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Description
Common Name: Air Rhino

Phylum: Firmupennae
Class: Gravispennae

Soaring above the tree tops of the elevated forests south of the Great Northeast Swamp are the Air Rhinos. With a wingspan of 12 meters, they are the largest flying creatures on Geb. Despite their apparent bulk, several factors enable them to take flight. Remember that the air on Geb is slightly denser than on Earth, meaning animals don’t need to use as much strength to take off. Air Rhinos also live solely around the Truncumque plateau where powerful updrafts are common, assisting them in maintaining altitude.

But it takes more than just dense warm air to keep this behemoth airborne. Air Rhinos are surprisingly light for their size. Their bones have a hexagonal structure which makes them lighter while retaining rigidity. The narrow horn and the beak are made primarily of chitin like a squid’s, making them also durable and lightweight. Most of the Air Rhino’s anatomy is made up of sacs, including the lungs but also the secondary bags that, unlike most animals on Geb, are not vestigial. In fact, the sacs produce methane gas throughout the animal’s life, lowering their weight. This causes the Rhino to fly at moderate speeds more like a zeppelin rather than an airplane. The combinations of these features would allow a single healthy human to lift an Air Rhino with their own arms (although clumsily).

Air Rhinos must rest regularly on the plateau in order to digest all the vegetation they caught in flight. They can walk on the rocky surface on the tip of their toes but the movement is slow, leaving them vulnerable to terrestrial predators. Even in the skies, their slow flying speed prevents them from outmaneuvering attacks from predatory Firmupennaes. This is why they evolved horns, to discourage predators from coming too close or risk injury.

“The longer I work on Geb’s lifeforms and the more I look back on my drafts, the more I realise how much the rhinoceros has had an influence on many of my creatures. Other inspiration for the Air Rhino, especially the earlier drafts, came from Darwin IV’s Skewers.”

FUN FACTS:

Males have longer horns than the females’; this may be due to competitive mating rituals that have yet to be documented
Air Rhinos feed on the leaves of the tallest trees of the swamp by dropping their lengthy tongue below and scraping away at the emergent layer. They may also filter feed on the drifting seeds of trees.
Most of the neck’s structure is made of a large bag where the tongue coils when not in use.

Description
Common Name: Air Rhino

Phylum: Firmupennae
Class: Gravispennae

Soaring above the tree tops of the elevated forests south of the Great Northeast Swamp are the Air Rhinos. With a wingspan of 12 meters, they are the largest flying creatures on Geb. Despite their apparent bulk, several factors enable them to take flight. Remember that the air on Geb is slightly denser than on Earth, meaning animals don’t need to use as much strength to take off. Air Rhinos also live solely around the Truncumque plateau where powerful updrafts are common, assisting them in maintaining altitude.

But it takes more than just dense warm air to keep this behemoth airborne. Air Rhinos are surprisingly light for their size. Their bones have a hexagonal structure which makes them lighter while retaining rigidity. The narrow horn and the beak are made primarily of chitin like a squid’s, making them also durable and lightweight. Most of the Air Rhino’s anatomy is made up of sacs, including the lungs but also the secondary bags that, unlike most animals on Geb, are not vestigial. In fact, the sacs produce methane gas throughout the animal’s life, lowering their weight. This causes the Rhino to fly at moderate speeds more like a zeppelin rather than an airplane. The combinations of these features would allow a single healthy human to lift an Air Rhino with their own arms (although clumsily).

Air Rhinos must rest regularly on the plateau in order to digest all the vegetation they caught in flight. They can walk on the rocky surface on the tip of their toes but the movement is slow, leaving them vulnerable to terrestrial predators. Even in the skies, their slow flying speed prevents them from outmaneuvering attacks from predatory Firmupennaes. This is why they evolved horns, to discourage predators from coming too close or risk injury.

“The longer I work on Geb’s lifeforms and the more I look back on my drafts, the more I realise how much the rhinoceros has had an influence on many of my creatures. Other inspiration for the Air Rhino, especially the earlier drafts, came from Darwin IV’s Skewers.”

FUN FACTS:

Males have longer horns than the females’; this may be due to competitive mating rituals that have yet to be documented
Air Rhinos feed on the leaves of the tallest trees of the swamp by dropping their lengthy tongue below and scraping away at the emergent layer. They may also filter feed on the drifting seeds of trees.
Most of the neck’s structure is made of a large bag where the tongue coils when not in use.