Anyone who has played any Monster Hunter game will have probably noticed at some point that the ways these so called "monsters" act are strangely familiar, with their behavior being more animalistic than monstrous. This is without a doubt the thing...
Day breaks over the land as the first rays touch the canopies of the old jungle, nourishing the gargantuan trees with their life-giving energy. As the sun rises higher into the sky, turning it from black to orange, then pink, and finally blue, the area starts coming to life with the sounds of treetop dwelling animals waking up, the light interrupting their sleep.
As the calls of these animals continue echoing throughout the canopy, it almost begins to sound like music, causing the creatures living on the forest floor to be stirred from their slumber. Soon the chirping of birds, the buzzing of neopterons, and the roars from wyverns fill the jungle with a rhythmic cacophony, turning the once silent forest into a concert of nature's beats.
Adding to the forest's songs are rustling leaves, howling winds, trickling rivers, crashing waterfalls, and creaking branches. With each new addition to the jungle jamboree's swelling music, Nutcracker, a male Yian Kut-Ku, begins to stir from his sleep on the forest floor, before finally waking up once this natural orchestra reaches its climax.
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Blinking a few times to dislodge the gunk around his eyes then yawning, Nutcracker stretches out his legs and wings before getting up. As his sleepiness subsidies, the Yian Kut-Ku unfurls his large, fan-like ears to take in his surroundings.
Shaped like satellite dishes, Nutcracker's expandable ears can catch and amplify noises, giving him and other members of his species amazing hearing capabilities. Since his auditory appendages can't rotate, the Yian Kut-Ku has to keep turning his head to pick up new sounds. Once he's done listening, the Yian Kut-Ku folds his ears back into their resting state, allowing him to now hear in all directions, though at a reduced range. He then starts to walk away into the undergrowth. Despite being able to fly, Nutcracker is actually better suited to moving on the ground.
Thanks to his long, well developed legs, Nutcracker can navigate the jungle with surprising ease, while his large beak allows him to bat away foliage as he moves. As he continues to trot through the forest, the spike at the end of the Yian Kut-Ku's tail slices through some vegetation, unintentionally creating small pathways behind him.
As the bird wyvern disappears into the undergrowth, his tail spike hits a tree, causing some sap to seep up to the surface, and poor down to bark. It doesn't take long for something to pick up the scent of this resource and soon a male Kelbi walks out of the jungle's shadows.
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