Koga

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

## Cladistics

### Synonyms

Synonyms: Ruga

Video on the Topic: Elephants of Kaimere Part V: Koga, the Terrible Beast of Kairul

## Description

Koga are large, high browsing deinotheres. Unlike other proboscideans, koga have a surprisingly lean body, and are far more cursorial than their elephant counterparts. Due to these adaptations, they could afford to invest in thicker armor and dermal hide, which bulkier proboscideans could not due to the threat of overheating. While other proboscideans increase their brain size over time, deinotheres such as the Koga show just the opposite, showing an average decrease in brain size, which allowed them to get by on less nutrients at the expense of less complex social behavior. Although less imposing than the tusks of mammoths and drenduga, the downward curved tusks are far more reliable in combat against the large theropods which they share their habitat with, though far more deinotheres are killed than megaraptorans in these encounters. Another adaptation to sharing a habitat with Uktan is the neck dewlap, used not only in shedding heat, but also making it difficult to penetrate the windpipe accurately, and can buy the koga precious seconds to retaliate. While they prefer angiosperm trees, Koga unlike other proboscideans, can mainly persist on a diet of gymnosperms which dominate the open forests of the prairie.

A Koga in combat with an Uktan- Keenan TaylorA browsing Koga- Keenan Taylor
## Habitat

Mosaic forests of Kairul, but frequently venture into the Houze Prairie. They have a preference towards wetter habitats to avoid titanosaur competition, though cannot thrive in wetland or closed forests environments.

## Phylogeny

The Koga is a derived species of Deinotherium likely descended from Deinotherium indicum during the Central Asian Harvest of 12.3mya. From a review of a sub adult Koga carcass slain by a Bokodu, Dr. Kaplan, an Assembly naturalist, concluded that the species should still be within the genus Deinotherium as on a skeletal level it isn't enough of an outlier from Earth species to justify a new genus. Other naturalists disagree with this claim due to the soft tissue showing adaptations to megaraptoran predation, but due to being the only living deinothere known, Kaplan's perspective is parsimonious.

## Ontogeny

Koga will sometimes travel in small herds, but usually they are solitary. Pregnancy is half the length of elephants and they age almost twice as fast. Given how dangerous life can be for young proboscideans in Kaimere, this certainly is an advantage. They aren't nearly as intelligent as their longer-lived and more social cousins, but as the most abundant proboscidean on the planet by a considerable margin, with a greater population than all elephant and oliphaunt species combined, the merits of their lifestyle is certainly proven.

The gestation period of Koga are just over a year and they reach maturity between 8-10 years of age, this is quite fast compared to the Lunar Oliphaunt which shares their habitat.

A Koga cow and her two calfs- Keenan Taylor
## Sexual Dimorphism

The shoulder muscles in Koga are quite strong on their own, used to support a bulkier jaw and reinforce neck muscles for turning and jabbing, this trait is especially pronounced in males, having far more front heavy bodies than females. Intraspecific duels are common amongst males, and many are riddled with scars from encounters with other bulls. Females have far more level backs than males, an adaptation to allow for practical nursing of young.

## Human Relations

Although deinotheres have been known from fossils in the Known World for centuries, along with references from the zoology wing of the Great Library, the Koga was only discovered quite recently by the Assembly.

Due to population density being quite low along the coasts, where the Assembly usually sets up camp for research, knowledge on the Koga is quite limited, with only a few eye witness accounts being reported from Assembly agents.

A report from the third journal of Henry Abernathy, this one detailing his first encounter with a koga:

   *“Review of the bubbling shimmer in the highlands continues at a pace only a dehydrated field of corn would find swift or engaging, but at least the local fauna of Kairul offer some spectacle.*

*About a furlong from the tower, an uktan brought down a strange drake. Dr. Melnyk said Kaimerans call em wedgeheads, but they’re probably descended from dinosaurs our counterparts back on Earth call Pachycephalosaurus. A right cottonmouth of a name if you ask me. After feeding on the drake, some rumbling out in the nearby stand of trees made the uktan get all twitchy.*

*A great beast charged out of the wood. Umber brown legs were so long and sturdy I mistook em for the trees themselves until it started moving. It had dark spots on a tawny hide life a giraffe, but its form was much more like an elephant half-starved. Dr. Melnyk later reassured me they’re just built lanky like that. She called it a koga, or Deinotherium, distant cousin of elephants.*

*Now most beasts with at least half a brain run away from an uktan. Apparently this beast indeed had half a brain compared to the oliphaunts we met up north. Anyway, it charged the uktan without hesitation. Carnosaur sidestepped upon approach. Although it evaded the brunt of the charge, the koga scored a jab with its weird tusks. Carnosaurs don’t bleed much, so the fact that any crimson decorated its tusks at all meant it was a deep strike.*

*Uktan was limping a bit, but was still quick enough to hop up and bite the koga’s back. I’ve seen their saber-sized talons pierce drake hide with ease, but it struggled to penetrate as the armored beast began to spin about. Pretty quick I could tell it was holding on not to reposition, but so he wouldn’t fly off.*

*Eventually the uktan disengaged and staggered off. Koga gave chase. Even with his limp the uktan was able to get away. Don’t think the koga was trying that hard: he’d run faster in his initial charge. Maybe he just got tired. God knows I've been there. Eventually he went back to browsing, ignoring the wedgehead corpse. Later that day other scavengers had their fill. Uktan didn’t return. Dr. Melnyk said it probably didn’t die. Carnosaurs are tough, but they’re also quite clever, and he probably didn’t want to risk another round with the Deinotherium. After an ass-kicking like that, can’t say I blame him.”*