Yarmani River Hound

"There are few cultures so intimately tied into a breed of beast as the Yarmani are into their River Hounds, which they call /saran/. The Hounds guard their herds and flocks and homes, and guide them on hunts. Their myths say that the Hounds were the creation of one of their foremost gods—The First Child of the River. To have owned a Hound at any point, even a decrepit creature from the murkiest of lineages, increases one's social standing. The River Hound is, without question, critical to their culture, history, and way of life."

— from The Taming of the Rivers, by Bostrephus Manalus Fol

"The River Hound is a social animal. Those specimens which have gone feral will form a social unit identical to those of their wild cousins. The most basic social unit is a mated pair, and their juvenile and newborn offspring, with packs occasionally consisting of two or three family units. Those that live among people tend to integrate those people into that system—the owners are the leaders of the pack, pseudo-parents. Human offspring, reasonably, fill the role of fellow offspring. Curiously, those River Hounds that guard flocks and herds seem to see their charges as something wholly separate from this social structure—a behavior no doubt bred into them over the generations."

— from The Beasts of Southern Munuth, by Alstrevus Grond

Basic Information

Anatomy

Yarmani river hounds are semiaquatric tetrapods.
Their coats have two main parts: an undercoat of short, fine hairs that trap heat, and a waterproof overcoat of long hairs. They secrete a special oil from a gland on their undersides to help with grooming, which is done socially. Social grooming is most often between members of the same species, but a tame hounds will allow humans to groom them, even with tools like brushes and combs.
They have a slender builds, which limit resistance while in the water. When diving, river hounds tuck their legs against their bodies, and fold their ears flush against their heads, where their fur prevents any water from getting into the ear canal. They can hold their nostrils shut as well. When submerged, the legs follow a pattern similar to their usual loping gate, modified to reduce counter-productivity, which, coupled with their broad, webbed paws, allows them to reach between 32-47 km/h (19.8-29.2 mph) on average. River hounds can hold their breath for up to twenty minutes, but must surface much more frequently when performing strenuous activity, such as chasing prey.
On land, river hounds can reach top speeds between 55-70 km/h, which they can maintain for up to 25 minutes.

Genetics and Reproduction

Yarmani river hounds are generally monogamous, with mated pairs usually remaining together for life. In the wild, upon the death of one mated river hound, the pair is usually quickly reestablished. Tame hounds will try to reestablish a mated pair quickly as well, but may be stymied by owners.
River hounds reproduce by copulation. Females will enter into heat annually in the late winter. Birth occurs a little over two months after fertilization.
Litter size varies with the available food supply, ranging between 6-10 on average, but instances of litters as large as 16 or as few as 1 have been recorded. Litters are born at the beginning of Spring.

Growth Rate & Stages

Pups are born blind and deaf. They begin play-fighting around 3 weeks of age, at which point they also begin eating solid food. Pups begin fighting to establish dominance between 5-8 weeks in age. They are able to accompany their parents hunting large prey in by the autumn.
The age of first breeding varies depending on the prevalence of food. If a specimen is tame and provided for, or if a specimen is feral and prey is plentiful, a river hound may begin producing offspring as early six months of age. If food is scarce, however, it may be as late as two years of age.

Ecology and Habitats

Though culturally and historically associated with river systems, and adapted to maneuver in bodies of water of depths several times greater than their height, feral river hounds can sustain themselves in and around bodies of fresh water of any shape and size, be they stream or brook, spring or lake, or even inland wetlands—though the last of these is far from ideal. Furthermore, tame specimens regularly survive and even thrive far from any significant body of water.
Feral hounds construct and use dens during the spring to shelter pups, often taking advantage of natural shelters such as fissures in rocks, cliffs overhanging riverbanks and holes thickly covered by vegetation. Sometimes, the den is the appropriated burrow of smaller animal, but in such case the den is often widened and partly remade. On rare occasions, female river hounds dig burrows themselves, which are usually with few openings openings. The den is usually within easy travel distance of the specimen's primary water source, and typically faces southwards, guaranteeing sufficient sunlight exposure to make the denning area relatively snow-free.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The river hound is an obligate carnivore. A tame specimen used in a hunt is traditionally given a portion of the hunted game, and is otherwise fed from stores. River hounds have displayed a preference for raw meat, but can and will eat meat that has been cooked or salted.
Feral hounds are pack hunters, preferring to stalk and ambush prey at the water's edge, from the surrounding brush or even the water itself. They will hunt small mammals, reptiles, shoaling fish, and waterfowls alone or in pairs, and will take on larger prey as a group. If an intended target or group proves to much, the pack can flee into the water.
Hounds are territorial, with feral packs often taking several dozen square kilometers, usually incorporating at least one significant freshwater body of some kind.
Male hounds will bring food to the dens of their mates when they are pregnant or nursing, and to both mate and pups once the pups begin eating solid food.

Biological Cycle

Once they reach breeding age, river hound females will enter heat once every year in late winter, and will give birth in mid-spring.

Additional Information

Domestication

The river hound is very similar to its closest undomesticated equivalent, the river wolf. The river wolves are slightly larger on average than river hounds, and tend to have larger territories, but are not as intelligent as their domesticated counterparts.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

River hounds feature primarily as guardians. They are most prominently known for protecting houses, merchant river-barges, and both land- and river-based livestock, but they can and will stand guard over just about anything.
Additionally, river hounds feature prominently in religious rituals dedicated to the Yarmani god known as the First Child of the River.

Facial characteristics

River hounds possess relatively long, sloped muzzles, ending in somewhat pointed noses. Their canines and incisors are sharp, and impressive, but these, along with most of their lower jaw, can be difficult to see when their mouths are closed. They have pointed ears, several dozen millimeters in length. River Hound eyes are rarely of a color other than blue, green, or hazel.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The range of feral river hound populations encompasses much of the southern end of the continent of Munuth, stretching from the coast of the Gossamer Sea, through the Myh Dokhar grasslands, the Thurvin Woods and Foothills, and even the southernmost fringes of the Oblkhaz mountains. From there, they spill out into first the Myh Dokhar Riverlands, and then into the Yarmani Riverlands, where their range buts up against the Nimean desert, the Khalesine wastes, and the northern coast of the Haunted Straits.
It has long been rumored that there is a breed of river hound native to the island of Lo Dokh, but this has not been confirmed by any credible source.

Average Intelligence

The river hound is capable of a relatively complex combination of auditory, visual, and olfactory communication, can adroitly navigate territories several dozen square kilometers in size, and is capable of learning dozens of different commands, which it can execute under pressure.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

During the day, river hound eyesight is comparable to that of a human. Notable deviations from the human baseline include that vision quality decreases significantly at long distances, that river hounds cannot see the color red, and that they see better when submerged in fresh water than they do on land. River hounds have peripheral vision quality superior to that of humans, and night vision significantly superior to that of humans.
The river hound's sense of smell is its most developed and powerful sense, being dramatically superior to that of humans, though inferior to some other canid species. It can detect scents originating 1-2.3 km (0.62-1.4 mi) upwind of its location. It can easily follow fresh tracks.
A river hound's hearing is acute enough to detect a frequency of 26 kHz.

Lifespan

8-13 years in the wild, as long as 18 years when owned

Average Height

62-66 cm (24-25 in.) at the shoulder

Average Weight

29-34 kg (64-75 lbs), with females weighing 2-5 kg less than males

Average Length

90-105 cm (35-41 in.) nose to tail

Average Physique

As a result of being adapted for speed in the water, where excess weight is a detriment, river hounds are not particularly bulky. Though there are rare exceptions, most river hounds are composed of sloping curves and lean, corded muscle.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Most river hound coats are predominantly tan in color, with grey or grey-blue mottling being common. Some lineages produce coats of where these other colors are predominant, but this is rare.
Patterns in the undercoat match those in the surface, with white correlating to tan, and black to the other colors. A river hound's actual skin is similarly correlated, being a pale pink where the surface coat is tan, and darker elsewhere.