Clanydis

The Clanydis is a peculiar canid native to the Ekhenda. It resembles a wolf with a mane made of writhing snakes, which is why it is also referred to as the gorgon wolf. Despite this common epithet, the clanydis bears no true relation to the gorgons of myth and legend, lacking any ability to petrify its prey.
Clanydis are social animals. They live and travel in small packs of up to six individuals, typically with a single dominant specimen that leads the group. They are primarily crepuscular ambush predators who take advantage of the long shadows of the jungle twilight and their incredible sprinting abilities to take their prey by surprise. When their ambush tactics fail to deliver a killing blow, they have a secondary weapon that ensures successful hunt: a highly potent paralytic venom.
As clanydis routinely hunt prey that are larger and stronger than them, they have little fear of people. Unprepared travelers who wander into clanydis territory flirt with death, typically as a result of being hunted for sport since clanydis find the meat of most sapient peoples to be unpleasant.
Clanydis are used in the emblems of a number of Ekhendan tribes, where they are used to symbolize strength, wits, cunning, and ferocity. It is said that there are few things more dangerous in the rainforest than a cornered clanydis pack as the beasts are often quite fearless and are liable to fight to the death when pushed to the limit.
Clanydis are also regularly featured in the beast-fighting arena of the city of the Ekhenda. They are a crowd favorite and often prove to be formidable foes for most challengers. For those who brave the dangers of the city's great arenas, clanydis represent a sort of rite of passage, where one's worthiness to continue and ascend the city's rankings is determined by one's ability to overcome a clanydis in the beast-fighting arena.