Flagg Grazer
| Flagg Grazer | ||
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| (Vexillaphore elephas) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Coolsteph Other | |
| Week/Generation | 25/157 | |
| Habitat | Fermi Desert | |
| Size | 1 m Long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Endoskeleton (Bone) | |
| Diet | Herbivore (Greyblades leaves, spore chambers, and bark) | |
| Respiration | Active (Lungs) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual, Two Sexes, Frog-like Eggs Laid Into Oases | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Kingdom Phylum Superclass Class Order Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Carpozoa Spondylozoa Anisoscelida Saurochelones Acanthomoi Vexillophoridae Vexillaphore Vexillaphore elephas | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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The flagg grazer splits from its ancestor. They are large, solitary, diurnal herbivores with no set territories. While they do not undergo long migrations like the durambi, they frequently roam the Fermi Desert territory in search of oases. This is because they require oases to reproduce, and are able to reproduce year-round once adults. (though they aren't always able to do so.) They are fairly slow-growing: the larval stage lasts two years, and they only reproduce at five years old. After that, they can continue to make offspring for the remaining five years of their lives. Their long lives and reproductive span means they can wait years for rains to refill oases and create plenty of offspring in good conditions. Their dependence on oases and high reproductive rate means the population greatly expands in good years and plateaus or shrinks in drier years.
The eel-like larvae of flagg grazers have slightly wrinkly skin, hinting at the elephantine skin of the adults. If the oasis gets shallow from losing water, the larvae will swim to deeper waters. They can even awkwardly flop and roll across stretches of mud to reach deeper ponds. Prior to doing so, they gulp water into their stomachs, periodically "throwing up" water en route to keep the gills moist. Multiple flagg grazer larvae can be found in one oasis. This clumped distribution, as well as set territory, means the young are more commonly encountered than the adults.
If the water in the oasis is shallow, it's fairly easy for predators such as the shantak and snapperky to hunt flagg grazer larvae. The shantaks wait by the shore and claw larvae like bears hunting salmon, while snapperkies stand in the water, flip the larvae into the air with their beaks, and snap them up. Their mortality decreases as adults, for they are large and bulky enough to make predators reluctant to hunt them.
The "flags" of the flagg grazer function mostly to scare off predators. Their antipredator defense consists of flipping the flags up and rapidly changing the colors on the underside to a bright shade of pink. The "flags" also help in dissipating heat, functioning similarly to elephant ears.
Both the flagg grazer and the currazzope eat greyblades leaves. However, the currazzope only eats the leaves of the greyblades, while the flagg grazer eats the leaves, spore chamber, and bark. While currazzope feeding is only slightly more damaging than typical pruning, the flagg grazer feeds so completely on its chosen greyblades parts that the greyblades may be unable to recover. If it does recover, it must draw upon energy in its roots to do so, potentially reducing the amount of time it can remain dormant during drought. In atypically long droughts, flagg grazers' grazing may render greyblades locally extinct. (Once the drought is over, the area is eventually recolonized by greyblades from the Fermi High Desert)