Teaken

The teaken has split from its ancestor and has moved into the desert to take advantage of the largely uneaten plant supply.

Due to the heat of the day, the teaken is nocturnal. It sleeps in the day in shade and has a tough covering on its back to protect it from the sun. It has visually lost it’s wings, but they are now fused to the back and hidden under an extra layer of plant material and help make up the protective layer. Any teakens with wings were taken out of the gene pool as the wings raised the chance of combustion for those individuals.

It has become a complete herbivore. As the plants here all have harmful spikes as protection, the teaken’s beak has evolved but be long and slender to be able to probe past them. It will then make a small incision in the plant’s flesh and use a long, thin tongue to suck out the insides. It is therefore able to get all the water it needs from the plants.

It has abandoned flight as it got larger and instead it has evolved to run away from danger quickly. It’s tail has devolved as it is no longer needed. In such an open space, it will simply out-run the predator instead of out-maneuvering it.