Report: Aganeihat Mortality

Information

Class: Report
Wc: 656

Publishing

Aut: Department of Wildlife Biology, Egur-Yeil Institute
Dt: 507, A.T.
Ogn: Visage

Related Links

• Aganeihat
• Airlrhil
• Danapounc
• Pekataro
• Daekoiz

This report documents the work of two researchers in the developing field of wildlife biology on the previously little understood species of aganeihat. The species has been unofficially recorded as immortal, observed living with wounds from their horns growing into their spinal cord and chest cavities. In an effort to understand the newly popular species of airlrhil, two wildlife biologists were sent to the uninhabited planet-star of Rehlohmid in the area between Egur-Hlasarl and Quarryn-Space.

The pair landed on the 18th of Ouovas, 506 A.T. and were scheduled for five days of research, traveling between previously identified geothermal vents—areas likely to have multiple airlrhil to study. On the 19th, their second day of research, they instead discovered the carcass of an aganeihat. Before returning to their ship for correspondence with the department, notes were taken on the condition of the environment and body.

The two researchers noticed a discrepancy in the location in which the aganeihat was found compared to where aganeihat are known to gather, and the aganeihat appeared to have a different colouration than known. All known contact with aganeihat have been in the grasslands furthest from volcanoes, rather than at their bases. The fur was a darker brown and thin—but the legs being such a deep brown was the most notable difference. The body was found on a hardened lava flow, and after having been at the body for several minutes the pair became aware of more aganeihat in their proximity. The possibility of death for these creatures was new to the researchers, but the pair surmised they might be interrupting a natural process for the rest of the herd and departed to their ship to communicate their unexpected findings.

On the following day, having reported their initial findings to the Institute subsequently causing their research plan to be modified, the pair set out to return to the site of the previous discovery. Upon arrival they found the site cleared of the aganeihat carcass, but a determined examination of the surrounding environment found a barely-visible trail of blood spatter, leading nearly a kilometer further towards the nearest volcano. The trail led them to the carcass of another aganeihat, though this carcass was visibly distinct—several of its bones were broken and the marrow inside them gone. The trail continued past this carcass, and so the pair kept going after recording their findings.

The trail led up the slope of the volcano and into a lava tube that had collapsed several meters in. Immediately after seeing what appeared to be a daekoiz opposite the entrance, the two quickly minimized their profiles and crawled to opposing sides to enable them to both keep watch. There—fleeing from the daekoiz as best it could was an airlrhil repeatedly dodging snapping jaws. The two animals chased around the interior of the cave; somehow each time the airlrhil attempted to move towards the entrance the daekoiz could outmaneuver it. During this commotion, the much larger animal stepped on and further broke a few bones—definitely some danapounc limbs based on the size, and perhaps pekataro or aganeihat, if this was the creature responsible for the marrow disappearance.

Minutes went by until the daekoiz lunged out, snapping up the airlrhil’s stomach-pouch between its jaws and squeezed. The pouch pinched off and its contents oozed out for a brief moment before the beak again opened and closed to swallow the pouch whole. The airlrhil lay dormant and lifeless on the ground. Was this an evasion technique or did the removal of the pouch kill the creature? With significantly more findings than expected and many new questions to ponder about Parallelium’s fauna, the pair retreated back to their ship. Return trips were made to the lava tube where they repeatedly found the daekoiz dormant. Few observations could be made in this state, and the pori returned to their institute at their scheduled time.