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Physical Description:
Height: 85 cm
Length: 80 cm
Weight: 150 kg
Devilhogs are large and robust sus scrofa beasts that have features most akin to wild boar. Their bodies are thick and dense, consisting heavily of bones and muscle. With a thin layer of skin, researchers hypothesized that they are quite susceptible to feeling pain, which fuels their rage behavior and tendencies to break through underbrush and fragile petramir structures.
Mobility:
They have been recorded to be able to run at a speed up to 55 kmph in short bursts. By using their large hind legs to propel themselves forward, their front legs are used for coordination while relying on their oversized tusks and spines for balance with aerodynamics.
Diet:
Devil hogs are opportunistic omnivores that include osteophagy but they have been observed to not scavengers for food.
Lifespan:
The lifespan of devilhogs is a strange phenomena. Any devilhog in Verathyn has a lifespan of up to 65 years, but within The Architect's basin, they have been reported to live as long as 80.
Life stages:
Hoglet: A devilhog can give birth to up to 8 hoglets at a time nursing until 4 to 5 months old.
Nursery age: The roots of the cartilage spines slowly begin to calcify and harden into their iconic needles. This is also when both their horns and tusks will begin to push through as they start to learn to bash. 5 months - 1 year
Juvenile: Devilhogs will then go through a bidirectional sequential hermaphroditism depending on the dynamic of the current sounders. 1 - 3 years
Adult: Most of devilhogs' lives will be spent in their adult stage to which they are no longer susceptible to changes. 3 - 80 years.
Hunting tactics:
Hunting tactics usually consist of building up enough speed to use their heavy weight and force to bash into other animals. These deadly bashes can usually kill its prey in one hit but if the prey was unlucky, will be rendered completely stunned just long enough for the poison on the spines to paralyzed it while the hog eats its next meal.
Usually they hunt by themselves, independently, but for larger prey that do pose a threat, they will hunt together in groups of up to 5.
Social behavior:
Devilhogs are wanderers and don't settle in any territory as long as they are able to traverse from one place to the next.
The only exception of this is the devilhogs in the basin, never leave the basin.
TTheir social hierarchy is lead by the strongest which is determined by tests of strength. They will charge at each other and try to knock the other out or toss their opponent on their side or back with their large tusks.
Because devilhogs have such a war-like social behavior, they expend a lot of energy that they will need to regain after these power struggles which, in some cases, will cause the winner to eat the weaker.
Preferred ecosystem:
These deadly hogs prefer to wander through the thick forested areas despite how difficult it would be for them to traverse the uneven grounds. Using their powerful bashing skills, they have been observed to break through any of the overgrowth that was getting in their way.
Shelter Behavior:
Devilhogs don't usually take shelter unless they were nursing their young, then they would take partial cover in a grove or under the roots of a tree to make sure their bellies and hoglets were not easily visible.
For the ones not nursing, they tend to sleep in groups. With their vulnerable bellies facing each other, they sleep in a circle to keep their amassed spines together, deterring any stalking predator from every direction.
Migration & Seasonal Changes:
Verathyn does not have very large seasonal changes but it does frequently have migrating tropical storms that will travel across the world.
Devilhogs don't care for the rain much, but if they wandered into a storm that lasts more than a couple days, then they will redirect their path to walk into the rain to make the storm pass sooner.
Conservation status:
Devilhogs are under protection within Verathyn as their numbers are dangerously low due to their social behaviors, poor eyesight, and imperfect adaptability to the basalt island geography.
To hunt, harm, or kill any of these animals would be considered a crime to both the leader of Verathyn as well as The Adventurer's Guild.
Violators could be sentenced by The Adventurer's Guild for up to 6 years before serving Verathyn's sentencing. While some consider the punishment harsh, due to the worlds' culture and beliefs, violators could be sentenced with the death penalty for bringing harm to a sacred animal.