Elephant bird

Elephant bird were large birds native to the jungles of Zakhara.

Description
Elephant birds were rather large for birds, being about in length. They had curved yellow beaks and green feathers; males could be distinguished by the red "racing stripes" that ran from their eyes to their tails. They sometimes had an odd gullet protruding beneath the throat.

Behavior
Elephant birds were fierce predators, but only as dangerous instinct and necessity led them to be.

Combat
Elephant birds were dangerous for their cooperation: they lived in flocks of 10-100 members, and formed great hunting flights that were said to be capable of bringing down an elephant, hence their name. In a hunting flight, elephant birds carried up to three stones in their gullet, where the rocks grew superheated. When the flock found potential prey, they began to drop the stones on it. When they ran out of stones, they could either find more, or they could attack with the claws and beak; blinding beleagured prey with flying feathers and the flapping wings of countless birds.

Ecology
Elephant birds were omnivorous, eating berries, grains, worms and insects, or, preferrably, carrion. They prefered most of all fresh meat. These birds lived near clearings in or the edges of the jungles of Zakhara. Like most birds, they were active during the daytime.

Elephant birds' greatest strength was that they worked together: they nested and hunted together, and such was their cooperation that they were near the top of the food chain; only humans and humanoids hunted them. Elephant birds were a menace to livestock and humanoids who lived near them typically took every opportunity to hunt them; for this reason elephant birds stayed away from settled regions. They would only venture into civilized areas when food was scarce or if the pickings there looked especially good.

Although elephant birds themselves were fierce, their eggs were prized as delicacies by other inhabitants of the jungles. Thus, they nested high in the treetops, where they could see any enemies approaching long before the hunters managed to do any harm. However, most predators only approached the nests when the elephant birds were hunting (which still risked tangling with any birds that had stayed behind).

Appearances

 * Card Games : AD&D Trading Cards