Tyrannical Vonnegona

When many organisms from the Driftwood Islands arrived on Vonnegut and its various archipelagos, the lasting nature of the islands of rock meant the new arrivals could establish themselves. This then would allow certain species to go in whole new directions, such as Driftwood Dashers that rapidly got bigger and bigger. Over time, they would split off and become the Tyrannical Vonnegona, one of the largest species of snoa to have ever lived (only tying with the fully aquatic Baṛādohve). As it lives on volcanic soil and not decaying vegetation, the Tyrannical Vonnegona has much darker colorations to blend in, though it does have lighter patterns on the face and a brightly colored crest for intraspecific communication. These usually take the form of elaborate dances to establish dominance, since while Tyrannical Vonnegonas are solitary when it comes to feeding, they actually are somewhat social outside of it.

Being giant carnivores, the Tyrannical Vonnegonas need a good amount of meat to sustain themselves and staying on a small island would quickly result in all the available prey being eaten or moving away, which in turn encouraged Tyrannical Vonnegonas to move between islands to not overexploit prey resources. For them, moving between islands taps into the nomadic nature of their ancestors, meaning it came easily for the species. Additionally, the coastal waters surrounding the various islands are devoid of any large carnivores, meaning these treks are relatively safe despite the fact that Tyrannical Vonnegonas are only decent swimmers and can take several days to reach their destination. Once they do get ashore, however, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will begin to search for game since it will be hungry. While the lineage of Driftwood Dashers that would eventually become the Tyrannical Vonnegona merely hunting down things larger than others of their kind could feasibly swallow but otherwise acted the same in how they caught it, the Tyrannical Vonnegona itself has become pretty different in both prey preferences and in how it tackles such game.

Their choice meals are the local megafauna, ranging from the various kinds of shrews native to the region to large limblesses to even the Driftwood Dasher itself. All of these are far too big to be merely swallowed whole, plus many of them are far too spiny to be safely swallowed whole anyways. As such, the ancestral hunting method of running down a victim before snapping it up and beating it against the ground needed some really big changes. A critical part of a Tyrannical Vonnegona's hunt is catch their prey by surprise, so they do not have time to set up their defenses or flee to the safety of the water (as many of their prey items such as the various tams are much better swimmers). The long limbs inherited from their ancestors still help the Tyrannical Vonnegona cover larger amounts of ground, allowing it to quickly close the distance between it and its target. When close enough, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will use its powerful jaws to establish a hold, with the powerful jaw muscles of this species applying a lot of force to ensure the prey can’t struggle its way free. Meanwhile, the bill still contains petrolignin to resist the high stresses of a struggling victim, with the bill having also been shortened to also better resist such high amounts of torsion. The teeth of this species have become larger and more blade-like, meaning that as a victim struggles they will simply cause the teeth to saw in deeper and deeper.

Once a bite is established, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will wrestle the victim to the ground, where it can then deploy a particularly deadly weapon, the huge sickle claw on their innermost toe. This claw is designed to cut into the underbelly of its prey, killing it as quickly as possible and thus minimizing the risk of injury. While this method is preferred, the Tyrannical Vonnegona can also kill its victim by ripping out chunks of flesh with their jaws and letting it succumb to shock and blood loss but this carries a larger risk of getting injured. When it comes to feeding, the Tyrannical Vonnegona will use its feet to pin down the carcass while ripping out chunks of flesh with the slight hook on their bill so the meat can then be swallowed whole. If the prey is fairly small like a Driftwood Dasher or a Stegomiser, the Tyrannical Vonnegona can actually rely on their ancestral hunting methond of grabbing the victim and beating it against the ground. It can also trash the smaller creature around to use momentum to tear it apart, which makes feeding easier.

As Tyrannical Vonnegona do indeed need a decent amount of food to sustain themselves, other members of their species are seen as competition. Fighting each other physically over such resources, however, could lead to serious injury that might compromise their ability to effectively hunt. As such, Tyrannical Vonnegonas instead have a sort of pecking order, with the bright colors on the faces in both sexes being used to establish dominance amongst their kind. If two individuals meet, the one that sits higher in the pecking order will hunt first and thus have the best access to available prey, while the one that sits lower will have to wait until the other Tyrannical Vonnegona has satisfied itself before it can go hunting for whatever game is still present. If two individuals meet and one that sits lower in the pecking order decides to challenge the other over the right to hunt first, the two will begin bobbing their heads and circle one another while making low hisses and growls. These are usually enough to establish dominance, but if neither is willing to back down the conflict will escalate to pushing and shoving until one is knocked down.

When it comes to breeding, the Tyrannical Vonnegona is fairly similar to their ancestor, though there are a few key differences. When two individuals come together to mate during the spring months, they will briefly stay together for about a week on the same island before eventually going their separate ways. The mother will move to the center of the island and go into a state of torpor as the young develop until she eventually gives birth. While they usually only give birth to one youngster at a time, since they take longer to develop, they can occasionally give birth to twins. The largest threats to the young are Sparkleshrogs and Shroggers, who will kill them both for food and to eliminate potential predators while they still can. As such, the Tyrannical Vonnegona mother is still highly aggressive to anything shaped like a shrog when rearing young, with a good portion of their diet during the two years it takes for the young to reach independence consisting of shrogs. When the youngster is born, it is unable to make the trip from island to island itself, which means that the mother will have the youngster ride in her mouth during such trips. As the youngster grows in size, they learn the necessary skills needed to live in their unique environment and hunt the local prey, even assisting their mother in the latter half of the second year with tackling prey. After two years, the mother will once more be ready to breed, marking the moment they drive away their child and have them live on their own. The youngster will take another two years before reaching sexual maturity, with the species as a whole being able to live for over fifty to sixty years.