Drops:
The akryonii is a nocturnal, predatory cryptid native to Oceanyka's jungles. Its humanoid body arrangement gives it great mobility in the north, where it can most frequently be found. However, akryonii can also be found occasionally in the rest of Oceanyka's temperate forests. Their method of feeding is very particular; the creature possesses a sharpened "sucker" which it uses to pierce its prey's major arteries, from which it feeds. The victim is injected with a cocktail of anticoagulants, which allows the akryonii to suck prey dry and store up to eight litres of blood on a secondary stomach in their back. These creatures are solitary, but become more social in Autumn, supposedly for reproductive purposes. They are also extremely intelligent, and will use their environment against either prey or would-be predators. An adult individual, standing on its forelegs, can be up to 2m tall.
No akryonii has been observed possessing sexual organs, in pregnancy, or giving birth. However, samples of a previously unknown mutagenic virus have been detected in a particular organ within the creature's body. Often times, akryonii would spare one of their victims and wrap them in a very large cocoon high up in the canopies of the north's rainforests. It was theorised that these cocoons were meant for long-term food storage, but further study of captured cocoons and experimentation with unwilling test subjects has revealed that this mutagenic retrovirus induces a slow and agonising genetic change in the host organism, which must be either a Human 🖐🏽 or a Xenohuman 🖖. Over the course of a few months, and within the cocoon's protection, the host will mutate into a new akryonii. This correlates with traditional Aboriginal folk stories regarding these creatures and their sudden apparition, which could not have occurred more than three thousand years ago, according to the Federal Special Research Division's anthropologists. The study of akryonii reproduction has led to breakthrough advances in a new frontier of science: CRISPR gene editing, although the creature itself has been designated as a Cryptid 🐲 for decades, and their nests are habitually burned down by Secret Society Trackers or novice FSRD agents in field training.