Quetzal

**The Quetzal** is the name of a long serpentine bodied Synth with wings and a bird-like head and forelimbs.

## History

As more critters were created, so were more needed to balance out the numbers of different types of critters and synths alike.

#### **Uses**

Quetzals are mainly hunters used to cul flying synths, with its primary targets being Avios and other flying critters that escape often, though unlike the newer Katari-Amaru, they were designed to be more stealthy and track avios across the land then surprise them when they landed.

## Description

**Biology**

Quetzals are long serpentine-bodied creatures with huge feathered wings that possess a thumb and forefinger that is used for grasping and climbing. They are similar to the raptors in their feathered bodies with scaled limbs, however they do not posses hind legs, only forelimbs.

A full sized quetzal has a beak that is nearly a meter long, with a green-yellow eye which is as large as a grapefruit. Their heads are crested with a narrow bony crest, similar to a cassowary, with hard scaly "eyebrows".

When fully grown they are between 12 and 17 meters long from beak to tail tip, with some variation between the Mojave and Paradise variants and subspecies. At the shoulder however, they are 2 meters high, though they can raise themselves up on their forelimbs so that their heads are nearly 4-5 meters from the ground. Their wingspans vary from the Sonoran's 10 meters, the Mojave's 14 meters, and female Paradise Quetzals having a 16 meter wingspan

#### **Senses**

Because of their large eyes, they have very keen vision in both the light and dark, but also have a very good sense of smell.

## Behaviour

According to Xavier, the Quetzal is under socialised compared to the Raptors and much harder to direct because of this as the ones that ARCDA currently owns are all raised in isolation.

The Quetzal in Sirocco shows a focus on hunting Avios, lying low in foliage for camouflage and slither-walking closer and closer until in striking range. When attacking it launches its self forward and snaps with its beak rather than reaching forward to grab with its claws.

It uses both sight and scent to identify prey, and has comprehensive skills enough that it can become confused such as with Griffin where it recognised that she was an Avio by scent but had to look harder at her because it saw no wings.

When in the air, it struggles to make fast agile turns as it lacks tailfeathers to do so, and instead uses its wings and shifting its bodyweight, although it will use its tail to whip at any evading prey or as a defence against any attacks from other Quetzals. It's aerial attacks on prey however, uses gravity, speed, and mass to slam into a prey target, crushing bones and knocking it unconscious if it doesn't outrightly kill it, and so to do this the Quetzal must gain height, which it can do so easily. They will not chase prey for long in the air.

## Ecological Purpose

Unlike the Raptors, the Quetzal originally had no ecological purpose beyond being a population controller for other species of synths, and an apex predator.

### Niche

It fills the niche of a larger apex predator that lives in large uninhabited areas. Large mountainous regions are its preference with large trees and deep valleys.

## Subspecies and Variants

There are only Three variants of Quetzal as it is an uncommon Synth species.

#### Sonoran

The Sonoran is the main variant of the Quetzal species with over 85% of the current individuals being of this variant. It has a golden coloured skin with dark rosette patternings, with a darker grey-gold stripe down its back. The wings are of a similar colour and striated with black along the edges of the feathers with a deep maroon colour along the mantle.

#### Mojave

The Mojave variant is far more scaled than the Sonoran. Unlike the Sonoran, though they are similar in colouration, it has diamond patterns of light and dark browns, similar to a rattlesnake, however the patterns are smaller and more mosaiced. Another minor difference is that the wings are a dustier brown with mottling rather than striations, which blend in and camouflage with the surrounding desert and rocks.

#### Paradise

Of the three variants, the Paradise variant is the most feathered, with scaling being limited to the feet and tail, and a much more prominent casque head crest than the Sonoran or Mojave. Their beaks are slimmer and more curved but overall they are larger than the Mojave with females having a sixteen meter wingspan. The colours have a huge range across the body, with blues, yellows, greens, whites, reds, on a predominantly grey and white base, with white leg feathers. There is sexual dimorphism within Paradise Quetzals, with females being 20% larger and more earthy greens, yellows, blacks, and greys, whereas males have more blue and red with a larger head crest.

Paradise QuetzalMojave and Sonoran Quetzal
## See More

* Synths
* ARCDA
* Critters

## Trivia

* *Quetzals* were based loosely on Quetzalcoatl the mythological flying serpent, and *Quetzalcoatlus* which was a flying reptile that was found fossilised in Big Bend National park where Sirocco takes place.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatlus

## Site Navigation

 Storm Series
 Synths
 Other