Thevar

A thevar has arrived! It brings a letter from the Verdant waters tribe, we shall meet them before this month's end to talk about the Ilro life celebration. Shall I send a letter back to them?

— Assistant to tribe leader.

Thevar are a species of small frugivore bird with vibrant colours that live in the Mebe Jungle on the south of Emea. Because of their great memory and velocity, they are used by the Asheks as messenger birds.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Male thevar's wing by Catoblepon

Female thevar's wing by Catoblepon

The thevar is a small bird with sexual dimorphism between the male and the female.

The male's body is a gradient of vibrant red which fades to pale red. It has a black beak and black legs as well as a black circle surrounding their eyes, which are usually black or dark brown. Its primaries, secundaries, primary covets and alula feathers are yellow with a big black line in the middle, leaving only the outline of the feathers yellow. The rest of the feathers are orange with a big black line.

The female's body is a gradient of a desaturated red to light brown and has brown beak and legs. Its wings are dirty white with a brown line in the middle.

Young thevars look like females until they reach adultness.

Genetics and Reproduction

When the time has come, males will molt so its plumage is at its best colours, and females will choose a male based on how vibrant their colours are. The female then is fertilized by the male and will lay 2 to 6 eggs. These eggs will be incubated by the female while the male will gather food for the female, during 2 or 3 weeks.

Lifespan

12 years

Average Weight

16-27 g

Average Length

12-15 cm

Average wingspan

20-25 cm

Geographic Distribution

• Emea

Male thevar by Catoblepon

The male thevar tends to have two couples at the same time while the female thevar only has one. Their couples does not necessarily have to be for life.

Female thevar by Catoblepon

Growth Rate & Stages

• Hatchling: lasts a week, the thevar is fully dependant of their parents. No feathers nor open eyes.
• Nestling: may last between 2 to 6 months. They have opened their eyes and start growing feathers similar to an adult female.
• Fledgling: last 3 or 4 weeks. They are curious and will explore. They are starting to learn to fly, but still dependants of their parents.
• Juvenile: they become independent but like to stay around their parents for a week or two more. Still have a plumage similar to females.
• Adult: they become adults once they are able to breed, it usually is defined by the first appearance of an adult plumage (which might be hard to see if the thevar is a female). Male thevars will change their juvenile plumage (female-like) to their vibrant plumage.

Habitat & diet

The thevar calls the Mebe Jungle their home. They make their nests between the roots of the trees. Females and chicks can camuflage themselves when in between the roots because their plumage.

They are frugivore animals that complements their diet with seeds during the breeding season. Their favourite fruit grows on the Spitfire tower which is abundant where they live and up to a 100 families of Thevars can be found where a lot of Spitfire tower have grown.

Intelligence

They can imitate voices and remember short messages for a couple of days. Males can rememember a lot of places if they frequent them while females only remember one place.

Messengers and friends

The thevar are used by the Asheks Fareints and Asheks Afreys as messengers and friends.

While both genders are able to remember messages, males thevars are used as messengers because their ability to remember their way back to multiples places. This ability allows to train them to recognize different tribes and send messages both ways. If the message is too long for the thevar to remember (over 50 words), it can send a paper with a longer message.

Female thevar, are prefered to be kept as pets as they are very friendly and like cuddles and attention. Asheks Afreys have always one or more females living with them and they are one of the main company they will have in their life.

Taming

To tame a thevar, one needs to start working with it since it is a hatching, this means that whoever tames them needs to understand their growing needs and how to take care of chicks. Females and males follow a different training and must be separated as soon as possible.

Females do not need a strict training, they only need to be with their owner as soon as they do not need intensive care so they grow attached to the owner and is used to living with people.

Males on the other side have a more strict trianing. Since they are born, they are being moved from town to town so they learn the path as soon as possible between their "homes". Once they pass the nestling stage, they start the training to remember messages.

Wild vs tamed

Wild thevars and tamed thevars are not too different, but living with Asheks for various generations have been changing the thevar's behaviour.

Wild thevars are shy to other species. Females will fly away and hide until they feel safe again and males will go to the top of the trees and throw fruits until they are left alone although they will fly away as last resource if they feel in extreme danger or will not be left alone. In the wild, the males have more vibrant colours but cannot remember as much as tamed thevars and will only remember their way back to the nest they are on. Both females and males will abandon a nest if they feel its a dangerous place which leads to eggs or chicks dying because of other animals or lack of food.

Tamed male thevars have been for a long time selected for their memory rather than their colours and because females have no choice when its time to breed (Asheks force them to breed) the males' colours have been more and more pale. The male chicks that do not pass the training are often left in the wild after they grow to adultness which leads to their deaths has they have no idea how to survive in the wild. Both females and males are less shy than their wild versions as they have been living with Asheks for a long time.