Stouters

The stouters, the stubby and large creatures of the savannah, and the preferred animal for transportation of many of the savannah tribes. Despite its build, it is not a fat creature, yet rather its a stocky and powerful one, able to pull huge amounts of weight, and able to build a great amount of power in a very short amount of time when it runs. Despite their docile appearance and general personality, one should learn to respect a stouter before one finds oneself crushed or all if one's bones broken.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Stouters are thick and wide quadrupedal creatures, with four thick but short legs that support its massive body. It has thick skin that shakes with each step it takes with its stubby legs, with a massive head on one end of it body. It has a long flap over its mouth, and within its mouth are eight tusks along with flat plant eating teeth. Despite its height, its head is lower than it highest point, barely a meter up from the ground where it grazes.

Genetics and Reproduction

The stouts have mating seasons so to speak, but it only applies to males and are usually every two years. When this mating season begins for a male, its highly individual and sometimes only a few actually are in season so to speak, they immediately begin pursuing females in the hope of catching them and impregnating as many as they can by mounting the females. As one can expect, this can be dangerous for the females due to the size of the males, and it is not uncommon for a female's bones to get broken from an overexcited male.
If two males try to compete for the same female, they usually face off against each other. First a display to intimidate of making loud noises and shaking the ground as much as possible, and if thats not possible then combat. The two males then go head to head and smash their heads into each other, with the first to submit being the loser and the winner gets the female.
Thus, females then end up pregnant for about two years, where the females are kept extra safe by all the others in the herd when predators threaten them.

Growth Rate & Stages

Babies born from stouts are very large for the size of the species, at least in comparison to the other animals within thhe savannah. The creatures grow much quicker than them as well, taking just 15 years in total to fully mature, with females sexually maturing at 10, and males at 12. Like most other creatures, they rely on their mother's milk until their tusks and teeth develop enough to begin grazing.
Once they reach maturity, males are forced out and sent to find a male herd for it to stay with, while the female herd stays in the same herd rather than leaving. These herds in turn begin developing the sex's features, such as males becoming more tough and aggressive, while females learn to become more caring and calm.

Ecology and Habitats

The stout's call their home in the great plains of the savannah, constantly moving in herds around in search for places to graze and to drink. While they are large creatures, they can still be killed by creatures such as the death horse or the fang beast, and so stick together in their herds to stay safe and protect each other.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Stouts are grazing animals, and thus are herbivorous, eating grass and whatever plants it can reach on the ground. Due to this, they have been found to have two stomach to properly digest their food, as grass takes a long time to extract its nutritious value.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Both sexes of stouts move around the great plains in herds as small as 10, or as large as 50. Each has some sort of leader, this being a matriarch for females and patriarch for males, with a strict hierarchy. This leader is the one who chooses where to move during the year, and thus are usually expected to have great memory of watering holes or places to graze. In the case of the strict hierarchy, for females it means that when the matriarch dies, her oldest daughter, rather than the oldest female, takes charge of the group, making the process much smoother. Males however, don't have a smooth transition of power, as when a male dies, things quickly devolve into chaos as most of the males compete for power. This can lead to serious injury for the herd or even some deaths, but it tends not to take too long for the herd to once more have a leader.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Most of the stouters' senses are average or poor, with its hearing being bad at best seeing as it has difficulty hearing sounds that aren't loud or shouting, hence why they are such loud creatures. Its truly amazing sense however is its sense of smell, where it is able to smell the faintest of scents or even things other animals can't even hope to detect.

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Stouts are an important animal for the urkur tribes, as it is the primary animal that they use for transportation over the vast savannahs. They usually tame the head females of herds, since they are easiest to tame as they are far more docile than the males. The tribes and the stouts usually live in a symbiotic relationship, where the stouts help them with transportation and finding of water, while the urkur help take care of their young and protect them from predators at night.

Lifespan

60 years

Average Height

2 meters male, 1.8 meters female

Average Weight

2 tons male, 1.75 tons female

Average Length

3 meters male, 2.75 meters female