Southern Fletcher

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8D

To all those who looked at my fantabulous picture, flip your heads upside-down. For in actuality... This picture is upside-down! OoO

Anyway, this is one of the animals that lives on the feezing continent of Antarctic Russiac, particularly in the Upside-Down Mountains that dominate the South Pole. The Upside-Down Mountains are named that because they aren't upside-down...but everything else is! Take the pools of unfrozen water, for example, which hang from out-stretching rocky ledges. It is in these icy pools that the bird known as the Southern Fletcher hunt for fish.

Southern Fletchers slightly resemble the penguins from our world, though they have features similar to a cetacean or fish. Southern Fletchers are picky eaters and don't like fish from outside the Antarctic Circle; this makes them difficult to keep as pets up north. The amphibious birds live in the upside-down caves of the Upside-Down Mountains, gathering in flocks at the cave mouth at daybreak and evening. They are solitary during the day, and nest tightly together at night. Despite their penguin-like appearance, Southern Fletchers are capable of flight. During the day they fly from icy pond to icy pond, searching for fish to feed themselves. Due to the chilling cold, a Southern Fletcher needs to consume a lot of food each day. To catch their fish, a Southern Fletcher will wait on an ice flow until a fish comes close, and then it will dive into the freezing water and chase the fish until it catches it. Southern Fletchers are stubborn animals and never stop chasing their prey.

Because of their length, Southern Fletchers don't make very popular pets, though they are very exotic. Most people prefer the Northern Fletcher. Apart from length, the primary reason for the unpopularity of the Southern Fletcher is the difficulty of inverting its sense of gravity so that it stays right-side-up outside the Antarctic Circle. Because Northern Fletchers do not have this need, they are easier to maintain.

Pardon the crappy background. I spent all my detail on the Fletcher and only added a background because the white just looked so plain. It's somewhat obvious, but the Southern Fletcher is based off of penguins, which only live in the Southern Hemisphere. I'm very proud of how it's shading turned out. ^w^ Oh, and credit for the name "Fletcher" goes to a kid from my Biology class.

Upside-Down Mountains (c) 2006 Me
Southern Fletcher (c) 2008 Me