Prickly Plyent

Splitting from its ancestor, the prickly plyent has spread throughout the tropical and temperate forests of the supercontinent of Dixon-Darwin. Larger and more robust, they nonetheless moves delicately through the forest foliage as go about their lives. Solitary by nature, the sheer lack of predators they possess has resulted in them still becoming a somewhat common sight. Individuals treading through the undergrowth tend to prefer walking along certain routes that they become accustomed to, and over time these cause them to develop - albeit unintentionally - barren desire paths. These "roads" through the forests are utilized by a wide variety of species, either for easier navigation by larger ones or as potential spots for ambushes by the various predators hunting the former. It is in this way the prickly plyents shape the world around them, not unlike how their ancestors did when they trudged their way through ancient crystamboo forests.

Anatomy
Anatomy-wise, the prickly plyent is very similar to other species of plyent both externally and internally. They possess a trunk-like main body supported by three legs, a pair of large leaves for performing photosynthesis, and an all-purpose orifice at the top. Where it differs from them, however, is in the details. Like its ancestor, it possess a ring of spines - a crown as it is known - surrounding its orifice, though where in the crown-of-thorns plyent they were tiny and offered little in the means of defense, in the prickly plyent they have grown huge and imposing. Another prominent difference from them is the evolution of many rows of thorns that cover the main body, as well as an increase in the size of the thorns that cover the legs, which in turn are surrounding by many thin, needle-like thorns that easily detach.

A prominent change can be observed in the feet. On either side of their hooves, two toe-like structures are readily observable. Despite their appearance, though, these are not true toes, as they only briefly come in contact with the ground and are incapable of supporting any weight. Bearing only the simplest internal structures that allow for some mild flexibility, what they are instead filled with reveals their true purpose - taste buds. These specialized foot structures serve to help the prickly plyent to taste the world around them, allowing them to detect chemical trails, determine whether or not something might be edible, and even the salinity of a local water source. They are also coated delicate fibers that are sensitive to pressure, thus the prickly plyent is able to avoid walking into potentially dangerous objects or trees. However, this is not the only way this species is able to detect the world around it.

The wing-like leaves that the prickly plyent possess- which bear a passing resemblance to those of the ancestral river plyent - are unique amongst other plyents for the presence of tiny, delicate patches of photosensitive cells along their rims. Sensitive enough to determine whether or not the plyent is standing in the light or in darkness, they help to guide them in their search for better spots to photosynthesize as the sun moves throughout the day. If damaged, the leaves will tend to regrow within the span of a week. To avoid this, these plyents will fold them tight along their sides the moment they detect a potential threat, such as a sudden shadow passing overhead. Several patches will need to detect the sudden change, though, for them to react in this way.

If knocked prone, prickly plyents are more than capable of righting themselves back up, utilizing a combination of oral spines, wing-like leaves, and their legs in order to do so, though such a process tends to take several minutes to accomplish.

Toxins
The prickly plyent has a secret when it comes to its biological defenses. Unlike any other plyent, this species is capable of producing toxins in its flesh. Thorns alone would not deter most predators, so to bolster them, each one is connected directly to a store of poison loc. Bright colors help to advertise this to would-be predators, many of which have learned the hard way from past mistakes in their youth of what happens should they be pierced by one of these thorns. Small creatures are oftentimes debilitated outright by the toxins, though larger ones - typically a meter or over - tend to instead suffer a mild sense of euphoria and drowsiness, alongside an easily irritated skin rash around the sight of injection. While far from deadly, such an effect helps to deter.

Diet
Like most of its family, the prickly plyent relies primarily on the photosynthesis performed by its wing-like leaves in order to supply itself with energy. They supplement this with carrion, which they detect with their taste buds. Once they have located a suitably sized piece of carrion, they will awkwardly bend forward - typically resting their main body on one leg - and utilize the spines around their orifice to manipulate it into a position in which it can be eaten. As they cannot chew, and the fact that their gut is fairly simple - as a whole, plyents have mostly given up feeding through their mouths once they have achieved adulthood, though some species have taken to feeding on small flying fauna - the food must be small indeed in order to be swallowed and processed quickly, otherwise it risks the chance of becoming stuck or even rotting before it can be fully digested. Once food is pulled inside, digestive enzymes are secreted and the food is immersed, dissolved, and eventually has its nutrients absorbed. Whatever is not fully digested is coughed back up. On occasion, small flying scavengers such as localized dartirs may be attracted to the food they consume, and become trapped inside their maws by accident and thus consumed. This is not intentional, and such "prey" are not considered to be an average part of the prickly plyent's diet.

In regards to acquiring water, this species relies on morning dew and rain for the most part, though every few weeks they will approach a larger body of water in order to partially submerge themselves in order to drink large quantities of water. Their thick, waxy skin helps to reduce water loss, so ventures such as this aren't needed that often. This is especially helpful given the risks involved approaching large bodies, for should they be knocked prone, their incredibly poor swimming skills may prove their doom and result in a drowning.

Reproduction & Early Childhood


The reproductive method of the prickly plyent begins with a male specimen seeking out a member of the opposite sex, typically by tasting for chemical trails left in hoof prints. Once it has found a trail and followed it to its source, the male will proceed to release an incredibly pungent cocktail of pheromones' into the air in order to display his physical fitness to his opposite - a healthy individual is able to produce a stronger stench, and vice versa for a sickly one. If the female is impressed, she will reciprocate his gesture and open her crown wide, exposing her all-purpose orifice within. At this point the male will approach and proceed to "cough" up a cloud of airborne spores, a multitude of which will inevitably manage to enter the orifice and, in time, begin the fertilization process. No further interactions between the two will occur at this point, and both individuals will go their own ways - the male in search of other potential mates, and the female in search of nourishment in order to sustain her future brood.

After a week has passed, the female is ready to release her offspring. While she will show them no parental care beyond this point, she will at least attempt to find a suitable clearing in the forest. Typically such locations are to be found higher up in the foothills of the various mountainous peaks that make up the interior of the supercontinent. Once such a spot has been found, the female, just as the male had done before, will begin to "cough" as well. Instead of producing spores, however, she releases intermittent clouds of tiny pods into the air. She will do this for over the course of an hour, during which she may release up to several hundred of these, before she will eventually cease and return to forests.

Each pod - little more than half a centimeter in length - contains a single developing plyent and a store of fatty oils that supply it with nutrients during this brief period of external development. Similarly to those of its cousin, the leafy plyentworth, each pod has a tiny puff of feathery fibers. However, while those of its cousin allow for an extended period of being airborne, in the prickly plyent they only allow for an initial rise during the "birthing" process, followed almost immediately by a slow descent back to the ground. Because of this, they have needed to adapt, and as such they have evolved to have tiny barbed hooks coating the exterior of the pod. These hooks are excellent at getting caught in both fur and feathers, which in turn allows for the pods to be transported much greater distances than they otherwise would be able to by just wind alone, as well as providing them some degree of protection. While not all will accomplish this and instead land directly on the ground, where their chances of survival are much lower, the sheer amount of them that are produced ensure at several dozen from each back of pods are able to find a host to carry them.

After several days, the prickly plyents will have finished developing upon using up the nutrient reserves of their mobile homes and proceed to wriggle violently. These repetitive motions serve to weaken the silk-like support structures of the pods, eventually resulting in them falling apart. Now free, the juveniles will proceed to leap off from their hosts. Regardless of the height - such as if the host were airborne, for example - the tiny size of these newborns prevents the fall from causing any manner of damage. This is helped by the fact that the juveniles instinctively flap their wings in order to reduce the rate at which they fall as they flutter downwards to the forest floor below. Immediately upon landing, they will seek out the nearest shelter they can detect, relying on the photosensitive patches of cells on their wings in order to determine if they are surrounded by shade or are exposed.

Though the vast majority of juveniles will be picked off by predators or succumb to the elements, enough are produced to ensure at least some will survive to adulthood, whereupon few, if any, predators will bother them.