The Hunt

"This drawing illustrates a remarkable scene which I witnessed on Elysia, during my studies there. Being one of the first extrasolar planets to be colonised, it is a wonderful melting-pot for old Terran cultures, although several centuries on, it is beginning to suffer from overpopulation in some areas. Nonetheless, there are many beautiful habitats upon this world, including the endless, dusty savannah where I was based during my stay. I was supposed to be studying the local avian lifeforms and their relationships with the native flora, but the massive herbivores and pack hunting carnivores proved too great a temptation, and I am sorry to say that the report I handed in at the end of my four-month research period left much to be desired.
It was just after the end of the rainy season when, under a wide, open sky I spotted a lone bull Altibovus (Altibovis bellua) grazing in a clearing. Suddenly, out of the bushes sprang a pair of rosaks (Pardicolubra inferus). One of them managed to claw at the hind leg of the herbivore before it took off, with the predators in hot pursuit. In no time at all the rosaks had caught up, and with a flying leap one landed on the Altibovid's back, where it dug in with its claws. Although I could not see its mouth, I knew that its inner mouth parts would have extended into the herbivores' side, and begun to tear away the flesh. The Altibovus bellowed in pain, but was swiftly brought down as the second rosak caught its throat, and burrowed its mouthparts into the prey's windpipe. The Altibovus collapsed, and its rasping cries quickly stopped. The two predators, victorious, began to feed. It was a scene that has stayed with me my whole life."

From the journals of Samon Finn, notable Vabmojan Marine Xenobiologist, during his travels through the Inner Colonies.