Scanderan rat wolf

Scanderan ratwolf
File:Ratwolf.jpg
Two ratwolves hunting a rabbuck.
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Amphimorphodus
Species:	A.Cynomorphus
Binomial name
Amphimorphodus Cynomorphus Hylfred Görenssen, 1785
File:Habitat ratwolf.png
Habitat

The ratwolf is just as the Scanderan wolf a pack predator and the two animals often competes for both hunting grounds and prey so it is not uncommon for the two species to fight one another. The ratwolf however stands at about one meter's height and is known as one of the few "carnivorous rodents" in the world.

Etymology

Due to it's rat ancestroy so does the ratwolf look much like it's omnivorous cousins which gave it the name ratwolf or "Ratulf" in Imerian which trances it's origin to the urmål word "Ratirulf"

History

The ratwolf have historically been loathed in the federation as it is known to attack herds of sheep, cattle and rabbucks which have put it to odds with farmers and due to it's rivalry with regular wolves so have it often been considered a deceitful and evil creature while the wolf have been used to show valour and courage despite the fact that wolves are just as hated by shepherds.

In modern heraldry though so is the ratwolf somewhat common and is used to symbolise determination.

The ratwolf did however suffer heavily under the rule of the Vedian king Garik the mad in the 9th century that thought that he was a wolf, a symbol closely connected to the Vedian royal house and he declared war on the ratwolves and issued standing orders to his armies and vassals to kill them on sight. He then issued heavy rewards to every commoner that could bring him a head of a ratwolf which almost eradicated the animal population in eastern Vedian even if they were able to survive in the mountains and the west where the lords were more concerned about Karmanjakan and Erathian invasions and raids. This only ended by the death of Garik which plundged Vedian into chaos as the crown prince had been killed in a duel that meant the end of both him, the river prince and the Imerian high king and plundged both Imeriata and Vedian into civil wars from which only Imeriata managed to emerge from intact while Vedian were forever pushed away from it's era of great power.

Taxonomy

There are three different subspecies of the ratwolf, "syd ratulf", "aratulf" and "nord ratulf" or "southern ratwolf", island ratwolf and finally "northern ratwolf". All three of these sub species are mentioned in "di landlevande varelserna" by Hylfred Görenssen that was the father of Imerian modern zoology.

Anatomy and health

File:Ratwolfsize.png

Size compared to a human

A ratwolf is about a meter tall and is equipped with a slender body to allow it to run fast over short distances to track and to separate a prey before it moves in for the kill. The most interesting part of a ratswolf anatomy is it's teeth that are divided into three different kind, the first are the remains of it's rodent ancestry as it has a few very sharp incisors at the front of it's mouth that gives way for a pair of large fangs and finally carnassials.

While it's body has a distinct canine appearance so can one still find clear traces of it's rodent ancestry as it's head is still distinctly rat looking and it's tail is just like a rat's long and naked.

The first of the subspecies the southern ratwolf is around a meter tall and can be distinguished by it's short brownish grey fur which is where it differ from the northern ratwolf that is covered in a thick grey fur instead that grows white during the winter months. The last sub species is the island ratwolf that is easy to tell apart by its' size as it is only half a meter tall and lives in Jarnarna and Asterarna.

Reproduction

The Ratwolf mates only when the conditions are favourable during which the female lays a litter of around seven children and is pregnant for about 60–75 days. Once impregnated so does the female ratwolves sneak off to the pack den where they give birth to a new litter. Contrary to the regular wolf so does the ratwolf not mate with just one partner and the pack often fights for the females when they are in the heat and even are known to mount one another to show that they are stronger than the mountee and to impress the females.

The males are also known to fight for the right to make and are often killed or harmed in the process.

Diet

The ratwolf is a carnivorous creature that hunts in packs. While it prefers larger prey like deers, rabbucks, sheep, Shagrats and cows that can feed the entire pack so does it also hunt smaller mammals as fellow Rodents, monkeys, Shrews and moles. It has also been known to hunt birds, loot their nests and even been noted to take down firenewts if they work together.

Behaviour

With the exception of the violent mating season so is the ratwolf a social creature that lives in tight packs that helps one another to defend their lair, hunt for food and to defend their territory from other packs of ratwolfs and regular wolves. The pack is headed by an alpha male that leads the pack and eats first and often have the right to mate first.

Once a litter have grown up so do often the males leave the pack to search for a new one that they join while the females stay in their own pack while new males arrive to ensure that packs are not too inbreed.

When the pack hunts so does it often surround the herd it is hunting as it tires to spot young, old, sick or wounded creatures. Once a beast like that has been spotted so do they try to seperate it from the rest of the herd after which they kill it and split the meat between the pack. In the northern iceplains so are they also known to be carrion animals that often stalks horse wolves and eats the remains of mammoths, muskoxs, bisons and other large creatures that the horse wolves have killed. However even here so do they often fight other wolves for the remains.

Life expectancy

The ratwolf grows to be about ten years old as most even if most of them dies in their first year during mating or when they are looking for a new pack, the ones that do survive however often grows up to be strong hunters and valued members of their packs.