Polar Baron

The polar baron split from its ancestor. This large solitary predatory snapper resides in polar biomes, as its name suggests. Lacking fibrous integument to protect it from icy winds, it instead employs much thicker skin and a layer of blubber to keep it warm. Its crests have been replaced with a rough keratinous crown, which is better-protected from the cold. It is completely solitary, no longer employing mob-hunting. It uses its bioluminescent tail to signal its presence during dark polar winters, warning off competitors. It has lost its armor, though the end of its tail is keratinized to protect against the cold. Its eyes are arranged in triangle formation to make more room for powerful jaw muscles. Unlike its ancestor, its lips cover its teeth.

Adult polar barons consume lumbering pasakerds almost exclusively, grappling with their forearms, pinning with their feet, and using their powerful jaws to break through the carapace. They are able to keep the pasakerd in check by hunting and killing large numbers of them. Juvenile polar barons, which are more cursorial than the adults, will chase down juvenile lumbering pasakerds as well as steppe lizalopes, grazing gossalizards, and many other smaller fauna to consume. Both juveniles and adults will consume the carcasses of any fauna which succumbed to the cold.

Like its ancestor, the polar baron lays leathery-shelled eggs. Its breeding period takes place during the annual thaw. Both parents participate in protecting the eggs, but the father will leave after they hatch. Juveniles can stand up and run soon after birth. Parental care continues until the juveniles learn to hunt, at which point they leave their mother and go off on their own.