Ratha's Creatures - Bristlemanes

What are the bristlemanes?

In Clan Ground, a pack of savage creatures attacks the clan’s herds. These raiders are not the UnNamed and are not cat-like at all. The Named call them “belly-biters” since they attack a prey beast’s vulnerable abdominal area. Several readers have asked what these prehistoric animals are. Based on the description given in the book (heavy bristling neck fur, black jaws, bone-breaking teeth, longer snouts, sloping backs, and a cantering gait), at least one reader guessed that the bristlemanes are a species of early hyena. There were several candidates, including Pachycrocuta, Thalassictis, and the American hunting hyena, Chasmaporthetes.

When I wrote Clan Ground in 1983-84, that was exactly what I had in mind. However, this is a case of history (or, rather, pre-history) outrunning the writer. And, I admit, that in the excitement and pressure of writing a sequel to Ratha’s Creature, maybe the writer didn’t do quite enough background research.

When I returned to writing the series, I found a lot more information about prehistoric hyenas than I had known in 1984. One dismaying fact was that hyenas appeared later than I had assumed. In Ratha’s time, 20 million years ago in the early Miocene, hyenas were still small mongoose- or at best, jackal-sized creatures.

Time-wise, a better candidate is the amphicyonid “bear-dog”. It resembled a lightly built bear with a wolfy face and jaws. Amphicyon and its relatives appeared and diversified in the early Miocene. They included fast-moving meat-eaters as well as scavengers and some species may have resembled present-day spotted hyenas in appearance and behavior.

Another possibility is that the bristlemanes are creodonts; an early and now extinct order of carnivores (Creodontia) separate from the living Carnivora (dogs, bears, raccoons, weasels, and cats). The name of one family, the Hyaenadontidae, when translated, means “hyena-teeth”. Though hyaenadont creodonts reached their peak in the Oligocene, they hung around until the early Miocene. That was long enough for them to be a threat to Ratha and her clan.

I’ve decided to base the bristlemanes on Amphicyon and its kin, since they are the best fit time- and size-wise.

There are other prehistoric beasties in the Ratha books. Which ones do you want to know more about?

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CB

Ratha's Creatures - Shongshar

Ratha’s Creatures

What is Shongshar? A sabertooth cat?

In Clan Ground, Ratha admits Orange-Eyes, an UnNamed stranger, to the clan. Later, when Ratha angers him by taking away his cubs by Bira (since they lack the Named “light” in their eyes), he becomes the fierce and arrogant Shongshar. He drives Ratha out of the clan and nearly kills Fessran with his long fangs.

Some readers think that Shongshar is based on the sabertooth cat Smilodon, a different species than Ratha’s kind, who are based on the cheetah-like nimravid, Dinaelurus. Smilodon, however, evolved millions of years later than Ratha’s people, appearing in the Pleistocene. The Miocene nimravids, on which Ratha is based, had both sabertooth and “conical tooth” species. Barburofelis, a distant Ratha relative, out-sabered the later Smilodon. Barburofelis had huge fangs that were so long they needed to be protected by a large bony flange on the animal’s jaw.

Even the more cat-like “conical tooth” nimravid species, such as Nimravus and Dinaelurus, had longer fangs than many cats. Nimravus, being more like a leopard or a clouded leopard, had longer fangs than Dinaelurus. Clouded leopards have the longest front fangs in the modern cat family for their size. The whole nimravid family had strong sabertooth tendencies. I often compare Ratha’s kind with the modern cheetah, but fossil Dinaelurus skulls have longer and sharper front fangs than do cheetahs. (See my reconstruction of a Dinaelurus crassus skull in clay).

Saberteeth have arisen in many mammalian lines. Creodonts, which were early, less specialized carnivores that arose long before cats were even a thought in Nature’s mind, had weasel- and martin-like forms with saberteeth. Nimravids gave rise to Dinictis, often called a “dirktooth” cats and Homotherium, known as the “scimitar-tooth” cat. Many of Ratha’s relatives are known as “false sabertooths” to distinguish them from the later “true sabertooths” of the Smilodon line.

Sabertoothed forms also arose among marsupials (kangaroos, opossums and other pouched mammals. Thylacosmilus, a lion-sized South American fossil marsupial carnivore, would have given Barburofelis competition for the nasty-saber award.

Saber-like teeth have emerged in many species, including primates. Some male baboons have fangs that make leopards think twice about attacking.

So, back to old Shongshar. What is he? Well, all of the UnNamed and the Named are the same basic species, although the Named have branched off in their own direction. Dinaelurus and the more leopard-like Nimravus were close sister-species and might have been able to hybridize.

As stated previously, all the nimravids had a tendency to develop saberteeth and Shongshar was an extreme case. Or he is a hybrid between Dinaelurus and Nimravus.

(Or he is a Smilodon that time-traveled back from the Pleistocene to the Miocene – no, just kidding. Or you can write that story.)

When you first read Clan Ground, what did you think Shongshar was (other than a big pain in Ratha’s tail)?

Comments?

CB

Ratha's Creatures - Treelings

What are the treelings?

In Clan Ground, the herding teacher Thakur (pronounced Ta-KOOR, since it is a Bengali word meaning “teacher”) literally runs across a small furry creature and accidentally injures it. His first thought is to eat it (he is a cat, after all), but he becomes intrigued by the little fur-ball. He calls it, Aree, based on the sound it makes, and decides to keep it as amusement and as a companion. Aree has hand instead of paws or claws, and uses them to climb trees, pick fruit, throw things, and pick ticks out of Thakur’s coat. Thakur discovers that Aree can do many other things, including some that influence the clan’s use of the Red Tongue (fire).

Once he convinces the clan that Aree is more useful than tasty, Ratha and the others accept Thakur’s odd little pet, letting the treeling groom them. When Aree turns out to be female and has babies, Ratha and other clan members adopt little treeling companions.

What kind of prehistoric creature is Aree? Readers have made many guesses, including monkey, ape, squirrel, raccoon, lemur, tarsier (bush baby), other type of primate, other type of rodent, other member of the raccoon family and totally made up by author.

Here’s a hint. I made one mistake in describing Aree, enabling her to do something that the real prehistoric species probably couldn’t.

Any ideas? Many readers already know, but I’d like to hear some guesses.

Next up in the Ratha series guessing game. What is Shongshar, the clever tyrant who uses the worship of fire to take over clan leadership?

CB