Press-Toothed Bubbleskin

The press-toothed bubbleskin is mainly nocturnal, but will also hunt at dusk if sufficiently hungry. They specialize in ambushing phlyers as they sleep. They can climb up steep surfaces, such as the roots of the lurtress, by flapping their forelimbs. In this way, they can climb surfaces up to an incline of 80 degrees. Beyond that, they struggle to gain traction and attempt to use their claws to climb. This is of limited success, for their forelimbs are fairly weak and their claws not particularly sharp or sturdy. Once they have reached a nest or branch, they will grab a phlyer chick or even an adult with their mouth and make their way down, usually by jumping or skidding down the root. It usually grabs the phlyer by the tail so its toots of alarm are muffled in the press-toothed bubbleskin's mouth. With the phlyer's transition from tail-spikes to tail-fins, it is not painful for the press-toothed bubbleskin to bite it on the tail. Finally the press-toothed bubbleskin uses its namesake, its press teeth. Like a duck press, it applies immense pressure to the small prey in its mouth until the prey's organs liquefy and its blood flows out. When the press-toothed bubbleskin has obtained enough of its prey's juices, it will spit out the food, which by this time is usually dead from blood loss. Though it seems wasteful to eat only the blood and juices, the press-toothed bubbleskin's long history of blood-drinking has made the ability to digest anything else unnecessary. The vaguely feather-like protrusions on their forelimbs are elongated dermal bubbles. These bubbles originally developed on the edge of the limb to help the press-toothed bubbleskin trap agile prey. Rather than slipping out between or below the arms, the prey would be trapped by walls of arm muscle. The press-toothed bubbleskin's coloration is perfect camouflage against the grey trunks of lurtresses and lurspires.