Kapi-Kapi

Kapi-Kapi are Fanged Beasts that are first introduced in Monster Hunter A New World.

Physiology
They resemble Capybaras, but with bone growths on their heads that resemble blunt, vertabrae like horns. Their fur is brownish in color, and their eyes blue.

Placement in the Foodchain
Kapi-Kapi are low on the foodchain. They live in herds for protection.

Behavior towards other Monsters
Despite being docile Herbivores, Kapi-Kapi are rather skittish when faced with the presence of larger monsters, and if one of their kind is attacked, the rest will attempt to flee.

Special Behaviors
Kapi-Kapi are known to swim through water to get to areas with rich feeding grounds, though this puts them at risk of being eaten by aquatic predators, such as Gobul, and the Serja-Cruka, a Piscine Wyvern that enjoys the taste of Kapi-Kapi.

Kapi-Kapi are also, like Erupe from Monster Hunter Frontier, known to interact with hunters. They will do many different responses to the different gestures hunters do.

Abilities
Being amphibious, they can swim through fast flowing waters to go between areas in search of food. They can also hold their breath for a time while submerged, as they are known to dive for aquatic plants.

Habitats
Kapi-Kapi are known to inhabit the humid and waterlogged areas of Primordial Forest and Lichen Jungle.

Taxonomy
Kapi-Kapi are Fanged Beasts that live in the Albon Region of the New World.

Habitat Range
Kapi-Kapi are known to live in humid enviroments with large ammounts of vegitation, such as Primordial Forest and Lichen Jungle.

Ecological Niche
Kapi-Kapi are large, Herbivorous rodents that are low on the food chain, and are prey for a variety of predators, such as their most common predator, the Serja-Cruka, a Serpentine Piscine Wyvern that often ambushes them in the water, as well as Gobul, Rathalos, Rathian and the occasional Deviljho.

Biological Adaptations
Kapi-Kapi are known for being rather decent swimmers for their size and build, and can even dive underwater to grab underwater plants. They can hold their breath for 6 minutes on average. They have evolved a pair of transparant "Second eyelids" which allows them to see underwater, which is good, since the herds are always alert for larger predators.

They live in herds, that tend to have large numbers of individuals, lead by an alpha male. They breed quickly and grow quickly, and have up to eight youngsters per litter, which explains why the population remains stable, as more are seemingly born than killed.

Behavior
They are gentle creatures, and even let people near their herds, as long as not one member of the herd is harmed. But they are always alert for potential threats as they search for grazing grounds.

Notes and Trivia

 * Kapi-Kapi can respond to different gestures done by Hunters in different ways, similar to Erupe from Frontier.
 * They are prey for larger creatures within their habitats, especially Serja-Cruka.
 * Kapi-Kapi can be found in various sizes, the smaller ones being youngsters, and the Rhenoplos sized ones being adults.
 * The Kapi-Kapi with the larger horns are males, while those with smaller horns are females. Youngsters don't have horns at all until they grow them after reaching a certain age.
 * They are inspired by Capybaras, and a certain rhino species from the prehistoric past with a blunt horn (though the author forgot which species of prehistoric rhino it was).