Striped Beaked Horse

The striped beaked horse, also known as the zebra, is a common species of bird found in plains or savannahs. They are used as transportation or war mounts.

## Appearance

The striped beaked horse has barrel-chested bodies, long, rectangular heads and four, thin legs, and flowing manes. Supporting their thin legs are hard hooves. They have indented eyes and long, thin, ear-like horns. As they are birds, they do not have teeth and have a beak. However, they have small, sandpaper-like structures on their beaks that can improve cutting of food. They have thin layers of fur-like feathers that cover its entire body.

Striped beaked horses's most difining trait is its stripes. These stripes are white with black stripes, but their skin underneith is black. The young of these zebras has brown or light brown colors that darken with age. In the middle where the spine is located is where the stripes originate from, spreading out from there on. It is a well-known fact that each striped beaked horse's stripes are unique, and can be inherited.

## Location

### Shattered Colors

The striped beaked horse originated from Leptur, and can be found in multiple large herds there.

## Behaviour

The striped beaked horse is one of the most intelligent animals, with their intelligence being only slightly below that of a human. Due to this, they are well-known strategists of the animals of the plains. Their calm demeanor and high intelligence lead to them being some of the best allies of many humans, who feed and communicate with them, and these zebras can then benifit the humans through their speed. They can use magic due to their high intelligence, and can occasionally be seen using it in combat or in daily life, especially if they had a human ally that taught them magic.

These birds are very quick on their feet, being able to run at speeds of up to 75km/h, fast enough to survive most predator attempts at predation, although they do have a slow starting time and their bones can be easily broken through by pure blunt force alone. Therefore, many wild striped beaked horses have developed herd strategies, where they will only feed and sleep in a defensive position with multiple guards watching out for any predators at all times. They are also known to sleep in the middle of the plains, as to avoid predators sneak attacking or cornering them.

The ways that these zebras attack physically aren't that powerful at first glance. However, their kicking force is some of the most powerful of its weight and size, which can be launched when a predator is behind it. Its kicking force is even strong enough to puncture and break bones and may even crack the skull. Not to mention its bite, which is somehow strong enough to defeat some predators. Not to mention their group strategies and potential magic. These animals are not to mess with.

Striped Beaked Horses can live up to the age of 200, and has reached sexual maturity at the age of 5. Striped beaked horse eggs are hard-shelled and blue in color.

### Social Structure

The social structure of the striped beaked horse can be complicated, but they usually form harems of one stallion, multiple females, and their offspring. They can temporarily make sub-groups and join them together to create large groups. As the social structure defines that, it makes males have furious competition with each other, sometimes even forming massive war fronts and strategies to counter each other that can rage on for months. Once the dominant male is killed, the opposing male can pick up the other side unless they continue to fight on.

When a foal is born, they are kept safe. They would follow anything they see and are capable of running after the first hour of being born.

### Communication

The striped beaked horses has their own language of cries, screams, or screeches, such as barking noises or laughing noises that seem like a mix between a mechanical drill and a human woman being murdered. Gasping and stomping, as well as body language also plays part in communication.

## Relationship with People

With their distinctive stripes and their common use by knights and richer adventurers, the striped beaked horse is among some of the most recognizable flightless birds in the adventuring age of Shattered Colors. Folk tales of these animals have always been commonplace, including stories on how they got their stripes and the stories of heroes riding them valiantly into battle.

The zebras are constantly under threat of poachers. Despite their extremely quick speed and high intelligence, it is still dangerous for them to fight against experienced poachers. Their protein-full and low-fat meat makes them an incredibly popular choice for many exotic bodybuilders or people who want to pick up some muscle. Their pure black skin and black and white feathers are also very popular fashion choices for celebrities and can sell for a hefty price.

### Stripe Theories

The theories of why stripes exist on striped beaked horses is currently unknown. There are hypothesises, which include ones where the stripes are there to break out the outline of the zebras, to confuse predators who try to hunt them such as the common mus wolves and other predators, to be warning signs, social interaction and induividuality, thermoregulation, and fly and flea protection.