The Jericho raptor, named after the now mostly abandoned city south of Heartland, is what happens when nature is nostalgic for raptors of the bygone era.

Evolving from an unknown species of bird of prey, it is still a fierce hunter. Unlike most of the modern raptors like eagles and ospreys, they are social creatures that form packs of hunting parties with strict hierarchy and roles. The leader, adorned with a pair of long black feathers on their head the other members of the pack lack, would lead its pack from the skies and herd potential prey into an ambush. Being in a pack, they are able to take down preys that are much larger then them, like kirins. Taking a page from their dinosaur ancestors, they jump onto their prey to hunt them.

To facilitate this new hunting strategy, they have significantly deviated physiologically from the average modern bird of prey. They have much longer legs that help with running and climbing on their prey. Bone spurs on their wings, an elongated thumb, also acts as a claw that helps them stay on their prey while their beak, now with pseudo fangs, all work together to make Jericho raptors an efficient killing machine. While they usually do not bother humans, one would be wise to keep an eye out in the sky in case of an attack from above.

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The design idea is basically to "re-evolve" a Jurassic Park like raptor from a modern bird. Much of its design is also inspired by a species called secretarybird, which is one of my favourite bird.