Erdland

''This creature is a large species of flightless bird. Covered in ruddy scales, it regards you with a blank, stupid gaze and squawks once or twice before returning to its grazing, picking at the soil with its two clawed feet and sharp beak.''

Tactics
An erdland has the intelligence of an animal and fights as such. It initiates combat only if hungry or threatened. When it does attack, an erdland attack with its beak.

Description
Erdlands are a large variant of erdlus. They are generally used as mounts or to pull caravans. Erdlands are used more for their endurance than speed, since they are not capable of fast speeds.

Erdlands live in low-lying vegetation areas, and are omnivorous, eating both animals, such as insects and small lizards, and vegetables. Erdlands eat esperweed as a delicacy, hence why some may be born with innate psionic abilities.

Erdlands can live up to 20 years, but in the wild a life span of 10 to 15 years is more typical. Erdlands form breeding pairs during the high sun months of Thaumast and Anabasis, and may remain together for about five months. Mating occurs in the less hot months of Fortuary and Macro. Erdlands eggs are about 3 feet in diameter, which they lay in egg wells, small holes dug underground. A typical clutch contains 10 to 20 hatchlings. Erdlands are protective parents and will attack viciously to protect their young. Chicks grow very quickly and are full-grown in 12–14 months; they may remain with their family group for another six months or so before they split up to breed in their second season.

A typical erdland stands between 14 and 16 feet long and weighs around 2,000 pounds. Erdlands resemble large flightless, featherless birds and are covered with red to gray scales.