Description
Planet: Xenosulia
Common name: True staghorn
Scientific name: Lanucerus hippoelaphus
Size: Males; 1.2 – 1.6 meters high (not including hump or spines). Females; 1.6 – 2 meters high
Diet: leaves, seeds, iculophyte vegetation
Habitat and range: open woodland and forest outskirts throughout southern Mesogea
Reproduction: protandrous sequential hermaphroditism, young hatch as undeveloped larvae
While most members of the family Cavidae are primarily grassland-dwelling grazers, there are some groups that have evolved to take advantage of other niches, such as the forest dwelling staghorn.
Although their primary hydraulic pump isn’t as well developed as that of Tilusu species, they are still relatively fast and agile runners. One of their main defining features is the nose horn’s branching structure; this horn, present only in mature males, is used primarily for display purposes. They have a similar social structure to other related taruses, with groups consisting of a large dominant female and multiple males.
Their diet primarily consists of browsing low vegetation from trees and bushes, as well as occasionally grass. Iculophyte grass and bushes are very different to the leaves of cardiophyte trees, and require a different set of adaptations to digest, so the transition from focusing on one to the other is difficult. Because of this, the larger iculophytes that grow in the forests make up a large portion of their diet.