long, spiral horn from the middle of the forehead. Females tend to be larger than males, ranging from eight to fifteen pounds.

An adaptable creature, wild al-mi’raj can be found in a variety of habitats. Like mundane rabbits, it is entirely herbivorous, and its ability to withstand even the deadliest toxins means it can eat almost anything [*]. During the mating season, males compete for access to females; this can be a tricky affair, since females often attempt to gore would-be suitors with their horns.

Today, there are several breeds of domesticated al-mi’raj, which can be differentiated based on coat colours and patterns. Their fur, horns, and claws can be used for a number of different potions and charms, and horn shavings can function as an emergency antidote.

[*] This immunity seems to be tied to the al-mi’raj’s horn since until their own horn grows in, leverets are susceptible to poisons. See Rasipurum Jai Kumaran’s paper, “Effects of Toxins and Poisons on Adult and Juvenile Al-mi’raj” (2004)

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Manticore (XXXXX)

[portrait of a manticore (C) Mary Graham]

Native to Persia, the manticore is a frightening hybrid with the body of a lion, a tail like a scorpion’s, and a disturbingly humanoid face. Similar to sharks, a manticore’s mouth is crowded with multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth; if one is knocked out or lost, it is quickly replaced by a another.

Manticores mate for life, and a pride consists of a mated pair and their offspring. Females are able to breed every two years, and generally have a litter of two to four cubs. Fighting among siblings is common, and it is not unusual for only one cub to survive to adulthood.

Hunting is accomplished by two different methods - when hunting in a group, manticores corral their prey and attempt to trip it or jump onto the back to bring it down. For solitary hunts, however, they prefer using their deadly tails, whipping their stinger up and over their head to inject poison. They mainly prey upon large animals, such as deer and cattle, but will eat anything they can catch.

Although manticores are able to converse in a number of human languages, they have no trouble attacking and eating anyone that gets in their way. Some individuals even seem to prefer hunting humans, and a special taskforce in the International Confederation for the Preservation of Magical Creatures exists solely to track them.

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Mackled Malaclaw (XXX)

[painting of a malaclaw (C) Mary Yefremova]

The mackled malaclaw is a magical crustacean that closely resembles a lobster. It is about twelve inches long, with light grey skin, and has thick claws on its foremost set of legs. While native to the coasts of both Europe and North Africa, it is a persistent invasive species of both North America and Australia.

Malaclaws feed upon a variety of organisms, but particularly enjoy mollusks and other small crustaceans. This habit, and their ability to pry up well-hidden individuals, makes them a major threat to indigenous species in North Americ and Australia. 

Mating typically occurs in the summer - females can produce up to 100,000 eggs, which they carry on their abdomen for two to three weeks. At the next new moon, the females gather together and the eggs are released en masse into the ocean. Malaclaw larvae are fully aquatic for the first several weeks of their existence, and only climb back onto dry land after reaching their final seventh moult.

Although malaclaw tails and claws can be used in luck potions, when eaten it causes a nasty fever and an unsightly green rash. A bite will also cause the unfortunate victim to be extremely unlucky for up to a week.

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Lobalug (XXX)

[photograph of two lobalugs (C) Herb Segars]

Endemic to the North Sea, the lobalug is a type of magical sea slug. It has a thin head, dotted with several pairs of simple eyes, and a long round body about ten inches long. Colours vary, but most are a deep yellowish-orange with blue or green spots. Like with other sea slugs, it is carnivorous, feeding on barnacles and other marine invertebrates.

Most of the lobalug’s body is comprised of a venom sac - when threatened, the lobalug contracts its entire body, blasting poison out of its mouth and through special openings along its body. Generally, the lobalug seems to aim at its attacker’s face, where the poison can be swallowed in addition to being absorbed through the skin. Symptoms usually appear within five to ten minutes of exposure, and for humans include significant respiratory distress, paralysis, tremors leading to convulsions, and mental impairment. Unless the victim receives immediate medical care, death occurs within thirty minutes.

Historically, merfolk of the North Sea region have used lobalugs as weapons, both against each other and against humans. A treaty with the International Confederation of Wizards, drafted and signed in 1819, put an end to attacks against humans and its use gradually died out among the local shoals. Witches and wizards have also experimented with the deadly creatures; supposedly, Mary Ann Cotton, a muggleborn English witch, used lobalug poison to murder her stepson, Charles Edward Cotton [30].

[30] For more information on Mary Ann Cotton, see Arthur Appleton’s book, Mary Ann Cotton: Her Story and Trial (1973)

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Kneazle (XXX)

[drawing of a kneazle (C) Xenia]

The kneazle is a magical domestic cat, which was first bred commercially in Britain around 1813. Weighing between eight and thirteen pounds, it has a long, leggy body, with wide round ears and a tail that ends in a furry tuft. Standard coat colours and patterns are brown-spotted tabby, silver-spotted tabby, black, and black smoke.

Kneazles are very intelligent, with kittens often litter-box trained in a matter of days. While shy around strangers, they form close bonds with their owners, and have an uncanny ability to detect suspicious characters. They are also superb jumpers, able to leap about nine feet high from a standing position, which allows them to poke their noses anywhere they please.

Female kneazles generally have three to eight kittens in one litter, and can breed once a year. Like with mundane cats, it is recommended that owners wait until the kittens are weaned (at about eight weeks old) before adopting them out or selling them.

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Knarl (XXX)

[portrait of a suspicious knarl (C) Mary Yefremova]

The knarl is a small creature that is virtually indistinguishable from mundane hedgehogs. Native to Eurasia, they are generally solitary and only come together once a year to mate. They eat a variety of insects and small vertebrates, including fairies and doxies. This last habit has led some witches and wizards to attempt to keep them for garden pest control, although this has rather mixed results.

Like their mundane twins, knarls have a coat made up of stiff spikes, and if threatened they curl into a tight, prickly ball. If an attacker is persistent enough, the knarl will contract and then expel several quills from its back - many a dog has come in, yelping, from a romp in the garden with a face full of spikes after such an encounter. Discarded quills can be used in certain potions, and were historically popular jewellery items.

There is one key difference between a knarl and a hedgehog - their reaction to proffered food. When coming across an offering of scraps or milk, the undiscerning hedgehog will gladly partake; the knarl however is much more suspicious, and views such gifts as a trap. It quickly becomes enraged and often embarks on a rampage, digging up plants and destroying any nearby lawn ornaments.

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Kitsune (XXXX)

[illustration of an albino kitsune (C) Sarah Graybill]

While the term kitsune can be used for foxes in general, if has come to specifically refer to a species of magical fox found only in Japan. It is incredibly intelligent and long-lived, with some stories claiming that they can live over a thousand years.

Kitsune can be distinguished from mundane foxes in a couple of ways. A dead giveaway is the number of tails - as a kitsune ages, it gains another tail every fifty or one hundred years, signifying its level of knowledge and power. Another unique feature is the presence of its hoshi-no-tama (literally “star ball”). This looks like a small, glowing marble and is often held in the kitsune’s mouth or carried in its tail. The exact nature of the hoshi-no-tama is unknown, but it is extremely important to kitsune, and they can die if separated from it for too long.

Like their mundane cousins, kitsune either establish stable home ranges or are itinerant with no fixed abode. They favour open spaces, with dense vegetation where they can hunt various small- to medium-sized vertebrates. In the past few decades, however, more kitsune have adapted to urban environments, where close contact with humans often leads to conflict.

While best known for their transformation abilities, kitsune can also create elaborate illusions and have some ability to control fire [29]. True tricksters, they love nothing better than to use these abilities to pull pranks on unwitting humans. Such tricks can range from relatively benign, such as stealing food, to the downright malicious, which often leaves the victim injured or even dead. The Japanese Ministry of Magic has a special taskforce whose sole job is keeping track of kitsune and eliminating any who persistently attack humans.

[29] For more detailed information on kitsune’s magical abilities, see Professor Takumi Kimura’s text, Kitsune: Abilities, Habits, and More (1964)

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Kelpie (XXXX)

[painting of a kelpie in horse form (C) Alexandra G. Vlahović]

The kelpie is a shape-shifting creature native to the freshwater rivers and lakes of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. Likes its saltwater cousin, the each uisge, it often assumes the form of a horse with a dripping mane, and attempts to lure humans into climbing on its back. Once mounted, the kelpie’s skin becomes adhesive, preventing the rider from escaping. At that point, the kelpie takes off - if the rider is lucky, the kelpie contents itself with a heart-pounding race around its territory before unceremoniously bucking the human off into the water. Equally likely, though, is the chance that the kelpie will follow the each uisge’s example and drag its victim underwater to be eaten alive.

Fortunately, kelpies can be subdued by fixing a bridle over its head; once bound, it is rendered docile and may be ridden without fear. While this can achieved by hand, it is far safer to stick the bridle in place with a quick placement charm.

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Kappa (XXXX)

[illustration of a kappa (C) Nathan J. Anderson]

An amphibious yōkai from Japan, the kappa looks somewhat like a monkey crossed with a turtle - it has green scales, webbed hands and feet, and a yellowish-brown carapace upon its back. It generally stands about two to three and a half feet tall, with females being slightly larger than males. A circular depression on its head, called its sara (”dish”) retains water, and if this is damaged or spilled, the kappa is severely weakened and may even die.

Kappa are found in the cool streams, rivers, and ponds on Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu islands. It is difficult to say for certain if they establish territories; depending on the relative abundance of food, a quarter-mile stretch of river may be home to anywhere from one to half a dozen individuals. While they spend a majority of their time in water, kappa regularly come up on land to bask and sleep.

They breed anywhere from one to three times a year. After mating, the female clambers up onto dry land to dig a burrow, into which she lays four to nine eggs. If not eaten, the young kappa hatch in three months, fully independent but still vulnerable to predators.

Kappa are omnivorous, feeding on underwater vegetation and preying upon water insects and small- to medium-sized vertebrates. In the past, they were notorious for attacking and drowning humans, especially children. Thankfully, such events are now rare, thanks to increased awareness and protection.

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Jobberknoll (XX)

[illustration of a jobberknoll (C) H. Douglas Pratt]

Endemic to North America, the jobberknoll is a small magical bird with bright blue plumage, a lighter-blue-grey belly, and black speckles along the back. Males usually have brighter colours and may also possess a black ‘collar’ around the throat. It is mostly found on the western coast, from British Columbia to the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz in Mexico; while southern populations may remain year-round, northern birds often migrate south in the winter to avoid freezing.

Although the jobberknoll prefers deciduous woods, it has adapted to a variety of other habitats due to deforestation. It mainly eats insects and berries. Territory is rather loosely defined for much of the year, and only enforced by males during the breeding season. Visiting females are courted with wing displays and offers of food; upon pairing up, the birds build a nest for their three to eight pale blue eggs. The exact incubation period of jobberknoll eggs is unknown, but fledglings are observed to leave the nest after three to four weeks.

For most of their life, jobberknolls resemble and act like mundane birds. In fact, for a long time they were assumed to be a subspecies of blue jay with no magical abilities. However, careful observation reveals the truth - at the moment of their death, jobberknolls release a long scream made up of every sound it has ever heard, regurgitated backwards. Indigenous peoples have apparently used jobberknoll feathers and organs in truth serums and memory potions for centuries, and new evidence suggests that Bentley Pierce, originator of the veritaserum potion, stole the recipe from the Chinookan peoples [28].

[28] See Catherine Mercier’s article, “Liar, Liar: Bentley Pierce and the True Origins of Veritaserum” (2016)

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Jarvey (XXX)

[painting of a jarvey (C) Mary Yefremova]

The jarvey is a large magical mustelid found throughout Europe and North America. Closely resembling mundane polecats, it is generally a dark brown with a paler underbelly, though certain isolated populations can develop rather striking colour variations [27].

Although capable of human speech, jarveys confine themselves to short, often rude, phrases. At this time, it is unknown if they are simply repeating sounds with little to no understanding of what it means, of whether it is actually a form of intelligible communication. Regardless, their foul language does seem to play a part in courtship, with potential partners insulting one another at length before getting on with business. After a six month gestation, females give birth to five kits, which are fully independent within about three months.

Jarveys tend to live and hunt underground, digging tunnels and chasing various small prey, both magical and mundane. Territories are rather loosely defined and it is not uncommon for several to overlap, especially in food-rich areas. Historically, many witches and wizards kept jarveys as a kind of pest control to keep their gardens free of gnomes; today, this is rare, as most consider it cruel.

[27] See Jules Avergardy’s article, “Pink is the New Black: The Colourful Jarveys of Arizona” (2008)

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Jackalope (XX)

[drawing of a jackalope (C) Darren Calvert]

A familiar feather of the American West, the jackalope is a large hare-like creature weighing up to fifteen pounds. Its back, flanks, and limbs are generally a dark brown or greyish-brown colour, while the underparts are a pale grey. Both sexes possess thin, branching horns similar to a deer’s antlers.

Jackalopes are found throughout western North America, most prominently in Wyoming and the surrounding states. They prefer plains and prairies, but can be found in deserts as well, feeding upon grasses and other low-level vegetation. Mostly solitary, jackalopes come together once a year to mate. Gestation lasts about thirty days and a litter is made up of five to ten fully furred leverets, which are only dependent on their mother for milk for a fortnight.

Extremely agile, jackalopes are able to run up to sixty miles per hour in short bursts. They can also imitate a wide range of sounds, including human voices, which they employ to escape predators or poachers. Jackalope fur, horns, and milk can be used for a variety of purposes, from medicinal poultices to good luck charms. 

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Impundulu (XXX)

[an impundulu in flight (C) Amadoodles]

The impundulu is a magical bird found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It has dark brown, almost black, plumage, with hints of iridescent purple on its back. Rumour has it that they are impervious to bullets, knives, and spells, so its feathers and fat are valuable commodities.

Like the American thunderbird, the impundulu spends most of its life airborne in storm clouds, and is theorised to feed upon the rampant electricity and kinetic energy [26]. Females come to earth once a year to lay their eggs - after locating a suitable hollow, a female carefully deposits her clutch of three to five eggs, covers them up with dirt and leaf litter, and then departs. The chicks hatch, fully fledged, within about three weeks. As soon as the last egg breaks, the chicks cry out in unison, summoning a massive storm that gives the hatchlings enough energy to become airborne and join their parents in the sky.

[26] See Judith Kezilahabi’s paper, “A Bowl of Lightning, Please: The Feeding Habits of the Impundulu” (2014)

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Imp (XX)

[sketch of an imp at play (C) Brian Froud]

Related to the pixie, imps are small humanoids between six and eight inches tall, with dark brown hairless skin. They are only found in Britain and Ireland, preferring damp habitats such as marshland or river banks.

Imps live and move in large, extended family units, which are known as clans. They eat insects and small vertebrates, hunting in pairs to take down bigger prey. When not hunting, they often amuse themselves by pushing, tripping, or otherwise harassing any unwary humans that pass by. Like fairies and pixies, they possess a rudimentary kind of magic, which they use to disguise themselves and play pranks.

Mating occurs twice a year. Eggs are laid in a communal nest and guarded by the entire clan until they hatch, fully formed and ready for mischief.

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Horned Serpents (XXXXX) - Tzabcan

[illustration of a juvenile Tzabcan (C) Unknown]

Native to Central America, the Tzabcan is the largest horned serpent, regularly exceeding thirty feet in length. It has rather rough scales, which are a brown or grey ground colour, overlaid with dark, diamond-shaped blotches with lighter edges. Its horns are long and thin, extending up and then backwards and down.

The Tzabcan prefers semiarid habitats and is found as far south as Costa Rica. It primarily preys on medium- to large-sized mammals, including anteaters, deer, and monkeys, but has been known to opportunistically tackle more dangerous prey, such as jaguars. Its venom causes massive swelling, blistering, and necrosis.

Like the Awanyu, female Tzabcan are known to guard their young for a short while after giving birth. An average litter is five to fifteen hatchlings.

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Horned Serpents (XXXXX) - Mishi-ginebig

[illustration of a juvenile Mishi-ginebig (C) Unknown]

The Mishi-ginebig is the smallest of the horned serpents at only ten to twelve feet long. It has a light grey base colour with a row of large brown or black spots trailing down the centre of its back, and three smaller rows of alternating spots down each side. It has long, straight or slightly curved, ringed horns, which are between two and three feet long.

Native to the Great Lakes region of the United States, the Mishi-ginebig feeds upon a variety of medium- to large-sized vertebrates, including catfish and deer. Its venom contains specialized digestive enzymes that disrupt blood flow and prevent clotting, which leads to death by severe internal bleeding.

Female Mishi-ginebig give birth to five young and exhibit no parental care.

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Horned Serpents (XXXXX) - Estakwvnayv

[illustration of a juvenile Estakwvnayv (C) Unknown]

The second largest horned serpent, the Estakwvnayv is generally twenty to twenty-eight feet long. Its body scales a dark brown with black crossbands, with two dark stripes on either side of the head extending back from the eye. While both sexes possess horns, males’ are longer and have a forward-pointing tine.

Found in or near freshwater rivers and lakes of the southeastern United States, the Estakwvnayv mainly eats fish and other reptiles. Its venom contains a powerful cytotoxin that destroys tissue; even if an individual survives the initial bite, amputation of the bitten limb is usually required.

When ready to give birth, females seek sheltered dens or caves. An average litter is three to six young, which are fully independent and scatter shortly after being born.