Lunging Camoback

The lunging camoback replaced its ancestor. As an ectotherm in a cold climate, it was naturally unsuited to the role of apex predator in an environment containing many insulated endotherms. It was especially unsuited to being a pursuit predator, as it could only keep up on hot summer days. So, it shrunk in size and began ambushing smaller prey instead.

The lunging camoback’s hind legs are much longer than its forelegs. Instead of propelling it in a sprint, these launch it forward in a pounce. Should it miss, it will swing its long neck around to try and grab the now-fleeing prey in its mouth. Its fangs and beak allow it to easily get a secure grip. Once it has caught its prey, if it’s small it will eat it whole, but if it’s larger it will tear it to pieces, holding it down with its claws and pulling with its mouth, and chew with its meat-slicing teeth if necessary. It has lost its tail so that it won’t be in the way of its legs.

The lunging camoback is solitary and territorial. It advertises its health with its color-changing dewlap, intimidating rivals with a vibrant green or, when the season is right, impressing potential mates with rainbows and contrasting colors. In territory disputes, if neither backs down, they will fight until one submits. Injuries sustained in such fights can be fatal, but it usually doesn’t come to that.

The lunging camoback, as an ectotherm, is incapable of surviving awake over winter. Because of this, it hibernates in burrows deep underground, like many temperate-climate reptiles on Earth. It makes use of antifreeze proteins to survive even subpolar winters.

Like its ancestor, the lunging camoback lays hard-shelled eggs. It buries these underground where they will be safe from most potential predators and offers no further parental care. It mates and lays its eggs in the early summer. About a month later, they hatch into small omnivorous juveniles, which supplement a diet of small creatures with marbleflora and shrooms. The juveniles, like the adults, must hibernate. This results in them taking at least 6 years to reach full size in the subpolar biomes, but only 2 or 3 in the temperate regions, as their growth is dependent on food and environmental factors.