Barong (bahr-awng)

Barong

Barong possessed a curious mix of both bear and feline DNA with a bit of dragon thrown in for good measure, these proud animals were extremely territorial and protective of their young. They were actually quite docile when not threatened. Nocturnal in nature, barongs slept in the jungle shade and dark caves during the day. Barongs stuck to the western region of Fabella and very small parts of the far east. They ran in packs of no more than thirteen called a “pride” with one alpha male, his sows, and their cubs. An average boar achieved a weight of about 550 lbs. Their heavy manes accounted for much of that weight as the copious amount of hair made them appear much larger than they really were for intimidation purposes. In general, a mane was an effective way of judging a boar’s health. Longer manes were signs of sickness, fullness is a sign of a healthy diet, and dark colors were symbols of virility.

There was one alpha male to a pride of about four or five females. Cubs were birthed in live litters. An average cub was about the size of a deck of cards. Young barongs were so small that many often got lost and died. Sows would often stow their entire litter away from the rest of the pride in unused burrows or the knots of trees; somewhere the baby barongs could not get lost or eaten. Alpha males were so territorial over their position in the pride that they would kill any male cub. This put the pride in a precarious place because they were stuck in a difficult situation when the Alpha Male died unexpectedly. There was nothing left for the sows to do but select a newly birthed boar cub to be the new alpha male and wait for him to reach maturity while most of the pride died off or they were taken over by another pride.