Vermair

The vermair, much like a clothes moth larva, eats keratin-rich material. This is usually the 'wool' of the shaggycoat and its descendants. Though Coolsteph Island has two scavengers, the Drakescooter and the Elongated Scarlethorn, they do not eat the wool of dead 'coats'. Consequently, vermairs have no competition in this niche. Vermairs prefer rotting meat and decay-softened skin to wool, but the other scavengers are so much faster than the vermair that by the time the vermair arrives, it has little opportunity to be picky. The wool is difficult to digest. As a consequence, the vermair has an especially large stomach and a slightly more complicated digestive tract than its ancestor. Before eating, the wool is first sliced into smaller pieces with the vermair's scissor-like mouthparts. This increases the surface area of the wool bits, making it slightly easier to digest. Occasionally, the wool is excreted with little visible damage. When this happens, the vermair will re-consume the excreted hair. On account of having a single row of eyes on its backside, it is terrible at locating shaggycoat pelts to eat. Indeed, it would starve if not for dartirs. Dartirs are attracted to rotting meat, and when they pass above, the vermair can distinguish them from the surrounding sky and remember which direction they were flying towards.