Raptors of Lemuria

The largest birds of prey of Lemuria. Atop is the Rukh, followed by the Ningal (Lemurian Serpent Eagle) on the left and the Wagal (Lemurian Giant Falcon) on the right, the two giant eagle owls (larger U’uli and smaller N’ii), the Swagal (Lemurian Giant Falconet) and the various secretary owls.

Like many insular landmasses, the apex predators of Lemuria bear wings. Birds of prey are well known to attain insular gigantism and lord over island ecosystems, from the neighbouring Malagasy Crown Eagle to the Haast’s Eagle of New Zealand.

Unlike these birds, however, Lemuria’s largest birds of prey are not eagles, but rather unexpected species: owls, falcons and an Old World vulture. They are also relatively recent arrivals; previously, flying volaticotheres were the aaerial top dogs. The climatic changes resulting from the fusion of Maldivia and Marama as well as general Miocene climate changes ended much of the giant flying mammals, and allowed these upstarts to take their place at the top of the pecking order.

Swagal/Badje’s Falconet (Deinohierax badjei)

The largest of the falconets, the ancestors of the Swagal underwent a similar process as the Haast’s Eagle in New Zealand: an extremely rapid growth from a small bird into an aerial predator on the range of 13-14 kg and with a wingspan reaching 2.7 meters (females on average larger than the males, naturally). Having diverged from other falconets in the Pliocene, it was probably the first of Lemuria’s raptors to evolve, and subfossil remains dating to the early Pleistocene in the Great Lakes region seem to confirm that.

The Swagal is effectively the tiger of Lemuria, patrolling the dense rainforest habitats while the Wagal soars over the plains. It is the uncontested apex predator in the dense forest environments, both in the lowlands and at high altitudes, its talons capable of crushing anything from the hips of moamingos to the skulls of elephants. One female has even been reccorded attacking a freshwater dugong, dragging its body ashore. It nonetheless usually preffers smaller prey like mid-sized gondwanatheres and dryolestoids, which it can carry to the treetops to feed undisturbed by scavengers.

It is largely sedentary, adults forming strict territories; those of larger females may incorporate those of several males. Breeding takes place year round in rainforest habitats, after the wet season in slightly drier forests and in the (south hemisphere) summer in montane forests, every two years for the individual. Pairs last only during the breeding season, both male and female brooding and feeding the young bird for roughly an year, when it is near adult-sized and capable of fighting for its own territory; sexual maturity is reached at 6 years of age. The nest is a large platform on the tree canopies, though it occasionally also builds said nest on the ground, few predators willing to steal an egg or chick when at least one parent is around.

The Swagal has historically been the symbol of the Betsana Empire and subsquent east Lemurian nations, in contrast to the Wagal and west Lemuria. In a sense, it is analogous to the tiger while its open fields counterpart is analogous to the lion. A symbol of national pride, it is nonetheless endangered by deflorestation and revenge killings, as these birds are known to kill and eat even adult human beings.

It’s common name comes from the Werer language, from “seri” (broad, in this case “broad winged”) and Wagal (see below).

Wagal/Giant Falcon (Falco giganteus)

Weighting around 13-16 kg and bearing a wingspan of 3.3 meters, the Giant Falcon is the largest falconid in the world, a fitting giant in an island where the birds achieved uncontested supremacy of most raptor niches. Its exact position within its kin is unclear, but genetic studies place it most closely related to the hierofalcon line, probably having diverged from them in the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary. The first subfossil remains apear in the mid-Pleistocene in the western Lemurian desert sites, implying that the species itself as we know it is a rather recent inovation.

Besides its massive size, the Wagal also possesses a proportionally larger and more powerful beak. As the apex predator of plains, savannas, steppes, semi-desert, alpine meadows and other open environments, it is the only falcon to specialize on mammals, attacking even the largest elephants, gondwanatheres and adapids by using the standard falcon techique of becoming a living missile. The talons, crushing through bones at such speeds, are then joined by the beak, inflicting even more damage. The prey is thus likely to die from shock very quickly. It is the raptor most specialized to feed on megafauna, rarely targetting prey smaller than a sheep, though it will frequently scavenge as well, its bulk enough to scare off most other carnivores. On occasion, it tackles bats and volaticotheres in flight.

There are two subspecies, the Western/Lasa Wagal (F. g. occidentalis) and the Eastern/Hesa Wagal (F. g. orientalis), the former being larger as it forages over a larger range that includes the western savannas and semi-deserts as well as the alpine plains, while the latter is confined to pockets of savanna in the eastern peninsulas. The Lasa Wagal is the one depicted and differs also from its smaller cousin by a brighter colouration.

The Wagal breeds either in the wet season or during the (south hemisphere summer) in the case of highland populations. The nest is a shallow cove on the ground, no predator willing to face the angry birds. Pairs mate for life, and brood the egg and raise the chick for a period of about an year. Sexual maturity is reached at nine years of age, and breeding intervals can take up as many as three years.

Hisotrically, the Wagal has symbolised the Arrokath Empire and subsequent western Lemurian nations. It is the most revered of the giant raptors, with even its eastern populations being seen as majestic, if lesser to the Swagal. During the Chola Dynasty the bird become a pan-Lemurian symbol, until the “rivalry” between the west and east was restored. It’s biggest threat today is the decline of megafauna due to environmental disruptions, though some farmers are willing to sacrifice cows to help these birds survive.

Ningal/Lemurian Serpent Eagle (Eutriorchis hastur)

If the Wagal lords over the plains and the Swagal over the forests, then the Ningal rules over the wetland habitats. It is particularly fond of the unique Sammangal environment, where it resides during the dry season (when it also breeds) and migrates to more conventional wetlands such as deltas when the monsoon floods its hunting grounds.

Of the giant raptors, it seems to be the most recent arrival, having diverged from the Malagasy Serpent Eagle (Eutriorchis astur) around the late Pleistocene at 500,000 BCE. Like other raptors it underwent a rapid growth, attaining a maximum body weight of 15 kg and a wingspan of three meters, though unlike the Swagal and the Wagal it didn’t become entirely dependent on megafauna. In fact, it hunts all manner of prey from locusts to caecilians to fish to moamingos to hippos, with peafowl seemingly being its preferred prey.

As mentioned above, it breeds during the Sammangal dry season, when peafowl and other large animals roam the desiccated wetland; populations in more normal wetlands breed year-round. The birds engage in momentary monogamy, selecting a mate for the season and thus a territory, their loud, shriek-like calls heard throught the day in order to keep other birds at bay. Both parents incubate a single egg for about 38 days on a nest built on a tree (to avoid freak floods), and raise the chick for two months. The young birds may stay up to yet another month in the territory of their parents, learning how to hunt, before being chased off. Sometimes, large numbers may gather at a large carcasse, particularly young birds without full territories of their own. Sexual maturity is reached at around 5 years of age.

Unlike the Swagal and Wagal, the people’s of Lemuria have a more complicated relationship with this bird. It is the major antagonist in the national epic The Drama of the Moon, where it appears as a Set-like figure. With the arrival of Buddhism, it became equated with the Mahakala, a fearsome guardian figure. While rarely outright persecuted, this bird is currently largely endangered due to wetland removal, and it isn’t nearly as charismatic as its falconid counterparts.

Rukh (Aegypius indicus)

The largest of the lemurian apex predators, the Rukh is also one of the largest flying birds in the world and without doubt the largest true raptor, bearing a wingspan of 4.5 meters and a body weight of 15 kg. Bearing a rather aquiline appearence and a fully feathered head, it is very similar to the Cinereous Vulture, but its relations are somewhat more complicated, in great part because it is very clear that it, the Cinereous Vulture, the Lappet-Faced Vulture, the Red-Headed Vulture and the White-Headed Vulture are all very close relatives. For convenience’s sake, the bird is reffered here in the “genus” Aegypius, but its actual relationships within this clade are not fully resolved. Regardless, it has been around since the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, subfossil remains occuring both in desert and alpine sites. This makes it the oldest lemurian raptor to appear in the fossil reccord.

Like the Wagal, the Rukh occurs in open environments; due to its size, it frequently soars at high altitudes and thus above forests, having no subspecies. Stray birds may even occur in South Asia, Madagascar or even Africa. It is primarily a scavenger, though it can take kills as large as an elephant calf. Such depictions no doubt inspired the Middle Eastern stories of these birds hunting elephants, though such events are comparatively rare. On occasion, it might stalk small prey on the ground like a stork or secretary bird, but it generally hunts from above like most raptors.

The Rukh breeds year round, though breeding intervals may take up to 4 years. It mates for life, pairs reinforcing their bonds through elaborate dances and aerial talon-locking spectacles. The nest is often built on the ground, but it is no stranger to nesting on the trees or cliffs. A single egg is laid and incubated for about 70 days, resulting in a small semi-altricial white downed chick. Moulting first occurs at 30 days of age, with the development of flight feathers, and is completed by 60. Fledging occurs around 130 days or so after hatching, but the young stay with the parents for up to another 4 months before leaving. Sexual maturity is reached at around 10 years of age, and the birds are known to live for as long as 70 years. Breeding success is, as per most of its relatives, very high, only other giant raptors posing a negative impact.

Middle-Eastern stories aside, the Rukh is generally seen as a peaceful bird, no doubt due to it preffering to scavenge over hunting and its white plummage. Many lemurian burials are sky burials, feeding these noble birds (and, if the deceased is lucky, a passing Wagal or Swagal). Like other vultures it is vulnerable to diclofenac poisoning, but thanks to its role in sky burial rituals diclofenac is officially banned in Lemuria.

U’uli/Giant Eagle Owl (Bubo thanatoarche)

The U’uli is one of two of Lemuria’s native giant eagle owls. It represents the second wave of eagle owl immigration, having diverged from the Eurasian Eagle Owl in the late Calabrian, coinciding with the extinction of a previous giant owl species, Aquilostrix faciens, and the first unambiguous remains come from the early Ionian. Subfossil remains are found throught the island, matching the bird’s widespread range. It occurs in all manner of habitats from semi-desert to wetlands, avoiding only the most dense forests.

Adults can reach 19 kg and a wingspan of 3.7 meters. In spite of these, they rarely target larger prey, as like most owls they suffocate their prey rather than pierce them with their talons; it hunts anything from locusts to mammals as large as pigs. Being rather versatile, it can thrive easily by avoiding competition with other giant raptors and targetting prey that they aren’t targetting. Wagals and swagals going for megafauna? Pick caecilians and fowl. Rukhs going for carcasses? Pick living prey. Swagal eating peafowl? Pick carrion. And so forth.

Such adaptability means it can breed year around, though highland populations preffer the (southern hemisphere) summer and those in the Sammangal the dry season. Like many raptors it nests on the ground, usually using used peafowl nests. Like other eagle owls, both partners engage in “duetting”, bowing and calling to each other. The female lays up to four large white eggs, and won’t leave the nest for 47 days, her mate bringing her food during this period. The chicks are raised for about four months, before leaving the territory. Sexual maturity is reached at around 5 years of age.

Like most owls, the U’uli has an ill reputation as an omen of death, though it’s size makes it a formidable adversary (though these birds rarely ever attack humans aside from defending their nests). It is thus often personified as the god of evil and the night in opposition to the Sun Goddess in many lemurian cultures. By far the main threat to its existence is persecution, particularly as they are not at all bothered by urbanisation and often nest on rural and even suburban areas.

N’ii/Montane Eagle Owl (Bubo lemuriensis)

Despiste being the exact same size as an Eurasian Eagle Owl, the N’ii represents an older owl clade, having diverged from its mainland relative in the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary. What it lacked in size, it developed in skill; unlike most owls, which suffocate their prey, this bird hunts by piercing its prey like diurnal raptors do, an atavism as ancient owls also did this. This feature is shared with the extinct Aquilostrix faciens, and some researchers consider moving either the N’ii to that genus or A. faciens to Bubo. A. faciens once roamed most of the island, disappearing with the arrival of the U’uli.

Is the N’ii a remnant? Who knows, because both birds co-exist in its montane habitat, the N’ii occuring both in the montane forests and meadows. It is a specialized hunter, preying upon the endemic bear-sized lagomorph the Uaemotol, though it has also been reccorded attacking gondwanatheres and even humans. It’s piercing talons surely allow it to tackle proportionally larger prey than the larger U’uli.

Like most piercing predators it hunts from above, descending unto the prey’s back. But otherwise it spends most of its time on the ground; a N’ii might track a Uaemotol purely by sound for days by walking, then flying up silently and descending upon the unsuspecting prey.

Like its larger cousin, it nests on the ground, during the (south hemisphere) summer. Like other eagle owls, both partners engage in “duetting”, bowing and calling to each other. The female lays a single white egg, and won’t leave the nest for 47 days, her mate bringing her food during this period. The chick is raised for about two years, before leaving the territory. Sexual maturity is reached at around 11 years of age.

Due to its isolated alpine habitat, it has little interactions with humans. It’s name is an onamatopeia given by the Ragar people which it shares its environment with, which otherwise steer clear from this omen of death. Deflorestation is the main hazard to this species, with occasional persecution being a minor problem since few people live in the highlands.

Secretary Owls (Tytogrus)

These unique barn owls have specialised to a more terrestrial way of life, developing long legs and necks. Stalking both during the day and night, these birds only take flight to avoid predators or cover larger distances, otherwise preferring to run and walk. They are by far the oldest giant raptors, having diverged from other owls in the late Miocene, before the birds replaced the giant flying mammals as top predators. An extinct species, Tytogrus rangiferi, is well attested in numerous sites across the East Peninsula as recently as 30,000 BCE, and is possibly ancestral to the Avana and G’ulia.

Due to their more diurnal habits and comical apparence, these birds are generally seen more positively than other owls, and are in fact often welcomed to clear out pests. Still, a few species are endangered due to habitat or prey loss. They are seldomly distinct in most cultures; the names given here are all regional names applying to the birds as a whole in the native dialects.

Sagu’ul/Western/Common Secretary Owl (Tytogrus longitibia)

The largest of the secretary owls at a height of 1.4 meters and a wingspan of 2.5 meters, the Sagu’ul is a truly imposing resident of the savannahs and veldt of western Lemuria, occuring more rarely along northwestern forest mosaics. It bears a distinctively white-grey plummage, with dark brown remige and retrice uppersides, an orange-golden facial disk and leg feathers and a black shoulders. Its neck plummage seems rather disporportionally thin compared to the large facial disk, from a distance making it look like a very unusual crane. Unlike those birds, though, the Sagu’ul is almost always seen alone or in pairs, hunting at day or night for primarily small mammals and ground dwelling birds, occasionally also hunting reptiles, arthropods and, on rare occasions, stomping large caecilians to death.

Like most of its kin, the Sagu’ul spends most of its time on the ground, striding through the tall grass or barren fields, either chasing after prey or pouncing in the vegetation, but it bears massive wings and it is a frequent flyer, either travelling long distances in search of new hunting grounds or performing bizarre maneuvers. Mated pairs frequently chase after each other in the air, and perform strange tricks, locking talons and intentionally bumping into each other. When threatened, it usually runs away, flying only when escaping ground dwelling predators like large sphenodonts, as aerial predators like the Wagal and the Rukh can seldomly be evaded on the air.

It breeds year round, though within intervals of up to 4 years. Both parents use a hole in the ground, usually one already dug by gondwanatheres or other mammals, but they can dig on their own, creating a burrow of up to 2 meters in depth. There, both parents incubate two large white eggs for up to 60 days, and raise both chicks for around 9 weeks, before they’re kicked out. Birds reach their sexual maturity at 6 years of age, and have relatively high breeding success rates at 89%, as few predators dare to attack their eggs and chicks.

G’ulia/East Peninsula/Eastern Secretary Owl (Tytogrus fatamara)

At around 1.3 meters of height, the G’ulia is found across the southeastern East Peninsula, occuring through a variety of open environments, preffering savannahs and tropical grasslands but also occuring in open woodlands and similar mosaics. It has a largely light brown plummage, with darker wing feathers and white facial disks, tail feathers and leg “socks”, females also possessing white dots on the chest, while juveniles are predominantly black. It is most closely related to the Avana, and as such it shares some peculiarities with it, like a whistling, high pitched bark-like vocalisation that it uses when communicating over large distances, as well as a higher tolerance for woodland biomes and a higher content of insects and amphibians in its diet compared to the Sagu’ul and Tureia, preffering them to the largely mammalian prey of those species. That said, up to 46% of its diet is still composed by small mammals.

In some areas, G’ulia have a tendency to follow large mammals like elephants and large gondwanatheres, feeding on animals fleeing the giants, insects attracted by their dung and sometimes even stealing the placentas. Normally solitary, several birds may gather around in the wet seasons, tolerating each other more eagerly than normal.

Like most secretary owls, it nests on burrows, though like the Avana it may also do so in hollow tree trunks. It is a rather seasonal breeder, preffering to incubate its eggs around the dry season, and raise its young during monsoon months. Sexual maturity is reached at 5 years of age, with breeding intervals lasting for around 3 years.

Avana/Scrub Secretary Owl (Tytogrus caenosa)

The smallest of the secretary owls, the Avana stands at merely a meter tall. A largely brown coloured bird aside from the white “socks” and black facial disc, it inhabits the scrubland, semi-desert, forested savannahs and dry woodlands across the southwest of Lemuria, its range just to the south of the Sagu’ul’s, though they overlap significantly in the center-west savannah systems. In the late Pleistocene, its range appears to have extended more throughly across the center and east of Lemuria, including many areas now governed by Sammangal wetlands, and it clearly diverged from the G’ulia later than from the rest of its clade, and both were probably also particularly closely related to Tytogrus rangiferi.

The Avana is a rather insectivorous bird, with 56% of its diet being composed of large insects like grasshoppers and beetles, and the owls frequently forage on termites. It also feeds largely on frogs and squamates, with mammals, birds and sphenodonts composing a relatively small part of its diet at 20%. It is the only secretary owl to be primarily nocturnal, rarely foraging at midday, though it is frequently active at dusk and dawn.

Unlike other secretary owls, it rarely digs, preffering to nest on hollow trunks. Also unlike virtually all other owl species, it lives in small family units, the young remaining with their parents until they reach sexual maturity at 5 years of age, helping to raise the next generation and to defend their territory. At night, Avana family units produce loud calls in unison, a strange an alien chorus common throught their range.

Tureia/Alpine Secretary Owl (Tytogrus belluoccisor)

Similar in size to the Sagu’ul, the Tureia is a rather different bird. It has a primarily black plummage aisde from the torso and wing undersides and the golden facial disc, and while all secretary owls have feathered legs, it has also feathered toes, contrastingly white in colour. Having diverged earlier from its relatives soon after the initial split, it is rather distinct from its relatives in many aspects, and its not clear if these are remnants from the last common ancestor between all these birds, or the result to its highland environment.

The Tureia inhabits the central lemurian highlands, in particular open alpine meadows and steppes, as well as the wetland mosaics and, more rarely, open Nothofagus complexes; it is sedentary, seldomly migrating to lowlands, though it is rather nomadic and frequently crosses valleys at high altitudes, there being virtually no isolation within its range. It is almost exclusively diurnal, rarely hunting at night, and it has a prefference for mammalian prey, small gondwanatheres composing up to 86% of its diet, though it also feeds on tenrecs, flying mammals, birds, frogs, caecilians and sphenodonts. More rarely it may target large prey, pairs ganging on wounded large gondwanatheres or dryolestoids and eating them alive. Though such events may allow an increase of individual tolerance, most birds are strictly solitary, emitting loud, songbird-like calls that are rather melodious in sound, if bellying a darker intention.

Also unlike most secretary owls, it nests on a shallow cove, not digging burrows or using trunks, much like other large terrestrial birds. It breeds during alpine spring months, the eggs being incubated for about 57 days and the young raised on the nest for three weeks, before they can walk and run, and thus accompany the parents on foot while they stride. Another six weeks, and they develop their adult plummage, and stay with their parents for about another month before leaving. Sexual maturity is reached at 8 years of age, and breeding intervals may last up to 6 years. They have virtually no predators aside from the Wagal, the eagle owls and the Rukh.