Serina: Crowned Carnackle

Life on Serina during the hothouse is like no era in the moon's history; in the ecological vacuum at the end of the ice age, flora and fauna rapidly rebounded in a massive global evolutionary radiation. During the first few million years, animals were still relatively small, and diversity was still low; many species had not yet completely given up the more generalist habits of their ancestors, traits which had allowed them to tough out one of the harshest periods Serinan life had yet seen. The carnackles, those carnivorously-inclined trunkos with spiny facial tentacles, were among the first true macropredators of the hothouse. The slayer carnackle, with its blade-like facial serrations, for slicing through flesh, and long, powerfully-muscled legs, for running down even the fastest prey, was a very formidable carnivore in its day and age, but its prey continued to evolve, becoming more specialized and well-defended. To keep up, so to has the slayer's descendants become evermore formidable, honing its weapons to new extremes to specialize on particular prey types. The massively-built and heavy-set dread carnackle, hunting slower, more physically defended prey with monstrous strength and endurance, and the antithesis, the agile and lithe crowned carnackle, evolved to tackle smaller, faster animals in rapid pursuit.

Its legs have become highly elongated, and its third toe is highly reduced, with enlarged thigh muscles to push the predator along at speeds that can exceed eighty kilometres an hour at full tilt, with bounds of up to twenty feet in a single stride. Its targets are the equally speedy herds of loopalopes, snoots, gesticulopes, and praire-dwelling wumpos. Its killing method varies depending on the size of the prey in question, larger or as large as itself, or smaller. The most obvious feature of the crowned carnackle and the trait from which it derives its name are the large, front-facing horns that protrude from its face. Rather than being used for intraspecific combat as with most animal horns, these are hunting utensils used against its prey. Its head and neck are heavily-muscled, its skull reinforced with several centimetres of bone, and robust vertebrate to cushion its head against a high-speed impact. Rather than trying to grab larger prey which it may not be able to subdue in a chase, the carnackle will attempt to cripple prey, or at least send it tumbling, by ramming with its horns, preventing it from being able to escape the killing blow. Smaller prey the carnackle will attempt to grab from above with its highly hooked trunk, or topple it mid-run with powerful downward blows of its head. A single stumble is often all it takes to guarantee a successful catch. A kill is often made with seconds from the beginning of the initial chase, for the sheer abundance of prey allows the carnackles to hunt in packs.

Social and highly intelligent, clans of carnackles can number up to twenty adults, and nearly as many offspring. During a hunt, the pack members spread out around the herd, following the direction of the designated hunt leader, usually the clan's matriarch, often mock-charging to scatter the prey's numbers and flush out individuals to the fringes where they can be much more easily picked off. Although their endurance during a sprint is low, there is always another runner to take up the pursuit once the initial chaser tires, and flankers trailing from the sides prevent the prey from pivoting to jink its pursuers. Hunts have a high success rate, and the kill is shared between members of a clan, but the relatively small size of their normal quarry, how exhausting a chase is, and that the meal must be divided between the pack's numerous members means they must hunt frequently. A crowned carnackle can eat nearly a third of its body weight in one sitting if it can, and it eats very quickly, because it is common for larger predators like cutthroats and vultrorcs to bully them away from their kills. At up to eight feet in height and two-hundred kilograms in weight, the crowned carnackle is a large predator by the standards of Holocene Earth, but it coexists with numerous far, far larger carnivores higher on the food chain.