Utakrid

The utakrid are creatures of the garkrid family that develop wings when they mature as kopa, taking 10 to 20 years to reach that stage. The sempa stage is aquatic and gregarious. Swarms of them congregate to build massive, tall floating rafts from old logs, branches and corpses, which they tether in place before laying large egg masses on them, which they then guard fiercely. The kopa stage is relatively short, but sees the development of the wings. The kopa fly over the forest looking out for the most impressive egg masses that they then fertilise. They defend the egg masses for several days, deterring other kopa (often fighting to the death) and anything else that might threaten the egg mass before it hardens. During that time they also hunt, sealing prey within the egg mass to feed the hatchlings once they emerge. Once hardened, the kopa will leave in search of more potential egg masses. The kopaʼs fragile wings generally last no more than a month or two before they are sufficiently damaged that the kopa loses the ability to fly. By that stage it is poorly suited to survive much longer in the forest.

A raft will occasionally break loose and wash down the river, with a swarm of sempa in the water around it and the buzz of hopeful kopa in the air… an impressive if very scary sight.

Once vacated, the grotesque if impressive hardened egg masses see many other smaller creatures take up residence. The masses themselves are large enough to clog up waterways, often completely changing the path of rivers.