Uwindaji survival

Heavenly meadow

Due to a lack of predators this chapter we'll concentrate on several animals's lives.

Welcome back to episode 4 of documented lives of wildlife on Uwindaji continent.Today's episode is for those who enjoy open calm grasslands.We're going to the very center of the contient and by far the safest and most peacefull.Camera moves throught the thick jungle trees until it settled on large grassland with an occasional lush tree.Image of large moving stones enters the view until it's clear those aren't stones.Those large Testudinidaeds were the Terraturtles.

At the first sight they resemble a dinosaur,long neck and equally long limbs as well as a whip like tail.The herd can grow to up to thirty members. They posses just as much of defense as offense.Their rough shells protect them from most of attacks.Their tails that snap to match the precision and speed of a whip keep any one at bay and even if someone gets close enough,they'll most likely get a face full of hind claws of the front limbs.

As every few days before breeding season,males start to get more restless.The adrenaline pumps up and they fight for females.At the end of every breeding season,all herds gather at the same spot to lay their eggs.The eggs are left to themselves and three out of ten hatchlings survive to the adulthood.Which is actually a great chance.After hatching,young terraturtles wonder around in group in search of food.Many herd mates are relatives without even knowing it.

Two males were currently engaging in a duel over the females.Since they lacked speed they couldn't charge at one another.They were mostly circling each other to see who is going to make the first move.The younger male shows the initiative and turns away from the current herd leader.He raises his tail as high as possible and slashes it down at the older males's head as he was lowering his neck.Seeing no time to do anything but,he got ready to attack as well.Unfortunetly while doing so, younger male slashes at his leg.

They duel against one another,dealing a lot of damage when met with the flesh.Accidental hits against the armor can cause critical damage to the nerves and bones of the tails.One attack leads to both tails hitting each other in collision.Older male can't take any more physical trauma and is forced to back down.For many seasons he had led this herd but now it's over.Young male temporarely pushes himself on his hind legs,his front limbs flailing about as he releases a deep gurgling sound.

He drops to the ground,his leadership over the group established.He lumbers through the herd until he gets to the head of it and starts leading them.Ex herd leader has no choice but to move to the back of the herd.His only duty is now that of a look out.In some cases,the oldest herd mates stay at the hatching site to watch over the eggs.If they live to even longer,they watch over hatchlings as well.

After some hours of walking over the grassland,they made it to the riverbank.As the members of the herd line up next to each other to drink,camera pans over to a pair of long avian legs.Two pairs actually,since the owner was none other than the fourlegged heron.This creature adopted a quadrupedalism as it's locomotion.

Long slim limbs keep it above the water surface as it hunts for fish.The eyes with specially adapted secondary eyelids fixated on a silhouette under the water.The long flexible neck pulls back like a slingshot and the long sharp beak shoots underwater.Once it resurfaces it's head,there was a medium sized fish in it's beak.This particular specimen was a male,apparent by the yellow feather on the back of the head.With fish still squirming in his beak,he walks over to a female hunting in a more shallow end.

Once he got her attention she opened up her beak as he moved his above hers.He slips the fish into her beak,which she proceeds to swallow.The throat muscles press on the fish to stop it from moving and slid down easier.Like Earth's stork,fourlegged herons mate for life and it's costumery for males to feed the females from time to time.They crossed their beaks as an avian equivalent of a eskimo kiss.After a while of fishing they walked back on the land,next to each other,side by side.