Somnavis hylovenator"Sleeping bird" // "Forest hunter"
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clades: Dinosauria, Saurischia, Theropoda, Paraves
Family: Scansoriopterygidae
Genus:
SomnavisSpecies:
S. hylovenatorThe Somnavis are owl-sized members of the otherwise extinct Scansoriopterygidae family. Specimens are reported to have various degrees of feather coverage, with a mix of less developed downy feathers covering the body and a small amount of specialized feathers on the wings. Said wings consist of a batlike skin-membrane stretched between two specialized, elongated fingers. The
S. hylovenator is the only known member of the Somnavis genus.
Without any sort of mutation or anomoly, a Somnavis is incapable of flight. They do not have the proper bone structure or musculature to achieve powered lift. However, they seem to be capable of gliding and WAIR (wing-assisted incline running). In fact, they seem specially adapted for WAIR. They have very similar feet to geckos, albeit not quite as strong, that allow the Somnavis to grip onto most surfaces. This assists with climbing steep or vertical inclines such as trees or cliffsides. The modified flight feathers on a Somnavis's wings consist of small but strong hooks that can be used to grip onto textured surfaces as well.
Somnavis hylovenator are troglophiles, meaning that they are "cave visitors" that cannot survive exclusively underground. Somnavis are omnivores that eat a mix of fish, insects, small mammals, nuts, and fruits. Their preferred habitat are deep wilderness with a plentiful amount of tall trees, as they are mostly arboreal while above ground. However, Somnavis are wide-spread and can reasonably survive in most climates or ecosystems without too much environmental disruption. When not hunting for food, the Somnavis will retreat back underground until they need to reemerge to eat again.
They are very social creatures, and often live in large groups, often called "Parties". Parties that live in the same area will keep their distance from each other in order to avoid any food conflicts, but are usually friendly towards each other. Somnavis are, overall, non-territorial, and it's not uncommon for members of different parties to mingle, and populations may sometimes swap between closely located parties if not completely combine.
It appears that the Somnavis are highly intelligent and capable of speech. They have their own language among the species (with regional variations between native ecosystems), and also are capable of mimicking other types of speech and sounds.
-LORE-The Somnavis originally lived during the late Jurassic, about 150 million years ago. However, a sudden famine wiped out most of the population, bringing the Somnavis to the brink of extinction. The remaining members of the Somnavis retreated underground, shoring their losses and huddling in darkness.
Those gathered fell into a deep sleep, a desperate attempt to live through such difficult times. Their saving grace, in the end, was that very cave they slumbered in. A crystal, a sleeping spirit, granted them it's power. Deep and dreamless sleep, with no need to stir or wake. The Somnavis slept, and slept, and slept. And they woke.
The Somnavis emerged from the dark to a brave new world. The time spent sleeping on their stomach had stripped their underbellies of feathers, and some found that they had developed strange mutations or abilities during their slumber. From that point on, after the great awakening, the Somnavis appeared to be completely unable to age and left untouched by time itself.
While most Somnavis slept soundly during all that time, a few of them did not sleep so peacefully. Some slept with their mind still lingering at the surface, some woke during this great hibernation, only barely kept under by the sleeping stone- and, extremely rarely, some found themselves unaffected, spending the whole 150 million years wide awake. As these creatures were not held in the stasis of their sleeping brethren, those who found their sleep interrupted or uneasy shifted and changed over the years, emerging with strange features not found on those who hibernated thoroughly. Their descendants also showed these unique traits, and appear to be genetically linked. A running theory is that the sleeping stone had a strange radiation that did not affect the Somnavis only if they were asleep, so the longer a Somanvis was awake the more drastic changes were reported, as the radiation altered them down to their DNA.