Family of the Week: The Metazoic Horses

The family Banzidae I admit it at first was inspired by the bantha from Star Wars. hehe! But recently myself and a new bud worked a little bit on the species and created a whole new evolutionary path for modern day horses, which despite what all I used to hear about them, they will indeed survive into the next generation. For now, I just call them the "Metazoic Horses", or "Bantz and relatives", as that is the new name I came up with for these animals.

They still retain the single-digit hooves of their modern relatives, and really few changes have been made, with the exception that a few have grown horns and the members of the sub-family Allomeoplinae are semi-bipedal and may in the future even represent a family of their own, but for now, I have placed them in the Banzidae. The heads are still very horselike, some even still have the horse-like mane. The neck is long and muscular, the tail is long and usually with a tasseled tip, except in Banza, which still has a rather horse-like tail. In the Allomeoplinae, the tail is long and thick, as in kangaroos. The eyes are as large as in any modern horse, and the eyesight is very good. The ears are also horselike, except in Banza, Allomeoples, and Pagogalea the ears are generally small and round. The ears can swivel independantly in any direction, and they can detect the faintest footfalls from many yards away. The sense of smell though is relatively poor. The species in the sub-family Allomeoplinae are also knuckle-walkers, and are equipped with a single claw on each forelimb that is kept sharp for defense. Though when these animals need to make a quick get-away from a predator, they switch to running in an ostrich-like fashion. The fur is soft and thick in most species and covers the body. It is thinnest on the head and legs though.

The largest and bulkiest species in the family is in the genus Banza. These are large horse-like animals that mostly inhabit dry, cold areas, like the Mongolian Desert. The fur is the thickest in the family to handle the coldest snaps, even the fur on the head is thicker than it is in other species. They are large and live in groups led by the eldest male. Barring predators, these giant horses can live 100 years. These animals are a bit larger than elephants, with a total length of about 18 feet and a height of about 13 feet at the shoulders. They are heavy built but still very good runners. The hooves are broad and flat, like snowshoes, giving these animals the ability to safely and efficiently walk or run on the snow without being slowed down by it. Banza are herbivores and feed on what ever vegetation they can find. It may be in the form of grass, lichens, moss, or anything. The foals are usually born when the snows melt, and the animals have an abundance of food. They are migratory animals, and usually migrate out of the deep Arctic in time for winter to set in.

The tallest species in the family belongs in the genus Ikopia. This is a tropical species of horse with a very long neck, like a giraffe, and long legs. Aside from these features, this animal is probably the most horse-like species of all. It has no horns, and the head is rather elongate, and the tongue is long and flexible for curling around clumps of leaves to grasp and feed on. The ears are large and rounded, rather like those seen on zebras. These animals lead a rather solitary existance and rely on the jungle it's self to keep them concealed from predators.

The smallest species in this family are in the genus Anarritragus. The largest of these animals are about the size of a typical hog. They have horns on their head, they are also knuckle-walkers. They only switch to bipedal mode when they need to get away from a predator in a hurry. These are generally species of the deep forests, and are even capable of climbing trees, cliffs and even shelter in caves sometimes. They live either alone or in couples, and are active only during the daylight hours. The eyes are large, proportionately larger than in any other species in this family. This allows the cave-dwellers to see even in pitch darkness. They are vegetarians, and feed on any form of vegetation they can find.

Predators are relatively few due to these animals being mostly so large and living in some very harsh environments. Deinognathids like Ictocamelus and Spathodon are capable of getting these animals easily. Large foxes like Daspletarctos regularly prey on creatures such as Banza. They may also take on such animals as Allomeoples, but they can only do so by sneaking up on them and grabbing them by the back of the neck quickly. Some species like Diaphoceros are very highly aggressive and use their horns as a defense. Anarritragus is also small, but can use it's horns aggressively. Most species also use their hooves as a defensive mechanism. The species in the sub-family Allomeoplinae are equipped with sharp claws on the forefeet that they can use to slash at predators, and some species can kick back with their rear hooves. Most of the time though these animals prefer to run away from danger.

I have some pics I did recently of these animals, and I will scan them later on and post them up on this blog.