Cockatrice (Gallus horribilis)

The Cockatrice (Gallus horribilis) is a recently discovered bird species endemic to Verloren island, southeast of Taiwan, in the South China Sea. The cockatrice's closest genetic relative is believed to be the red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), with genetic testing confirming the new species belonging to the family Phasianidae and being closely related to red jungle fowl. Gallus horribilis, has been a recently unknown member of the Phasianidae family until the crew of the Danish cargo ship, Haan, were marooned on Verloren island after a storm caused their ship to sink on March 13th, 2020. The crew were stranded at sea for two days before drifting onto Verloren island. An Australian Navy recuse team located the shipwrecked sailors after 14 days of searching. All twenty crew members were recovered from the island, many dehydrated and with minor injuries. Curiously the majority of injuries were long slashes all over sailors bodies. The Dutch crew was unable to communicate with the Australian rescue team but were reported to continuously repeat "devil chickens!" to the rescue crew. Later with translators the Dutch sailors described accounts of large ferocious birds that dwelled inside the forest of Verloren. Media outlets quickly picked up the story, and cryptozoologist toted this as evidence of living monsters in the world. The name cockatrice was quickly pinned on this unknown species due to the descriptions of them, and to the chagrin of biologist this very real, and unmagical species of bird was linked with the monster of European folklore, sweeping aside the name desired by the scientific community of the Verloren jungle fowl. The first holotype of the bird was collected in August 21st, 2020 when a New Zealand biologist team was granted a visa by the Chinese government to make a short an expedition to the uninhabited island and was able to collect a sample individual. The holotype was originally captured alive, but after undocumented events on the return trip the individual was unfortunately euthanized, the only reason given was by the head biologist stating is was necessary for the wellbeing of the scientist. Still, much valuable knowledge was able to be uncovered by the sample.

Taxonomy

Biologist were able to establish that the cockatrice was anatomically similar to jungle fowl in many features. Both species posses a mix of feather colors, with orange, brown, red, gold, grey, white, olive, and even metallic green plumage. Scientist who went to the island reported sexual dimorphism similar to jungle fowl. The holotype is a male with tail feathers 22 inches long, and the whole bird was measured at 58 inches long. The body mass was weighed to be 8lbs. Junglefowl are behaviorally different however, being naturally very shy of humans. The cockatrice was known to attack humans on sight. The spurs of the males are much more pronounced on cockatrice as well as the other claws. The comb of the male cockatrices are large and brightly colored and believed to be used a sexual signaling.

Phylogenetics and Evolutionary History

The range red jungle fowl stretches from India eastwards across Indochina and southern China, into Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Mitochondrial DNA examined can trace a common ancestor to the cockatrice and red jungle fowl to about 10,000 years ago. The cockatrice is believed to be decedents of a population red jungle fowl that were isolated on the island of Verloren. The island had many small animals on the island but no medium sized predators. The jungle fowl on the island seemed to change their dietary system from their seed eating mainland relatives and moved into the niche of a small animal predator. Seemly due their new diet as well as fosters rule the jungle fowl grew in size, this is what allowed them to hunt small hog animals also endemic to Verloren. The most peculiar variance in the cockatrice from other close relatives in the mutation a extra vertebra extending into a featherless tail. The tail in believed to be a genetic throw back originally caused due to the high inbreeding in the original population of jungle fowl. The tail does not seem to be a hindrance to the animals, and so the species developed the trait. Unconfirmed reports state the cockatrices will use their tails as a whip to stun prey, but this behavior has not been documented officially.

Behavior and Ecology

Cockatrices were observed hunting on Verloren by both the shipwrecked sailors and the biologist. They are described to be ambush predators, waiting in brush and thickets for prey to walk by. When in range the cockatrices fly at the victims and begin to either do a stomping motion on small prey with their elongated legs, clubbing/racking the prey with their claws and feet. They have also be observed to fly at larger prey and substitute their clubbing method with an all slashing attack, attempting to server a critical artery and mortally wound the prey.

Adaptations

The long naked tail of the cockatrice seems to be an example of atavism. Birds have long since lost the trait of having tails, but due to currently unknown reasons by science, the cockatrices have reappeared this adaptation. The specie exhibits long and powerful legs, with large talons and spur on the end of them. This is believed to be due to evolutionary pressures on Verloren selecting for the birds to be predators, and using this adaptation to take down prey.

Reproductive/life history strategy

Much is still unknown about the reproductive habits of Gallus horribilis as no individuals were observed by biologist on the expedition. However, old abandoned nest were found in the jungles of Verloren with fragments of egg shells in them. These nests were only discovered on the ground in areas of high grass or brush. Scientist believe the reproductive style of cockatrice's is still relatively similar to their closest relatives, as much of the data collected and evidence found points to a similar reproductive style of jungle fowl. It is unknown if Cockatrice's have the ability to successfully reproduce with jungle fowl and scientist are weary of attempting this.

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