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Description
A digital redesign of a dragon I created in 2016. This was one of many dragons that I had designed when I was getting set to put together a large, dragon themed story (that I inevitably abandoned thanks to complications). As is, I've recently been thinking about getting back to that story and giving it a restart. It might not happen, but even so, I've managed to put together a niece piece of artwork.

The Ice-Trotter was based heavily upon wolves, with some nuances of goat and snow leopard thrown into it. As pretty as this dragon looks, I must point out that it is far from docile. Like any creature adapted to frozen climates, it must be brutal when it comes to hunting for the sake of avoiding starvation. Prey items are hunted down without mercy. These dragons will run themselves to exhaustion for the sake of pursuing prey, and eons of adaptation have given them quite a high level of stamina. There are few prey creatures in the habitat with the skills to avoid predation once they have been targeted by a group of hungry Ice-Trotter's. Luckily prey is killed as quickly as the dragons can manage. Magic breath is used to freeze prey, and strong jaws are then used to rip them apart.

This dragon species lives in packs. The alpha, beta, omega system exists within these packs; but not in the same manner as seen in wolves (Where the alphas are a mated pair, and other members of the pack are their offspring). Ice-Trotter's establish rank through vicious fights at the peak of every breading season. Males and females fight one another, establishing a pecking order. The pair off and breed in accordance to rank. This is an Ovoviviparous breed; eggs are stored within a special chamber within the female, before being born developed enough to be able to fend for themselves without the constant care of mother. The number of offspring born within the pack is often determined by the number of offspring which the alpha pair has. In essence, if the alpha pair only succeeded in producing two viable offspring; then all other mated pairs are only allowed two offspring. This can result in varying levels of infanticide come the end of the birthing season.

Beyond the brutality of their need for survival, these dragons form very deep connections with other members of the pack. While not being monogamous, long-term mating pairs are quite common.

Description
A digital redesign of a dragon I created in 2016. This was one of many dragons that I had designed when I was getting set to put together a large, dragon themed story (that I inevitably abandoned thanks to complications). As is, I've recently been thinking about getting back to that story and giving it a restart. It might not happen, but even so, I've managed to put together a niece piece of artwork.

The Ice-Trotter was based heavily upon wolves, with some nuances of goat and snow leopard thrown into it. As pretty as this dragon looks, I must point out that it is far from docile. Like any creature adapted to frozen climates, it must be brutal when it comes to hunting for the sake of avoiding starvation. Prey items are hunted down without mercy. These dragons will run themselves to exhaustion for the sake of pursuing prey, and eons of adaptation have given them quite a high level of stamina. There are few prey creatures in the habitat with the skills to avoid predation once they have been targeted by a group of hungry Ice-Trotter's. Luckily prey is killed as quickly as the dragons can manage. Magic breath is used to freeze prey, and strong jaws are then used to rip them apart.

This dragon species lives in packs. The alpha, beta, omega system exists within these packs; but not in the same manner as seen in wolves (Where the alphas are a mated pair, and other members of the pack are their offspring). Ice-Trotter's establish rank through vicious fights at the peak of every breading season. Males and females fight one another, establishing a pecking order. The pair off and breed in accordance to rank. This is an Ovoviviparous breed; eggs are stored within a special chamber within the female, before being born developed enough to be able to fend for themselves without the constant care of mother. The number of offspring born within the pack is often determined by the number of offspring which the alpha pair has. In essence, if the alpha pair only succeeded in producing two viable offspring; then all other mated pairs are only allowed two offspring. This can result in varying levels of infanticide come the end of the birthing season.

Beyond the brutality of their need for survival, these dragons form very deep connections with other members of the pack. While not being monogamous, long-term mating pairs are quite common.