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Mumakil Biology

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Okay seeing as how I don't have anything halloweeny to do other than think of a video on youtube for the :iconlkhff: I've decided to do a biography on fictional creatures starting with the mumakil

Bio: Mumakil are a group of mammals closeley related to elephants that are found in warm, arid environments such as harad and khand.

Species:
. The Mamuk Oliphas afar, or Oliphaunt is the largest of it's kind and make their home in both near and far harad. Growing to be as tall as 3/5 stories and weighing in at 35,000 lbs max. It has big ears best used as fans to keep them cool in the hot, arid environments like Far Harad the same as african elephants , but their ears can also as body temperature regulators in cooler environments such as Near Harad so they won't get too hot or too cold. They also have long and curvy tusks like in some mammoths and mastodons which are used for shoveling the terain for extra ground leval food as well as for display or species recognition.

. Mamuk Oliphas neire is slightly smaller at around 2/5-3/5 stories and only 15 tonnes. They also have smaller ears for they live in the more temperate regions of Far Harad like the asian elephant and also while the .Affar species is able to cope with both environmental extremes for venturing into both habitats, the .neire species rarely ventures into the warmer climate of the far south. Their tusks are slightly straighter yet still fairly long much the the Palaeoloxodon, An extinct elephant that once lived in europe during the pliocene and pleistocene.

. Anaboo Sindariae otherwise known as the annabon is a smaller species only 2 stories tall and weighing in at 11 tonnes that makes it's home futher north such as in Rhovonian, The Iron Hills, and Fornost. There in the colder regins they fill in the niche as similar to the american mastodon or the woolly mammoth, with long thick fur, for warmth and protection.

Physiology:
The physiology of the mumakil are very (and clearly) analogous to their smaller counterparts but they're also analogous to the sauropod dinosaurs like Sauropodseidon, Supersaurus, and Argentinosaurus as well as the basal rhinoceros ancestor Indricotherium. One of many reasons for how the mumakil get so big is because of a bird-like airsack system in their lungs which inhales even more oxygen in their system and more carbons out. They also have hollow bones where the air can channel it's way through the skeleton to minimize the weight to make the bones and the legs altogether less cumbersome thus another reason for how they get bigger.

Another reason is in their legs. By being bigger the Mumakil have (duh) slightly longer legs and by having longer legs they get thicker bones but with less fat and muscle around them and also their front feet are somewhat more horseshoe shapped than perfect circles like real elephants, so these animals are mainly supported by their bones more than their muscles so the mumakil are literally big-boned. And it's with such long and thick limbs that the mumakil can move in huge strides over vast areas. And thought the front feet are not perfectly round like elephants they are still supported by the soft pads for extra pads and they can run at top speeds of 25 mph. And their hips are larger and somewhat more reinforced in comparison to elephant hips allowing them to support more weight in their lower body particularly if they were to rear up on their hind limbs. Their skin is thick, again like elephants but even tougher with small yet fairly armored scuts and plates on their backs making them virtually impenetrable from most predators. They also have long whip-like tails for balance incase if they need to rear up.

Diet:
The mumakil's diet is purely vegetarion. An adult would have to eat it's weight up throu a ton or 2 of fresh greenery and guzzle down 50-70 gallons of water a day. How do such behemoths get enough food?
Well their long trunks do most certainly help. Perfect for grabbing or even vacuuming trunkfuls of grasses, shrubs, flowers and berries from bellow and leaves and fruits from the trees especially when rearing up on their hindlegs to reach the very tops of the trees, both over vast distances. Their tusks can help to sweep away the terrain for stems, roots, and tubers as well as knock down entire trees.

But while their elephantine appendages most certainly help with eating, perhaps it's the way they eat that's most crucial. Their huge molar teeth with strong jaws and powerful muscles help to grind their food with just a chomp or two before swallowing, that way they don't waste time chewing so long or for too many times like smaller herbivores mammals. They also have a gigantic gut with long entistines again like elephants but they also contain small stones called gastroliths to help grind any remaining food that has not been chewed properly or to tough to digest. That way they can get the most food in with the most calories out.

The mumakil can leave up to 700 lbs of waste each day, they have as a fertilizer for ground leval vegetation and even spurse trees around from time to time.

Intelligence and Social Status:
The mumakil like elephants are herding animals, living in groups 30 or more in a very similar hierarchy where the herd is lead by a dominant femae called the matriarch who tends to be the oldest member of the group. And while Herds are mainly composed of females, Males also make up the group. A Dominant Bull, juveniles, as well as small calves.

As they reach ages of 11-15 years of age, They males enter musth, a stage where their testosterone levals increase thus making them more agressive and giving them a need to fight with other males for territory and mates.

And as they come across the remains of a dead mumakil they seem to touch and smell them as though they grieve over a fallen deceased family member. Even next to a dying mumakil other's of it's kind keep it company before a final farewell. They even keep others of their kind safe when threatened by predators or fallen in a trap.


Domestication:
As soon as the Haradrim tamed wild mumakil they proove to be very well trainned when it comes to selective logging a forest or draft work in a field or farm or at a city for building work like living construction machines. They also proove to be a fine transportation unit as they carry howdas on their backs big enough to carry 25-50 people or entire cargos of supplies as caravans for trade and export.

But perhaps the most important man-based use for the mumakil is in battle. By the beginning of the third age of Middle Earth during the war of the ring of Sauron, The Haradrim battled along side other armies of corrupted men as well as the orc kind with their mumakil carrying huge towers with archers and lancers and occasionally dragging engines and machines of war like siege towers, balistas, catapults, trebuchets and supply wagons.

A dead mumakil is just as useful as a live one for they can provide entire clans and tribes of traveling southrons enough food, hide, and fuel for days or weeks even.


Overall Status:
The mumakil has been an icon and inspiration for people of many cultures for many generations. One such example for the hobbit Samwise Gamgie from Hobbiton, Shire for this particular poem respecftully named after the animal, Oliphaunt. His poem proved to be a written success for many people not only his fellow hobbits for us as well for The Poem note only defines what the mumakil is but exactly what our real elephants are.

So never forget either the oliphaunt or elephant. For they never lie.

Biological references:

African and asian elephants: General Apperance.

Mammoths, mastodons, stegodon and palaeoloxodon: Stature and tusk and teeth designs.

Indricotheirum: Trunk of the body, including the back, and skin

Sauropod dinosaurs: size, limbs, skeletal structure, air-sacks.

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kamion53's avatar

the air sacked bones is quite inventive to explain the height and weight.

unfortunately it is a mammal and mammals ( as far as I know) never developed air sacked bones like dinosaurs did.