Batadactyl

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A Batadactyl flying on Venus

Batadactyls are non-sapient pterosaur/bat-like creatures native to Venus and Nessus.

Overview[edit]

Batadactyls can occasionally be seen in the skies above the Ishtar Sink and in the skies of Nessus. The Batadactyls of Venus appear to be notably large and mammalian with orange veiny wings and a brown pelt, while the Nessian Batadactyls are far smaller and reptilian with purple leathery skin.

While the Venusian Batadactyls are left alone even to this day due to their high flying and seemingly docile or at least uninterested nature, a pair of Nessian Batadactyls were captured by the Guardian during the early stages of the Upheaval on Nessus. This was so Failsafe could study what may be occurring on Nessus to prompt all the moon's sudden changes and how the newly appeared Nessian Schism Vex may be affecting the wildlife around them. These two Batadactyls would be left under the care of Failsafe aboard the H.E.L.M. who'd name them Babata and Petris.

Known Batadactyls[edit]

Babata
Petris

Trivia[edit]

"Batadactyl" was originally an unofficial name used internally by Bungie to refer to the creatures. The name was coined during an argument between members of Bungie's environment team over what animal the creatures most resembled.^[1] Some players erroneously believed that the creatures were Ahamkara due to their vaguely reptilian appearance.
The appearances of the two Venusian Batadactyl models are vastly different, one has orange membrane wings that connect to the hind limbs from the forelimbs, it also has a short head with what are possibly ears. The other has a pointy head, has more dragon-like wings and possesses larger hind limbs that are not attached to the wings, it also has a longer tail. Though this model is untextured so the colors or any other description beyond their shape is impossible. This could hint that there are perhaps one or more different species of the creature.
- The untextured variant may instead be the same as the Venusian Batadactyls, but were left in a rough model and untextured state due to them being so high up the developers did not find it important enough to properly model them, or left them in such an unfinished state to help with game performance. However due to the higher quality textured Batadactyls often being further away, this conclusion is dubious. These differences most likely were a developer oversight, though no conclusion is confirmed.