Bogae (bɑ·geɪ)

Bogae are rat-sized lizards, with light feathing on all of their body except their head and feet. Their front legs have more developed feathers, allowing them to glide in the right conditions.

The mating period lasts all year, in intervals of every other week. Bogae attract mates by flashing their arm feathers, delivering live bugs, and blocking rivals from entering the potential mate's nesting crevice. After mating, the childspawning bogae will leave the nesting crevice to continue attracting other childbearing mates.

About 2 weeks after mating, the childbearing bogae will lay her eggs in her nesting crevice. She will bury them under nesting materials she finds during the gestation period. This typically includes small pebbles, feces, and any sand that was already in the crevice. From there, she will leave during twilight hours per usual, but will return to her nest earlier than non-childbearing bogae. After they hatch, she leaves them to their own devices.

Bogae grow quickly, but only live 7-12 years. They are fully grown around the 2 months mark, but reach sexual maturity at 5-9 weeks. Hatchlings are under a week old, juveniles are under 2 months old, and adults are over 2 months old.

Hatchlings, under a week old, will climb up and down the spire to hunt small insects, but will not leave too far from their crevice as they are unable to glide. Their arm feathers do not develop any more than their body feathers until they are a week old.

Juveniles, between 1 week and 2 months old, will explore farther up and down their spire. They may choose a different crevice to sleep in, with or without their siblings. Older juvelines will watch adults to learn how to glide. Juveniles that reach sexual maturity before their arm feathers fully develop are typically ignored by adults, as arm feathers are a major influence in picking mates.

Once a bogae stops growing, around 2 months old, they are fully fledged adults. Their arm feathings are fully devloped, they can join the rest of their flock when gliding, and are large enough to eat the biggest, most favored insects.

Bogae live best in very hot, dry environments with tall obstacles they can climb and leap from. They require wind flow in order to glide, and are unable to glide with wet wings.

Bogae are insectivores, but may also feed on grasses to help with digestion.

Bogae are crepuscular animals, as their natural environment is scorching hot during the day and incredibly cold during the night. During the day, they sleep alone in sheltered nooks, especially if the sunlight only reaches them at dawn or dusk. At night, they prefer to sleep together in larger crevices, or by hanging onto the spires in large groups.

Bogae are skittish, social animals in the middle of the food chain. They normally form massive flocks, but will scatter into the tight cave systems when fleeing potential threats, across a few spires when hunting, or into smaller groups when sleeping.

Communication

Bogae communicate together with dance-like movements. Common gestures including wiggling the body in place, swaying back and forth while tapping opposite legs on the ground, and hopping side to side while shaking the head up and down.