Orange-beaked puffin

Short introduction

The orange-beaked puffin is probably the most eye-striking of the animals that live in and around Mentzuul. Being a mostly barren, frosty wasteland, most of the fauna has adapted to stay unnoticed between all the snow, rocks, lichen and heath of the continent. Not so the orange-beaked puffin that lives on and around the Aral Galna to the Southwest of Mentzuul. There the animal can be spotted from afar, as the birds have bright, fleshy orange eyelashes and beaks, that make them pop out of the rough grey rocks.

Appearance, distribution and ecology

Aral Galna and some bare skerries off its coast are the only place where this bird can be found. The island and the skerries are mostly free of predators that would take advantage of birds their size. Only sometimes do Baagogai plunder a nest or catch an injured or old orange-beaked puffin, should they happen upon one. The most dangerous place for them are their own hunting grounds, the icy waters, where these duck-sized birds are preyed upon by Kherkalim, Bakalgan and Masset.

The orange-beaked puffins feathers are black and white with sharp stripes and patches forming intricate patterns across their flanks and especially necks and faces. Around their eyes are fleshy orange eyelids framing their black eyes. Their beaks, which became their namesake, are also eyestriking. They are quite sturdy and thick and are bright orange in colour with an irregular stripe pattern running from the beaks bridge downward.

They live and breed on the rocks of the island and skerries and are relatively poor flyers. For this they make up by being very skillful in the water. While they don't have to swim fast or especially nimbly for their prey, which is mostly shellfish, sea stars, sea urchins and crabs, good swimming skills are vital for evading the aforementioned predators.

The orange-beaked puffins are not good singers. Instead they flood their surroundings with irregular screeching concerts, that are started for no apparant reason every now and then by one or a handful of individuals. Those either die down after a few minutes or go in waves, getting louder, not completely dieing down and then welling up again.

Behaviour, cultural role and use

Breeding time starts shortly before the beginning of summer, so the young hatch, when food is most abundant. The male is responsible for supporting the breeding female. After hatching the young are more developped than most bird chicks are, but nonetheless have to be taken care of for 10-15 days. After hatching the female heads out to hunt for food for the young, while the male stays with the nest, fending off other orange-beaked puffins of predators with nasty bites. When the young are a bit more able to defend their own nest, the male, too, goes hunting for the family again along with the female.

Orange-beaked puffins do not form long bonds. They stay together for one breeding and as soon as the last chick leaves the nest, both partners go their individual ways again. The next time they meet they might be competitors for food sources or nesting size and after that they may end up together again. This does not happen too often, though, as their colonies are quite big and they only have a lifespan ranging from five to seven years.

These birds cannot be bonded with and they are impossible to keep as pets, so there are no known people who kept such an animal ever. Because of their skittish behaviour they are also not easy to hunt, especially considering they live far off civilization in the first place. Only sometimes do fishermen take advantage of low lieing nesting grounds to collect some eggs of chicks for food to liven up the often monotonous menue the continent on Mentzuul offers its inhabitants.