Honkilin

The honkilin has split from its ancestor the honker hoofplent, and have specialized in eating a specific type of flora, the stalks. They live in Darwin Chaparral because of the wide variety of stalk types.

They use their face tentacles to pull them out of the ground and bring the food to the mouth. This is a useful adaptation, because they no longer have to bring their face as close to the sharp bladelike flora. Their tentacles are really tough, so the needles (which most stalks have) won’t hurt them.

Most stalks release spore clouds that are capable of choking fauna. For this the honkilin have had another adaptation. They use their enlarged leaves to blow away the spore clouds so they can’t reach their buttnostrils. They now have more than one nostril, which was caused by a mutation. Inside these nostrils they developed lids which they can open and close at will. This allows them to make complex sounds. Sounds are used to keep the herd together, form formations within the herd, for example, a protective formation, when a young honkilin is threatened by a predator or when migrating to make groups (elder in front, young and mothers in the middle, middle aged in the back) and for mating rituals.

During mating season, female honkilin get red face tentacles which shows that they are ready to mate. Males fight each other for the right to mate.