Serina: Drakedeer (and juvenile)

(To reiterate, this was a sponsored concept for a wading giraffowl)

One of several varieties of giraffowls native to the far-flung Trang Island, this is a close relative of the forest-dwelling kokopi, having descended from a common ancestor that became isolated on the landmass several million years ago. This species differs from its contemporary relative primarily in its diet and lifestyle. While the kokopi is a browser able to reach high into the trees to feed on shoots and leaves, the drakedeer is a wading grazer, much happier to spend its time with its head down cropping away at submerged water plants with its wider, serrated beak. Herds of the drakedeer are a common sight across the swampy wetland region, striding through the clogged, murky water, feeding on aquatic clovers, grasses, and algae. Their nostrils are placed higher on their foreheads than the kokopi, allowing them to breathe without having to fully raise their head out of the water, while their keratinous beaks grow more quickly in response to it being ground down by constantly sifting through the grainy silt while grazing. Although they prefer to forage in water shallow enough for them to stand in, they are nonetheless excellent swimmers, with webbed toes that splay out, allowing them to paddle adeptly through water for miles if necessary. Fleeing to deeper water is an oft-used defence when escaping from predators, like the death sniffler, and then attempting to drown them or spike them with their forearm spurs if they continue to pursue. Herds will often associate with the skuggernaut, a much larger wading grazer, in part due to the small degree of protection from predators given, and because the destructive feeding activities of the skuggernaut often expose hidden rhizomes and nutritious roots deep in the riverbeds.

The drakedeer is not limited to the inland swamps and marshes, and is also a frequent sight along the coast and even in offshore waters, feeding on kelp-like macroalgaes and marine grasses. Although they are great swimmers, they are very poor divers due to their extremely buoyant bodies, such as bones riddled with air cavities gifted from their flighted ancestors, even though they are still comparatively more robust and heavily-built than its more terrestrial cousin, weighing up to two-hundred pounds. Therefore, they rarely venture further than the shallows, feeding only in areas they can either graze while standing or where the marine vegetation floats high enough for them to reach. which also helps it avoid any marine predators large enough to threaten them. Excess salt incidentally consumed from feeding in seawater is expelled through the nostrils, although the periodic feeding from the sea is often prompted from seeking some of this mineral in their diet, as it is deficient inland. While at sea, they occasionally also consume shellfish like small crustaceans, marine gastropods, and bivalves, which is usually the only animal matter they normally eat, as it helps them obtain the small amounts of calcium and nutrients that are lacking in plant matter.

Both sexes possess large horns, although these are longer and more recurved in males, sometimes almost forming a full loop. Similar to the kokopi, these are purely for display, as they are filled with soft spongy tissue that cannot hold up to sustained combat. Because of this, males coexist within the same herd peacefully, as disputes are always settled through display rather than combat. Their forward-curving structure is a handicap when travelling through dense forest, as they can become hooked on vines and low branches, so the adults avoid these habitats whenever possible, which is perfectly easy enough as their preferred foraging environments are almost always sparsely wooded enough for them to navigate without trouble. Death snifflers will often try and force drakedeer away from the water and corner them in dense forests when hunting them however, as it becomes much for difficult for the giraffowl to escape or defend themselves. They are also less common on the more elevated savannahs and grasslands where the soil is high enough to not get saturated by water, as they are not fit to digest the tougher and silica-rich terrestrial grasses, although herds will travel through these regions periodically when moving between feeding grounds or to take advantage of a local fruiting event.

Males have large and bushy tails, used for display towards females; when attempting to court a receptive female, the male will shake his body back and forth in an energetic mating dance to show off his vibrant colours and healthy skin, displaying both his horns and crest of feathers at the front and his tail feathers at the back in tandem. Like all giraffowl, the drakedeer does not take care of its young, which emerge from the mother's pouch on their own and immediately become independent. Similar to the kokopi, the offspring are born flightless, but are highly proficient climbers with a finger-like pseudo-thumb projecting from their wrist to help them grasp branches, and immediately take to the nearest grove upon leaving their parent. They are born with wings and are capable of limited gliding for the first few weeks of life to help them travel more quickly when small, but the wing feathers fall out within a month as they grow too heavy to glide. However, despite the radically different appearance from the adults, juveniles share their habitat preference of swampy regions and are excellent swimmers. When threatened by birds-of-prey, the young drakedeer, if in a tree above water, will leap from the trees into the drink and quickly paddle away. The young have a more omnivorous diet, feeding more opportunistically on insects, gastropods, crustaceans, and even occasionally catching small fish. They begin developing the more slender proportions of adults around five years old, and gradually spend more time on the ground until they become accustomed to living below the trees.

(This lives 290 MYH)