If I may, I would like to offer a slightly different opinion. This is based upon my experiences with our 2012 Mazda CX-9 (which we will give to our daughter once we purchase our Telluride).
Mazda had a sealed transfer case it shared with the Ford Edge and told owners it is a lifetime fluid. Unfortunately, many times these units are too small for what an 8 passenger car requires and the fluid takes a real beating because there is not enough of it.
I had them suction it out at 35k and refill (no drain plug). At 35k miles, the lifetime fluid had become the consistency of glue and was a dark black. That was all I needed to know.
It got so bad that Mazda had to change the warranty period from 60k to 90k because of the thousands of transfer case failures after 60k in the CX-9 and Ford Edge that also destroyed the transmissions with them. Mazdas247 has a number of threads on this topic. Some out-of-warranty repairs ran $3-$5k. Many Mazda dealers now offer a transfer case service even though it is a 'lifetime' fluid. We do it every 30k and have had no issues at all.
Now the stories are coming out about failures after the new 90k warranty period.
What is the warranty period on the Telluride transfer case?
I put together an amateur video many years ago to show it at 35k miles. Below is the link. Germain Mazda in Columbus, Ohio was great in providing me the fluid so I could do the side-by-side. Worth the $150 to me.
I look at it this way......first year model.......if the Telluride has a drain plug, it might be worth the drain and refill.
Perhaps some owners could do it at 20k, 25k and 30k so we can all see on the site what the state of the fluid was at those points in time. If your dealer will give you the old fluid in a bottle, be sure to handle it with gloves. It is very caustic and the smell is horrible.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn-vR9Mxhas
How should you properly wipe down the display screen?