pANATRAK lIFECYCLE

The Panatrak lifecycle very closely follows our own, with both sexes maturing at similar rates, and going through a juvenile, adolescent and adult stages, and having similar total lifespans, but there are a few differences.

The Panatrak give birth to live, fully formed young, though as in humans these early juveniles are dependent on parental support, the Panatrak also like humans generally only have one child at a time, though also like humans twins and triplets are also sometimes produced. So like humans, a family of Panatrak will have an order of different ages unlike races that give birth to clutches of young.

The early juveniles remain reliant on their parents for many years, if not because of their own physical abilities, but because of their strong emotional ties. About two years after birth the juveniles can walk, but not yet fly, though they can use their wings to glide, their language use is also very simple, and takes another four years or so to become well spoken (not really because of slow development but because of complex native language).

Both parents care for the young offspring, but neither parent lactates, instead the young are fed from a sort of ‘crop-milk’ which is excreted from internal glands and regurgitated for the young, both parents have this ability. Partly because of this adaptation, neither gender has a particularly important role over the other in post-natal care, instead work is distributed evenly between parents. Another consequence is that the young Panatrak develop and grow faster than human young, as it receives its nutrition from both parents, effectively doubling the energy supply available to it.

In most respects the juvenile resembles very clearly the parent form, though proportions are a little different (like in humans, the head is proportionately larger). Before civilization the Panatrak young would cling to their parents, and only when they are able to walk or fly, lead an independent existence of their parents, in modern society one parent is usually left with the young (though parents alternate time with their young), while the other resumes normal daily activities.

After about a year the juvenile is slowly weaned onto solid food, and is able to digest nearly anything the adult can (though has difficulty with bulky hard to digest foods, but is often fed regurgitated digested food during the transition).

The rest of juvenile development until adolescence consists of rapid growth, and improving mental faculties, also the young are increasingly comfortable away from their parents, and are quite happy to go off exploring.

Adolescence, like in humans, is a time of turmoil for the young Panatrak, like their counterparts in other races their parents have to cope with a number of physical and mental changes, which are in every part as tumultuous as puberty in humans. Adolescence sees the slow onset of sexual development (sex organs in juvenile Panatrak are not easily distinguishable, at least from external appearance, but during adolescence these organs like many others develop great dimorphism), along with a change in attitude to the parent-young relationship.

Adolescence occurs for about ten years, though the first four years are the most trying, starting at about seven years of age and generally completed by seventeen years of age (though some still do not complete their development until twenty or even twenty five years of age). At the end of this transformation the standard form and shape of the adult form is attained, and with this new shape they are better suited to flying (as their span has expanded beyond their original proportions), and their endurance and strength have also greatly increased.

The adult form is similar in both genders, though the female is a little heavier than the male (~80kg as opposed to ~60kg), and the male a little more sinuous and sleek. The adult form also begins to age in a similar fashion to humans with slow degradation in the senses and physical ability after forty or fifty years. With the modern sophisticated medical treatments most Panatrak are healthy and active until their eventual death (as with humans), and medicine has also increased the life expectancy from about forty years to almost ninety (as with humans).

The great similarity of the Human and Panatrak lifecycle was exploited when earth was contacted, and humans have always felt a particular connection with the Panatrak since, probably because of their similarities. However the development and cultures within these races are rather different, where as the Panatrak are very emotional and noble, Humans still buffer their emotions and are relatively less expressive about them. These kinds of differences probably cement these two races more firmly together than a parallel evolution of culture and society.