Description

These two meter tall sophont avians use their wings for walking. Their thumb (first phalanx) has increased in size and the claw has re-appeared and modified into a hoof. They primarily use their beaks for manipulating with objects, but their feet, which the Xa leave off the ground when walking, greatly assist with this. Another ancient feature that has re-appeared in this bird are the teeth, but they aren't used for eating. The teeth of the Xa have bright golden and dark red stripes and are flattened, resembling our incisors, and are used as dispaly structures during communication.

A Xa's perception of reality and the rate at which they take in information is also remarkably fast. An average Xa, for example, is able to read one A4 page full of text in circa five seconds. This means that a Xa can graduate way faster than a human, making up for their short lifespan. This is one of the reasons why it can be hard for them to enjoy movies, the ones that were made by non Xa are unwatchable because of the "low frame rate".

There is almost no sexual dimorphism in these birds. On normal occasions the gender nor sex of a Xa is not distinguished at all, and only a very small amount of Xaian cultures have different roles for men and women. The only way to tell the sexes apart is through pheromones, which are only released on special occasions. Only Xa are sensitive to these pheromones, and non avians wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Ontogeny and lifespan

The Xa are relatively short lived, maturing at the age of seven. In the prehistory, they could live up to be twenty years old, but thanks to modern medicine, their lifespan has increased to be up to thirty years. When hatched, a baby Xa is born featherless, growing a coat of ash-brown downy feathers after ten months. A "teenage" coat - black, irridescent contour feathers - begins to appear at the age of five, and at the age of seven, the "adult" plumage with its characteristic white eye pattern on the Xa's feathery crest appears. These white patterns typically fade to gray with old age. The irridescence is also a lot less striking in older Xa.

Diet

The Xa are omnivores (tba)