Icejumper Leafshell

Icejumper leafshells live on the environment of sea-ice plains. Unlike their ancestor, they do not wade to obtain food. Instead they stand on the rim of a chunk of sea ice and plunge their beaks into the water to obtain food. They may also skim the surface of the water from their spot to obtain floating food items, such as snotflora, bubble droopgeas, and buoygeas. They prefer purple flora, with marine bubbleweed being a favorite food. Their wider diet, preference for marine bubbleweed, different feeding technique and disinclination to swim means populations of icejumper leafshells and wading leafshells can coexist. Their huge feet, akin to the paws of a polar bear, help them spread their weight on snow and sea ice. Though their huge, flipper-like feet make them even better swimmers than their ancestor, they prefer not to swim, for their shorter tails make it harder to keep their butt-nostrils out of the water. If there are stretches of water between chunks of sea ice, icejumper leafshells do, as their name suggests, jump from the ice. They are not very good at jumping, and may fall into the water. This is an especially common occurrence in young icejumper leafshells which have just left their parents' backs. Once the icejumper leafshell returns to a stable ice chunk, it makes nasally snorts from its butt-nostril, as if in irritation. Icejumper leafshells may make these noises to dissuade others from "accidentally" pushing them back into the water. (Icejumper leafshells are either mischievous, playful, or both.) In contrast to their ancestor, which sleeps standing up in the water, icejumper leafshells sleep squatting on piles of snow. If they cannot find suitable piles of snow on their feeding grounds, they will migrate to the inner coast at sunset and sleep there. Icejumper leafshells have a particular fondness for anything high in ellagic acid.