Known Creature Details
Ikka
Pronounced: Eee-Kah
Female: Urla | Male: Jorm
Baby: Fwae
Ikka are medium sized, cold dwelling critters that usually live in the lower to middle layer of mountainous regions, often calling sheer cliff faces their home. They have plush, silky fur, massive snow-shoe paws, and an incredible skill to climb near 85 degree cliff sides with little to no issue. They have very skittish natures, and can bolt away like lightning at a moments notice if startled.
Ikka live in solitary conditions, only coming together for breeding, or if they have young, but it dosen't mean they aren't social! If put together in a group, they'll bond to the group-mates they're put with, and become a sort of rough pack.
They breed in the Springtime when the majority of Ikka travel down to the lush spring mountain valleys to feed and reproduce. Urla can have up to four Fwae, and the males have no hand in raising the young. The fwae stay with the mothers for four years as they're very slow growers, and the urla will refuse to breed again until her current young is fully grown and on their own. Mother and child bonds usually stay very strong all throughout their lives, and domesticated Ikka can be seen nuzzling their children during visits.
Appearances
Theres no real environmental variants of Ikka that have been documented, most if not all of them fall under a spectrum of color rules, which have been documented as such: "Ikka pelts are all earth tones body wise (browns blacks/dark greys and off-white/creams), while their horns, claws, and tail hair are all separately colored from the base color but follow the same color rules as the body. They have a prominent stripe of their base color down the middle of their tail, and the iris, paw pads, ears and mouth/nose and other exposed fleshy bits seem to be the same hue of some unnatural color. Any markings they have are 50% opacity of their horn color, and they're usually irregularly blotchily spotted. Their eyebrows can either take after their horns, or their marking colors, both have been seen. They're moderately sized for a mountable critter, their shoulder reaching around eyelevel to an averaged sized Nyulop.
Diet
Ikka have a fairly simple carnivorous diet, eating birds, eggs, fish, or whatever other small prey they can swat and stun with their giant paws. There's little to no waste from when they're done snacking, as bones, scales, and fur are all consumed as well due to food scarcity. In domestication, they find Groink, Elyks, Csirkatrice, or fish meat to be of preference, and many owners boast at how shiny and soft their Ikkas coat can get from such a diet.
Bonding
If you've bonded with an Ikka, they offer many benefits in their partnership! A primary one that's most utilized is their expert climbing skills, and blisteringly fast running speeds. They make going from one side of the Isle to the next an absolute breeze, and many herbalists use an Ikka companion to help them climb up steep mountainsides to harvest delicate and tricky greenery and shrubbery they normally wouldn't be able to get without a great deal of trouble. Because of this, special harness saddles have been developed to help the Bonded riders more easily hold onto their speedy partners. Buckles, and a steep curved back help keep the rider sturdily in place while they adventure across the wilderness.