Lesson 7 - Acromantula and Quintaped

Available: March 5
Due Date: March 26. Please try to hand in assignments before the due date. Due to time zones, while you may think you still have an hour left, in actuality the assignment may have closed 2 hours ago.

ACROMANTULA - MoMC- XXXXX



One of the most feared beasts in the magical world, the Acromantula is an enormous 8 eyed spider that is able to speak in the human tongue. It originated in Borneo, where it currently inhabits their dense jungles. The acromantula has a body that is covered in thick black hair. Its legspan can reach up to 15 feet. Its pincers produce a distinctive clicking sound when it is angry or excited. Females are generally larger than the males. Acromantulas also produce a poisonous secretion. It is a carnivorous beast and generally prefers larger prey.

Acromantulas spin dome-shaped webs upon the ground and females can lay up to 100 eggs at a time. The eggs are soft and white, and are as large as beach balls. The young hatch within 6-8 weeks. The eggs themselves are defined as Class A Non-tradeable Goods by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. There are severe penalties attached to the importation or sale of Acromantula eggs.



This beast is believed to be wizard-bred, with the possible intent to guard wizard treasure or buildings. Despite being bred by wizards though, the Acromantula is untrainable and therefore highly dangerous to wizards and muggles. Despite beast breedings gone horribly wrong, the Ban on Experimental Breeding did not come into effect until 1965. It has been confirmed that there is a colony established in Great Britain - but they have not been seen for years.



QUINTAPED - MoMC- XXXXX

Also a highly dangerous, carnivorous beast, the Quintaped has a particular taste for humans. It has a low-slung body which is covered with thick reddish-brown hair. It has 5 legs which each end in a clubfoot. Quintapeds are only found upon the Isle of Drear off the northernmost tip of Scotland. The isle has been made unplottable to protect wizards and muggles.



Unlike the Acromantula though, Quintapeds were not the result of experimental breeding. Legend has it that the Isle of Drear was once populated by two main wizarding families - the McCliverts and the MacBoons. A drunken wizards duel between Dugald (Chief of the McClivert clan) and Quintius (Head of the MacBoon clan) was the end of Dugald. He died that night and in retalitation a gang of McCliverts surrounded the MacBoon dwellings on night and transfigured each and every MacBoon into monstrous 5 legged beasts. Too late, the McCliverts realised that the new MacBoons were far more dangerous in this state (as wizards, their magic wasn't very good). The MacBoons resisted every attempt to be transfigured back into the human state, and they killed every last McClivert until no other human remained on the island. It was then that the MacBoons realised with no one to around to wield a wand they would forever remain as beasts. This is why the Quintaped is also known as Hairy MacBoon.

Whether this legend is true or not is unknown. There are no more lasting McCliverts and no more MacBoons who can tell us the tale of the ancestors. The Quintapeds are incapable of human speech and have resisted every attempt by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to capture a specimen and try to untransfigure it. Until then we are left to assume that the Hairy MacBoons are happy to live out their days as beasts.

Please be sure to complete Assignment 7.