COMC-401 Lessons

The Alpha with The Forked Tail

Welcome, everyone, to the last official lesson of Year Four for CoMC! Next week is just a review lesson, so today is the last creature of Year Four. Of course, you can continue to read through The Care of Magical Creature Companion Guide in the library to learn about different creatures. For our last creature, we are going to study an animal that I hold very near and dear to my heart. My parents raise them, my first beloved pet was one; today we are learning about the Crup.

Because the Crup is so near and dear to my heart, we will be taking a field trip to my parents’ farm in Devon, England today. If everyone could line up single file, I will pass down the green ribbon that we will use as a portkey today. Myself and Professor Mitchell, your Transfiguration professor, will be the chaperones today, so please make sure to treat Professor Mitchell with the respect she deserves. Now, for those of you that have never used a portkey before, you will feel a slight tingling sensation in your stomach, but not to worry, it should subside quickly! Is everyone holding onto the ribbon? Yes? Good! The portkey will leave in 5...4...3...2...1!

Welcome to one of my childhood homes, class! We are currently standing in the south pasture of my parent’s farm. This pasture is empty at this time of year, though it is usually home to the pregnant female Crups during the late spring and summer months. Please make yourself comfortable on the fresh grass as I start the lecture! 

Crups: The Wizard Bred Dog

Crups are a wizarding breed of dog resembling a Jack Russell Terrier. The main difference between mundane Jack Russell Terriers and Crups is that Crups have a forked tail. We also see that Crups exclusively have blue eyes. The reason for this feature will be discussed later on in the lesson.

Crups are omnivores, and will actually eat everything and anything. They have no qualms over what they eat, and will devour anything around them. This appetite proves difficult because Crups will often find themselves caught in Creeping Ivy, or with rash on their nose from running into its poisonous, but mundane, counterpart. It is best to develop a relationship with the closest magiveterinarian once you bring home a Crup, because more likely than not you will be visiting them repeatedly, with very short notice. There is very little you can treat on your own, because Crups are likely to get acid burns or very severe flesh and muscle wounds from messing with the wrong type of plant. By having an active and open relationship with your magiveterinarian, you can be sure that they will be willing to see you at a moment’s notice or in the middle of the night. Our magiveterinarian, an elderly man by the name of Hubert, lives just over the hill, so more often than not we Apparated over to him. Of course, we sent a Patronus first, so he knew we were coming and had time to prepare for our arrival.

In terms of protein, Crups often eat small mammals and rodents, or Muggle dog food. Many wizards prefer to feed their Crups on a regular basis with wet Muggle dog food and supplemental plants to try and prevent them from foraging and becoming sick or injured from different plants. Common plants used are dandelions, buffel grass, and fresh kale. It was found that largrass helps soothe morning sickness in pregnant Crups. Largrass can also help if the Crup is suffering from a stomach illness due to a potion or medication they are on. My parents feed a combination of wet Muggle dog food mixed with kale and fresh chicken liver. Pregnant moms, no matter if they exhibit the symptoms, will also be fed largrass to prevent morning sickness from occurring.

Let us now head to the main barn, where the new pups are currently being kept, to learn more about Crup reproduction! It is a very short walk from this pasture to the barn, if I remember correctly and if my parents haven’t changed the location on me. If you look just off to the left, you will see a secondary barn, used for ill Crups, as well as the main house.

As we get settled, feel free to pet the pups, but be warned, their moms might be a little restless, as it is almost feeding time. The average gestation period for a female Crup is 65 to 68 days. It is best to breed anytime from April to August, depending on when you want to have pups. With our farm, we breed all through August, so babies are born at the end of October or beginning of November. They exclusively have triplets, so you will always have three pups from each mother. You will never have three of the same gender, however. This has only ever occurred one in the history of Crups, in 1967.

It happened to a young Crup breeder, who shall remain nameless because of their actions, who was found guilty of magically altering the Crups to be all male, and to grow four times their current size. The intended goal was to have a Muggle-killing pack of Crups. As you can imagine, this is really not appropriate, and was punished to the highest degree. The owner was placed in Azkaban on a life sentence for breaking the Ban of Experimental Breeding and the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. All of the owner’s Crups did have to be put down, to make sure this mutation did not start to breed on its own. Now, what this person did was not actual breeding, because they were magically altering the Crups, however, it still falls under the Ban of Experimental Breeding because of the negative impacts it could have had.

Back to the main part of the lecture! Crups can be weaned from their mother’s milk, and onto solid food, anywhere from six to ten weeks old. This will depend on several factors, such as the size and health of the pup, and the preference of the breeder. My parents always waited at least eight weeks before weaning, and sometimes the full ten weeks for runty pups. When weaning, it is best to start with plant matter, and slowly work your way up to protein sources, to help their digestion adjust. We often use dandelions at first, then transfer the pups to fresh kale, and finally add in the wet Muggle dog food. Crups are ready to be bred at around two years old for females, while males can start breeding at about one year old. It is best to breed female Crups every other year, to give their body time to rest in between litters. Once females are anywhere from ten to twelve years old it is best to retire them, as they become infertile at this point in their lives. If they do happen to become pregnant, you run a higher risk of morning sickness and other birth related complications, like dystocia, or when the pups are oriented incorrectly in the womb and they cannot be born in their normal fashion. This often requires the intervention of magiveterinarians to correct the problem by putting their hands in the womb to correct the positioning of the pups.

Let us move to our final spot on the farm: the front lawn of the house. Please take a seat and get comfortable, and pet the elderly, retired Crups that we house on the front lawn, as we discuss the security measures that must be taken with Crups, and the history and creation of Crups.

Because Crups can expose the wizarding world to Muggles, there are several things that need to be done in order to keep them as pets. All Crup owners are required to have a licence through the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. In order to receive a licence, wizards must fill out an application stating why they would like to own a Crup, how many they plan on owning, and a detailed care plan. Applicants must also show that they can properly perform a Severing Charm, which must be done when the Crup is six to eight weeks old, to remove the extra tail, and that they can control the creature, should it be released in a Muggle-filled area. You can apply for a Crup licence as early as six months before your nineteenth birthday, because of how long it takes to file the application, and for the Department to get back to you. The application must be renewed on a yearly basis, and with larger operations, like my parents’ farm, that involves an inspection to ensure that they are meeting the requirements involving the tails, and keeping that many Crups far enough away from Muggle society.

An important thing to note when studying the Crup is that it is very clear they are a wizard-bred dog. They are only loyal to wizards, and will be ferocious to and even attack Muggles. It is believed they were bred in the late 19th century, when a wizard kept a Jack Russell Terrier, a mundane breed of dog, as a pet. Seeing it run and play with Muggles on a visit to the park, the wizard was angered that his dog could not realize that his owner, the wizard, was far superior to the Muggle in the park, decided to create a species of dog that would only treat a Muggle with distrust and anger. Over the course of the next two years, this wizard used a process called selective breeding to develop the Crup. Selective breeding is the process of breeding for certain traits or characteristics, and pairing males and females together to achieve these desired traits.

The wizard first started by breeding his beloved dog to a wolf that lived in a forest near his home. He hoped that the temperament of the wolf would come across in the subsequent line of half breed animals. After several generations, continuing to add more and more wolf into the line, the wizard achieved the desired temperament he had hoped for. Because the offspring were raised around wizards, they became increasingly more loyal to those with magical abilities. They could detect the magic in a person, which is why Crups are usually hit-miss with Squibs. Most Crups will express some form of cruelty towards Squibs, but nowhere near the level they give Muggles, while a small percentage of Crups will treat Squibs as they do witches and wizards.

To get back to the terrier-like appearance present in the modern Crup, a 75% wolf-25% terrier pup that looked more terrier than wolf was bred to a pup of the same percentage that had the temperament the wizard intended. Along the way, two unintended physical mutations occurred. The first was that we see blue eyes become the exclusive eye color for Crups. Blue eyes are a recessive gene in wolves, so by constantly breeding the pups to each other, the gene was expressed. Along with the recessive gene, we see an allele appear for a split tail. This allele became more and more obvious as the generations went along, and created the forked tail we see, and remove, today.

Like their wolf ancestors, Crups do have alphas and betas in their packs. The alpha is always the oldest male, while there are two betas. The first beta is the primary female of the alpha. She is usually the oldest female, or the female that has had the most pups. The second beta is a young male, being groomed to be the alpha. Because my parents don’t keep the Crups together, their hierarchy is rather skewed, so the alpha and betas will depend on the breeding groups that year.

Many of you are well aware of the wizarding music sensation Celestina Warbeck. She is well known for her music, and for breeding Crups. She and her present husband, Irving Warble, have a small breeding operation. Celestina enjoys playing with and breeding the Crups in her spare time, and whenever she isn’t performing. My parents sold her the first breeding pair she ever owned!

Alright class! It is time to head back to the classroom to discuss your final next week! Single file again, and this time I am passing back a strand of yellow yarn. And in 5...4...3...2...1!

Closing

I do hope you all enjoyed that field trip to my childhood home! Hopefully getting to interact with the Crups while learning about them will cement the information in your minds. Now, I am sure you are all eager to hear about your final exam. Throughout the year you have been working on creating your own ecosystem, filled with magical and mundane creatures and plants. You have been submitting information about your ecosystem every other week, deciding on all of the aspects. This week you will submit your final ideas for your ecosystem, and the final project will be due next lesson. As a helping hand, you will have two options in submitting your final project. The first will be in an essay format, while the second is a pictogram with a short accompanying blurb. Be thinking about which format you would like to use to submit your final project, and make sure to submit your final ideas as you leave class today. Until next week, have a wonderful time in your other classes, and start making plans for your summer vacation that is almost here!

Lesson content written by Professor Elizabeth Anne

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