Srir
You kick off your thin flower petal covering excitedly, as today is your second moon day! You have been waiting for so long for this, and you can't wait to see what your parents have gotten you. You leap off of your bed, and send yourself hurling straight off of your loft, far too excited to use the stairs. Your wings flutter, slowing you just before you hit the hard floor. You glance around confusedly, as your parents aren't down here yet waiting for you. As you let yourself sink onto your soft wings to think, your hear the door swinging open from outside. Your father walks in, holding a large illusory box in his hands. He walks up to you, the illusion muffling whatever he holds in his hands as you leap to your feet in excitement. You let out a squeal of excitement as the illusion fades and you are left with a small bundle of fur in your hands. A srir kit! You have been asking for one for months and it's finally here. You lift it up to get a better look, and he yips at you adorably. His tiny paws and his little belly are both pure, snow white, but the rest of his body is a beautiful pastel pink, and he has small antennae poking up from his head. You clutch him to your chest, thanking your parents a hundred times as his tiny tail club gently pats against your leg. Best second moon ever.
Basic Information
Anatomy
They have four limbs, a tail, two eyes and two ears. They have a quadrupedal gait, with digitigrade limbs. They have a long snout filled with sharp carnivore teeth, and a small black nose. Their face is long and narrow, with oversized ears perched slightly on an angle to the side. They have relatively large, forward facing, solid black eyes. Their spine is slightly curved, and is connected to a long and extremely bony tail. Their tail is covered in thick muscle, and is somewhat less furred than the rest of its body. It has a blunt bony structure at the very end that is used as a club. Andrian srirs are a variant with many mutations, including many odd colors, multiple eyes and tails, antennae, and manes.
Genetics and Reproduction
They reproduce quickly, and typically have litters of 3-5 kits. They can reproduce around once every four months, and will do so unless explicitly prevented from doing so.
Growth Rate & Stages
They grow quite quickly. They are born at only around half a pound in weight and a few inches in length. They are considered old enough to be separated from their mothers at around 4 weeks of age, and are sexually mature at 3 months. They are fully grown at one year of age. They grow their tail club at around 6 months, and their eyes go black at 2 months. Their eyes are initially a pale gray color, and they are fully black at two months of age. Their fur is also initially white before their first shed at a month old, where their fur comes back in various colors.
Ecology and Habitats
Wild srirlings can live in almost any wild location, though this is mostly dependent on their subspecies. Arctic srirlings will rarely be found outside of the Frozen Wasteland, and desert srirlings will rarely be found outside of the Desert of Souls. Forest srirlings, however, can be found on the entire main continent. Domesticated srirlings however, are so altered from their wild forms that they would die within weeks of being let into the wild. They live best in an environment where food is readily provided to them.
Dietary Needs and Habits
They have pretty light food requirements. They need around one and a half pounds of meat per day to thrive, but can survive on as little as a few small rodents. In captivity, they thrive best on a diet of animal intestines, which are relatively widely available due to their lack of usability as food for many humanoids. They are widely known for their ability to eat and gain nutritional value from almost anything. One of their most famed attributes, however, are their intensely strong teeth, capable of munching through thick bones.
Biological Cycle
They shed with the coming of summer, leaving behind massive amounts of hair. They will then have a regrowth period in the early fall where their food is returned to them.
Additional Information
Domestication
This species is very commonly domesticated. It was domesticated around 800 years ago, and evolved quickly to match this domestication. Mentally, they became smarter and more trainable, though not yet breaching the border of sentience. They also had an instinctive ability to bond with their adopters bred into them, so they will protect their adoptive family as a faithful guard. They are still kept incredibly strong, and their primary job is as a guard. Physically, they were made larger, fluffier, and their colors were altered. They also had a distinctive patterning bred into them, which is not seen in wild srirs. They were bred to develop ear tufts as well, as this was seen as an appealing trait to many adopters.
Facial characteristics
They have long, thin snouts with a small black nose on the end. Their tongues are a dark pink color, and their teeth are typically white and long. They are blunt in the backs for bone crushing, and sharp in the front for meat tearing. They typically have one set of inky black eyes, though Andrian srirs have been recorded to have a second set, underneath the first. These eyes are front facing, located right above the snout. They have large, triangular ears that jut above their heads and are able to tilt to better track sounds. Desert srirs have the largest ears, in order to dispel heat through the thin, blood filled tips, and arctic srirs have the smallest, with little rounder ears that have plenty of fluff to keep the cold out.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
In the wild, they live in the Frozen Wasteland, the Forest of Grien, the Desert of Souls, Andria, Pelidore, and Ocharial. In captivity, they can live essentially anywhere as long as their needs are met.
Average Intelligence
They are non-sapient, but are typically about as intelligent as your average young toddler. They can be taught tricks, including very complex ones, and there have even been attempts to teach them some form of language. They have an average intelligence of 3.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
They can hear remarkably well, and have wonderful eyesight. Srirlings with antennae often have some basic form of reading vibration in the air, though this is not always present.
Scientific Name
Srir canidus
Lifespan
20 years
Conservation Status
This species is under protection as a domesticated animal in Andria, making it illegal to eat if found. This is enforced by the local Magical Protective Services in the continent.
Average Height
1.5 feet to the shoulder
Average Weight
60lbs
Average Length
3.5ft long, not including tail which is around 2ft long
Average Physique
They are typically quite wiry and muscular, even in domesticated srirs. Their tails are also packed with thick muscles designed for swinging their club hard. Their jaws as well are very powerful, designed to crunch through even bones.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Wild srirs have coloring based off of their subspecies. In andrian srirs, a sexually dimorphous species, males are pink with orange markings and females are orange with pink markings. In forest srirs, they are typically brown with very few markings at all. Arctic srirs tend to be solid white or a light blue color, and desert srirs are a pale sandy yellow color. Domestic srirs tend to be two toned, with a primary color that makes up their back, head, and most of their legs, and a secondary color that covers their inner legs, stomach, tail, and occasionally the underside of the chin. Primary colors and can be white, black, gray, brown, yellow, blue, orange, pink or beige. Secondary colors can only be white or black.
Geographic Distribution
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