Titan Crow

Disclaimer: The Titan Crow is a fictional animal from Keenan Taylor's Tales of Kaimere.

Video on the Topic: Pterosaurs of Kaimere Episode 3: The Tapejarids

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Earth Ancestor: Tapejaridae sp.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Pterosauria

Family: Tapejaridae

Genus: Orbanoplastes

Species: Unknown

### Description

  With a wingspan of thirty-five feet and weighing half a ton, the titan crow is the heaviest flying animal of the known world by a considerable margin. In the highlands of Arvel, many islands, and some other habitats which cannot support megatheropods, the titan crow is often the apex predator, able to grow large and leave when game is depleted with a mobility other predators in their size class do not have the luxury to do. They are notoriously intelligent and calculating hunters, likely owing to the fact that a well-placed kick from larger prey could ground them. Unlike other Bathawks, which can't tolerate cooler temperatures due to their exposed wing membranes, the Titan Stork is quite comfortable in cooler regions of Kaimere, likely owed to their larger size and thicker coats.

After delivering a shearing bite that broke the horse's back just behind the shoulder, a titan crow now closes in to dispatch his next meal. As he spotted a pack of hyenas two miles downwind, he knows he does not have long. He ends the stallion quickly before tucking in for a swift and horrid butchery. - Keenan TaylorA titan crow calls out to claim his territory in a lowland swamp on one of the larger southern islands. On the other side of the wide lake, his mate flies in surveillance. These temperate wetlands are too cold for kurajaku and large crocodiles, and between moose and caribou, sloths, common drakes, and large fish there is plenty of game to be had, especially as the canids and big cats that might be their competition give the territory of the great crows a wide berth. A smaller cousin, a common bathawk, chases down a pheasant. A flock of ravens, spooked by the flushed pheasant, also take to the sky, adding to the ambient sound of this insular paradise. - Keenan TaylorTitan Crows are apex predators of highlands, despite this, many other predators also hunt on the mountains

### Phylogeny

The Titan Crow is a large Tapejarid pterosaur in the genus Orbanoplastes which it shares with the Banshee Gull

### Ontogeny

As Titan Storks grow older, they gain brighter plumage and large crests.

### Human Relations

Titan Crows are elusive man-eaters, sometimes depleting an entire village over the course of a few months before flying to new territory. Although Qajar is generally safe from large predators, the Titan Crow is often sometimes the king of the peninsula for their occasional visits. Their hunts of man and livestock has resulted in a number of repellent measures such that they rarely make land in more settled areas. The rarity despite the obvious allure has lead some to surmise that in ages past enough Titan Crows were killed that they warn their children to not stay long. Considering their provision and protection of their young for up to eight years, a degree of education that could result in a sort of unnatural or even cultural avoidance has been tentatively accepted as a possible explanation for this. When a titan crow does go man-eater, however, it often comes at great cost to the residents. Titan Crow eggs are also collected on occasion for cuisine.