Dande Lion

This article does not represent actual in-game mechanics!It was created for the 2022 mythical creature contest.The article is exempt from wiki rules on false information. If it does not finish within the top three of the contest, it will be turned into a legacy article.

### Names

Dandelions, Bard Biters, Weed Whackers, Grass Crawlers

### Loot

Large teeth used to craft weapons and tools with, Hide to help camouflage the wearer. Meat that increases physical capabilities.

## Biological information

### Population

Endangered / Near Extinction

The Dande Lion is a large cat native to Syltor in Rathnir. It has a muscular broad-chested body, a short rounded head often covered by a large fluffy lemon mane, round ears, and a hairy yellow tuft at the end of its tail. Dande Lions are solitary, often abandoning their cubs once they can hunt. Dande Lions seek out and prey on humanoid races who isolate themselves from larger groups, often attacking groups of 2 or 3.

## Description

It has a muscular broad-chested body, a short rounded head often covered by a large fluffy lemon mane, round ears, and a hairy yellow tuft at the end of its tail.

Its fur changes with the seasons, allowing it to adapt to blend in with the grassy fields, but the majority of the seasons the Dande Lion is a dark green with a lighter green on it's chest and underbelly. The Dande Lion's mane and tail tuft are a bright lemon yellow, allowing the lion look like a patch of dandelions in a field.

The Dande Lion has large teeth it uses for tearing and ripping at meat, as well as long black claws used to catch its prey.

## Size

A fully grown Dande Lion is 7ft (213cm) tall, but can stand up to 12ft (365cm) tall on their hind legs and weigh around 340 - 370 lbs, 68% of their body weight being pure muscle. Their tails are about 3 ft (91cm) long.

## Mane

A Dande Lion's mane starts growing when they are half a year old and finishes growing when they reach year 1. The manes often puff outward to imitate a blooming dandelion head when they are chasing prey.

## Habitat

The Dande Lion usually finds a cave or a hallow cliff to sleep under or bring its killed prey to in order to feed the cubs or keep a snack for later. The Dande Lion will always make their home near a large field for easy hunting.

## Hunting and Diet

The Dande Lion is a hypercarnivore, often devouring groups of humanoids or large mammals. They avoid groups of humanoids 10 or larger, but have devoured entire goblin villages. They usually snack on vultures that will fly down to try to clean up the leftover meat of an earlier meal. Dande Lions would also dive down into rivers to catch fish, beavers, and other water animals.

Dande Lions show hunting instinct around 3 months old, but are unable to enact it until around 6 months.

Dande Lions will often stay close to the ground and patiently wait for hours if they catch scent of prey. When the prey is close, the Dande Lion will quickly sprint forward and surprise the prey, instantly pouncing on them and digging their claws into the target, then ripping at the target with its teeth.

The parent Dande Lion will always eat before the cub, even allowing a cub to starve and die if food is scarce.

## Reproduction and Life Cycle

Dande Lions don't have a sex or reproduction organs, but grow from seeds and hold no plant properties when fully birthed. The parental Dande Lion, when it is ready to reproduce, will produce a seed in a suitable location from its pee hole. A Dande Lion will only reproduce 3 times through its life.

Over the first 2 weeks it will enter the "Seedling" stage where it will begin to grow into a bulb.

Over the first month the Seedling with form into a bulb which will begin bringing life to a newborn Dande Lion.

After 2 months the Dande Lion's body is created inside of the bulb, but it continue to grow and absorb nutrients provided by the bulb.

4 Months in the Dande Lion can now move inside of the bulb, but continues to absorb nutrients and shelter from the bulb.

5 Months the Dande Lion begins craving meats and starts to reject the nutrients of the bulb.

6 Months the cub finds the strength to kick up the bulb and is taken care of by its mother for the next 6 months or until the cubs first successful kill.

Dande Lions begin to get weak and frail around age 45 where they will struggle until their early 50's where they will decide to sleep instead of hunt, and die in their sleep from starvation.

## History

The Dande Lions were first found after a group of Bardonians were torn apart and left dead in a field during the construction of Bardonia City. The Bardonians sent their best hunter to find and kill the creature, but the hunter never returned. The Bardonians armed up and a followed the marks made by their hunter, discovering a cave. The Bardonians were greeted with a loud roar that threw them off balance as they began being ripped to shreds and thrown about. Out of the 16 Bardonians in the hunting party only 5 of them returned. Hub, soon to be Bardonian senator, was the one who landed the killing blow on the creature.

After that encounter the Bardonians geared up and hunted the plains for the Dande Lions, slaughtering them using enchanted crossbows created by shockturtle and Shimesa. The Bardonians feasted on the meat of the Dande Lions and in rumor it's what made the generations of Bardonians after them so strong and resilient.

Dande Lions were believed to be hunted to extinction, but that was found wrong when Dande Lion attacks were reported around Rathnir. Theory suggests that world trade may have transported a Dande Lion seed unknowingly and spread Dande Lions around the world.