Mountain-Stalker Gryphon

Gryffinychus moros

Mountain-Stalker Gryphon (Gryffinychus moros) is a highly derived oviraptorid dinosaur that calls the jagged mountains of Siccora home, and at 9 meters long, the Mountain-Stalker is the largest of its clade. Gryphons are capable of true flight and unlike other theropods, all Gryphons possess a quadrupedal stance, which results in a very mythical Griffin-like appearance, hence their name. Although they mate for life, Mountain-Stalkers are solitary hunters, and employ a hunting strategy similar to Golden Eagles; grappling prey larger than themselves and pulling them off cliffs to let gravity make the kill for them. Their large crested beaks exert bone crushing force, allowing them to process more of a carcass than the birds of prey they share their environment with.

Mated pairs produce on average of 4 eggs and take turns protecting the nest, which is usually high up on large flat cliffs with plant growth. While too heavy to sit on the eggs, Mountain-Stalkers use their thick plumage on their chests and wing feathers to cover the eggs and shield them from the cold of such a high altitude. Chicks possess dark grey feathers to camouflage them against the rock of their nest cliff, but will molt into their light brown adult plumage by 2 months. All gryphons are very dedicated parents, chicks will stay under their parents care for 2 years, and are tolerated within their territory for another year until they set off for their own.