Disclaimer: Same old, same old. Unfortunately, I don't own the Craw species, though I partially own the Eagle Craw species. Then again, I don't own the members of the Eagle Craw species (such as Rawk Hawk).

Lesson 4: The Craw Family

Welcome back to class, those of you who have still bothered to attend. Yes, I know the flu is spreading, half of you are absent, and that Koovan still hasn't attended any of our classes yet. But I'll still bother with teaching you!

We are doing what may be a boring topic for you: the Craw family and its members. Yes, I know less than .1 percent of the population of the Mushroom Kingdom consists of Craws, but they are perfect for taxonomy, unlike what I talked about last week. Here's the taxonomy up to the Craw family:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Aves

Order: Falconiformes

Family: Aquilidae

Now, the Craw family contains three members: the Craw, the Dark Craw, and the Eagle Craw. These three are easily classified, as the Craw and Dark Craw belong to the same genus and the Eagle Craw is in its own genus. Now please write this down!

Craw

Genus: Eyas

Species: hawkus

Dark Craw

Genus: Eyas

Species: nyxem

Eagle Craw

Genus: Aepyrie

Species: orramei

Both the Craw and the Dark Craw have a genus of Eyas because that word means "baby hawk" in Old English (whatever that is). Also, both of those Craws are just like baby hawks compared to the Eagle Craw. The Eagle Craw is at least twice the size of those two Craws.

The Craw's species name is hawkus because it behaves much like a hawk if you remove all the trappings of civilization. Both of them use their keen sight to find their prey. They also swoop down (at least as best as a Craw can swoop) on their prey when they find them. They tend to have the same messy eating style, too.

The Dark Craw's species name is nyxem because Nyx was a goddess of the night in ancient Greek mythology, so the name sounded appropriate. Also, the Dark Craw tends to hunt at night, while the Craw hunts in the day. The Dark Craw has many advantages from hunting in the night. It can see better (or at least better than its prey) and hide in the darkness better. If a Dark Craw tried hiding in the admittedly pale shadows of its homeland in the daytime, it would fail miserably.

The Eagle Craw's genus is Aepyrie because it is a variation of the elephant bird's genus, which is Aepyornis. Whoever named it took the Aepy from Aepyornis and stuck "rie", which means bird in Yoshese (and pesky bird in Toadian), to the end. Seeing as the elephant bird was one of the largest birds in history, this is an apt name for such a big type of Craw.

The Eagle Craw's species is orramei because they were first discovered in the Orramei Plains. They were called the Orramei Plains because orramei means "sunny and flat" in Lakitan, and the Orramei Plains were near Flower Fields and Lakitu Valley. The Lakitus didn't have such great relations with the Eagle Craws, but they were willing to research each other.

Now, you might be thinking that you're learning about a rare and pointless group of species that will never have any application in real life. That's false! For that, I'll now talk about where you may encounter Craws.

Though you can still find all these Craws in their homelands (for the Craw and the Dark Craw, that's the Alternating Forests, and for the Eagle Craw, that's the Orramei Plains), they have long since expanded their bases. You may find Craws and Dark Craws in many of the Mushroom Kingdom's more cosmopolitan cities, such as Mushroom City, Rogueport, and Glitzville. The Craws and Dark Craws of Rogueport can be commonly found with a thief called Ishmael. No, don't complain. Criminals such as they are very common and very tame in Rogueport. Eagle Craws (such as the famous Rawk Hawk) can only be found in Glitzville, Sky City, the Orramei Plains, Cloud Valley, and Lakitu Valley. Apparently, Eagle Craws like the sky more than the other Craws.

And with that, class comes to an end. Please write everything I have said about Craws, because you'll need it! Tomorrow, I shall talk about the Buzzy Beetles and their relatives. Have a good time in your other classes!