Lanks and Bonebeaks

For most of the Kyran Islands history there were very few ground-based predators, and the great majority of flightless birds had only aerial threats to fear, namely falconaries and predatory sea birds. Of these, few were active at night, resulting in many birds of the Kyrans becoming nocturnal, including the soft-billed birds. Before the asteroid strike, the Kyran Islands supported a large number of moa-like herbivores which in turn were preyed upon by several very large flying predators, including an eagle-sized falconary with a fifteen foot wingspan. These giants unfortunately died out with the extinction of the large animals they had evolved to predate upon.

As soon as the ecosystems on the islands had recovered, however, vagrant birds from both east and west again began to colonize the Kyrans. Many types of primitive songbirds, waterfowl, and rail-like birds had established themselves by 90 million years PE, around the same time the soft-billed burrowing birds were beginning to produce their first large surface-living representatives. One new migrant in particular, though, would significantly alter the islands' ecology.

About 95 million years PE - 55 million years from today - a large species of fish-eating "stork" reached the islands from South Anciska to the west. It sported an impressive ten foot wingspan and stood as tall as a man, with a long spear-shaped bill. Though evolved as a riverine predator, it was immediately the largest carnivore to be found on the islands. It had little trouble adjusting its diet to one made up almost entirely of land animals as it found a smorgasbord of small flightless birds - and the chicks of large flightless birds - easy pickings. Though formerly migratory, the Kyran Islands offered a year-round supply of food, and flight became less and less important as the majority of their food could be captured on foot. These new colonists evolved over several million years into a fairly diverse assemblage of flightless ground-hunting predators known as Taakarewera (A Maori word literally translating to "demon storks") - and they would live up to this title.

All manner of small flightless birds were pressed now by this new and highly effective predator group; some were to die out, unable to redevelop sufficient defenses before being literally eaten out of existence by the invasives. It was suddenly very disadvantageous to lose flight, and from then on out, the vast majority of new colonists to the islands would keep their wings.

But what of those birds which had already lost theirs entirely? The flightless soft-billed birds - ancestors both of snuffles and elefinches - were now pressed into two very diferent directions. The more primitive burrowers were now forcibly kept in their ancestral niches, for with predators now among them, they were likely to fall prey if they abandoned the safety of their nocturnal habits and the shelter of their burrows. For those elefinch ancestors which had already abandoned these habits before the appearance of predators, however, the only available response, if they were to avoid predation, was now to become larger (and to do so rapidly) - or to become faster. The storks were long of leg, but they were not adapted to run at high speeds; rather, they stalked fairly slowly through the grass or the undergrowth, keeping watch for movement and ambushing their prey from above. They were additionally adapted to merely grab and swallow their prey whole, not to tear meat - something they could not do if you were too large to fit in their mouth. Early elefinches quickly produced a number of veritably giant forms following the arrival of the storks, while other groups grew long and lean, adapted their claws into shock-absorbing hooves on the tips of their toes, and specialized to outrun their enemies.

But evolution is an arms race. Just as the islands' herbivores evolved ways to escape their predators, the predators too adopted new forms and new behaviors to circumvent their prey's defenses. This isolated island would no longer be a refuge to its native inhabitants from the tooth-and-nail world beyond its shores.

They had been infiltrated by invaders from far-off lands, animals which played by very different rules.

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Lanks

Lanks are giant taakareweras with an extremely slender build, the largest specimens of which are able to reach heights of twenty feet (six meters). They are the largest of the Kyran's predators and indeed the tallest animal found on any of the Kyran islands. Lanks are exclusive carnivores that prey on almost anything they can swallow whole - and with a bill which can grow to nearly six feet in length, their diet is very broad indeed. Like some pterosaurs were believed to have done in Earth's past, they most often feed by stalking slowly through tall vegetation and grabbing any small animals that they disturb as they walk. Lanks are one of the few predators which feed heavily on the Kyran's numerous flightless burrow-dwelling birds which emerge from their nests at dusk and to make use of this prey resource have adapted to be most active for the few hours around sunrise and sunset, resting in thickets for most of the day and on the darkest nights. Lanks will also occasionally prey on animals too large to swallow whole by using their bills as a spear and then smashing the prey item against the ground until pieces small enough to swallow can be torn from the carcass. Lanks usually feed in pairs, which may work together to flush small prey or more rarely to bring down larger animals, usually separating their young ones or picking off those which are unwell and unable to keep up with their groups.

Lanks are predominately animals of open environments, their size inhibiting ease of movement in dense jungle. They are particularly commonly observed hunting along the very edges of forests and thickets, where they can take advantage of small prey animals that leave their cover at night to feed in the clearings.

above: two lanks hunt in a meadow just after sunset. One has succeeded in capturing an unfortunate snuffle just as it emerges from its daytime resting place. Though it protests admirably, it can do nothing to halt its attacker from swallowing it alive; its snuffling days are over.

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The nocturnal call of the lank is one of the most iconic - and eerie - sounds in the Kyran Islands. Pairs are highly territorial and defend the borders of their territories with low-pitched songs consisting of many varied rising and falling notes. Upon hearing another pairs song, other couples in adjacent territories are encouraged to respond. The calls carry for considerable distances on clear nights, so that across many of the Kyran's grasslands, sunset is marked by an otherworldly chorus of alien bird song across the islands. To any small animal in the vicinity, there are surely few sounds more frightening, and even herds of large herbivores freeze and stand motionless when the haunting songs begin.

Lanks nest in patches of brushy vegetation and lay a single egg. The resulting chick requires more than a year of parental care before it can feed itself and will not be ready to breed for ten years. It may, however, then live into its eighties, for it has no predators of its own.

Bonebeaks

Bonebeaks are three species of Taakarewera native to the Kyran Islands which share a common ancestor to the lank but have evolved down a very different line. Whereas the lank is slender and tall, the three species of bone-beak are stocky and muscular, with especially powerful beaks, usually lightly colored and topped with a horny crest, which are adapted to biting and bringing down large prey. The bill is sharply serrated toward the front to slice flesh while exhibits broad flattened ridges toward the back which are specialized to hold bones and crack them with the especially well-developed jaw muscles. Bonebeaks are short and fairly heavyset birds with large heads and fairly thin legs; nonetheless, they are rapid sprinters and are capable of keeping pace with the cursorial elefinches that make up most of their diet. Their wings are smaller than the lank's but not totally vestigial, performing a function in maintaining their owner's balance while running. To kill prey, a bonebeak attempts to side up to it and bite it around the neck, just behind the skull. The bill hooks downward at its tip and thus catches a firm hold as it pulls the elefinch to the ground and crushes down on its vertebrae, breaking its neck or incising its windpipe.

The largest bonebeak can attain a height of eight feet and a weight of three hundred pounds; working in a pair, it can prey on most other animals in its environment including the largest elefinches and is an apex predator of the Kyran Islands, alongside the lank. The other two species are considerably smaller, in the range of one to two hundred pounds and somewhat longer-legged; these are better adapted to catch and feed on faster-moving prey. All species however are avid scavengers and are able to make especially good use of carcasses, as they are the only animals on the Kyran islands capable of crushing bones to consume marrow. The two smaller bonebeaks, native to the north island and south island respectively, may occasionally be cannibalized by their two larger relatives. The giant bonebeak which ranges across the islands, however, has no predators - even the equally widespread lank gives it a wide berth, for though it is far taller, it is much more delicately built.

above: a male (left) and female south-island bonebeak feed on a freshly-caught white-cheeked gazellefinch. The several species of gazellefinch, plains-dwelling and grazing elefinches of the Kyrans' savannahs, make up the majority of prey for the two smaller bonebeaks. The largest species prefers heavier, slower-moving prey.