Flitters

This article is a part of Summer Camp 2023 and is still a work in progress.

Discovery

Discovered on Desnand in 154 AFT, Flitters were one of the many animals on the planet that were discovered and catalogued by the Leporis Expedition. This group was hired by Hatch Aviation to go travel to the Leporis System in 150 AFT to observe and discover the best settlement locations on the two known inhabitable planets in the system, which had been dubbed Natchi Krilli and Desnand. Made up of a hundred miners, engineers, biologists, surveyors, and armed guards along with other essential personnel, half of the group landed on one planet and the other half landed on the other.
On Desnand, the biologists with the group found mostly animals that largely resembled animals from Old Terra - even though these animals shared nothing biologically with them as samples were taken and tested against Terran animal samples that had been brought with them. The comparison, however, led to similar naming connotations in the Camet and the Desnandian Fox.
For quite some time, it was theorized that no large animal besides certain insects or perhaps small rodents survived in the hottest areas of the planet: the desert. Even the camel resembling Camet could only tolerate the region for brief periods of time, not reside within it permanently. Wanting to test this theory, a handful of biologists geared themselves up properly to survive the region and explored one of the desert regions for two weeks.
Not only did they find a small rodent creature that lived at the edges of the desert - which were initially called Dib by one of the biologists after some similarity with something from an Old Terran novel - but also the Flitters. Though the latter was discovered entirely by accident and only because they were mischevious little things.
Several members of the team complained of small items going missing. It was never anything major for their survival but usually smaller, shiny things like pens or metal travel cups and things of the like. This happened for the bulk of the last week of their trip into some of the deepest parts of the desert until one morning Aaron Howards awoke to odd noises outside of the tent where he and one of the other biologists were sleeping. When he peeked cautiously out, he gasped and quickly reached for his camera but apparently the noise alerted the small creatures and they fled.
Not to be deterred, Aaron convinced his fellow biologists to extend their journey for another week and began to process of trying to not only see another of the creatures again but to get it to trust him. In the end, he did gain the trust of one of them and when they returned, it was with a small winged lizard-like creature accompanying them.

Appearance and Behavior

Growing roughly no bigger than an Old Terran kitten of three to four months in body size, Flitters are around the size of a full-grown cat when taking their wings and tail into consideration. Like the felines that were such a long-time Human companion that they brought them to their new home amongst the stars, Flitters are naturally curious and mischevious creatures.
Once discovered by humans, the populations of Flitters on the planet seemed to become obsessed with them. They adore stealing and playing with the shiny objects that humans have, so much so that children are frequently warned "Don't leave anything lying around or the Flitters will snatch it and you!" by the adults in their lives.
While seen as a nuisance, there is a love of the creatures on the planet as they frequently fly in beautiful displays of aerobatics, showing off the vibrant rainbow colors of their delicate wings. The attention loving creatures are quite easy to train as pets - one thing unlike their comparison to the Old Terran house cat - but even the wild ones are considered semi-domesticated given the usual proximity that they keep to human habitation.

Reproduction

During flight. A female will require hot sands in order to bury her eggs, if this is not provided domesticated Flitters will leave to find it and return after hatching. Most matings produce from three to seven offspring and it takes half a Desnandian cycle for them to hatch. The majority of pairs will also stay together permanently unless one dies.

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Credits: Art was created by Terion.

Sketch by Aaron Howards of Sugar, the Flitter that accompanied him and other biologists back from the desert.

Discovered

154 AFT by Aaron Howards

Origin

Desnand

Lifespan

10 - 20 Cycle

Anatomy

Winged Bipedal (Vestigal forelimb present in wings that can be used to grab items)

Perception

Excellent night-vision and tracking by sight/sound

Diet

Meat