Carnivorous ape

Carnivorous apes were a breed of unusually large and aggressive ape, related to the gorilla and distantly related to the yeti.

Description
Resembling a gorilla, the carnivorous ape was rather bigger, standing tall and quite broad. They had bulky bodies with broad shoulders and long arms, but short legs. Normally quadrupedal, carnivorous apes practiced knuckle-walking. Both fingers and toes had black hooked claws. While they had black hair all over their bodies, the fur on their faces was light brown. Their nostrils flared and their mouths had long sharp teeth suited to cutting through flesh.

Behavior
These creatures were known to be fairly intelligent and quite cunning, but highly aggressive. They even had a rudimentary language of their own, which some rare hobgoblins might know.

Abilities
Carnivorous apes possessed keen senses of hearing, smell, and eyesight, making them difficult to take by surprise. They could have low-light vision.

They were speedy climbers. They swung on tree branches to move through the air almost as fast as they could on the ground.

Tactics
In hunting, a typical tactic of the carnivorous ape was to stay out of sight itself up in the trees and pursue their prey, sometimes for miles. Finally, when their prey halted and was vulnerable, such as drinking from a stream, the ape would jump down and attack. If there were no trees, such as on plains, the ape would conceal itself behind a large bush or tall grass, then leap out. They could be quite agile in a fight, leaping and attacking in one motion.

They stood on their hind legs and fought with their arms. Carnivorous apes could attack with either their clawed hands or by biting. If they got both hands on their prey, they could rend their victims apart.

To intimidate a trespasser or a defeated opponent, a carnivorous ape would stand upright and bellow loudly while pounding its hands on its chest.

Family Life
They lived in family groups of up to twenty members; females outnumbered males two-to-one. After a gestation period of nine months, the infants stayed with their mothers for the first three years of life, usually holding onto her fur and riding on her back when the family traveled. Away from the family, groups of up to eight carnivorous apes were typically encountered away.

The biggest male carnivorous ape led the family, decided what actions to take, and defended the group from aggressors. Sometimes a younger male challenged them for leadership, and the two wrestled for dominance; the duel was brutal but not deadly. The victor became the new leader, the loser departed in disgrace. While a defeated challenger sooner or later found a different family to join, a defeated leader stayed alone until death. Angry, bitter or frustrated, such former leaders were often the man-eating carnivorous apes of legend.

The family had a consistent daily schedule. Shortly after sunrise, they ate their first meal of the day, after which the adults napped and the young played. During the day, the adult males went hunting and whatever prey they took they dragged back to share among the family. The second meal was had before sunset, and just after dark they went to sleep.

They made their camps in hidden meadows or else in communal nests built in the canopies of high trees. However, they didn't lair anywhere for more than two nights in a row, always staying on the move around a home territory of some. To mark the edge of this territory, the leader scratched a crude symbol in a tree trunk or sprayed a musk from a gland beneath their tongue.

They collected coins and precious stones, and stashed these in hidden places, such as within hollow trees.

Diet
As their name implied, these apes were a carnivorous species. They had a particular liking for human flesh.

Relations
Some subterranean hobgoblin lairs could have up to a dozen carnivorous apes serving as guards and some hobgoblin tribes kept them as fighting beasts. Hobgoblin shamans of Nomog-Geaya saw the carnivorous ape as a favored animal, seeing its habits as similar to their own and admiring its savagery; to say one acted or fought like an ape was a compliment.

Notable Carnivorous Apes

 * Redeye, the pet carnivorous ape of the Lostafinga hobgoblin tribe of the Kryptgarden Forest

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * Prince of Lies