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Amplion — Elephant kangaroo

Published: 2013-06-14 17:29:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 4224; Favourites: 59; Downloads: 4
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Description Elephant-Kangaroo (Marsupielephas proboscoides)
Order: Marsupials (Marsupialia)
Family: Trunk Kangaroos (Nasalotheriidae)
Habitat: tropical rainforest and gallery forest of Northern Meganesia, occasionally ranges into bushland or treed savannah.
Evolution is characterized during stages of disaster by a rapid increase in size in a recovering ecosystem. Primitive hoofed animals quickly became as large as bears after the extinction of the dinosaurs, reptiles became as large as crocodiles quickly after the Permian extinction, and modern animals quickly became larger in the abscence of competitors, see the feral cats of anthropocene Australia. And thus, the evolution of the trunk kangaroos in the early Neocene is characterized by the Elephant Kangaroo. Most trunked kangaroos are relatively small or medium-sized, but the bountiful jungle of northern Meganesia provided an opportunity for a giant of the group.
Unlike its relatives, it is a leaf eater, reaching high into the trees to gather food. The teeth are high crowned and ridged, like those of a tapir or the extinct deinothere. 80 percent of its diet is leaves and bark, 10 percent is fruit, and the other 10 percent is rare animal forage. It will still eat animal matter on occasion like its ancestors. Still having a slicing premolar, it will rarely consume the eggs of ground birds, eat large beetles or stick insects, and scavenge flesh from the kills of marsupial panthers and the yagil. It has been known to eat ejected pouch young from the ground.
This creature by far surpasses any present kangaroo in size and stature, weighing up to 800 kilograms. It is no longer able to hop, it can only bound slowly and clumsily, recalling dinosaur. Its head is of medium length, deep and massive, with a relatively long snout, ending in a trunk that is 1.3 meters long. Its pelage is made of short, woolly hair. Its color recalls the Malayan tapir, with a large white saddle on a black background, it also a white facial “mask” and a white dorsal stripe, characteristic of its group, with white “socks” on hands and feet. Its arms are somewhat like that of a ground sloth, only less thick-boned, the claws are very long for pulling down branches, the longest claw is 20cm long. It has a fairly long, barrel chest and a short “humped” neck with thick shoulders. With wide hips and massive legs it can carry large, well developed joeys, its thigh is still relatively long, but its foot is short and flat, with massive “hooved” toes. The tail is fairly long and thick, with a white tip. By many features it is analogous the the long extinct Palorchestes, including a long, elephant-like trunk. It stands 2 meters tall at rest, which is bent forward. At a rearing height, it reaches 4 meters from the head to the ground, but due to its proboscis it can reach even higher. The trunk ends in a “finger”, not unlike those of the elephant of human era.
The mating season falls at the start of monsoon season, when they migrate to upland areas or clearings to court. The males make characteristic braying and trumpeting noises, accompanied by deep grunts and clicks, to attract a harem of females. If a dispute breaks out between males, it is settled by displays of physical strength, pulling down branches and biting them apart, throwing them away. Males do not risk physical harm due to their long sensitive noses. Babies are born at the end of the monsoon season, allowing enough time to develop into large joeys the size of small children. They defend their young viciously, lashing out with the forelimbs and biting, as they will also defend themselves alone using this method. The legs are too degenerate for large kicks.
Lifespan can reach 20-40 years, large adults have no predators except in times of drought when marsupial panther can hunt cooperatively.
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Comments: 7

electreel [2013-06-17 12:03:02 +0000 UTC]

Nice drawing , Sergey! I love the feet.

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Amplion In reply to electreel [2013-06-17 12:28:24 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much! I redrew this feet ) In original it looks like elefant's feet.

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Boverisuchus [2013-06-15 05:32:39 +0000 UTC]

This is great Amplion, I like that you chose one of my species. You did a great job

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Amplion In reply to Boverisuchus [2013-06-15 12:23:11 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much (for your words and for your creature)!

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Boverisuchus In reply to Amplion [2013-06-16 01:57:46 +0000 UTC]

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AlexSone [2013-06-15 01:59:33 +0000 UTC]

Покрасить бы его...

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Amplion In reply to AlexSone [2013-06-15 03:17:48 +0000 UTC]

Я хотел, дык он же по сюжету и так черно-белый )

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