Latest revision as of 18:51, 5 March 2019

The bat beast is a old species of bats that inhabits the Scanderan mountains and the eastern parts of the northern iceplains. Standing at one and a half meters tall and with a four and half meter long wingspawn so is the bat beast one of the largest winged predators in the federation and is only outsized by Dragons, Wyverns, hippogrifs and griffins while it is also amongst the largest and most dangerous predators in Scandera itself.

It is a predatory creature that feeds on blood and have been known to hunt large animals but also attack human beings. The bat can both live alone and live in packs of up to 30 individuals.

Etymology

Bat beast
	File:Batcreature.png
	A sketch of a bat beast
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Chiroptera
Family:	Vespertilionidae
Genus:	Eptesicus
Species:	E.Tyranus
Binomial name
	Eptesicus Tyranus; Hylfred Görenssen, 1789
	File:Bathabitat.png
	Habitat

In Imerian so is the bat beast called a "nattulm" or "ulm of the night".

History

The bat beast have historically been a horrid creature in Scanderan folklore and it was said that they were once intelligent in the days of the Wharen empire but were cursed to be mere animals as they thought with the Wharen in the last war. This legend is disputed by most scientists today however but it is still theorised that Wharen and the Bat beast were related in the same way humans are related to orangutans but without much remains of Wharens so is this just a theory.

Due to the blood drinking part of the Bat beast's anatomy so have they also been said to be the origin of vampirism in Scandera, something that however seems likely as people that has survived a bat beast attack can develop vampirism.

All this means that the Bat beasts have been especially hated and have often been hunted down and killed if humans found their lairs.

Taxonomy

The book called "di flygande raserna" by Hylfred Görenssen was the first one that actively tried to describe the bat beast as a natural beast and not a magical one and he classified just as griffins and hypogrifs and other kind of bats as a sort of demi-mammal even if both the Bats and the bat beast was later on re-qualified as true mammals.

The scientific name of the bat beast is Eptesicus Tyranus and it is part of the Eptesicus Genus.

Anatomy and health

File:Batsize.png

Size compared to a human

The bat beast is a large deadly predator that as many other bats is blind and relies on sonar to hunt it's pray. Once it has spotted a large enough beast so does it dive down and holds it's target togeather with it's powerful feet while it brings it's powerful front teeth down on the neck of the beast.

Thanks to a hollow tongue so does it afterwards quickly start to suck the blood directly out of the prey at a extraordinary speed while poison in it's teeth knocks it's prey unconscious while the bat beast empties it on blood.

Thanks to it's size and it's flying ability so is the bat beast also one of the more deadly animals in Scandera and one of the few that actively hunts sentient creatures rather than defending themselves from them when they kill. Standing at a impressive size of 1.5 meter and with a wingspan of 4.5 meters so does it however not only hunt but also is an active threat to sentients in Scandera.

Reproduction

Normally so does the bat live in large packs with one male and several females or lone males. While the males fight one another for control of the packs of females so are the females more calm but leaves their pack when they have reached an appropriate age to find a new pack or a lone male to start a new one.

The females are pregnant for about half a year before they give birth to around 5 kids in one litter that the tribe itself takes care of collectively.

Diet

The diet of the bat beast is entirely blood based and it preys on larger mammals like Mammoths, rhinos, seals, seal birds, Sheep, goats, Myskox, deers, mooses, horses, unicorns, horse wolves, Walrus, Rabbuks and Shagrats. However so are also humans on the menu.

Behaviour

The bat beast is a nocturnal creature that lives in caves, either in the mountains in Vedian and the northern iceplains as they prefer large habitation space at high altitude but they have also been known to dig their own caverns and use them as a hiding spot during daytime. However so have there in recent years been a worrying habit that the Bat beasts have moved in, in the large house towers in the coastal cities which have endangered the people living there.