Blitzleopard

Blitzleopards (sometimes erroneously rendered as blitz leopards) were large, four-legged, amphibious reptiles native to Crest. Despite being reptiles, they are often mistaken for mammals due to their fur-like scales and tendency to hunt in packs.

Appearance
Blitzleopards are medium-sized, four-legged creatures. They have large, arrowhead-shaped tails and webbed feet that aid them in swimming.

Across the entire body of a blitzleopard are small, pointy scales that resemble a fur coat. The surface under the scales can tighten and loosen to adjust the angle at which the scales are positioned. When the surface under the scales is tightened, the scales lean back, forming a continuous, slick surface to improve the blitzleopard's speed and maneuverability within the water.

Without the tightening of the surface, however, the scales take on their well-known, fur-like appearance. This appearance often deceives inexperienced hunters, who do not realize that the "fur" acts as armor, protecting the blitzleopard against even some bullets.

Diet
Blitzleopards are hypercarnivorous, having a diet of almost exclusively meat. Due to circumstance, a large portion of their meat intake is from fish of various sizes.

However, they are completely capable land predators, and appear to prefer hunting on land as opposed to the water. Lone blitzleopards tend to stick to smaller prey, however packs are capable of taking down beasts upwards of six times their size. Because of this, blitzleopards tend to be found in groups of four or more, with larger packs being as many as twenty. However, these larger packs are a very rare sight, requiring one to journey deep into the jungles of Crest to witness them.

While blitzleopards do not hunt for humans, they will not hesitate to attack if they stumble across small groups of them. Although extremely rare, there have been reports of larger packs attacking small human settlements for food.

Pack Structure
As blitzleopards compete with other dangerous predators for food, they tend to hunt in packs. These blitzleopard packs are capable of bringing down much larger prey, which are too large to kill by some of Crest's other predators. These larger predators can be upwards of six times the size of a single blitzleopard, meaning that the resulting food is enough to feed the entire pack for days.

However, many blitzleopards enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and will stockpile multiple kills worth of food in a single day, in case of a sudden inability to hunt, such as an injury or the lack of prey in the region. This is much more common during the winters of Crest, where it becomes easier to preserve the meat and most prey hibernates.

When larger prey become scarce, packs will split up and the individual blitzleopards will hunt smaller prey and fish to feed only themselves. It is not that uncommon for blitzleopards to hunt in pairs at this time, however solo hunters are far more numerous.

Some Crestans have reported seeing the packs elect an alpha female, however this has not been confirmed and has never occurred in captivity.