Exapataosaurus

Exapataosaurus are one of the most common dragon birds in Yeia, present in both continents and it is the most famous exponent of a family of Dragon birds known as Expataosaurids. Its name means "Deceitful Lizard", though many people in Yeia will tell you it is more bird than a reptile like creature. The name, of course, does him justice, since Expataosaurus is an expert in the art of deception, as you will soon see.  

Description

Expataosaurs are small size Dragon Birds, one of the most common types found in Yeia. They usually weigh between 15 and 20 kg, with a length of two meters and a height of 50 cm.   Like most if not all of their dragon bird relatives they are covered in feathers and instead of a beak they have their mouth covered with sharp little teeth. Like all small dragon birds, they possess a very distinctive feature, its large, sickle-shaped claw on one of the toes of each paw, ideal for catching small prey like lizards or small mammals. They typically have greyish or brownish feathers along their bodies, except for the tip of their tails, as we will see later, their heads, which are dark blue with a distinctive white line above the eyes as if it were an eyebrow, and their necks, where they have iridescent feathers that they use to attract females during mating season. They have these body colours to better camouflage themselves with the vegetation and terrain where they live, both for hunting and for avoiding being hunted. These colour patterns often resemble those found on other birds like some duck species or partridges   While folded, their arms resemble bird wings, except they have clawed hands. Expataosaurus often swoop down on their prey or leap from rocks of relatively low heights, flapping their arms like bird wings. While they can't glide completely, this helps them slow and control their descent. They also use their wings for balance when climbing vertically up tree trunks, which they ascend to obtain fruit or even steal eggs from nests.   Another quality or advantage they have is their superior sight and smelling sense. They see perfectly both during day and night time. Because for hunting they have split schedules; if one member of the pair is taking care of the young during the day, it is their turn to hunt in the afternoon or evening, and vice versa, so having a good eyesight for all the times of the day is essential.    

Masters in the art of deception

  Though they usually feed on lizards and small insects, their favourite food are hornets and wasps. It seems they're immune to their poison and their dense plumage also prevents them from being bitten. How they capture those insects? well.... the Exapataosaurids, not only Exapataosaurus have developed very interesting "tricks" to catch their prey. In Expataosaurus' case, they’ve a ringed tale, or better said, the tip of their tale is ringed like a bee to attract wasps. Once they've achieved the wasp's attention they have two ways of catching their prey, either by moving their tail simulating the flight of a bee and slowly bringing it closer to their face and with a quick gesture opening their jaws and eating them, or they have also been seen sometimes working in pairs, one distracting the wasp and the other taking the opportunity to open their mouth and eat it.    

Habitat

Exaapataosaurus can be found in many regions of Yeia, across both continents. They live mostly in the forests in tropical and warm climates, like western and southern Teria and Western and South Eastern Karia. These are places where food is abundant and the vegetation is dense so they can easily camouflage to ambush prey or to hide themselves for predators. For example, they thrive in regions like the dense jungles of Southern Seria, where insects and small mammals and reptile are abundant and vegetation allows them to be somewhat unseen to prey and predators.   They don't tend to live close to human settlements, because they're afraid of humans, so don't worry if they see you they'll run immediately, but it's true that, if they are hungry they might sneak into a town during the night or at dawn to catch insects or mice.

Diet

Oh, those dragon birds with the ringed tail?, they're wonderful! they get rid of those ugly insects and they're quite afraid of people so they don't attack people, their presence means that whatever of those nasty wasps, hornets and even rats or mice have their days numbered, sometimes, they're even more effective than cats, one day I'm going to ask a wizard if they could cast a domestication spell on one of those little ones. Oh the feathers, I forgot about the feathers! they're so beautiful, I used to decorate my hats with some of their feathers when I was little!.

— A wesdalandian farmer.

Social behaviours

  Like all their small size relatives, Exapataosaurs are highly social animals. They usually live in small groups of between 7 and 10 individuals. They typically take turns hunting, incubating eggs, and caring for the nests and later the young. They do not usually hunt in packs except in the aforementioned case when they have to hunt insects, since, due to their small size, it is impossible for them to hunt prey larger than a sheep.   Their mating ritual is quite peculiar and has been observed by several scholars and biologists throughout the centuries. It began with the male offering a stone, a pebble, is offered to the female. But not just any stone; they must go to the riverbank and, in their own way, pick the one they consider the most beautiful, to offer it to the female. If she finds it beautiful, she gives them permission to proceed to the next stage of courtship which is DANCING TIME!!. The males began dancing in front of the female waving their wing like arms and especially their tales like they do while trying to catch insects and also showing their bright colours on their necks. If they are successful, the female will allow them to mate with her.   Another particular aspect of their social behaviours is that couples formed during the mating season last for life, they together form a family and sometimes they can join other relatives' group to live alongside them. They are not very territorial animals, but they can fight with others for food or, during mating season, even for the same stone to offer to the female.   Because they do not possess a syrinx, they cannot sing like birds, but the sounds they make to communicate with each other are very similar to the song of some birds, and usually consist of small grunts, teeth grinding, or even low-frequency sounds like some birds. They often use these sounds to communicate over long distances, to mate, or to warn others about the presence of a threat.  

Domestication

Exapataosaurus, as many other small dragon birds, can be domesticated (if for example you take an egg and you incubate it somehow, with magic for example, and let it hatch). The hatchling will see you as part of its family and they are usually quite docile and curious, and not very aggressive if they are well trained, although be very careful with their claws on their feet because they can cause very nasty wounds, especially if you don't hold them properly in your lap and they start kicking.   Domestication of grown adults is much more complicated and requires magic most of the time, using a "Domestication" spell, and that's if they don't see you coming and start running away. Once under the influence of the spell they behave mostly the same way as described for the previous case, many people say that they are even more docile this way.