Needlespike Flunejaw

(The image is that of a female needlespike flunejaw, which do not have colorful neck scales.)

Needlespike flunejaws' species name comes from their skeletal and behavioral similarities to shrews and foxes. Like foxes, they tend to pounce on prey items. Their strong shoulders, originally an adaptation for climbing mountains, allow it to pounce firmly on prey items and prevent escape. Occasionally the pounce puts so much pressure upon the target that the target's exoskeleton is ruptured.

Diet

Needlespike flunejaws prefer kruggs above all else. However, the competition with its ancestor over climber crystalkruggs and nearly every predatory organism in its environment over grovecrystal kruggs forces it to eat other items. The severe competition over grovecrystal kruggs does have a bright side: it means death by robust rainforest unkjaw is less likely.

While it specializes in the ever-popular kruggs, it does occupy a heretofore unrealized niche: a predator of soaring phlyers. More specifically, it eats the nestlings. However, this rarely occurs because soaring phylers nest at the top of mountain ranges, while needlespike flunejaws prefer lower elevations than their ancestor, which did not live at the top of mountain ranges to begin with. When they do eat soaring phyler nestlings, it most often occurs when the nestling drops from its nest and off a cliff from unusually strong winds. The injured or dying nestling is then finished off by the needlespike flunejaw.

Predators

Predators include goliath flunejaws, plentshirshus, and robust rainforest ukjaws. Of these, goliath flunejaws are the most common predators when needlespike flunejaws are healthy adults, and plentshirshus the most common predators when the needlespike flunejaws are young or injured.

Needlespike flunejaws, especially young and/or vulnerable ones, like to rest in burrows. These burrows are always plentshirshu burrows, due to the lack of other burrowers in their environments. These burrows may unfortunately not be abandoned.

Activity

Needlespike Flunejaws are usually active in the following time and conditions:


 * Evening/dusk


 * Cloudy days


 * Early morning


 * Nighttime

Senses

Needlespike flunejaws have a poor sense of hearing. It also has a poor sense of taste, with approximately 500 taste buds. (Chickens have about 340, while humans have 10,000)

Needlespike flunejaws hunt mostly by vision. The first two eyes on either sides are the primary eyes in hunting. The third eyes mainly watch for predators. They do have a blind spot behind them, but the needle-like spikes on the hind legs deter direct leaps from behind onto its haunches. (The spikes are hardly used for thermoregulation now.)