Strider

The Strider is a four-legged herabavourious land animal native to Swadia. Striders are famous for their height which, in maturity, ranges from 3 to 7 metres depending on the species. They have also been known to be used as mounts by certain villages and tribes within the Swadian Junglands.

Legs
A strider's legs account for about 80-90% of it's actual height, lending striders their famous disproportionate appearance. These legs are also strangely flexible, utilising a specialised joint structure to allow a strider to bend it's front legs sidewards, allowing it to easily swoop it's torso down towards the ground. This apparent flexiblity also allows most species of strider to run at speed for extended periods of time, leading to their usage as mounts by humans.

Torso
The strider's torso is simmilar to that of a large dog, commonly covered in a coat of fur depending on the species. Striders are known to possess extremely advanced skeletal and muscular structures, rendering them strong enough to carry a human or two but not quite strong enough to carry cargo thus limiting their use as a pack creature.

Head
Striders have large heads with short muzzles, males possessing a tuft of long, droopy white whiskers protruding from their jowels. Their ears are covered by flaps of fur-covered skin, most likely to prevent infection from the various biting insects within their jungle habitat. Striders possess two large forward-facing eyes, allowing them to see great distances. This not only enables them maximum vision from their high altitude, but also allows them to see the ground in detail. All but one of the currently discovered strider species are toothless, instead possessing soft gummy appendages with which to suck the nutrients from leaves and other flora.

Feeding
The primary diet of a strider usually consists of nutritious leaves from high growing Swadian trees such as the Tanefar or Kadaku. In order to eat, the strider will wrap it's long tongue around a leave and pull it free, bringing it back into it's mouth to be gummed of it's nutrients before opening it's mouth and letting the waste drop out. Because of this unique feeding process, striders produce minimal feces. Striders have also been known to feed on all matter of flora such as shrubs, flowers and berries, especially during their younger years when they are unable to reach the same food as their adult counterparts.

Social
Most strider species typically travel in small 'families' of about 6 or 7, consisting mostly of young siblings usually accompanied by birth parents or other young adults. Most scientists speculate that these 'families' are formed for the protection of the younger striders, as the developing strider body is extremely fragile before it reaches physical maturity. Once a young strider has reached full height it either stays with the family for a little longer to provide protection or goes off on it's own. This often results in one or two younger striders being left alone and vunerable when all other members of the family have reached maturity and departed. Male striders mate with any physically mature partner they come across, occasionally accompanying her family for up to a week before departing.

Human Interactions
Striders have been in use by humans as mounts for thousands of years. They are mostly used as scouting mounts due to their high altitude and fast speed and rarely carry more than one rider. Some Swadian villages have even been known to breed striders specifically for riding, pairing a young strider with a young human to form a bond.