Aurantica

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Weight:
12lbs

The **Aurantica** (*Calostupeus aurantiaco*) is an original species created and designed by TheAgent41. The Aurantica inhabits the *The Hole* universe, an original universe created by TheAgent41.

## Appearance and Anatomy

The aurantica is a small rainforest-dwelling carnevite. It is, like other members of its genus, among the smallest known pseudotheropods. From head to tail, adults can measure just under two feet in length and tend to weigh just under 12 pounds. Its skin is largely bone white aside from numerous patches of orange and red. It has a somewhat lengthy neck like that of a swan that ends in the strange head shape unique to members of its taxonomic family. The aurantica’s mouth structure is analogous to a bird’s beak despite consisting of one solid piece rather than two moveable jaws. Its mouth is shaped like a perpetually open, vertically oriented oval and the overall structure is made of keratin, the same material that makes up human hair and fingernails. Jutting from the bottom rim of this pseudo-beak is a long sharp protrusion that looks superficially like the bayonet of an old musket.

The aurantica’s body is small and compact with most of the creature’s length consisting of neck and tail. Jutting out from the top of the creature’s head is a short cartilaginous stalk tipped with a large, spherical, translucent organ. This organ, referred to as a “Calorus Orb”, is capable of generating large amounts of heat, upwards of 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

The aurantica is capable of moving through the trees easily thanks to the opposable toes that sit at the ends of its digitigrade legs. Although it descended from ancestors with non-opposable digits, developing these grasping digits was crucial to a lifestyle high above the ground. Each of its three toes (two pointing forward and one pointing back) is tipped with a small black hoof. These are remnants of having evolved from a larger, plains-dwelling ancestor.

At the tip of its long tail is a series of 20 thin appendages spread out in a peacock-like manner, each tipped with a small heat-producing organ.

## Ecology

### Behavior and Intelligence

The aurantica is a social species that lives in groups of up to 15 individuals. These groups, referred to as “warmths” lack a social hierarchy; there is no defined alpha. Observations of warmths of auranticas in the field has revealed that all members are essentially considered equal. Auranticas have poor hearing (a necessary handicap to avoid hurting themselves and each other with their loud predator-deterring shrieks), so they have adapted another method of communication. The tip of an aurantica tail is covered with thin cartilaginous stalks, each stalk being tipped by a small Calorus Orb. Each individual has between 18 and 20 of these tail organs and each can be turned on and off individually. These tail organs are not as powerful as the main organ on the head with each being capable of reaching temperatures of 90 degrees Fahrenheit or so. By activating and de-activating these organs in different patterns, they can send different symbols to other auranticas, essentially giving them a pseudo-language.

For example, producing a back-and-forth wave-like pattern indicates that a ground-dwelling predator is below while activating only the three outermost organs on each side of the fan indicates that the individual in question is in heat. To avoid having the body temperature of the rest of their bodies from blending in with (and therefore distorting) their intended patterns, auranticas have developed the ability to temporarily lower their metabolisms to such a low rate that they basically stop giving off heat through the majority of their bodies. This can also be done to effectively camouflage themselves from heat vision-based predators, but it can only be done for a minute or two at the longest.

To deter attacking predators, the aurantica utilizes its Calorus Orb. As the predators in its environment tend to have more sensitive infrared organs (owing to the need to differentiate the body heat given off by prey and the heat from the surrounding jungle environment), this can easily overstimulate their senses and effectively blind them for a short time, allowing the aurantica to escape. In addition, the aurantica will let loose an ear-piercing screech that can reach volumes of up to 110 decibels, almost as loud as an adult lion.

### Diet

Auranticas, along with all other members of the family Lacrimivoridae, have heads specifically adapted to drinking the juice from certain floravites. This juice is kept in large leaf-like protrusions that are essentially juice-filled sacs encased in thin membranes. One of the main targets of the aurantica is the Violet Tetralobe (*Tetrafolius purpura*). This floravite is what could colloquially be described as a parasitic flower, an organism that, due to its small size and tendency to be out-competed for the sun’s heat by taller organisms, launches its spores into the air where they root themselves into the flesh of taller floravites.

The aurantica’s favorite food is the juice contained in the lobe sacs of the tetralobe, but the tetralobe only opens up and “blooms” in the presence of heat, which to it indicates access to the sun. To get around this, the aurantica has learned how to use its Calorus Orb to trick the tetralobes into blooming by generating high temperatures. When the tetralobe blooms and reveals the vulnerable skin of its lobes, the aurantica stabs the lobes with its bayonet. There is a thin groove running the length of the bayonet, causing the juice to flow right into the aurantica’s mouth. It is difficult to describe the aurantica as a carnivore or herbivore, as floravites aren’t quite “plants” and are more analogous to “plantimals”. Thus, they could be described as omnivores.

### Reproduction

Auranticas, like virtually all other Achlysian life forms, are hermaphrodites, possessing both male and female sexual organs. However, auranticas are incapable of self-fertilization, although some other carnevites are. Auranticas become sexually mature at the age of seven Earth years. When an aurantica is ready to mate, it produces the mating signal as previously described. If another individual is interested, it will slowly approach but it will not immediately consent to mating. When an aurantica has another individual’s attention, it will then begin to create random patterns using its tail organs.

These patterns do not appear to be exactly the same in shape or timing from individual to individual, indicating that they are made up on the spot rather than instinctual or learned patterns. If the potential mate is sufficiently impressed, the two will engage in coitus. During intercourse, each aurantica involved will produce a thin flexible spermipositor from a “sheathe” in the esophagus. The two tube-shaped spermipositors will connect to each other, creating an airtight seal, before exchanging sperm. After a gestation period of four Earth months, each parent will give live birth to an infant through a cloaca located underneath the base of the tail.

Auranticas, like other social animals like elephants and humans, are alloparents, meaning that all adults in the warmth will assist each other in taking care of the newborns. Newborn auranticas are incapable of walking for the first few months after being born, forcing them to be constantly latched onto their parents similar to young primates. Auranticas have an average lifespan of 15 Earth years in the wild.

## Trivia

* The scientific name *Calostupeus aurantiaco* loosely translates from Latin as "Orange heat stare".

## Gallery

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