Common Mus Wolf

The Common Mus Wolf, also known as just Wolf, is a medium sized canine found in multiple continents. The common mus wolf is a common pest, as they can infiltrate livestock in villages.

## Appearance

The Common Mus Wolf is quadrupedal in stance. Standing around 1 meter in height and 2 meters in length, it is not a large predator. It has comparatively long, skinny legs which takes up half its stance, and their knees bend foward and do not rotate, and have 3 claws and a vestigial thumb. With pointed snouts and somewhat rounded ears. One of the most defining features of the wolf is its long, furry tail, which can be shaved to reveal a worm-like scaly tail. It has tough, dense fur that include gray, brown, and white colors covering its entire body. It has a mango-shaped body, a triangle-shaped head with a mouth that goes through the entire triangle, with two massive canines, large front teeth, and small, flat, sparcely placed teeth on the side.

## Location

### Shattered Colors

The Common Mus Wolf originated from Shiven, but has since spread around the continents.

## Behaviour

The Common Mus Wolf has an above average intelligence, allowing for high amounts of coordination and teamwork, either with its own species, or crossteaming with another species. It is usually seen in packs ranging from 4 to 10, and are highly efficient pack hunters, hunting prey even double their size. Their jaws and teeth are very powerful, and can rip flesh cleanly off bones when clamped down. They are also known to raid small villages of their livestock, and therefore are considered pests in some locations and are hunted down. The common mus wolf is able to carry over 5 children in one birth, and will only take around 3-5 months to birth.

Despite their terrible reputation, the Common Mus Wolf can grow up to be faithful companions to humans, and are even able to use a limited amount of magic. They can be found being trained as guard dogs for some families.

The Common Mus Wolf has a mainly carnivorous diet, preying on grazing animals and small amounts of fruit. They usually choose fresh food over decomposing, but they'll also scavenge if no fresh meat was found.

### Communication

Common Mus Wolves communicate vocalizations, body postures, scent, touch, and more to communicate between each other. Usually, these wolves screech to tell others that they've found something important and to call them over, to locate each other in dark areas. These screeches are extremely loud, and can be heard over 70 square kilometers away. Other vocalisations include deeper mice-like chirping and squeaking sounds.

In addition to sounds, urine is also a frequent tool of communication. The urine of a wolf can not only mark their territory, but also show how healthy and attractive they are. Dominant males urine more than subordinate males, and it has been observed that females urinate more often around attractive males than around unhealthy males.

### Hunting and Feeding Strategies

As the Common Mus Wolf is a pack hunter, it has strategies to back it up. One of the most common strategies is with the barrier strategy, where one or two members act as the chaser to chase the creature, two to four act as sneakers and hide from plain sight, and the rest act as barriers, which contain the strongest and heaviest of the pack. Firstly, the chasers chase the prey into the trap area, where the prey would be chased into the barrier and will try to run away from the sides, where the sneakers hide. The wolves now have the prey circled. The few strongest wolves will attack prey, finding an opening and disabling their movement by using their massive incisors to chew through the joints of their legs. The rest will join in after, and excitedly rip the prey into pieces by tearing the skin and meat from the bone of the prey, alive or not. Smaller, younger members might not participate and only watch and learn until old enough to join the fight. This strategy may take a few days to weeks to prepare and find a suitable target, but the catch rate can be up to 87% chance.

The mouthparts of the Common Mus Wolves contain massive incisors to chew through bone and cartilage, and the canines are capable of grappling onto the meat and ripping it away from the bone. The tongue of the wolf is incredibly rough, and are used to clean up bones of remaining meat.