Wild imp reproductive cycle
I've been mulling over in my head about wild imp reproduction... Because the creatures are devious, sexual creatures that get a little rammy quite often, but I've never imagined them to be a massive group with a million younger aged imps running around.
So I spent the morning doing some oddball research and decided on having the female imps go through a heat cycle like canines, twice a year.
This would limit the amount of young wild imps and would support the "it takes a village" mentality the imps have towards their young. The mother directly raises her child, but the bond she's in also helps, and the entire cluster will make sure that bond is able to support the child.
Imps typically only have one child, and having twins or multiple offspring is nearly unheard of.
When an imp is not in heat, they are unable to become pregnant, so there is only, generally speaking, twice a year when they can actually conceive. This allows them to go and do what they may as often as they do without an overpopulation problem.
A couple of thoughts pertaining to the developed story imps:
Sol has a cycle, but has not, and is not permitted to mate. Ona (elder) is unsure because of Sol's anatomy if she's even able to conceive, but fears that due to her small size that mating may harm her, and fears that she may not survive giving birth.
Much like dogs, wild imps are scent-sensitive to the hormone changes, and the males pick up on it. Kena is not immune to this, and is equally bothered with the desire to mate. Specifically in Sol's case, he remains resistant, but uneasy, and fiercely guards her from others. (Consent is a very important thing to wild imps, so permission must still be granted, but it doesn't mean the male imps still don't wanna check out the situation...)
Domestic imps do not have reproductive systems as they cannot produce offspring. Jesper cannot pick up on the scent as the wild imps can, and is basically clueless. Sol talks him through it, since he understands both pregnancy and birth, but it takes a bit of a discussion to help him understand.