This gargantuan, lumbering creature has accentuated musculature, an elongated neck ending in a conspicuous eye-like structure called a neural sac. Megaraffes live in close association with a herd of 20-40 individuals, which often travels long distances in search of food or water.
The color, shape, and pattern of a megaraffe’s neural sac communicates its feelings and intentions to other megaraffes in the herd. Typically, blues and greens are used for curiosity or contentment, whereas reds and oranges are used for aggression or fear. Megaraffes also use low frequency sounds to stay connected with the herd; the booming call of a megaraffe can be heard for several kilometers.
Megaraffe live in herds that frequent savannah dominated by bisav trees.
Megaraffes feed primarily on the nectar of the bisav trees, which is available year-round. A megaraffe uses a large proboscis surrounding a feathered inner tongue to drink the nectar within deep flowers. The tall stature enables a megaraffe to reach the highest flowers in the canopy. A megaraffe herd manages the bisav trees carefully, moving among areas periodically to enable these trees to produce more nectar. This specialized diet makes megaraffes vulnerable to environmental changes that threaten its food source.
Megaraffes reproduce sexually, with females using relatively peaceful displays and calls to attract a male as a mate. Once a potential mate approaches, the female releases chemicals called pheromones, which indicate their quality to a potential mate. A male megaraffe uses its long tongue-like proboscis to sample these pheromones from the air. No aggression among males or females has ever been observed during breeding.
Once a male and female pair, mating occurs only once, indicating that the probability of fertilization is extremely high. After fertilization, the embryos develop inside the female for a period of just over one Phygarian year. During this time, embryos are sustained by yolk from the mother. Some yolk remains even after birth, enabling the babies to go without food for up to 30 days. Megaraffe’s grow rapidly, but still require years to approach their massive size at adulthood. Therefore, a young megaraffe remains close to its parents for 3-4 years, relying on both parents for protection while in the juvenile stage.
Because of the megaraffes’ sustained popularity among visitors to the Intergalactic Wildlife Sanctuary, this species became the mascot of the Intergalactic Wildlife Federation and an image of a megaraffe appears on its logo.