Known Creature Details
Pikoo
Pronounced: Pee-Coo
Female: & Male: Pikoo | Baby: Peeking
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Pikoo are highly domesticated, tapir-like creatures once originally native to a tropical continent far, far from Whistler Crest. They've long since been almost entirely made extinct in the wild, but are thriving and are incredibly popular as pets. It is likely that, if not for their domestication, they'd have certainly gone extinct due to their poor survival skills and lack of adaptable diet. It's unknown how they behave in the wild, as most of their population exists in captivity, but their domesticated behavior has been very well documented and much has been discovered about their sociology as they are very easy to observe due to their intense desire to be social. Pikoo are incredibly friendly, loving creatures that are endlessly loyal to only a single owner in their entire life. If their owner dies or leaves them, they will loose all will, refusing food and water, and will quickly wither away. They are good companions to people with sedentary lives and very rigid schedules, but will prove burdensome to those who are social with irregular schedules, and spent long bouts of time away from home or are busy when they are home.
Behavior and Attachment
Pikoo, clingy creatures by nature, have incredible trouble being housed with other Pikoo and other animals in general. They will more often than not see the other Pikoo (or pet) as a competitor for the owner's affection and, while they are not well-armed creatures, may attack the other Pikoo or pet in order to both assert its dominance as the owner's "favorite" pet and to re-assure itself that the other pet is not a threat to it in the competition for the owner's love.
Housing more than one Pikoo in the same household is a very dangerous game to play, but can be achievable in certain circumstances. If the Pikoo are imprinted onto different owners than they can usually cohabitate with little squabble, as there is no "competition" between them for affection and a Pikoo will never imprint on more than one owner in its lifetime. However, if both Pikoo are imprinted onto one owner, the result is a long and taxing process. No more than two Pikoo should ever be owned by a single owner, and even then it is highly discouraged as constant fights for dominance are sure to break out on the daily. If two Pikoo are owned by one person, they must both be of the same rarity, Pikoo rank themselves socially based on their perceived rarities, and if a Pikoo of a higher rarity were to be introduced into a household where the owner already owned a Pikoo of a lower rarity, the lower rarity Pikoo would begin to degenerate and worsen in health due to perceiving the higher rarity Pikoo as both better and more desirable, outranking itself. Because the highly domesticated Pikoo thrives off of its ability to be desired as a companion, this will cause it to feel rejected and replaced, and no amount of attention, love, or medicine on the owner's part will be able to save it as it will slowly loose its will to continue, its one sole purpose in life undermined, and eventually will refuse food until it withers away
Varieties and Appearance
They are fat, short creatures with thick, blunt nails that they traditionally used to dig burrows, but are now used to dig up gardens, beds, and carpets. They have a long, somewhat prehensile trunk that they use to sniff out treats, and always have three unicorn-like horns on their head. The hair on most Pikoo is resilient and doesn't take to styling, only the rarest having hair that is suitable to being played with and styled properly.
Rarer Pikoo are more colorful and uniquely patterned, whereas common Pikoo tend to be duller and plainer. In general all Pikoo tend to have lighter, pastel colored palettes, though through domestication very vibrant colors have been introduced into the mix.
Breeding
Breeding Pikoo can be a very difficult undertaking, as their loyalty to their owners makes them reluctant to seek out mates. Pikoo form monogamous, lifelong bonds with their partners and if one were to die, the other would never seek out a new mate. Due to their extended captivity, they have peculiarly developed a habit of sometimes selecting a mate not of their species, in other words, attempting to become mates with something other than another Pikoo. They may become mates with other pets, inanimate objects about their size, or even their imprinted owner. They constantly seek to be close to their mate, and perform dances for their chosen mates or a potential mate they are attempting to impress. This dance is very common, even expected much of the time, to have practiced for an owner by their Pikoo, and due to it being so commonplace it is not frequently known that the true intention of the dance is to entertain a mate and is just seen as cute, quirky pet behavior.
Pikoo have one baby at a time, and will raise it for several months before it can be separated from the parents and adopted out. Baby Pikoo are born hornless, and their three horns grow in soon after they open their eyes in the first week of life.
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Diet
Pikoo are herbivores, eating primarily leafy greens and appreciating the delicious treat of fruits or vegetables to compliment their diet and produce them variety to an otherwise bland diet. Their stomachs cannot process meat or bugs of any kind, and even if they are eager to accept any food offerings from their bonded owner, they should not be given anything but foliage.
Abilities and Skills
Pikoo, naturally non-confrontational prey animals, don’t possess many dangerous features that a prospective owner would need to worry about. They do, however, possess large blunted claws on their feet once used for digging and foraging for roots and tubers in the wild, but now serve the exclusive purpose of tearing up beds, carpets, and tediously manicured gardens.
Besides their digging claws, they also possess an amazing vocalization ability. Normally they are very quiet creatures, emitting small trumpet-like cheers when happy called trums. (verb: trumming, past: trummed) however, when distressed or lonely, they can emit a wail so loud it can be heard for several miles as they cry out for their missing companion.
