Dracalope

As the cooling climate of Drake opened up much of the continent, many groups of herbivores would subsequently decline and either became restricted to the southern areas of the landmass or disappeared entirely. For the lizalopes, however, the spread of scrub and prairies would play into their favor and allowed them to diversify. For one group of lizalopes, they grew in size and split off into a distinct taxon known as the dracalope.

In many respects, the dracalope behaves like an oversized version of a steppe lizalope, grazing on a wide range of low-growing flora while keeping an eye out for potential predators. The larger size of the dracalope does mean they are not as fast as their ancestor or cousins, though their long legs still allows them to flee at a good pace for long distances. Being bigger, however, also meant they could defend themselves from certain threats, especially since dracalopes have a stronger herd structure than their ancestors and cousins. While other lizalopes only traveled together for the general protection of being less likely to be targeted and had no strong social bonds, dracalopes actively look out for and protect one another. If they are attacked by smaller predators, these herbivores will gather together and face their threats, being able to use their larger heads to ram small carnivores or using their powerful limbs to deliver a nasty kick. These social bonds only go so far, however, as the rest of the herd will flee if a member of the group is caught by larger predators as it would be a fight they couldn’t win.

With the herd being more tightly-knit and overall larger than their ancestors, new behaviors and adaptations arose among this species. For example, these herds consist of females and their young that are then led by a single mature male, whereas other lizalope species consist of a random number of hermaphrodites that acted as either sex within their groups. When the breeding season comes around, which is in early spring and is marked by longer daylight hours and more abundant floral growth, the male dracalope will begin to court the females within the herd.

Since the front pair of limbs are used to either dig up nutritious roots or to dig out nests, the fangs of the dracalope are no longer used for these tasks and in females are no longer visible when the mouth is closed. In the males, however, these fangs are massive and clearly visible. These fangs are quite thin, however, and are too delicate for combat and slightly limit their foraging abilities, due to the fact that they are entirely used for display. The fangs of male dracalopees end in bright colors that catch that attention of a female as he bobs his head up and down. If the female is receptive and is impressed, she will respond in turn by also bobbing her head, with the pair doing this behavior in unison until they eventually copulate. As the females go into season at different times in early spring, the male must regularly check upon every single one in the group to see if they are ready to mate. The dominant male must also keep watch for any males that arrive on the scene that try to take a female for themselves, as a male dracalope might try to woo one of the females into leaving the dominant male’s herd and joining them to start a herd of their own. If they get caught in the act by the dominant male, the intruder will either run off or directly challenge the male for breeding rights of the herd, with the two utilizing display and occasional shoving to determine who is on top.

Interestingly, the dracalope is the only species of lizardworm to be a sequential hermaphrodite, specifically being protogynous. This takes the form of a female changing her sex if she determines that she would be a far better choice than the current male leading the herd. When they complete the change, they will directly challenge the dominant male in a similar fashion to that of an intruding male challenging him for breeding rights of the herd. The loser of the resulting match will then be forced out of the herd and have to survive on their own. Since being alone is quite dangerous for a dracalope out on the open plains, male dracalopes forced out of their herds will join other males in small bachelor herds. These bachelor herds are somewhat like those of their ancestors, where the males do not form any strong social bonds with other males in the group and are willing to abandon them if they see an opportunity to either take over a normal herd or to escort a female out of those herds and start a group of their own.

As they still are quite active fauna and are constantly on the move, dracalopes do not have strong social bonds with their offspring. Instead, they will act much like their ancestor where they will dig a mound to then lay their eggs into, before adding vegetation that will keep the eggs warm through decomposition. Once that step is done, they will abandon the eggs to develop on their own. Like other lizalopes, young dracalopes will eat their way out of their egg casing when they are ready to hatch and will dig themselves out of the mound in about 10 minutes. After exiting the mound, these youngsters (which are all female due to their sequential hermaphroditism) are immediately able to fend for themselves. As their much smaller size leaves them vulnerable to predators, young dracalopes will travel together until they join an adult herd. Once they do join an adult herd, their chances of survival become good, as adult dracalopes will treat them as just part of the herd and will defend them from smaller predators in a similar fashion to how the adults protect one another.