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Diet: Omnivore (preference for chitin) Description: Talpanas, the Kaua'i mole duck, is decidedly one of the more interesting duck species, for several reasons, but one of them is that it is essentially a reverse platypus—a duck that looks like a mammal. It didn't fly and, like the platypus and the kiwi, it had tiny eyes set further back in its skull, which gave it a very strange appearance. Furthermore, its skull was very flat and it had a long, wide beak, which gave it a shovel-like appearance. His eyes indicate that if he wasn't completely blind, he was very close to him. It had short, robust legs, which gave it a very stocky appearance, leading to the hypothesis that it was unable to fly. It had extremely large and developed nostrils, indicating that it had an excellent sense of smell to compensate for the lack of good vision. As such, it was essentially a Kiwi Duck, as well as a reverse Platypus. It lived about 600 years ago on the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i and was specifically found in Makauwahi Cave. As such, it probably lived in dense forests, caves, and dark undergrowth, using its very sensitive beak and sense of smell to feed on insects and other invertebrates in the undergrowth. It was probably also nocturnal. Definitely one of the most interesting extinct ducks! Wild: It lives in caves during the day, and comes out to swim and hunt at night. Extremely shy, if anyone approaches, it takes off, leaving any predator hungry, as it is one of the fastest creatures in the entire ark, not only running, but also jumping. And because of this speed, they have extreme strength in their legs, allowing them to move objects much larger than themselves, including survivors. Because they are practically blind, lights from drops and other sources of energy attract them. To get a female, the male needs to build his nest and fill it with shiny objects, which he normally finds inside drops, such as metal weapons, for example. Domesticated: When a tribe manages to domesticate a Talpanas, they gain an excellent ally in exploring and expanding their belongings. As they are practically blind, the player who wants to carry one of these around the map must always have some source of light with them, so that Talpana can locate them and return to their shoulder. As you adapted to the Ark, you developed the ability to access different inventories, from drops to inventories dropped on the ground by creatures or other survivors, and collect items of value for yourself. As it is an aquatic and terrestrial creature, and is very fast, it can be used to explore drops at the bottom of the ocean or in caves, without the player having to dismount the creature he is riding and running the risk of being attacked. Abilities: Talpanas have several skills, including: Run on water: Talpanas are very fast, and can run on water very easily (As shown in the example below). Running on the water, the Talpana, due to its great leg strength, can tow a survivor, who can either surf on the water with skis, or can also be floating with another creature or even equipped with a parachute. The speed gain using a Talpanas as a trailer running over water is very great, as it is as fast as the tek suit running over water. Despite its small size, Talpana can carry an impressive amount of weight when running on water, making it much easier for players to move a large number of items at great speed across the map. Collecting Drops: Talpanas have developed over time the ability to access several different inventories, and, because of this, they can collect items from drops for players, without them having to risk dismounting from any domain. The player can select the color of the drop they want Talpana to seek alone, or leave it free for him to decide, and, when he is on a player's shoulder, and a drop of the desired color is in sight, he will jump from the shoulder and run at an impressive speed to the drop, collect its contents, and bring it back to the player. Due to its leg strength, it is extremely agile and a good swimmer as well, which is why it is excellent for looking for drops at the bottom of the ocean. Because he is considered a mole duck, he can also excavate treasures that are located through maps for the player (as long as the player owns the expansion). Inventory Collection: Still with their ability to collect items, Talpanas can be used to collect items from inventories that are left by creatures or dead players, and can also collect only the items that the player wants (a skill wheel where the player can choose between crafted items and resources for example), leaving behind items that only take up space in their inventory. Never lose a spino sail again because you can't find the bag in a piranha-infested lake, because Talpana will definitely find it! Escape with the Loot: Despite being basically blind, Talpanas have an incredible sense of direction when it comes to finding their home. The Player can build a Talpana nest in their base, and, when the Talpana is collecting an item and is set to passive escape mode, it will collect as many inventories as it finds around it in a short space of time, and then will run away towards your nest, returning safely with all the loot collected. This ability is widely used, mainly when collecting items such as Giganotosaurus hearts or when tribes are in the middle of a bloody battle, as talpanas will collect any inventory, whether friend or enemy, and will take all the spoils to the base where their nest is found. Quick inventory discharge: Due to their great strength and speed, Talpanas can be used to send large quantities of resources back to base. The player can place the resources he needs into Talpana's inventory, and order him to return to base. Talpana will go to the base, place resources in its nest, and return to the player to assist in the process again. Eggs with exclusive boosts: Talpanas have a unique ability in their eggs: the female, when sitting in her nest, has a chance of around 10% of laying an egg known as a Fabergé egg, which can be blue or red, and can be used in unique recipes. If a player places metal items (such as pickaxes and axes) in Talpana's inventory, Talpana will decorate their nests with these objects, and will increase the chance of laying a Fabergé egg by an additional 10% (20% in total) . Blue Fabergé Egg: Used in an exclusive recipe (ingredients to be defined), they provide whoever consumes them with a 20% boost in non-scalable movement speed (survivors and creatures) for around 20 minutes. Red Fabergé Egg: Used in an exclusive recipe (ingredients to be defined), they provide whoever consumes them with a boost of 20% reduction in non-scalable stamina consumption (survivors and creatures) for around 20 minutes. Recipes do not multiply the bonus if consumed in greater quantities (it will always be 20% in both cases), but they can be combined with other recipes to enhance their effects. There is also a 1 in 200 (0.5%) chance of a female laying a fertilized Fabergé egg. From this fertilized egg, an exclusive variation of Talpana will be born, which is known as Talpana Mandarin (similar to the current Madarim duck, with a topknot and different colors). In addition to the same abilities as the standard Talpana, the Mandarin Talpana has the ability to improve the effect of Fabergé egg recipes by 10% if the player has it on their shoulder (that is, a total of 30% more movement speed for recipes of blue fabergé egg and -30% stamina consumption for red fabergé egg recipe). The variations are aesthetic, meaning a Mandarin Talpana can mate with a regular Talpana without any problems. Mating 2 Talpan Mandarins does not increase the chance of the female laying a Fabergé egg, whether fertilized or not, the chances remain the same in both cases. There is a 0.5% chance that a Mandarin Talpana will appear on the map instead of a normal Talpana. Taming: Taming a Talpana is not a simple task, as they are very easily frightened, and run away at the sign of any danger, and are basically unreachable by survivors. The best way to domesticate a Talpana is at night, when the animal leaves the caves where it spends the day sleeping and goes in search of food (it likes to hunt meganeuras near lakes, as it loves to eat quintina). To tame a Talpana, after the survivor locates the animal, they must be wearing camouflage clothing and must lie down on the ground with an item that emits light equipped (torches, flashlights, aberrant animals that emit light, etc.). Bonfires can also be used to attract attention. Despite being an extremely suspicious creature, a Talpana cannot resist a shiny object in the middle of the darkness. Talpana will approach the object with the light, and will access the survivor's inventory. While he is accessing his inventory, the player can feed the mole duck quintine or superior kibble. The problem is keeping the animal's attention, because, while accessing the player's inventory, he takes items from the inventory in order to decorate his nest with them. The more metal objects the player has in their inventory (like pickaxes and axes, for example), the longer Talpana will spend time messing around in its inventory, and the more times the player will be able to feed it during the process. If the taming does not end until dawn, or if Talpana takes off any part of the camouflaged armor that the player is wearing, revealing his identity to the mole duck, Talpana will run towards his nest, taking with him everything he took. from the player's inventory. At this point, having already started taming, the player can track the animal to its nest, where it can bend down in front of it, and continue the process. There is a 5% chance of the player finding a fertilized egg in the Talpana's nest as well, but they are only visible when the taming process of a Talpana has already started.