Ealen, the Great Sea Lion

thumb |right | 300px | This is an adult female with her recently weaned pup. His tusks are just starting to grow in.
Art by Scaramouche Fandango. 
==Overview==
It is a ferocious beast, reaching upwards of twenty-four feet in length with the average hitting around eighteen or nineteen. The females are larger than the males. They are covered in long, dense fur that is typically grey, ranging from pale to dark, with whitish underbellies. Often, they are dappled or striped to break up their outline. Females have a large ruff of fur around their necks to help protect them from other aquatic predators. As pups, they stay on the land. Their fur is pure white and very coarse. Females calve in the spring and return to the water as soon as the pups are weaned (this takes about four months), leaving the males to protect the territory once again. Pups grow quickly; however, their distinctive, crescent-shaped saber-esque tusks typically don't develop until they are about eight months old. They are incredibly valuable food animals- their hides can be used for clothing and shelter, their tusks for whatever you'd normally use ivory for, their bones can be carved into weapons, and their meat is delicious.==Diet==
Females do most of the hunting while males defend the territory, except during the beginning of the calving season when the roles reverse. Food is slim during these times, as it's very hard for one male and his subadult children to come up with enough prey for seven or eight nursing females. As a result, harem size is really based on hunting prowess and strength. They are voracious predators, eating anything they can fit in their mouths.==Habitat==
This analog to the walrus exists in the great northern seas off the coasts of Siyari. A few colonies are established near Jiskadar, but these are in danger of going extinct due to overhunting. They live in small harem groups of three to eight females, one bull male, the pups, and the occasional subadults under two years of age from the last breeding season. Twenty or thirty harem groups make up a colony.
==Lore & Culture==
Unlike the walrus of earth, the Ealen (Pronounced Yah-len) only has a thin layer of blubber, primarily relying on their thick fur to keep them warm. What blubber they do have can be rendered down for oil, soap, or suet. However, they are very, very hard to kill. The females hunt in groups and it's hard to isolate one. They can dive up to five hundred feet deep, can move quickly on land and in the water, and are incredibly aggressive.
Category:animals