Komatu

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

Video on the Topic: The Komatu: 'Dire Hare' Multituberculate Predator of Kairul | Speculative Evolution Creature

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Earth Ancestor: Multituberculata sp.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Multituberculata

Family: Carnolepidae

Genus: Carnolepus

C. fouciapertor

### Description

  The komatu is a swift, social predator.   While they aren’t as coordinated in their pack hunting as the common hyena, instead with the most experienced member leading the charge and the rest following suit, the end result is still numerous large predators holding down prey while the alpha dispatches prey with the shearing bite which gives the komatu its name. They retain the inflexible yet strong bite of other multituberculates, incapable of chewing side to side but formidable in a front to back slicing motion.

 While they are predatory, their incisors grow continuously, though not at the rate of herbivorous relatives in other families. Iron rich enamel in their incisors and tip of their shearing premolar gives these teeth a reddish hue and aids in their piercing and slicing power. This bite is notoriously powerful, with anecdotal accounts of them biting through bronze armor and even steel mail. Although compared to the bite of Thylacoleo, a marsupial found in the known world, the komatu’s attack is an order of magnitude more powerful and every aspect increased in its potential for devastation. This bite allows the komatu to swiftly dispatch not only cursorial camels and rhinos in their habitat, but also dinosaurs up to half a ton in size such as the sapphire wedgehead.

 Despite this formidable weaponry, during the wet season it is not uncommon for as much as 50% of komatu diet to consist of high-nutrient vegetation such as nuts and berries. In the dry season, if game is scarce, they are able to slice into bone and subsist on marrow, though they aren’t as capable of this feat as the common hyena in their northern range. Their sense of vision and hearing are extremely potent and make up a majority of their sensory experience. While they have an enlarged nasal cavity, this is primarily to facilitate efficient breathing during a chase, and they aren’t gifted with a potent sense of smell.

   Like most multituberculates, komatu possess a venomous spur on their hind feet. While many multis have these enlarged in males or even absent in females, they are of equal size in komatu, a clear sign that they aren’t used in duels between males like most multis. In fact, males and females are of comparable size. The bite of the komatu is clearly their primary weapon. The venom of komatu is not lethal to people. However, it causes lasting fatigue, swelling, nausea, and difficulty breathing shortly after injection. If a komatu is struggling with prey, they will often kick it a few times to make the kill easier. When komatu work together, often the subordinate individuals will primarily pin and puncture with their spurs while the leader bites for the kill.

   Although multituberculates were long assumed to be unintelligent and primitive, recent studies have shown their brains to be quite complex, outpacing many modern mammal groups, and the komatu is among the forerunners in the arms race of multituberculate intelligence. Their social groups usually comprise of related females and their mates, which are occasionally themselves brothers, and their offspring. Some packs are a single pair or bachelor group, while others can have as many as thirty adult members, though these larger groups rarely hunt together and usually only live in loose proximity.

### Habitat

Forested regions of West Kairul\*. Most common in southwest Kairul.

### Phylogeny

The Komatu is a derived multituberculate from the clade Thylacolepiformes (burrowing herbivores similar to rabbits) and subsequent carnolepidae family, both of which are unique to Kaimere. Their Earth ancestor was likely harvested from the East Asian Harvest of 68mya.

### Ontogeny

  It was once assumed that komatu were egg-laying mammals like many other nontherian mammals such as the guchar of the known world, but like other multituberculates and placentals, they bear live young with a long gestation. While some Kaimeran multituberculates have pouches to carry their young, it appears this trait is convergent with marsupials, not the basal condition. Komatu and their clade have only vestigial pouches, and keep their young in the warren until they are mature enough to travel with their parents.

### Human Relations

Despite the success of the Komatu, and accounts from many Kaimeran scholars who studied overseas, the Assembly only recently came upon them. The local peoples that the Assembly spoke with call them Komatu: with his smile he opens your throat, which was incorporated into their species name.

The social instinct, dietary flexibility, and intelligence of komatu might make them appealing domesticates, but they are so dangerous that wide-spread domestication has not occurred. There are, however, many beast tamers who have trained individuals for a range of tasks including hunting, guarding, and tracking, though their sense of smell isn’t particularly strong so other beasts are preferred for the latter.

The Komatu is a common form for Skin Changers of the Maku and other Kairulan peoples to take due to their around human sized bodies and heavily armed assets. The lineages of Komatu shifters are feared and revered for their prowess in battle.

Along with Skin Changers, Komatu have been recognized as a key component of many Homunculi. The Iron in their enamel and tooth configuration in general is a trait the First Children seemed quite fond of applying to their creations. Although stronger than most teeth, the appeal to the First Children may have also been the appearance of blood stained teeth