Shrew

Shrews are creatures of the kingdom Carpozoa descended from the Shrew Lizard. Shrews in general bear several similarities to mammals on Earth. They produce milk for their young just like mammals, and most species have a marsupium in which they raise their young. Most shrews, like the majority of Carpozoa, have six eyes, and all the shrews have at least a rudimentary sense of hearing inherited from the Shrew Lizard. All extant species are warm-blooded, though they were ancestrally cold-blooded--endothermy evolved completely independently in furred shrews and bubbleskins.

There are two major branches of Shrew, the furred shrews and the blood shrews. Furred shrews retain a fairly mammalian appearance, while blood shrews took on more varied appearances. Today, furred shrews are only represented by descendants of the Marine Tamow and blood shrews are only represented by the decidedly not-mammal-like Bubbleskins.

Behavior
As there are many types of shrew, their behavior is extremely varied. All shrews have parental care.

Intelligence
Shrews have rarely developed high intelligence. Dromaeocanid shrews developed ape-like intelligence, but they were wiped out by the Shrew Plague and never produced a sapient species.

Breathing and Blood
Shrews have red, iron-based blood. Their have lungs and require air to breathe.

Diet & Energy
Shrews have varied diets, with many being herbivores or omnivores. Blood shrews, including bubbleskins, were ancestrally hemophagus, as their name suggests.

Evolution
Shrews first evolved in Generation 64. The first appearance of fur in what would become the furred shrews was in Generation 67. Blood shrews first evolved in Generation 69, and the first Bubbleskin appeared in Generation 138.

Extinction
Though they remain extant to this day, shrews are no stranger to extinction events, often being whittled down to just a few species in major ones.

Most of the shrews, even the Shrew Lizard, were wiped out by a deadly plague in generation 95. This plague was spread by one of their parasitic members, the Death Soriparasite. All extant shrews at the time went extinct except for the Bearded Shrew, the River Shrew, the Soriparasite, and the Night Glider. The bearded shrew, the soriparasite, and all of their respective descendants would soon also go extinct due to the gamma-ray burst, which ultimately left only the Beach Shrotter, the Cave Night Glider, and the Velishroot.

Locomotion
Among extant shrews, most furred shrews are quadrupeds while most bubbleskins are bipeds.

Reproduction
Shrews ancestrally brooded larval young inside a pouch and fed them milk, much like a Terran marsupial.

Senses
Shrews ancestrally possess the ability to hear. Furred shrews have pinnae. Several blood shrews evolved more advanced ears independently, but the extant bubbleskins lack any external ears and must hear using their jaw bones like the original Shrew Lizard did.

Shrews have nostrils on the end of their nose which allows them to smell.

Types of Shrews

 * Furred Shrews: Descendants of the Hairy Shrew
 * Blood Shrews: Descendants of the Blood Shrew
 * Soriparasites (extinct): Descendants of the Soriparasite
 * Bubbleskins: Descendants of the Bubbleskin