I'm having some trouble with my species, specifically whether or not if or how they can form a society among themselves. I question if they could have developed permanent settlements where their breeding grounds are, or if I should make them pack animals. However, making them pack animals could be problematic as they are pretty big (about 3 meters tall with a centaur body style.) there may not be enough food to go around for everyone. How could I make this work? Thanks in advance.
1 Answer
On Earth, nectarivores tend to be very small and nectar is not a complete food source. In your world I suspect plants would need to produce much more nutritious nectar, in vastly greater quantities, otherwise I struggle to see how such large animals would survive on nectar alone.
That said, this does provide the impetus for such animals to band together and form communities for a few reasons:
- To fight off all the other creatures that would surely also be after such a bounteous crop.
- To process the nectar into other forms, for storage over winter (if your planet has seasons).
- To cultivate the plants as a reliable food source, possibly leading to agriculture.
Some of these things may require settlements, but settlements are certainly not necessary for a society to develop. Humans did perfectly well as hunter-gatherers for hundreds of thousands of years, for example.