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Description

Altiyn

Emerald spined wyvern

Spinovernus smaragdus

    ·         Habitat: Hot and sandy deserts

    ·         Range: Saharan desert

    ·         Diet: carnivore

    ·         Niche: Apex predator

    ·         Clade: diloptera

    ·         Superfamily: wyvernoidea

    ·         Family: wyvernidea

Description

Altiyn is a species of spined wyvern known for its beautiful green hide and deadly spikes. They are usually about 2.75 meters tall and 7.5 meters long making them a formidable predator. Their exact lifespan is unknown but estimates say they live as long as 40-50 years.

Life cycle

While Altiyn are solitary hunters, every three years they will migrate to a location in the Saharan desert known as the Oasis of Life a large lake in the middle of the desert which is surrounded by dense vegetation and massive walls of rock on which the verdant wyverns will nest for the next year.

During courtship the male will attract a female by letting out melodious calls, when a female is attracted the male will show off his vibrant yellow crest and beautiful wing patterns while flaring its neck spines and bobbing its head. If the male successfully attracts a female, he will show off his aerial superiority by practicing barrel rolls and risky aerial maneuvers. If the female is impressed, she will join the male in the air and they will both perform a synchronized courtship flight, if all goes well, they will form a couple and have eggs with each other.

Altiyn couples have three eggs each season, both parents take care of the eggs switching between hunting and protecting the nest, they will incubate the eggs with debris such as rotting vegetation since the eggs would be crushed if the adults were to sit on them. This continues even after the eggs hatch with one parent hunting and the other taking care of the dragonlings. Both parents will teach their children basic survival skills like hunting, flying, and properly using their fire breath. After a year the wyverns would have reached sexual maturity and their parents would chase them away from the oasis of life to fend for themselves. As for the parents, they will stay at the oasis for a few days before parting ways.

Behavior:

Altiyn are very solitary animals and will only meet during the mating season. However, when two Altiyn cross paths, they will ignore one another and continue flying.

Altiyn spends most of their time soaring across the Saharan desert, using their massive wings and leg wings to catch thermals, they also use this increased surface area to glide at high speeds after gaining enough momentum from flapping. They can do this even during the harshest sandstorms, using echolocation to avoid crashing and a nictating membrane over their eyes to protect them from the sand.

Hunting

An Altiyn’s main method of dispatching its victims is by ambushing from above, diving at its prey before firing an incredibly accurate spine shot at its prey’s head, this is usually enough to kill its prey but if this doesn’t work it will follow with a bite to the neck or using its fire breath. They usually hunt large animals like rhinos, camels, and other dragons.

Fire breath

Like most fire-breathing dragons, the Altiyn uses a methane-based fire breath. This methane is obtained by using a special microbe called methanogenic archaea which turns proteins into methane. These microbes are found in specialized glands on either side of the lungs. Excess and nutritionally useless proteins like collagen are sent to these methanogenic glands to be turned into methane, the methane is then transported to pressurized sacs on either side of the animal's neck and chest where it is stored for later use. When the dragon activates its fire breath, it will open a valve in the pressurized sacs sending the methane gas flying out of its mouth where it is ignited with a spark created by a specialized electrical organ, and thus the dragon breathes fire.

Ecological impacts:

Being an apex predator, the Altiyn is the Saharan's main source of population control for most of the large animals that call this scorching desert their home. Their presence also influences the preservation of the desert itself by preventing farmers from building farms and thus reducing the risk of habitat loss.

Human interaction:

Altiyn are majestic animals and are seen as symbols of power and beauty among the caravans of merchants that wander the Sahara and an Altiyn circling above you often means a sign of good luck. However, as beautiful as they are, these wyverns are no strangers to poaching and are often hunted for their beautiful green and heat-proof hide that is used in armor smithing and their spines are crafted into blades and arrowheads, thankfully, the Altiyn are seen as sacred animals to the inhabitants of the Sahara and if anyone is caught killing one they will be persecuted with death. Their intelligence theoretically makes them trainable but not many have managed to do so, however, a rumor has spread of a young warrior that has managed to befriend one of these dragons.

Description

Altiyn

Emerald spined wyvern

Spinovernus smaragdus

    ·         Habitat: Hot and sandy deserts

    ·         Range: Saharan desert

    ·         Diet: carnivore

    ·         Niche: Apex predator

    ·         Clade: diloptera

    ·         Superfamily: wyvernoidea

    ·         Family: wyvernidea

Description

Altiyn is a species of spined wyvern known for its beautiful green hide and deadly spikes. They are usually about 2.75 meters tall and 7.5 meters long making them a formidable predator. Their exact lifespan is unknown but estimates say they live as long as 40-50 years.

Life cycle

While Altiyn are solitary hunters, every three years they will migrate to a location in the Saharan desert known as the Oasis of Life a large lake in the middle of the desert which is surrounded by dense vegetation and massive walls of rock on which the verdant wyverns will nest for the next year.

During courtship the male will attract a female by letting out melodious calls, when a female is attracted the male will show off his vibrant yellow crest and beautiful wing patterns while flaring its neck spines and bobbing its head. If the male successfully attracts a female, he will show off his aerial superiority by practicing barrel rolls and risky aerial maneuvers. If the female is impressed, she will join the male in the air and they will both perform a synchronized courtship flight, if all goes well, they will form a couple and have eggs with each other.

Altiyn couples have three eggs each season, both parents take care of the eggs switching between hunting and protecting the nest, they will incubate the eggs with debris such as rotting vegetation since the eggs would be crushed if the adults were to sit on them. This continues even after the eggs hatch with one parent hunting and the other taking care of the dragonlings. Both parents will teach their children basic survival skills like hunting, flying, and properly using their fire breath. After a year the wyverns would have reached sexual maturity and their parents would chase them away from the oasis of life to fend for themselves. As for the parents, they will stay at the oasis for a few days before parting ways.

Behavior:

Altiyn are very solitary animals and will only meet during the mating season. However, when two Altiyn cross paths, they will ignore one another and continue flying.

Altiyn spends most of their time soaring across the Saharan desert, using their massive wings and leg wings to catch thermals, they also use this increased surface area to glide at high speeds after gaining enough momentum from flapping. They can do this even during the harshest sandstorms, using echolocation to avoid crashing and a nictating membrane over their eyes to protect them from the sand.

Hunting

An Altiyn’s main method of dispatching its victims is by ambushing from above, diving at its prey before firing an incredibly accurate spine shot at its prey’s head, this is usually enough to kill its prey but if this doesn’t work it will follow with a bite to the neck or using its fire breath. They usually hunt large animals like rhinos, camels, and other dragons.

Fire breath

Like most fire-breathing dragons, the Altiyn uses a methane-based fire breath. This methane is obtained by using a special microbe called methanogenic archaea which turns proteins into methane. These microbes are found in specialized glands on either side of the lungs. Excess and nutritionally useless proteins like collagen are sent to these methanogenic glands to be turned into methane, the methane is then transported to pressurized sacs on either side of the animal's neck and chest where it is stored for later use. When the dragon activates its fire breath, it will open a valve in the pressurized sacs sending the methane gas flying out of its mouth where it is ignited with a spark created by a specialized electrical organ, and thus the dragon breathes fire.

Ecological impacts:

Being an apex predator, the Altiyn is the Saharan's main source of population control for most of the large animals that call this scorching desert their home. Their presence also influences the preservation of the desert itself by preventing farmers from building farms and thus reducing the risk of habitat loss.

Human interaction:

Altiyn are majestic animals and are seen as symbols of power and beauty among the caravans of merchants that wander the Sahara and an Altiyn circling above you often means a sign of good luck. However, as beautiful as they are, these wyverns are no strangers to poaching and are often hunted for their beautiful green and heat-proof hide that is used in armor smithing and their spines are crafted into blades and arrowheads, thankfully, the Altiyn are seen as sacred animals to the inhabitants of the Sahara and if anyone is caught killing one they will be persecuted with death. Their intelligence theoretically makes them trainable but not many have managed to do so, however, a rumor has spread of a young warrior that has managed to befriend one of these dragons.