Culchans

Culchans, nicknamed "chicken wolves", are the second most common steeds in the Westhammer after horses. Wild culchans exist as well. The line between wild and domestic culchans is not is always clear cut since wild culchans can be tamed and trained and a domesticated culchans can go feral under the right (or wrong) circumstances.
Culchans are roughly six to seven feet tall bipedal heavily feathered bipedal dinosoaurs strong enough to carry a human sized being long distances. Culchans are the go-to mount of choice for Rangos but Rangos are not the exclusive riders of Culchans. They are popular with Beastmen and occasionally ridden by bolder orcs and Humans.
Relative to horses, culchans have two major disadvantages. The first is that horses are considerably faster, especially on flat ground.
The second disadvantage is that horses are generally safer. Being predatory by nature, culchans are more aggressive than horses and may injure or even kill a person with their sharp beaks. Culchan attacks on humans or humanoids are fairly rare, but it only has to happen once to be a traumatic event. Culchans are less likely to peck at a Rango or a Beastman than most other races. This is the main reason these are the most common culchan riders. That and horses occasionally get unnerved at the scent of Rangos and Beastmen.
Culchans are far more likely to act aggressively against warm blooded beasts than they are against humans or human-like people. Even trained culchans have been known to attack horses, cattle, dogs, and sheep when given the opportunity. Culchans are omnivores, but if they don't get at least a little bit of meat, they are extremely likely to act up.


Culchans have a few advantages as well. They require significantly less water than horses even if they are slightly harder to feed. They are less likely to spook under stressful situations such as wildfires and loud noises and they are more likely to react appropriately to dangers as opposed to panicking blindly. Unlike, a horse, there are very few natural predators that can threaten them. Culchans can handle more rugged terrain than horses are far less likely to break a leg or suffer a similar terminal injury. A well-trained culchan can also attack opponents in combat.  A horse can do this too, but culchans have sharp natural weapons.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Adult Culchans are typically between six and seven inches tall when standing fully upright though most slouch, especially if they have a rider.
They have formidable looking claws, but these talons are for traction not combat. Constant travel blunts their talons a bit. While a culchan scratch can be very painful, but their main natural weapon is their sharp beak.
Their front limbs are wings/arms and mostly vestigial.
Hens and roosters are difficult to tell apart for casual observers not versed in culchan lore.

Genetics and Reproduction

Domesticated culchan hens typically lay one or two eggs a year while wild culchans usually lay two or three, sometimes four. Females will lay their eggs whether they are mated or not.
Some wild culchans mate for life and some do not. Mated pairs often hunt in a coordinated fashion.
Females always sense if their eggs are fertilized or not. If the eggs are "blanks" they will abandon them in short order. If they are fertilized they will create a soft earthen nest in the safest spot they can find, preferably an area with abundant because the mother cannot go too far for too long. It typically takes about two weeks for eggs to hatch.
With domesticated culchans, some breeders will cull most males and use a single rooster to fertilize many hens. Most riders find hens easier to ride and less ornery than roosters. Those that wish to take their culchans directly into combat often deliberately choose to ride roosters.

Growth Rate & Stages

Culchan chicks can walk within hours of being born and keep up with their parents over longer distances after their first month. By their second month, a culchan chick can stalk and catch small rodents and forage for edible plants by themselves to a limited extent, but they cannot realistically feed themselves entirely until around six months.
Most young culchans stick with their mother or both parents for a year, sometimes two. In more remote areas, semi-permanent packs of six to ten culchans form (a mated pair, a few adult children, and a few juveniles) but in most places the norm is to see wild culchans hunting solo or in mated pairs, leaving their young to fend for themselves as quickly as possible.

Ecology and Habitats

Wild culchans used to roam across large swaths of the New World generally sticking to plains and hills, rarely dwelling in forests. Their habitat has been hindered by the encroachment of man, both the Manifest Destiny of civilized folk and aggressive hunting of less ecologically conscious savage folk such as Plains Beastmen.
The more inhospitable a land is, the more likely you are to see wild culchans. They can be found roaming arid deserts in the south and the tundras of the north.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Culchans are technically omnivores, but they prefer meat. Their rugged digestion system lets them eat carrion which is useful because they are not fast enough to run most prey down outright. Both wild and domesticated culchan are opportunistic feeders. Feeding a domesticated culchan partially rotten meat regularly is a good way to train them not to attack your pet dog or livestock. A) the culchan would rather go after the meat cannot run from them and B) if they are accustomed to rotten meat, they are less likely to crave fresh meat.
Culchans are intelligent and patient. They can patiently wait by a burrow, staying still for hours to snatch a rabbit or prairie dog by surprise. They normally only go after deer or buffalo that are either very young, infirm or sick. This is largely why culchans are a threat to livestock. In their eyes a sheep or a cow is not that different from a slow, weak deer or buffalo. If hungry enough, wild culchan can wear down stronger faster prey animal long distance by relentlessly following them and not letting their prey rest.
They can use their beaks and claws to dig for carrion, burrowing animals, or edible roots.
When they eat plant matter, they are pickier than most livestock. They can eat green grass but they won't eat hay. They also like acorns, nuts, berries, softer roots, and mushrooms. They can eat some cacti if hungry enough but this rare.

Biological Cycle

Culchans adapt to the climate and the seasons.  They will typically grow thicker down feathers when it is cold and molt feathers when it is hot.
If you moved a culchan from the cold north to the warm south or visa versa, the culchan may adapt to it's new environment or it might die.  It's a coin flip.

Additional Information

Domestication

On average, domesticated culchans are a little bit taller and a lot bulkier than their wild counterparts.  They are more docile and less intelligent than their wild counterparts but as mentioned before the line between domesticated, tame, and wild is not always clear cut with these creatures.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Culchan meat is edible, but they are more than a bit stringy and gamey.  Their eggs are considered tasty but most domesticated culchan keepers would rather raise chick than eat an egg and wild culchan eggs are dangerous to collect for obvious reasons.

Average Intelligence

These raptors are scientifically classified as "clever girls."

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Culchans have excellent eyesight and good ears. Their sense of smell is pretty good but not as good as dogs or wolves. They tend to rely on their eyes and ears to find prey or carrion.

Civilization and Culture

History

The New World lands known as Lusrian used to be home to many beats we would know as dinosaurs, but during the cateclysms that rocked the world when the World that Was came to an end, a great many mighty dinosaurs died.
The raptors known as the culchans not only survived, they thrived. Adapting well to the world that followed, they spread widely over both the northern and southern continent.
The Lizardmen had tamed and ridden culchans in the past, but this was mostly as a gimmick, but the modern Rangos saw the value of riding culchans and adopted the process more widely eventually domesticating culchans on a large scale.

Lifespan

8 to 10 years

Conservation Status

Domesticated culchans are commonly bred by Rangos and a rare few non-reptilian people raise culchans.
Wild culchans are threatened. They are viewed as a threat to livestock (or occasionally people) making them a nuisance animal. They also commonly eat buffalo and both civilized and nomadic people alike that hunt buffalo often see culchans as competitors.

Average Height

six to seven feet

Average Length

seven to eight feet from the tip of their beak to their tail feathers.