Kites (Major)

In this installment of universe information I will be writing about Kites: Two of the August population’s constituent species.

Kites: An Introduction

Major kites and minor kites are two species from the same planet.  Despite the closely linked names, they are not actually very close relatives:  Their most recent common ancestor lived 200 million years ago. Many millions of years after divergence, their species began to converge.  At first this was by pure chance as mutations pushed the two towards similar adaptations. As their morphologies introduced them into adjacent niches, they began to share habitats and formed a symbiotic bond.  Eventually, the two species became so closely dependent that they began co-evolve; with one species’ mutations affecting the other. 

Major kites are the largest species on August: Larger than humans and dwarfing their minor kite cousins

Major Kites

Major kites look like large caterpillars when at rest.  At an average 4 meters long, they are August’s largest inhabitants, though they are not the heaviest; the average adult major kite weighs a little less than an adult human.  This is because major kites they are not actually giant caterpillars, but a vertebrate species whose greatest distances are traversed through the air.  When major kites unfold their rolled up, pillowy skin membrane, they become even wider than they are long.  This allows major kites to glide on the high winds of their native habitat, a tide-locked planet orbiting a red dwarf.  The planet’s capricious sun makes for turbulent weather in the twilight habitable zone between the permanent night and day sides of the planet. This creates a need for nearly constant migration.  Major kites can remain in flight for weeks, feeding on insect-size flying creatures which they collect in their large mouths.  They will follow their food source across the planet’s habitable zone, ranging for thousands of miles.  But they are not alone on their journey…

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