Ranira

The Ranira are a humanoid, reptilian, warm-blooded, and roughly human-sized species native to the mountains in the north of Continent 8. They are generally similar in appearance, but scale colouration varies from a mostly uniform black to a mottled gray. They were created by Inquisitribble.

Physical Morphology
While the Ranira may be similar to humans in terms of size and general body shape, they otherwise dramatically differ in appearance from humans.

The entirety of the body is smooth, hairless, and covered in scales. The scales are mostly uniform in size except on the top of the head, the area of the leg directly in front of the shinbone, and on the sole of the foot. Scale colouration varies from a solid black to a mottled gray, with the former being more common.

Their head in particular is dramatically different in both structure and appearance compared to humans. Ranira have an angular skull with a long jaw and prominent snout. The snout runs from the nostrils at the front of the face up to the top of the head forming distinct sides of the head. The snout ridge narrows dramatically at and below the eyes, and there is a small, lipless mouth below the nostrils. They have no hair, but their scales are larger and fused on the top of their head. Their ears are exposed drums, located towards the back of the head. Unlike humans, the Ranira face is very inflexible, but they are able to produce all of the same sounds as humans and similar species due to the fact that they possess a syrinx, similar to birds. As a result of this, when they speak, their mouth does not move, but is typically open slightly to make the sound resonate better, and the bottom of the throat bulges slightly.

The Ranira torso has a similar shape to the human torso, but it narrows slightly towards the waist. The torso has few notable visible features, aside from the slight bulge caused by the pectoral muscles. At the bottom of the torso is a short, vestigial tail that is typically around 8-10 inches (~20-25 cm) long, and conceals the cloaca.

The arms and legs are similar to those of humans, both in structure and form. The kneecap is not as visually apparent as in humans, and the scales along the shin area of the leg are much longer than surrounding scales, and extend slightly to both sides of the shin. The hand has four long fingers, including a shorter, thumb-like finger and has a considerably smaller palm compared to humans. Each finger has short, almost human-like fingernails. The foot has four, widely spaced toes that allow for better grasping, claw-like nails for better traction while running or climbing, a wide ball that allows for extra spring while running, and, like humans, a solid heel for balance.

The Ranira do not exhibit sexual dimorphism, as they do not have separate sexes. This is the result of a mutation earlier in their evolutionary history that produced a tertiary sex with the genitals of both the male and female sex but was still fertile. This feature was selected for simply due to their general evolutionary strategy, that is, to conserve energy.

Senses
The Ranira possess many senses, including sight, hearing, taste, and smell. They possess excellent sight and hearing abilities, but have a very poor sense of taste that is sensitive only to a number of naturally occurring toxins present in some of the plants and insects in their native habitat. Their sense of smell is average, but is particularly sensitive to the pheromones the Ranira use to signal emotions.

Environmental and Defensive Adaptations
The Ranira possess an adaptation to the wide range of temperatures that their natural habitat covered. If their body temperature starts to drop, they will begin expending energy simply to keep themselves warm. The effect is dramatic enough that unless exposed to extreme cold (below -23 Celsius), they would begin suffering from symptoms similar to starvation before those of hypothermia.

Behaviour
The Ranira are nonviolent, and communicate through speech, although emotions are displayed with pheromones and the darkening of two small patches of skin on the sides of the neck. They also exhibit seasonal migration patterns. During the winter, they would move down from the mountains to the far warmer climate to the north of the mountains, where food is far more plentiful. Another effect of the migratory behavior of the Ranira is that they tend to go into heat near the beginning of the winter.

The Ranira are diurnal, and sleep for around 6-7 hours each night.

Diet and Feeding Patterns
The diet of the Ranira consists largely of plants, although during the winter their diet changes to include a large number of insects. Food is typically gathered early in the day to be eaten later on.

Social and Territoriality
The Ranira tend to stay in groups of 5-7 individuals, with each helping to gather food and care for others. Both groups and individuals are typically non-territorial.

Mating and Reproduction
Members of the species experience a phenomenon similar to heat twice in their lifetime, shortly after reaching full physical and sexual maturity at around 20 years of age, again at around 25 years of age, and then are infertile. During this they mate with one individual, and then after approximately three months they lay a clutch of 2-3 hard-shelled eggs, each about six inches (15.2 cm) long, and five inches (12.7 cm) across. Hatchlings are extremely underdeveloped compared to human babies, and as a result, an entire caste in the Saaniir civilisation exists to take care of them and the eggs from which they hatch. Hatchlings are typically self-sufficient after approximately four years of age.

Intelligence
The Ranira possess a human-like level of intelligence, and display it at an early age. At around one and a half year of age, they are physically able to speak, and even at this early age, exhibit a rudimentary theory of mind.

Culture and History
The primary civilization of the Ranira is Saaniir.

Content Links

 * Goliathbeetle's original sketch of the Ranira, note that in this sketch, binocular vision would be impossible. The description of the Ranira head, however, permits it.
 * Goliathbeetle's sketch of the Ranira foot
 * Ranira AMA (28/03/2015)