Shard Glassballs

The shard glassballs replaced its ancestor the glassballs in Yokto High Desert and North Polar Beach. Like their ancestor they evolved a shell around them. This shell not only keeps in the heat and air insulating air in between but has spiny shards all on the outside. This help deter any herbivores which might want to eat them. The amount of air between adjust with the climate. When it gets warm it contracts and when it gets cold it expands.

During a very cold time, the shard glassballs can even release an anti-freezing compound into the cells, which prevents the growth of ice crystals and therefore the destruction of the cells. During this time, the cells are nearly inactive. This is quite similar to a hibernation. The shell is transparent and, due to the warping of sunlight, all light shining on the surface will be redirected to the inner main body. Its primitive roots collect water and nutrients, which are needed for photosynthesis. Although the shard glassballs reproduce asexually as their ancestors, they do it another way. They can't simply bud, because of the shell and the fact that the roots are too short, but they will produce mini shard-less versions of their own inside the shell. After they have reached the maximal size, the shell will lose the connection from the parent and blow away to a new location to take root.