Massochelorex

So many creatures within the world of New America both shock and awe the people struggling to survive, but none do so more then a beast who looks like it was pulled straight from a pre-war medieval story book.

Massochelorex ( meaning “Massive Claw(ed) King”) is a species of airborne predatory animal native to the dense woodland and plains of Royal Wood, Wyoming. With the front half of an eagle and the back half of a lion, this amalgamation of beasts is far from natural, but displays the characteristics of both its parts. It’s smart, fast, durable and an excellent hunter. These sly beasts stalk their prey from the shadows with ferocious speed and dogged tenacity, and their massive claw’s are as dexterous as they are deadly, making them considerably the second Apex-Predator to rule the Royal Woods, next to Orosornis.
Shy, solitary and fierce, the Massochelorex is difficult to locate and hard to track and as a result, its hard to pin-point the exact number of existing animals. This fact is exacerbated by the associated risk with trying to locate the resting place of such a massive, dangerous animal, so most individuals are caught on motion-camera.
Adult animals lead largely solitary lives. They establish and maintain territories but have much wider home ranges within which they roam. Resident adults of either sex generally confine their movements to their home ranges, within which they satisfy their needs and in the case of females, their growing offspring. Individuals sharing the same area are aware of each other’s movements and activities, with the size of the home range mainly depending on prey abundance, geographic area and sex of the individual. Members of the species are said to mate for life and breed once every two years, however because of their solitary nature, they do not tend to hang around each other in bonded pairs much like Orosornis, instead living their lives separately and pairing up again during breeding, with either sex allowing their mate to live within their territory.
Despite this, primarily, they do travel alone and occasionally in pairs. However, unlike the Orosornis, they have never been observed in a swarm, or other high concentration. Despite this however, they are not always territorial and relationships between individuals can be complex. An adult of either sex will sometimes share its kill with others, even those who may not be related to them. One person was said to observe a male share a kill with two females and four cubs.
Male Massochelorex are generally more intolerant of other males within their territories than females are of other females. Territory disputes are usually solved by displays of intimidation rather than outright aggression. Several such incidents have been observed in which the subordinate yielded defeat by rolling onto its back and showing its belly in a submissive posture, a display similar to one found in Big cat’s like tigers. Once dominance has been established, a male may tolerate a subordinate within his range, as long as they do not live in too close quarters.
Females and Males both display sexual-dimorphism, with females sporting a almost golden color, while males establish a more predominantly various shade of brown-the older the individual, the darker the color, with older males sporting an almost black color. Rare colors often include what is known as Artic which sports itself as a coat counter-shaded with a silver to dark gray blend and a distinctive spotted “leopard” coloration pattern dorsally and a paler, white to light gray color ventrally.
In the wild, Massochelorex mostly feed on large and medium-sized mammals, particularly ungulates weighing 60–250 kg (130–550 lb). Range-wide, wild boar, Elk, and Bison are significantly preferred. Deer are often hunted during the winter months, as Massochelorex does not migrate. They have also been known to fly into the mountains to hunt mountain goat. Also known as the last shadow, its preferred method of attack is from above, with its shadow being the last thing its victim sees (and once they do it is already too late), with the creature often going for the neck and jugular vein, or using it’s weight to snap the back of it’s prey. Massochelorex is also not above stealing however, as they are known to capture kills made from other predators, such as Orosornis. This is known as Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) which is a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey or other food that was caught, collected, or otherwise prepared by another animal, including stored food. While this behavior is not so common in Massochelorex, research has found that parent animals involved in Kleptoparasitism are more successful in raising broods than non-kleptoparasitic individuals.
Similar too Orosornis, Massochelorex is a victim of a plethora of circumstances that have lead to a decline in their numbers in recent years. Considered a new member of New America Big Five, they are often sport hunted, with hunters often talking about the thrill of the hunt due to their habit of living alone in dense cover and not noisily asserting their presence with roars as often as animals like Deathclaw. As a result, humans are the animal’s most significant predator, and illegal poaching is a major threat to the populations that exist around Royal Wood.
Much like Orosornis, they are hunted mainly for their feathers skulls and talons- however, unlike Orosornis, its highly independent nature and disinterest with interacting with humans combined with its power and strength make the Massochelorex a challenge to domesticate, which in turn has been a blessing to the Orosornis populations, whose bonding capabilities have lead to programs which has successfully sustained the populations to a decent number. Talk about potential captive breeding have often been in the works, but given the animals shy and reclusive nature as well as their fierce personalities, this may be far more into the future then most thought.