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Description

Hello deviantart. Long time no see, huh? Sorry for the inactivity, I've been participating in several other (private?) projects that are outside of deviantart, and I just don't feel like I can post any of that stuff on here.
Regardless, this critter is a product of some mini-worldbuilding that I'm doing right now. It's pretty fun!

Aladraco is a genus of carnivorous draconid allokotosaur. This particular species is the North American Aladraco grandis, and they are the largest flying draconids.
Aladraco grandis, or the Great Highland wyverns, although very rare, are most plentiful in or near what we call Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas.
Fully grown Great Highlanders feed on whatever prey they can find, but most commonly like to eat deer and elk. Healthy bison are usually too hard to tackle, but if exceptionally hungry they will try to take them on. Great Highlanders also consider larger birds and alligators to be on the menu.
Its habitat is densely packed with forest and large, elevated hills, which makes it hard to attack prey from above. This is why they seek out forest clearings, open areas and ponds to hunt other animals.

Overall, Great Highlanders are fast, but not agile once in the air. When walking, they use all four limbs to support and propel their bodies forward, much like vampire bats. When sprinting, they use their powerful forelimbs to catapult themselves up and forward, and then, symmetrically, swing their slender hindlimbs forth to make contact with the ground at about the same time the wings touch the earth. This makes for a very heavy and cumbersome-looking sprint, but it covers necessary distance when flight is unavailable.

The thorny or spiky feet of the Great Highlanders are equipped with 5 clawed toes, the last one making a lateral spur used to discourage possible threats or rivals by doing kicks oriented to the side when a target gets into their range.

The shark-like fluke is a feature that is used for displaying health status to the opposite sex. A flaccid fluke, or lack of contrasting colour (cream and dark brown, in this case) would signify it as a sick or unhealthy individual.

Great Highlanders have three rows of leathery, but not rigid spikes going along the dorsal side of the animal. One row is going along the hide of the tip of the spinous process, and the two other rows are only present on the neck area, which are placed more laterally on either side. There are also 2 other rows going along the lateral side of the tail, which in contrast to the dorsal ones, are fairly rigid.

The head is very reminiscent of rock monitors, with the nostrils facing posteriorly and the eyes being positioned more rostrally.

Description

Hello deviantart. Long time no see, huh? Sorry for the inactivity, I've been participating in several other (private?) projects that are outside of deviantart, and I just don't feel like I can post any of that stuff on here.
Regardless, this critter is a product of some mini-worldbuilding that I'm doing right now. It's pretty fun!

Aladraco is a genus of carnivorous draconid allokotosaur. This particular species is the North American Aladraco grandis, and they are the largest flying draconids.
Aladraco grandis, or the Great Highland wyverns, although very rare, are most plentiful in or near what we call Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas.
Fully grown Great Highlanders feed on whatever prey they can find, but most commonly like to eat deer and elk. Healthy bison are usually too hard to tackle, but if exceptionally hungry they will try to take them on. Great Highlanders also consider larger birds and alligators to be on the menu.
Its habitat is densely packed with forest and large, elevated hills, which makes it hard to attack prey from above. This is why they seek out forest clearings, open areas and ponds to hunt other animals.

Overall, Great Highlanders are fast, but not agile once in the air. When walking, they use all four limbs to support and propel their bodies forward, much like vampire bats. When sprinting, they use their powerful forelimbs to catapult themselves up and forward, and then, symmetrically, swing their slender hindlimbs forth to make contact with the ground at about the same time the wings touch the earth. This makes for a very heavy and cumbersome-looking sprint, but it covers necessary distance when flight is unavailable.

The thorny or spiky feet of the Great Highlanders are equipped with 5 clawed toes, the last one making a lateral spur used to discourage possible threats or rivals by doing kicks oriented to the side when a target gets into their range.

The shark-like fluke is a feature that is used for displaying health status to the opposite sex. A flaccid fluke, or lack of contrasting colour (cream and dark brown, in this case) would signify it as a sick or unhealthy individual.

Great Highlanders have three rows of leathery, but not rigid spikes going along the dorsal side of the animal. One row is going along the hide of the tip of the spinous process, and the two other rows are only present on the neck area, which are placed more laterally on either side. There are also 2 other rows going along the lateral side of the tail, which in contrast to the dorsal ones, are fairly rigid.

The head is very reminiscent of rock monitors, with the nostrils facing posteriorly and the eyes being positioned more rostrally.