<<:Report initiated:>>

 <:Title: A report on the Chicken People of Glandock IV:>

 <:Author: Gregg Spittle, PhD, MD, MSN, PsyD, M.Ed, MSc, M.Chem, DDiv, OWSI, Former WCA President:>

 <:Report filing number: 01370:>

 <:Subject synopsis: A report to the Scientific Council regarding the peculiar nature of the Chicken People on Glandock IV in regards to collective behavior displays triggered by the synchronization of the lunar cycles of moons A and B:>

<:_______In the eyes of many the Chicken People of Glandock IV are a social yet odd species.  Often they are together with members of their own kind: "birds of a feather flock together" as the saying goes. But is the word "flock" an adequate description of them? They do seem to gather in numbers (much like Earth birds) as a sort of survival mechanism against natural predation. Yet the mannerisms of flocks, as we understand them, still allow space for the individual, for an individual can be part of a flock yet still have individual thoughts and desires. There is an event on Glandock IV, however, that calls this line of thinking into question...an event that strips away all individual identity: an event that always coincides with the aforementioned synchronizations of moons A and B.

_______Moons A and B, as you know, are composed of compacted ice particles captured by the gravity of Glandock IV over millions of years. These ice particles have "snowballed" to form both moons, and their orbits run perpendicular to one another: an odd phenomenon for moons that obit so close to a planet's surface. Moon A orbits Glandock IV east to west following the equator, while Moon B follows a meridional path that allows it to travel directly over both poles as it revolves around the planet. Not enough is known about either moon: their exact material and chemical makeup, the true origins of the ice particles of the moons, or the totality of their impact on the ecosystems of Glandock IV as a whole. (I will be requesting additional funds for the detailed study of moons A and B and the effects they have on life on Glandock IV in future grant requests so heads up.) What we do know is the affect they have on the Chicken People during what my research assistant calls "The Great Cluster Cluck."

_______"The Great Cluster Cluck" or "the lunar synchronization of Moons A and B in relation to Glandock IV's sun" as I call it (in an attempt to maintain some scientific discipline) is essentially a solar eclipse on steroids. Once a year, with the exception of the fourth year in which there were two "cluster clucks," or "Super Cluster Clucks" as my assistant called them that year, Moons A and B align in the sky, stacked one above the other in such a position that they block the sun of Glandock IV. During this time much of the light of Glandock IV's sun is obstructed for several hours as moons A and B seem to stop in their orbits at the point of alignment to hover in front of the sun. We are quite baffled as to how and why this occurs, but it cannot be denied that this alignment has a great effect on the Chicken People.

_______As you know from previous reports, the Chicken People of Glandock IV are a feathery humanoid creature that walk on two legs and stand no taller than three feet. They are very social with strong polytheistic beliefs, worshiping a chief "Chicken God" and his "Hen Wife" which they call, in a rough translation, "They-Who-Crow-the-Dawn". Each chicken person has a beak and two wing-like limbs with a hand at the end of each limb. Each hand has a thumb and two fingers with a talon extending from each finger and a longer one extending from the thumb. The Chicken People come in many colors, as the feathers can be quite vibrant, and it should be noted that they have been observed creating and mixing dyes to change the color of their plumage for special occasions.

_______Another interesting observation, as I have noted in other reports, is the Chicken People's social structure. Their "pecking order" if you will, changes daily as the dominant male or female is seldom the same for longer than twenty-four hours. We have yet to determine the reason for this (it may have to do with predation possibly) and we still do not know how the leader is selected. We do know that during the "Great Cluster Cluck" the conscious of whichever chicken person is dominant has direct control over a sort of "hive mentality"; a collective thought so to speak, that permeates through the Chicken People for the totality of the eclipse. Such behavior I have not observed anywhere in the galaxy, and I have witnessed the Bisbane chain migration on Kubeda Kook. (You were with me Dave and you know how strange THAT was.)

_______The strangeness on Glandock IV starts as the moons move into a blocking position between the sun and planet and as this occurs (it takes about a half hour on average) the Chicken People go into what my assistant calls "the sky is falling mode". As the light of the sun dims the Chicken People scatter in every direction and disintegrate into raucous squawking complemented by general displays of individualistic behavior. It is not uncommon for nearby predators to capitalize on this chaos, if they can avoid being trampled, and gorge themselves on flesh "like zombies at a shopping mall" as my assistant likes to say. After this half hour, at the exact moment of celestial alignment, the predators back off and the Chicken People cease running in all directions and snap to attention in one unified motion. It never ceases to amaze us just how exact the Chicken People's synchronization is. To me this uniformity is just too precise to be classified as normal flocking behavior and it may be necessary to explore different explanations as to whether a group of Chicken People can even be called a "flock". At any rate, the dominant chicken person that day makes a sort of "cock-a-doodle do" sound and then for the next three hours (the duration of the eclipse) the Chicken People appear to carry out the last task, thought, and or desire the dominant chicken person had just prior to alignment. We have observed the entire race of Chicken People construct, with stunning robotic precision, an elaborate rock garden at the home of a middle aged female who happened to be dominant at the time. (We studied her afterwards and our research revealed that she had been trying to get her husband to build her a rock garden for years.)

_______Another time a younger pregnant female (I say "pregnant" as the Chicken People do give birth, all be it ovovivipourously-the eggs hatch inside their bodies) was dominant during the alignment and had the whole species eating a concoction eerily similar to pickles and ice cream for the entire three hours. (Later studies suggested that this may have been a sort of "pregnancy craving" she was experiencing at the time).

_______On still another occasion, when a juvenile male chicken person was dominant during the alignment, all the Chicken People started hunting grubs and worms and for several hours dumped those grubs and worms on the front porch of a nondescript dwelling. In a short amount of time the pile grew into a large mound covering the entire front yard; by the end of the ordeal it stood well over five meters high. (In our follow up studies we discovered that the young dominant male that day had been "in the doghouse" so to speak in regards to his chicken person girlfriend. On Earth it has been my observation that flowers, jewelry, or chocolates might be a male's go-to gesture in pacifying the temperamental whims of his female counterpart. On Glandock IV it's grubs.)

_______In summation it is clear to me that the actions I have just described go above and beyond the behavior found in a normal flock. It would seem at this point that celestial events on Glandock IV facilitate certain capabilities in the Chicken People, the mysteries of which we are still exploring to this day.

_______To conclude this report I would just like to say that we scientists on Glandock IV are ever appreciative of the council's support in our research here; your support has been egg-cellent. (My assistant insisted I add in that last part for some reason.) As always we look forward to future discoveries and covet the continued interaction of our esteemed colleagues on the Scientific Council.:>

 <:Gregg Spittle, PhD, MD, BSN, PsyD, M.Ed, MSc, M.Chem, DDiv, OWSI, Former WCA President:>

 <<:Report concluded:>>

*My September 2018 entry in Wattpad's monthly SciFi Competitions and Challenges contest. Thanks for reading!