Houndour & Houndoom
Houndour (#228)
Canisinfernis fidelis
Houndour are social Pokémon that form packs with others of its kind. In this world, Houndours and their evolution are substitutes for coyotes.
Houndour average at 2 feet tall (0.6 M) and 23.8 pounds (10.8 kg). They are small lads.
Habitat: The grasslands, cities, and mountains of Turtle Island/the Americas. They are incredibly versatile in the habitats that they can live in, and have recently become increasingly common in urban areas.
Life Cycles: Houndours are born in early April to average litter sizes of 6. They are entirely dependent on their two parents for food and shelter until they’re old enough to leave the nest around August timeframe. Whether or not they actually do leave their parents is a different matter. Some do, some don’t. Their family structures are fluid in these regards, with packs forming from parental pairs and their offspring, and often with siblings or even unrelated Houndours. A Houndour is usually reproductively mature come the following mating season in January/February (so long as it has reached level 15). An individual usually reaches adult proportions around September, which is often when they achieve level 15, too.
As grown Houndours, individuals may stay with their parents to patrol territory and help in hunting, or they may move on to claim their own territory. It is rare to see Houndours outside the structure of a pack.
Behavior: Houndours form packs with others of its kind, sharing immense loyalty to each other and communicating in a refined language of barks and howls. Their teamwork is considered unparalleled, and a pack of Houndours is a highly effective force not to be reckoned with. This loyalty and intelligence lends them to being excellent companions to humans, especially those with great need for a Houndour’s intellect. In high-density urban areas, Houndours have even been known to take the subway!
They communicate with each other using a refined series of barks and howls. Barks are used for determining the location of pack members, especially during a hunt, while howls are a declaration of territorial ownership.
Diet: Houndours are carnivores with a tolerance for omnivorey when necessary, giving them dietary flexibility in urban environments. When they work together, they’re able to take down prey much larger than themselves like Deerling, but they often scavenge the meals of larger predators like Stoutland.
Conservation: Least Concern with some sub-populations being Threatened.
Relationship with Humans: Houndours and Houndooms have a mixed relationship with humans. On one hand, they are treated as invaluable companions that are both loyal and have the intellect necessary to be useful to humans. On the other hand, their intellect makes them seen as wily, conniving, tricksters by many. All things considered though, Houndours and by extension Houndooms had an overall positive/mutually-respectful relationship with the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (the Americas).
In modern times, when anti-predator sentiment rise in folks, Houndours are often high on the list of creatures that rural American farmers want the right to dispose of as seen fit on their own terms. Like coyotes in the real world, Houndours are given the short end of the stick in terms of environmental protections, and they’re generally treated as nuisances and vermin. Their high intelligence not doing them favors in these regards.
Because of the prejudice toward Houndours and Houndooms and dark-types in general, many municipalities do not even consider them for viable starter Pokémon for new trainers, despite their high intelligence and deep loyalty.
Classification: The genus “Canisinfernis” is a combination of “Canis” and “Infernum” (hellfire in latin), and “fidelis” means “loyal”, which in total means “Canisinfernis fidelis” means “loyal hellhound.”
Houndoom (#229)
Canisinfernis canisinfernis
General Information: Houndoom is the evolved form of Houndour. In their guts are a series of toxins that it uses to produce poisonous fire. This gives its flame-breath a foul odor, and allows it to leave burns on foes and prey that are difficult to heal. Its howls are bone-chilling, known to induce shivers in other Pokémon and sending them scurrying back to their nests.
It has a Mega Evolution.
The species averages at 4’7 feet tall (1.4 M) and 77.2 pounds (35 kg), while Mega Houndoom is 6’03 feet tall (1.9 M) and 109.1 pounds (49.5 kg)
Habitat: The same places as Houndours, especially rough terrain areas.
Life Cycles: Houndooms form monogamous pairs that will extend multiple mating seasons. If their pack is a parental pair and their children, it will be the Houndooms who reproduce, but should the pack structure follow a different dynamic, it could be any combination of Houndours and Houndooms who reproduce. Houndooms are loyal, co-operative parents. Males will go out hunting while the females stay behind to raise the Houndour puppies.
Houndooms are known to live for about 20-25 years in captivity.
Behavior: Houndooms are great parents and pack leaders. In a pack, the Houndoom with its horns raked sharply toward the back is the leader of the pack, which is determined by fights for dominance within the pack.
Diet: Houndooms are largely carnivorous but has a mild tolerance for omnivorey.
Conservation: Least Concern, but some sub-populations may be Threatened.
Relationship with Humans: Houndooms are most common as companions of gangs and mafias, since they are most likely to look past their appearance and see them for the valuable companions that they are. This, unfortunately, only contributes to the bad rep that Houndooms receive in the general cultural conscious. Even when European settlers were first exploring the Americas, they likened Houndooms to be servants of the devil and their howls from the grim reaper directly, and that perception hasn’t really changed for a lot of people. Houndooms are also misused in dog-fighting rings, to the great detriment to their cultural perception, and to the outrage of Pokémon Activists and Houndoom Trainers everywhere.
In pop media, if the writers want to quickly convey that a trainer is an intimidating sort, giving them a Houndoom is an easy way to do this—though anyone with a Houndoom of their own will tell you that they’re loving companions who want belly-rubs and treats for being good boys as much as any other dog Pokémon.
Classification: Houndoom are in the broader canids with other dog Pokémon.
Evolution: Houndour evolves into Houndoom at level 24.
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