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introduced pack-hunting super raptors; hawks, not dromeosaurs, sorry guys :P
Topic Started: May 2 2010, 10:54 AM (1,092 Views)
MitchBeard
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proud gondwanan
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Harris Hawk.
They will hunt in cooperative groups of two to six, consisting of family groups.
Being social means that they are good for falconry, which means they've been taken overseas, and then inevitably escape into the wild.

...and evolve into batshit crazy aerial super predators? maybe? anyone?
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Carlos
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Maybe they could become flightless that way
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Practically Uninformed
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Informed enough to care
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Probably not totally flightless, though. Even the Secretary Bird is capable of flight.
You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper!
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Margaret Pye
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It is now, but flight isn't that essential to its lifestyle. A secretarybird could easily become flightless if there was enough pressure to grow larger.

Still, back on Parabuteo unicinctus: before it could start losing its flight skills it'd have to become much better at walking, and I'm not sure why it'd be subjected to pressure to be better at walking.

Maybe a domesticated variety could evolve?
My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont.
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Practically Uninformed
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Hmm... Perhaps the major carnivores become extinct? Or it's prey becomes too large to warrant air-based killing techniques?
You may be a king or a lil' street sweeper, but sooner or later, you'll dance with the reaper!
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Scrublord
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The one in my idea is about the size of a harpy eagle, but because it hunts in flocks it can take down prey as large as a deer.
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Margaret Pye
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When you consider that Hieraetus moorei was capable of killing 200-kg moas - probably ate a few Maoris before it went extinct - then a similar creature with teamwork skills becomes quite impressive.
My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont.
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MitchBeard
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proud gondwanan
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EXACTLY.
I think they would also be good endurance hunters. How effortless would it be to run down your prey if you're pretty much gliding the whole time.
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Margaret Pye
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There seem to be two different designs that work for really big hawks - the soaring, open-country ones like Aquila, with long broad wings and a relatively low wing-loading, and the less enduring, more agile forest-dwelling ones like Harpia, which have short wings and a long tail.
My speculative dinosaur project. With lots of fluff, parental care and mammalian-level intelligence, and the odd sophont.
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MitchBeard
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Well thats at least three forms of the descendant of these hawks.
I will have to spec these up at some point.
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