Seashrog

The Seashrog replaced its ancestor. While the Tamjack had evolved in a vast archipelago where landfall was frequent and seaside flora was plentiful, rising sea levels and shifting tectonic plates had replaced the island chain with a vast stretch of open ocean, where being an obligate herbivore was nonviable. As a result, the Seashrog became more intelligent in order to survive on the open sea and developed omnivory and tool use. Originating as an accidental discovery, the Seashrog learned to craft spears by cutting sticks at an angle. Initially, these were used for self-defense against its predator, the Pirate Waxface, but before long the Seashrog started using them for something new--spearfishing. It was able to develop the dexterity to accomplish this as an inevitable conclusion of its existing advanced nest-building skills.

Anatomy
The Seashrog retains the general otter-shaped build of its ancestor, though with significantly stronger and more dexterous forelimbs. It has opposable thumbs which can lie flat with the other digits when used for walking or reversed to grasp spears or nest-building materials. Its hand anatomy resembles that of a Terran primate at a glance, but it lacks the ability to properly support its weight while gripping, as the ability to grasp was developed independently of any arboreal lifestyle. It can walk and run either quadrupedally or, if it is holding a spear, tripedally with the weapon clutched in its dominant hand. It no longer has spikes on its underside, as they offered limited advantage and made mating more difficult.

Though dexterous, the Seashrog does not have the fine motor skill to use small tools. To hunt, all it needs is the ability to hold onto a really long stick and thrust it really hard; when presented with finer tools, such as a dagger, the Seashrog would not know what to do with it, and even if it did it would be rather clumsy with it. It's simply designed to work with spears and nothing else.

The Seashrog has developed the ability to close its pouch, allowing females with pouch young to leave the nest and swim without drowning them. The male also now has a pouch, which protects his external reproductive organs and streamlines that general part of his body. The pouch is not held closed while out of water, as being watertight also makes it airtight--keeping it closed will cause pouch young to suffocate.

The Seashrog's spikes and tail axe now have dense bone cores. Though this makes it a slower swimmer, its fluffy fur coat holds in air well enough that it doesn't sink. This change not only makes its tail axe more effective for cutting down trees, as it has more weight to it and retains its strength even while soaked, but also allows the Seashrog to use its tail axe as a heavy counterbalance while struggling with especially large prey. It swims less than its ancestor did, partly because it's more difficult and partly because it simply doesn't always need to.

Behavior
The Seashrog lives alone or in mated pairs with joeys. It is generally non-aggressive, at least to creatures that do not resemble its predators. It defends itself against predators using spears, which function as a spacing weapon to prevent them from approaching too closely, much like the antlers of a Terran deer.

The Seashrog has been known to consume flora that cause hallucinations, such as the Stalk Rastum, for recreational purposes, not unlike a Terran dolphin.

Vocalization and Body Language
Seashrogs are vocal creatures and have a variety of calls. A short bark serves to grab another Seashrog's attention and is usually followed by another sound. Such sounds include "akakak" ("this is mine/not yours", often used when defending food or a play thing from another shrog), "eeboor" ("come here"), "euhree" ("stop/don't"), "areeereeeeer" (an alarm call or scream, "I'm in danger/look out"), and "burbur" ("hello"). (Note that the letter B as used here is only an approximation rather than indicating exact pronunciation, and it only comes out of a shrog's mouth as a very soft "pop" sound.) The attention bark can be modified with inflections to form names to call to a specific individual, generally used by parents to call out to specific joeys. Seashrogs also have various emotion-related vocalizations which do not usually follow a bark. These include a threatening creaky growl, frustrated grumbling, nervous huffing, excited or playful chattering, a content sigh, terrified squealing, and a long whine indicating pain.

Seashrogs also make use of body language and, to some extent, facial expressions. Most of their body language is intuitive, such as making one's self small and unthreatening when scared, tensing up when stressed, and relaxing when content. Facial expressions, which are mainly focused around movement of the ears and eyelids, are similarly simple and intuitive and based on tension and size illusion as to communicate effectively including with other species. A relaxed open-mouth expression with ears pointed outwards is roughly analogous to a smile. Similar to many non-human animals on Earth, a toothy grin is a threat.

The Seashrog's mating call is a long "brbrbrbrbrbrbree", usually repeated three or four times. For a Seashrog without a mate, it essentially means "I'm looking for a mate", while if it already has a mate it means "I want to mate". Living out at sea with no vegetation to hide in, Seashrogs don't have to worry about predators hearing them which would not have already seen them anyway, so they are fairly vocal while mating, making noises similar to those of squeaky toys.

Diet and Spear Usage
The Seashrog is an omnivore, unlike its ancestor, as living out at sea as an obligate herbivore was ultimately unsustainable. As it also cannot survive on meat alone, it stores edible flora it gathered at the shore or found out at sea inside its nest for later consumption.

The Seashrog makes use of wooden spears, typically made from obsidian wood. These were discovered by accident during nest construction sometime during the Seashrog's early evolution, and they are crafted by striking straight pieces of wood at an angle with its tail. The original purpose of the spear was self-defense, as it made a better spacing weapon than the tail-axe, but it was eventually exapted for hunting when the Seashrog developed its omnivory.

To hunt for meat, the Seashrog stands at the edge of its nest and watches for aquatic fauna to pass underneath. When it sees something edible, it thrusts its spear into the water, impaling it. Using its heavy axe-tail to keep its balance, it then pulls the catch out of the water and onto the deck. If the initial strike did not kill its catch, it will either wait for it to suffocate or dispatch it with a bite to the head or neck. It will then call to summon its mate and joeys if it has them, and once all Seashrogs present have eaten their fill, the leftovers are dried out in the sun and stored inside the nest.

The Seashrog will also use its spear to snag oceanic flora and bring it aboard, through a similar motion to stabbing prey. This allows it to gather food without ever leaving its nest, though it may still do so if it's low on supplies and sees food which is too far away. Similarly to how it treats leftover meat, it will dry out the flora it collects in the sun before storing it away.

Nest
The Seashrog, like its ancestor, constructs floating boat-like nests using flora it cuts down with its tail. The Seashrog's nests, however, differ from its ancestor's to better facilitate spearfishing--rather than squashed spheres with a hole on top, they are boat-like half-spheres with a deck.

The beginning of construction is relatively unchanged--the Seashrog chops down trees such as the Mainland Fuzzpalm and Obsidibend which have flexible trunks and bends them to form ribs for the nest. However, instead of bending them into half-circles, the Seashrog only bends them part way so that when they are joined on one end they don't meet on the other. Once the ribs have dried, the Seashrog then lays a few long straight logs or strips of wood on top in one direction to form support, then lays down more perpendicularly to them to create the deck. The deck has a hole in the center, which serves as the entrance to the nest. The entrance is covered by a simple lid constructed of sticks. If at this stage some part of the deck is too weak, additional pieces of wood may be brought inside to serve as vertical support beams. The preferred wood for the deck and support beams are generally that of denser material, such as Cocobarrage wood. All parts of the nest are sealed together using saliva and Mainland Fuzzpalm berries. While its ancestor coated the exterior in various flora, the Seashrog coats the interior as well to serve as padding during rough storms. Mainland Fuzzpalm leaves are preferred for their insulating properties. The deck has no flora covering it to reduce exposure to potentially harmful microbes, with the exception of the part surrounding the entrance to help keep the lid in place during storms.

The radial bowl shape of the nest is completely instinctive, as it has its roots in more ancient shrews which had less capacity for culture yet also needed to build nests that float at sea. The instinct to build the nest in a particular shape is so strong that it can be difficult, if not outright impossible, to teach a Seashrog to build one differently. This is because deviation could result in the destruction of the nest while out at sea, which would be guaranteed to drown all of its inhabitants if there is no land nearby to escape to.

The Seashrog has advanced its ancestor's habit of storing Fuzzpalm berries into general food and supply storage. A section of the nest interior is dedicated to stockpiling food, nest maintenance supplies, and spears. Nest maintenance supplies consist of Mainland Fuzzpalm berries, driftwood, leaves, and leftover pieces of wood from the nest's original construction. Parts of spears can also be used to repair damage to the nest in a pinch, though this is not preferred as the Seashrog won't be able to construct more spears until the next time its nest washes ashore. The storage section is not separated off from the rest of the interior, but it is usually placed where existing support beams will prevent contents from being flung all over the nest in a storm.

Reproduction
The Seashrog has many osteoderms on its face, hence its epithet dracops (meaning "dragon-face"). Though the ones on its back are useful for defense, the ones on its face instead serve mainly for mate selection--a neat arrangement of well-formed face osteoderms indicates good health. Mate selection usually occurs on the beach, though potential mates can also be met out at sea. Males will compete for a particular female, typically engaging in ritual combat where they "head wrestle": they press their heads together and their facial osteoderms interlock, and they try to throw one another to the ground. Notably, they actually consider their ritual combat to be fun--mated pairs may do it playfully while bored. The female will usually pick the winner of the ritual combat unless he is visibly unhealthy. To avoid their spikes, they mate belly-to-belly like many Terran spiny animals. If either one already has a nest they will move into it, usually the one which is in better condition if they both already have nests, transferring supplies stored in the other. If neither already has a nest, such as with young shrogs who have only recently left their parents' nest, they will build one together. Though Seashrog joeys have a fairly high chance of surviving to adulthood, their massive range and lifestyle means significantly fewer will ever find a mate, and as such they lack a breeding season and mate often--the female is almost always either pregnant or nursing and can have dozens of joeys in her lifetime.

Like most Shrews, the Seashrog has a pouch and gives live birth to helpless joeys, though with their relatively long gestation period of 4 months the joeys are more comparable to the pinkies of a Terran mouse than to newborn joeys of Terran marsupials. Their shorter gestation period compared to their ancestor serves to accommodate a higher birth rate, which combined with their inherited litter size of 2-4 joeys increases the chances that any of their offspring will find a mate themselves. The newborns stay in their mother's pouch feeding on milk until their sharp osteoderms begin to grow, at which point they leave the pouch and are weaned. The joeys grow fairly slowly compared to their ancestor, due in part to the amount of time it takes to develop their brain, taking as long as 6 years to reach full size. However, they usually leave the nest around the age of 3, at which point they will be capable of independence and their parents will have younger offspring large enough to assist in nest maintenance. If their parents do not have more offspring by that point, they may stay around until they do or when their parents grow tired of them freeloading and chase them off next landfall. The adults are not generally aggressive towards their adult offspring unless they outright refuse to leave.

When they first leave their parents' nest, young Seashrogs will live along the beach for a year or until they find a mate, feeding on beach- and coast-dwelling flora and fauna. If they do not find a mate in the first year, they will eventually construct a nest and go out alone, periodically trying again to find a mate whenever they make landfall. Seashrogs usually live up to 30 years, though an especially healthy and lucky individual can push 40.

Homosexuality has been observed in Seashrogs. Male-male pairs are more common in older individuals whose previous mates have died. Female-female pairs are different, and also serve as a reproductive outlet for solitary males. When out at sea, female-female pairs will intentionally keep watch for nests belonging to solitary males and male-male pairs. They will tempt the males to swim over to their nest to mate with them by letting out mating calls and imitating the vocalizations they make while mating. After mating, the males return to their own nest and the female-female pair raise any resulting joeys together.

Intelligence
The Seashrog is intelligent and self-aware, as well as possibly the smartest shrew since the extinct Lemupus. It passes the mirror test and can be taught to understand basic language on a similar level to a Terran dog, though it cannot learn to speak. It can be compared to a Terran Chimpanzee in "advancement", but there is one very important distinction--as it does not live in large groups, the Seashrog is severely lacking in social intelligence. Though mated pairs will bond and stay together and can even work together to defend themselves or catch especially difficult prey, any large group of Seashrogs is unsustainable--without any hierarchy instinct, organization is impossible and they will eventually fall into conflict and break apart. They also lack any kind of language beyond instinctive grunts and barks, so they are incapable of communicating ideas. Though smart enough to build a boat and hunt with spears, and capable of learning these skills culturally, they cannot even begin to form a collective imagination. As such, though one could make an argument that they are "sapient" the way a Terran ape or crow is, they are not sophont like a human nor like their extinct distant relative the Nomad.

That said, the Seashrog is not to be underestimated. While not dexterous enough to use fine tools, it is easily capable of improvising weapons to defend itself or its offspring. While the general construction of the boat-nest is powered by instinct and experience in their parents' nest, individual Seashrogs may use their experience to make personal modifications to theirs, such as sliding spears between the ribs to serve as defense against large predators. Improvements and modifications to their construction techniques don't pass between families, but they can be passed on to their offspring, allowing some variation to occur with time.

Relationships with Other Species
The Seashrog is in a mutualistic relationship with the Cleaner Borvermid, which keeps its nest clean of harmful vermees and epiphytic flora. As such, the Cleaner Borvermid has spread throughout the Seashrog's entire range. It has also spread the parasitic False Cleaner Borvermid and Stowaway Harmbless.

Though the Seashrog is not technically in a relationship with the Hockel, Hockels would sometimes climb onto the Seashrog's nest to bask. This has resulted in accidental transport, leading to the Hockel spreading to Wind Temperate Beach. The Hockel survived there as a result of the Seashrog also transporting the Gumjorn.

Though most of the species spread by the Seashrog were either food or a nuisance, its expanded range has also had the effect of expanding the range of another species, the Pirate Waxface, which is the Seashrog's predator. As a result, the Pirate Waxface is now present in all habitats which the Seashrog is also present in.

Flora and Extinctions
The Seashrog's use of other types of wood has caused various flora to spread, either through intentional transport or through spores getting caught in its fur and nest material. In particular, Cocobarrage, Obsidibend, and Mainland Fuzzpalm have spread to all beaches throughout its entire range. Though it initially used both the Fuzzpalm and the Mainland Fuzzpalm for wood and adhesive, when the Mainland Fuzzpalm spread it out-competed the original Fuzzpalms present in its range. As a result, the original Fuzzpalm is now extinct. The same has occurred with all remaining beach populations of the Obsiditree, as a result of it spreading the Obsidibend.

The Seashrog has also spread many fruit-bearing flora due to it transporting their fruit in its food stores. The following have spread to all coasts and beaches in which they can survive within its range: Carnosprawl, Mangot, Qupe Tree, Fuzzweed, Gumjorn, and Baebula.

Due to its love of eating the Stalk Rastum for its hallucinogenic effects, the Seashrog has also accidentally spread this to all shallow biomes in its range through the spores inevitably getting absolutely everywhere.