Hey everyone, I have more questions for all of you. How long would you say the mated pair would remain in the region? Are Roc known for staying in one area? Just how long does it take the female to lay and hatch the egg? And after the egg is hatched how long will it be until the hatchling is ready to go off on its own?
According to the
Monstrous Manual, Rocs are territorial and have large hunting ground, which requires their nests to be at least 20 miles apart.
The Zakharan Common Roc in
Land of Fate, which has the same stats as a standard
Monstrous Manual Roc, has a "A typical roc territory is a circle with a 10- mile radius, placing at least 20 miles between two nests" and also says "After six months in the nest, a roc has grown enough to leave it, and the roc gains the combat statistics of an adult."
Six months? That's frighteningly fast!
A 10-mile radius circle is roughly 315 square miles (815 square kilometers). That's enough territory to support a hundred lions or more*, so it ought to be enough for a couple of adult Rocs and their young.
*Lions tend to have population densities from 1.5 to 55 lions per 100 square kms, so I reckon a fairly fertile area that size should be able to feed 100+ lions.
The Athasian Roc in
Monstrous Compendium 12 - Dark Sun Appendix: Terrors of the Desert is 5/6th the size of a standard Roc but seems pretty similar. According to that creature's Becoming a Roc-Rider section, "The incubation period for a roc egg is three months" and the Roc fledges and is ready to fly after a year, although it can fight at only six months of age.
I'd be inclined to use something like:
- three months incubation
- Another three months to fledge and leave the nest (six month in total - explaining why there's a 50/50 chance of eggs or young in the nest).
- Another three months after fledging before they're independent from their parents (e.g. 9 months in total, 6 month after egg hatches).
- Another six months to reach full size (15 months in total, or 1 year after hatching).
That's only slightly slower than a large raptor like a golden eagle takes to grow. Clearly, Rocs grow terrifyingly fast for a creature their size.