Long Necks

The long neck, the largest creature to walk the lands of drakenelm. It towers over all creatures, and even many trees, and its every step shakes the ground it walks upon. Few things would dare to ever even mess with one, for the charge of a long neck leaves nothing but crushed bone in its wake. Its long necks allow it to reach far up into the great trees of the savannah, sometimes even using its incredible mass to push down entire trees, uprooting them, and eating all the leaves on it. Such is there might, that many call them the masters of the plains, for who dares try to attack such a massive creature, especially the female herds that travel together.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The long neck is a quadrupedal creature, with four thick tree like legs supporting its massive body high into the air. It is a tall and wide creature, its body is a large oval like shape and ripples with each powerful step it takes. Then comes its most iconic feature, its incredibly long neck that allows it to see far above all other creatures and reach the tops of the luscious trees during the rain seasons. It's head is flat, with a long forehead, and filled with teeth for chewing hard plant matter. Its skeleton is as thick and strong as stone, with its muscles allowing it to support its massive body and push down entire trees.

Genetics and Reproduction

Once every five years, males go through a period of musth where their hormones cause them to immediately start seeking out the females. One can usually tell a male is in a period of musth when they begin secreting a strange liquid from their heads, due to the overflow of said hormones. Once it is in this form, it then seeks out the large herds of females, which when they find them, they use their size to overpower the females and mount each and every one of them and inseminate them.
Once it has done so, the male will then essentially guard that herd of females until the females eggs are full inseminated, which is usually three or so months after insemination. If any other males show up in an attempt to impregnate the females, then the male that is already there will try to scare them away or end up fighting them. Fighting for the long necks are a simple affair, yet a brutal one. The two males stand side by side to each other, and then launch each other's bodies into each other in an attempt to break the bones of the opponent, or cause them so submit. The very ground shakes when these giant beings battle.
Once the females have been fully impregnated, the male then leaves. The females then have a long gestation period of about two years, where after said years the baby is born. Females begin to lose their reproductive ability at about 60 years of age, with those around 70 expected to be completely infertile.

Growth Rate & Stages

After being born, a long neck is quite tiny in comparison to what it will grow into, immediately beginning its rapid growth. They begin with relying on their mother's milk, but later grow to develop their teeth and eat plant matter. Males and females mature at different rates, with females reaching sexual maturity at about 12 years old, and males reaching it at 19 years old. Regardless, both male and female reach adulthood at the same time, which is at 19 years old.
Thus, when they turn to adults, females stay with the matriarchal herds, while the male is forced out into the wild to live on its own. Males thus become much more solitary than females, moving alone in the savannah, hence is why many theorize that they become much more violent after this, due to the emotional damage of being forced out of their homes by their families.

Ecology and Habitats

The long necks live primarily in the great Savannah of the center of the continent, where it roams across the entire place, moving depending on the dry and wet seasons in search for food and water. They tend not to bother with other species when they reach adulthood, and in turn most animals avoid them due to their size. If an animal does for some reason attack it, most likely a death horse due to their stupidity, the long neck is quick to crush it.

Dietary Needs and Habits

The long neck is a herbivorous creature, eating the plants and trees of the large plains, using their necks to reach high into the canopy of trees and eating the fresh leaves. When they are younger, they eat what they can reach, which can be things such as bushes or other shrubbery.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Males and females have very different social structures. As mentioned before, males are forced out into the wilderness and are left to lead solitary lives excluding the few times it may mate with females. Females however have very close relations with other females in the herds they travel within, helping each other and even aiding others with the raising of the young or the protection of them. All female herds are led by a matriarch, the oldest female in the group, who decides where the herd moves and is the one with the most experience and thus knows where to find food or water both in the wet and dry seasons. Strangely, when the matriarch dies, it seems the oldest daughter of it takes over, rather than the oldest overall female, so the creatures have a sense of blood bonds within their "society".

Average Intelligence

Despite its biggest advantage being of course its size, long necks have shown themselves to be incredibly intelligent for not being a sentient creature. There is evidence, and a lot of first hand experience, of the creatures showing emotions one would think that only sentient beings are capable of, such as compassion, gentleness, or even kindness. It is not uncommon for a long neck who has been tamed by an individual to have a genuine close bond with them to the point where the long neck will feel sad if they do not see their friend for long. In terms of their own species, it has been noted that when a member of a herd dies, or even a male that was discovered by a herd or another male, for the creatures to show grief and respect towards the dead body. While they are of course not sentient, many speak just of how intelligent the long necks might be, and how they may be so much more than just simple animals.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Its eyes have a wide arc, allowing it so see from a large range if anything approaches, but it doesn't have any spectacular eyesight. Its strongest sense is that of its sense of hearing, where its ability to hear the loud stomps and sounds of other long necks helps the creature greatly, for most of the time the biggest threat to long necks are other long necks.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Some tribes, especially that of the orgor tribes of the south, have been even able to tame the long necks and to travel with them, some tribes even specifically following large female herds around to find food or water. In fact, there are cases where the respect between the long neck and a being is so strong that the long neck allows the being to ride upon their back, something which the long neck can violently reject if an unknown strange attempts the same thing.

Lifespan

90 years

Average Height

5.25 meters male, 3.94 meters female

Average Weight

20 tons male, 15 tons female

Average Length

8.7 meters male, 6.5 meters female