I have made a new beast!
Meet the nonopoth! A horse-like creature found in temperate grasslands, shrublands, and the savanna!
All the info under the cut! Warning! It’s a lot!
Nonopoth (Naan-aap-paath)
Hexapodus hippopterum
Herbivores
Diurnal
Live in North America (Central States, usually in the Southwest), Mexico and parts of Central America.
Are entirely blind and use their antennae to understand their surroundings via a strong sense of smell and touch.
Live 20-35 year.
Usually around 6ft tall with a wingspan of 28 feet.
440-550 lbs.
Can run up to 30 mph and fly up to speeds of 50 mph.
Nonopoths experience sexual dimorphism. Males are typically larger and have much brighter wing coloring which helps in the courting of females. Females, on the other hand, will typically have longer stingers on their tails.
Live in herds of around 6-8 members that consist of a lead buck, a lead mare, the leads’ 2-3 other mates of either sex, and their offspring. Lead nonopoths’ mates will not have multiple mates, like the leads.
Nonopoth gain dominance over a herd by competing with the lead of the same sex. Usually these competitions are non-violent, but that is not a guarantee. Rarely will a nonopoth kill another nonopoth to gain control.
Offspring will leave to either form their own herd, take over someone else’s herd and gain their mates, or will become the mate of another lead and become part of their herd.
Nonopoth herds have very distinct scents from one another that help nonopoths identify who’s part of their herd and who isn’t. This also helps nonopoths from trying to take over their parent herds.
Will usually only have one or two calves. Triplets are incredibly rare.
Calves will usually start walking within a couple hours of being born.
Nonopoth are not mammals, and calves will be able to eat what their parents eat pretty well.
Males are typically the ones to raise the calves, teaching them how to socialize, protect themselves, what foods are right to eat, and so on. Though when the fathers aren’t teaching the calves, they stick close to their mothers.
Offspring will stay with their parents for about a year before going off to form their own lives.
Lone nonopoths are usually around the age of 1 or 2 years old.
Older, lone nonopoths are usually either former leads who got beaten in their competitions, or nonopoths who willingly left their herd, though the latter is very uncommon.
Are very touchy animals and communicate primarily through touching, pushing, nudging one another and rubbing their antennae together.
Have non-venomous stingers that are incredibly sharp and can pierce thick hides, though they have other means of defending themselves (Mandibles, claws at the ends of their limbs, and also their pure brute strength due to their size and weight.)
Nonopoths are a nomadic species.
Nonopoths typically live in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands. Due to their lack of fur they wouldn’t do well in the tundra or in areas that snow annually, and they prefer to live in open areas where they’ll easily be able to take to the skies, so they don’t prefer to live in heavily forested areas either.
Prefer to travel via flight in the warmer months, and will travel on land in the colder ones.
When on the move, males will be the ones who cover the front of the herd, since they are usually larger, while females cover the back since they have larger stingers.
When attacked, the herd will place calves in the middle and circle around them, with bucks closer to the calves and does working on fighting off the attackers.
Nonopoths quite like water. It’s not uncommon to find nonopoths washing themselves in lakes and playing in puddles, including adults. Though, they seem to be irritated by heavy rain.
Nonopoths can understand some complex emotions, especially in their own herd. Nonopoths put a lot of emphasis on love and trust in their herds, and will also mourn members of their herd who die by covering them with leaves, twigs, and other things. If other nonopoths pass a dead nonopoth, even if they’re from a different herd, they’ll stop to pay respects and will even drive scavengers off from their corpses.
Nonopoths, due to their close connections with the members of their herd, will not abandon any nonopoth who is either too old, sick or weak to continue traveling. Instead, the herd will stop moving and wait for the member to either pass or gain their strength back.
In the case of a nonopoth who is diabled, nonopoth will try their very best to accommodate to them. Usually when it comes to nonopoth who are disabled later on in life, they will voluntarily leave the herd or make the herd leave them behind in order to spare them the trouble.
If a nonopoth sees another creature who is dying slowly and in pain, they have been known to mercy kill the creature very quickly. This also goes for their fellow nonopoth.
Nonopoth generally don’t do very well with other animals and will avoid them if they can.
Nonopoths would not be very good animals to domesticate, since they have such a strong connection with their herd. They are generally uncomfortable around humans and human settlements, and generally avoid coming near either of them.
Since nonopoth live out in the open, they are very easy to spot. They are also very much blind, making them very popular amongst trophy hunters. Usually, they’re hunted for their wings, mandibles and stinger. Hunting them for their meat is uncommon, but it does happen occasionally. Nonopoth flesh has been reported to taste gamey and similar to venison, but a little sweeter.
