Expedition Addendum: Pekataro

Information

Class: Report
Wc: 684

Publishing

Aut: Aebradan Miethhaehas Ajikah
Dt: 989 A.T.
Ogn: Rudimentary

Related Links

• Pekataro
• Danapounc
• Alziviysn

On a rare off day from our first Expedition we decided to trek around Alziviysn, for some much-earned relaxation. It was a surprise to some of us, as the pori culture in general does not make room for the activity or experience of relaxation, but Padi is wise enough to know that the rest of us are from different cultures. So, we decided to go out to the hills between Tclthhel and ihc Hlas, where there are some interesting water features, left over from when the ihc was a body of lava and not water. The path to get to these hills, since not all of us could climb like Baic and Padi was to go north towards ihc Alal and around the base of the hills on a path that wound upwards with twists and turns.

After about a half hour we were nearly to our destination when we spied a curious sight—an airlrhil being hunted by a pekataro. The small creatures are not much in the way of nutrition or meat, though they have more muscle in their legs than you’d think. Careful to avoid the contents of the pouch that could melt its skin if punctured, the pekataro finally grabbed the airlrhil by its head and swung the creature around until it was hanging limp and dead. It made a small meal of the head and legs, careful to leave the pouch behind. We decided to follow the pekataro after Padi consumed the pouch as a quick snack. Though it was supposed to be a day of rest and relaxation, we found ourselves yet again investigating and doing our best to discover.

We kept our distance, though the pekataro’s coat made it at times hard to distinguish the animal from the tall grasses that occasionally sprout in these biomes across Parallelium. From the distance we maintained we saw the pekataro stop moving—or rather it stopped walking but its body was still moving—and saw an interesting phenomenon. Clearly wiggling into some kind of hole in the ground, the pekataro slowly disappeared. Curious as to what it could be, we moved closer though we were still nearly a hundred meters away. We discussed moving closer, but the pekataro appeared again, or at least its head appeared and the clearly visible hole was no longer visible. Could this perhaps be a burrow or some sort of cover from the elements or predators?

Though we remained at a distance well over fifty meters, Cuoramai was able to walk slowly and softly around towards the ihc and out of the pekataro’s vision to a range of around thirty meters. She stood still for several minutes and made her way back to give a report. It was indeed a burrow, with several interconnected tunnels and definitely multiple pekataro underground, though she could not confirm a number. Definitely over a dozen, which would indicate a pack. It seemed to her like there were other tunnels that angled upwards to directions away from the pekataro we kept watch on, which could indicate other entrances to the burrow that we could not see.

This is groundbreaking, as pekataro had believed to be a roaming species, finding shelter under the sparse trees across the grasslands. At the very least, this sub-species was assumed to be since unlike the calderic pekataro, one has never been seen alive in a lava tube. Much more investigation is required to ascertain whether or not this discovery is an isolated pack, or perhaps that the pekataro of Alziviysn have further delineated.

While most of us kept watch on the pekataro in the entrance, Baic instead looked towards Eluereln and saw a group of danapounc who appeared indecisive. Baic reports that they kept looking west of the city, to a small body of water in the distance, but kept traveling eastward nonetheless. Though the animals certainly have the physiology—long and powerful legs—to climb the hills around the grassland, they have repeatedly been observed as unwilling to traverse the harder volcanic terrain though it offers much of the same physical obstacles.