Winniemunk

The winniemunk lives on the sand dunes of the Fermi Temperate Beach. While its ancestor did not have exactly the same diet or sub-habitat as the winniemunk, the winniemunk's tendency to spread disease eventually led to its ancestor's extinction in the area. Winniemunks have the same diseases as cryocrackers, but have stronger immune systems and, unlike cryocrackers, have grooming behaviors. (as seen in the picture) However, they are neither flexible nor thorough when they clean themselves, and oftentimes newly-emerged winniemunk larvae are covered in putrescent slime. If the dead body they emerged from died of disease, the winniemunk can spread that disease either as carriers or through the slime on their bodies. They can also spread disease by the larva's habit of excreting inside the same carcass it feeds inside. Any scavenger (such as the cryocracker) that then feeds on the carrion can become infected. Not every disease the winniemunk can spread is deadly, but they are quite capable of exacerbating preexisting illnesses. Winniemunks' populations rely on dead body availability. It experiences population booms in years of sudden flooding or other natural disaster, due to dead body availability shortly after the event. If predator numbers diminish, so too do winniemunk populations. Winniemunks are so attracted to the ephemeral resource of dead bodies that some clever velocidohves may delay eating killed prey until some winniemunks show up, thus giving the velocidohves extra food with little effort. The winniemunk lives in loose foraging groups of four. When frightened, its bib-like color patch turns pink. (incidentally, its color-changing ability is limited to baby blue and pink) Winniemunks' eyesight is very sensitive towards pink, allowing it to quickly detect alerts from other winniemunks. Shantaks are also pink, making winniemunks slightly faster at recognizing and fleeing shantaks. The long spines on their shoulders are their only defense against predators. The spines are hard to break and are resistant to bending, as they are attached to a complex, sturdy formation of fused vertebrae. This makes it difficult for predators to handle, as the spines frequently poke into the predator's mouth. The unwieldy shape of the winniemunk's body gives it more time to escape from the predator while inside the predator's mouth. (Assuming it's still alive by the time it's inside the mouth.) Its head and especially its snout is laterally (side-to-side) flattened compared to its ancestor, making it easier for it to slip between the mesh of a Fermi Chitjorn's trunk and nibble the outer photosynthetic layers. The tips of its beak-like mouth project towards each other like rodent incisors, but are made of beta-keratin rather than enamel. The beta-keratin sheath over the bone grows constantly, keeping its beak-tips sharp enough for gnawing. Their larval forms lack tail membranes, and are big-headed, thick-bodied and sluglike. Like their ancestor, larvae are approximately 20 cm long when they emerge from the carcass in a land-adapted form. Winniemunks' large litters and short "gestation" times make them fulfill rodent-like roles in their habitats.