Demenstaurusa Communisa Demenstaurusa

    Demenstaurusa Communisa Demenstaurusa is a member of the Bipedfuga family of organisms, which is the classification for order Portal of creatures that ambulate on two legs but whose weight is continually shifted forward and the only available gait is a run. The common name for Demenstaurusa Communisa Demenstaurusa is Demon.

    Family Bipedfuga contains the largest number of predatory species of any one family on the other side of The Portal. Two-thirds of these species fall into genus Demenstaurusa. Of the twenty-seven total species of Demenstaurusa seen, the most common was Communisa Demenstaurusa, the well known "demon" from the Portal Invasion.

All species of Demenstaurusa are carniverous and attempt to fully consume anything they kill. They frequently do not fully consume human corpses due to difficulty with tearing through the remnants of armor and helmets.

All species of Demenstaurusa live in herds containing up to 50 individuals, and have the characteristic that their massive heads cause their center of gravity to be shifted forward whenever they take a step. As Demenstaurusa moves forward, for the first half of the stride, the creature's head and shoulders (which accounts for around one-half of its entire body mass) is shifted well in front of the creature, which begins a motion of falling forward. In the second half of the stride, the forward foot and leg make contact with the ground and prevent the creature from actually falling, and the momentum from the downward motion is used to develop forward speed through the second half of the stride. The large degree to which Demenstaurusa's center of gravity is shifted forward makes a slow stride a physical impossibility, as one of its feet must always contact the ground in front of it in time to prevent the creature from falling. Hence, it can either stand, or run; never walk. Several species of Demenstaurusa were the fastest-running members of order Portal (Communisa Demenstaurusa was only about half as fast as the quickest Demenstaurusa species).

They also cannot ambulate backwards or sideways and must pivot in place in order to change direction. This limitation is part of the reason most species of Demenstaurusa weaves back and forth in varying amounts as they run: Demenstaurusa cannot reach its prey should the prey move in a direction perpendicular to it's own. The weaving motion functions to confuse potential prey and ideally cause it to remain in the center of Demenstaurusa's path and, therefore, within biting range. The very quickest species were the exception to this weaving pattern, they depended solely on a one-directional sprint and single, open-mouthed collision to catch and restrain their prey. Communisa Demenstaurusa was not as extreme and consistant in this weaving movement as some of the other species which were observed.

The built-in tendancy to shift their weight forward is part of what makes their bite so powerful. Should they get a good hold on their prey, they automatically lean their weight forward, onto the prey, which aids in bringing it down to the ground. It is worth mentioning that if it were not for the tough, smooth material used in typical Space Marine uniforms, an attack by Demenstaurusa Communisa on a human would be almost instantly deadly. If the creature were actually able to grab and hold instead of its teeth slipping and tearing, it would give a human victim a 450 pound pull straight to the ground.

All Demenstaurusa herds reside in the plains, with a few isolated groups found in canyon areas, and occasionally being found in areas containing relatively clean water. They hunt as an entire group and will attack prey up to ten times larger than themselves. No youth Demenstaurusa were seen with the herds, and because of the high mobility of the herds, it is expected that Demenstaurusa births occur at one time of the year (however long that year may be) and the young mature relatively rapidly into adults.