The deltadactylian sutekh hound (Setotherium spiroides), as is apparent by its common and scientific name, was named after its supposed resemblance to the “Set animal”, a creature which frequently appears in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics as the totemistic representation of the god Set. The exact identity of that creature is unknown, with speculations ranging from a highly stylized aardvark, warthog or saluki dog to something completely extinct or made up. The resemblance to this particular Martian alien is however almost certainly a complete coincidence. Though, funnily enough, Set was the god of foreign lands and deserts, so perhaps he would have been a better fit for Mars than his adversary Horus.
“Suts”, as they are sometimes nicknamed (serendipitously Sut is also the name of a demon from Islamic folklore), are common opportunists of the Hellas Savannah, often roaming wide tracts of land in search of small animals, as well as carcasses left behind by larger, more fearsome predators like the irsu. Their curved beak sees a similar use as that of various carnivorous and omnivorous birds on Earth, easily able to pick up small prey and food items as well as ripping loose flesh off bones.
Often, they are also seen flicking a sort of barbed tongue, the function of which remains elusive. Anecdotally, it has been observed that they use this organ to rasp off flesh or even lap up blood. Blood-drinking and sucking is a curiously widespread phenomenon across the Martian biosphere, though would be pretty unusual for scavengers, as open carcasses tend to lose all their blood rather quickly. The tongue, as has also been suggested, may instead have more of a function in the close association betweens suts and the local chiropede shrubs (left), whose polyps may sometimes excrete a kind of resinous substance from their cuticle during strobilation. Indeed, suts are sometimes observed licking these shrubs, though it is unclear if they really are licking up the resin or instead simply the morning dew. In any case, this cannot be imagined like the symbiotic relationship between an alien flower and a heron-sized hummingbird, because chiropedes simply do not reproduce like flowers (their “leaves” detach and live their own lives as centipede-like animals that do the actual mating). There is the so-called “Gardener hypothesis” by Röder (2331), who imagined that the shrubs provide the sut with a nutritious treat in exchange for protecting it against other predators. There is no observational evidence to support this. Maybe there simply is no connection and the tongue has a use more adventurous than most academics are able to imagine. I would know.
Unlike wild dogs on Earth, to whom they are often compared, sutekh hounds are not especially social, mostly moving across the savannah alone. Though, unlike other predators like the irsu, who are downright xenophobic, the suts usually have no problems when encountering each other. Sometimes they can even opportunistically team up to mob a prey animal or larger threat. Ultimately such camaraderie remains ephemeral, bonds broken as easily as they are formed. It is possible that it was not always this way. Geologically recent fossil deposits sometimes show dozens of specimens having all died in the same place. If this is evidence of past gregarious or even pack behaviour, it is possible that the deteriorating conditions of the planet may have eventually broken all bonds of friendship and family, the ecosystem no longer being able to support large groups and so everyone realized they are better off alone. However, as is usual with paleontology, especially Martian paleontology, such evidence is too ambiguous to make any such definitive statements. The bonebeds may also be easily explainable as predator traps, the suts, small-brained as they are, all accidentally falling into the same rocky crevasse one after the other, so accumulating in a step-wise manner.
Suts usually give birth in burrows to two or three young, which brings to mind the distant relative Syncarpus. Unlike that questionable parent, suts tend to care for all their young equally, leading to much more infrequent infanticide. This may be because the savannah is more abundant in resources than the shrublands and tundras. Sut mating has rarely been observed, though a colourful dewlap hanging below the throat seems to often come into use when determining who gets to impregnate who.
Like many Martian predators, suts seem to observe human astronauts/cosmonauts with an aura of curiosity. As is often speculated in these cases, this may be due to our superficial resemblance to the ushabtis, the smaller species of which the suts do hunt. No matter where man boldly goes, the cosmos has a strange tendency to remind him that he is made in the shape of not god, but prey.
References:
- Röder, Geronimo: The Gardener Hypothesis, in: Journal of Areobiology, 32, 2331, p. 89 – 90.
