Byamdan

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

## Cladistics

### Description

  Byamdan means ‘all friend’, a reference to how so many local animals like monkeys, small sloths, hegetotheres, thescelosaurs, turtles, and waterfowl gather around these giant rodents. As byamdan practice alloparenting, or willing to protect and raise offspring that aren’t related to them, this protective instinct even extends to other animals. It is theorized this was present in their mainland ancestors, as seen in capybaras of Earth today, and became exaggerated once there were no predators in their habitat. Local predators such as the Kentarim red panther avoid herds of byamdan given their size, so animals the cat might otherwise prey upon like thescelosaurs and hegetotheres are protected by proximity to the byamdan.

### Phylogeny

The Byamdan originated from South America, coming from the same late-Miocene harvest as a majority of Kaimere’s sloths. They belong to the Dinomyids: a clade of large rodents.

    When they arrived in Kaimere six million years ago, it was as though they were thrown into an ecological war zone. On Earth, they had terror bird and crocodilian predators, but being semiaquatic allowed them to evade both as needed, and their size afforded substantial protection, not to mention a formidable bite. In Kaimere, not only did the terror birds and crocodilians follow them, there were also a host of enormous theropods. It appears becoming more social was a favored defense, as bone beds of large herds have been found in both Arvel and Ni’Khar. Throughout the Anchored Period, these giant rodents thrived in the wetlands. Throughout the Anchored Period, their size also increased, with the largest species weighing over a ton.

    When the world was made arid and average temperatures dropped 1.5 million years ago due to a tilt in Kaimere’s planetary axis, the Anchored Period ended in a mass extinction. The ecological turmoil was struck by an influx of new fauna from Earth’s Pleistocene, naturally already adapted to a colder world. The estuarine wetlands upon which the giant dinomyids shrank with the low sea levels, and many were forced upland or into competition with new beasts such as the first hippopotamuses and new rhinos and proboscideans. In Arvel, a suddenly colder Arvel was the source of their endangerment, while Ni’Khar was more impacted by wetland competition. In this less bountiful world, the large herds upon which Dinomyids relied was suddenly a detriment and difficult to maintain. Once the planet tilted and the ecosystems supported a bounty which just meant more competition, the giant rodents of the wetlands went extinct.

    The Kentarim Islands offered sanctuary. In the highland lakes, there were few predators, and none large enough to threaten a giant one-ton rodent. Food was plentiful, especially the fruit and tough wetland vegetation dinomyids preferred. It seems this context, having few predators and plenty of food, was the saving grace of the dinomyids. The highlands of the Kentarim islands became their permanent home once sea levels returned to modern heights. While they could pass between the islands, the channels of inland sea currents isolated them from the mainland

### Social Structure

  While they have a reputation for harmony, it is not absolute. The social structure is of a dozen or so females, their offspring which are born in litters of three or four pups, with a much larger male as their mate. Males are extremely violent toward each other in challenges for the herd, with gouging claws and a formidable bite that can break bone. Their duels can be heard for miles and occasionally end with a fatality. Both sexes have also attacked and killed caiman, red panther, and other predators in their environment, so aren’t as peaceful as their reputation suggests.

Byamdan duel- Keenan TaylorA Byamdan with an assortment of other local fauna- Keenan Taylor

### Redesigns

The Byamdan has had one recorded redesign, and was originally a species of Josephoartigasia found on the mainland.

Original design of the Byamdan- Keenan Taylor