Krotezuruck
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
As time progressed, the cryorasher began to decline, since being an ectotherm in a tundra environment proved to be disadvantageous. To survive, it would develop several unique adaptations to make it through the winters which resulted in these populations splitting off into the krotezuruck.
Much like its ancestor, the krotezuruck feeds on vegetation, though it is almost entirely herbivorous and only feeds on fauna as winter approaches to get enough nutrients to last the winter months. This gets turned into fat stored within their bulky tail, much like that of Terran lizards, to act as energy reserves during their long periods of torpor. Resting in their dugout burrows, krotezurucks will lower their metabolism to conserve as much energy as possible. The entire time, the thornback will rely upon anti-freezing proteins within their cells to prevent ice crystals of fatal size forming while they rest. Once the winter passes by and the environment begins to warm up, the krotezuruck will leave their state of torpor and leave the burrow to go back to foraging. They often emerge alongside hornsniffers, which often crawl into their burrows to seek shelter so they can also hibernate through the winter.
When the krotezuruck does emerge from its burrow in the spring, it begins feeding on the glut of food provided by a wide range of flora species that begin growing in the warm temperatures. The front of their mouths is now covered in a keratin covering in the form of a beak, allowing the krotezuruck to snip off bits of vegetation so it can then be processed by their back teeth. The larger jaw muscles and flatter teeth, combined with their ancestrally short face, means the krotezuruck can easily crush and grind up tough flora into a mushy paste that can then be swallowed for digestion to take place.
To protect itself from local predators, such as the velocidohve on the Fermi Polar Beach, the krotezuruck's ancestral spines have become several rows of osteoderms that protect their head, spine, and flanks. When threatened, the krotezuruck can use their powerful jaws to bite at a threat, as they snap bones just as easily as the tough shells of crystal flora and glass flora that make up a decent portion of their diet. Their larger size also helps give them some protection, both from the cold as a larger mass means heat can be better retained, and from predators since things like a velocidohve are now too small to safely tackle a krotezuruck on their own and need to rely on their packs to hunt healthy adults.
Much like their ancestor, the krotezuruck retains its eggs within their bodies for the majority of their development. The development of the young mainly occurs as their mother is in a state of torpor during the cold winter, only being born once spring arrives. These newborns are similar to their mother in appearance, but have underdeveloped armor and the remnants of a tail fluke which gets absorbed into their bodies in a matter of days. The krotezuruck produces far less offspring than their ancestor, since their larger size and armor makes them less susceptible to predators, with a mother only producing two to three offspring at a time for a whole year.
Much like their ancestor, the krotezuruck mother provides nourishment for her offspring internally by producing "bacon goo". The bacon goo is secreted from the oviducts. It derives its mineral content, especially its sodium, from nearby mineral-storing organs called "salt pouches" (though they are organs, not pouches). The bacon goo still comes from the gametes of a male krotezuruck, with the gametes of a male still coming in pairs so that one forms the embryo while the other forms the viscous substance. After they emerge from their mother, young krotezurucks can immediately shift to feeding on their proper adult diets.
Their more substantial defenses directed towards fending off threats, such as powerful jaws and armor, mean krotezurucks can live for over a decade, though sometimes individuals can live as much as two though this is rare. This gets offset by the krotezuruck's lower reproductive rates, which means the population remains stable and does not grow out of control.
Notes
"Hemotrophic viviparity" is the scientific term for "the female provides nutrients internally and has 'live' young".