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Description

In my distant future earth history, this is a tarkan. It is an example of convergent evolution, having features intermediate between wild cattle and wild sheep and could be grouped with the so-called goat-antelopes , a category that includes the Asiatic takin and the musk-ox. Like their close( and now extinct) relatives, tarkans are powerfully built animals with short legs, heavy bodies and shaggy coats.
Tarkans stand 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in) at the shoulder and weigh up to 650 kg (1,400 lb). They are covered in a thick golden wool with black markings on the neck and under-belly. Both sexes have small horns which run parallel to the skull and then curve inward and upwards in a short point, these are around 30 cm (12 in) long.

Tarkans are found in bamboo forests at altitudes of 8,000-14,000, where they eat grass, buds and leaves. Tarkans are diurnal, active in the day, resting in the shade on particularly sunny days. Tarkans gather in small herds in winter and herds of up to a hundred individuals in the summer, old males are solitary.

(C) Copyrighted to mmpratt99. 2009-2010.

Description

In my distant future earth history, this is a tarkan. It is an example of convergent evolution, having features intermediate between wild cattle and wild sheep and could be grouped with the so-called goat-antelopes , a category that includes the Asiatic takin and the musk-ox. Like their close( and now extinct) relatives, tarkans are powerfully built animals with short legs, heavy bodies and shaggy coats.
Tarkans stand 100 to 130 cm (39 to 51 in) at the shoulder and weigh up to 650 kg (1,400 lb). They are covered in a thick golden wool with black markings on the neck and under-belly. Both sexes have small horns which run parallel to the skull and then curve inward and upwards in a short point, these are around 30 cm (12 in) long.

Tarkans are found in bamboo forests at altitudes of 8,000-14,000, where they eat grass, buds and leaves. Tarkans are diurnal, active in the day, resting in the shade on particularly sunny days. Tarkans gather in small herds in winter and herds of up to a hundred individuals in the summer, old males are solitary.

(C) Copyrighted to mmpratt99. 2009-2010.