Secretive Lizarduiker

While most species of lizalope are adapted to living within the open prairies and scrub that cover much of Drake, one species has broken the mold by adapting to live within woodlands and forests. Having split off from their ancestor, the Secretive Lizarduiker differs from their ancestors in several different ways. For one, it is completely solitary, as they can rely on the dense foliage for cover to avoid predators and thus traveling in groups was not necessary. The Secretive Lizarduiker has also shrunk down in size, which helps it move unnoticed within the undergrowth, its smaller size also makes it by far the smallest lizalope yet to have evolved. The coloration of the Secretive Lizarduiker provides better camouflage to help it hide in dense undergrowth, though the lizalope can still flee if it needs to.

The Secretive Lizarduiker also differs from its ancestor and cousin in terms of diet, as while other lizalopes are strict herbivores the Secretive Lizarduiker is comfortably omnivorous. When it comes to consuming flora the Secretive Lizarduiker is pretty similar to its ancestors, being highly generalistic and feeding on a wide range of flora species. The long forelimbs can still help aid the lizalope with digging up nutritious roots, but they are also now used for a different task related to foraging. If the Secretive Lizarduiker spots a small fauna with its sharp vision, it will begin to run towards it and chase it down. As the silk glands have long since been lost in the lizalopes, the Secretive Lizarduiker instead relies on its long forelimbs to capture the target so it can then bite down on the head or spine. The fangs are well developed in both sexes of this species, as they help with delivering the killing bite. Once the kill is made, the front teeth of the Secretide Lizarduiker rip off chunks of flesh (since they have become sharper than those of other lizalopes) so they can then be swallowed whole. The back teeth, meanwhile, are flat like those in their ancestor and cousins since they are still used to crush hard shells of crystal flora or the spines seen in organisms like the forest quone.

Much like their ancestors, the Secretive Lizarduiker digs a mound for its eggs, usually within dense cover to improve their chances of survival in that they are not noticed by predators. The parent will lay their several dozen eggs within the mound before adding foliage that will help keep the eggs warm through their decomposition. Once the mound is fully set up, the Secretive Lizarduiker will abandon the eggs to their fate. When the young eat their way out of the egg casing, they will begin to dig out of the mound which can still take about ten minutes or so. When they finally emerge, they are fully independent and strike it out on their own.