Vahk

Vahk are medium-sized omnivore mammals living in the northen parts of Amex, specially on plains and forests. Known by their curious friendship with the Geyn, they are used to Ithakill presence and in some places, have started living with them.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Vahks are small mammals with long fluffy fur covering their body. Generally, their bodies have a rounded shape, with a long tails, a short snout rounded ears; all to minimize their body heat escaping, perfect for living in cold environments. Two pairs of horns grow from the top of their head: a pair growing from the forehead and going up, and a pair growing behind the first that look like a set of antlers.

Their fur changes depending on the season, they have three morphs:

• Winter morph: the typical white fur, thick and warm, protecting them from the low winter temperatures.
• Summer morph: the thinnest fur the Vahk has. It is dirt light brown coloured.
• Normal morph: a mix of the other two, it is gray coloured with a bit of brown here and there.

Their horns are too thin and small to be cared for the hunters. They are not hunted because other animals in the same environment tend to have better horns and biggers.

Growth Rate & Stages

• Pups: from being born until they are two - four weeks old. They are taken care by their mother while the father brings food to her. When they are born, their fur coat is too thin and need the warmth of their mother and sibilings to survive. They do not have horns yet.
• Juvenile: they are weaned and will learn to survive on their own. Their frontal pair of horns start growing and their fur can allow them to survive on their own unless its winter.
• Adults: once they are between 4 to 6 months old, they leave their parent's den and go live on their own. The second pair of horns start growing and they will change their fur coat for the first time when the season will change.

Placeholder (adult) by MidJourney

Lifespan

3-4 years

Average Height

46 – 68 cm (18.1 - 26.7 in) (to shoulder)

Average Weight

4.5 - 9 kg (10 - 19.8 lbs)

Average Length

25 - 30 cm (9.8 - 11.8 in)

Placeholder (juvenile) by MidJourney

Reproduction

Vahk mate for life. Females will choose a male depending on how soft and thick is his fur, and they will mate during early spring. The female will go back to the old den (or make one if their first time breeding or last one got destroyed by any reason) before it's time to mate and will wait for the male in there.

Once they have mated, the gestation period is about 50 days and once is done, the female will give birth to 6 to 12 puppies, although only about 4 to 6 puppies survive to juvenile.

Diet

As an omnivore species, their diety is very varied. During winter, they mainly scavange from what other depredators eat as well as hunt rodents. For the rest of the year, they tend to hunt their own game and sometimes complement the diet (when less food is available) with berries or bugs.

At the worse times, when there's barely any food, there have been cases of Vahks eating other of their species or their feces.

Habitat

Vahks tend to live in plains and forests of the north of Amex. While they tend to live away from civilization, there are cases (which grow more and more as civilization expands toward their territory) where they have been seen living outside cities or towns, and even stranger cases where they have chosen to live with Ithakill. Most of these cases are places where Geyn are used as cattle.

Behaviour

Vahk are not social creatures, they tend to live alone or, in rare cases, in small groups of maximum 10 individuals. When it's time to mate, they go live alone with their partner, and in winter, in extreme cases, you can see groups of them living in the same den.

They spend half the year in dens, specially in winter and while they are taking care of their offstring. The rest of the year, they spend on forests and plains. In some cases, rather than living in dens during winter, groups of Vahks are seen living near towns and cities, sleeping in the middle of the streets, where is slightly warmer than outside, or with Geyns.

Plant and tree field during day by Ricardo Gomez Angel

Geyn

Vahk seem to be really interested in Geyn, but not as prey. Both wild or domesticated Geyn have been seen living together with small groups of Vahks. Both species are friendly towards each other and have been seen defending each other from depredators and other dangers.

It is unknown how that friendship started but it is believed that it is still kept because the protection and warmth each other give to the other, specially in winter, where they have been seen more commonly together. Vahks do not do this with any other cattle species, nor the Geyn hold any similar relationship with any other animal that could hunt them.

Farmers are trying to domesticate Vahk to have them as extra protection in the Geyns enclosures. So far, most of the Vahk have happily accepted a warm place to stay during winter nights but have not stay around during day time and even less during other seasons.