Dockshrog

The dockshrog split from its ancestor. Many direct descendants of the seashrog either remain at sea, such as the wolvershrog, or settle on a landmass, such as most of the others. The dockshrog, however, has chosen something in between: it has settled on the northern coast of Fermi Island.

Often, shrogs are prevented from making permanent residence on beaches by predatory pirate waxfaces. However, Fermi Island is so small that transitional dockshrogs were able to manage it by brute force—that is, by hunting down and killing every single pirate waxface on the island, even following them inland to do so. They left the hypnotizer waxfaces alone, as these did not actively hunt the shrogs. Though pirate waxfaces still raft to the island aboard ghost nests, the dockshrogs try to kill them as they arrive, preventing pirate waxfaces from regaining a foothold on the island. This has resulted in Fermi becoming a sort of safe haven for shrogs, even though its arid interior doesn't provide much wood to harvest. Though dockshrogs rarely eat anything found inland in Fermi Desert, they do cross the island's interior on occasion while dispersing.

The dockshrog has four digits on each limb, though one is often hidden when viewed from the side due to the middle two digits being longer than the others. The inner-most digit on the front limbs is opposable, as it is in other shrogs.

Nests
The dockshrog is named for its unusual nesting habits. Its nests, which are mostly made of bonegrove, mangrovecrystal, and driftwood, are set floating among the mangroves and are connected to one another using constructed, floating platforms which serve a similar purpose to docks or boardwalks. These are round or square, similar in structure to the flat decks atop their nests, and are tightly bound together and connected to one another to form paths using woven indigestible leaves similar to that which forms the main waterproof barrier in tamjack nests as a whole. Three to five board-paths will be built extending outwards from each floating nest, some terminating in a bonegrove tree which keeps them anchored and others leading to other nests. Some lead to the tiny islands created along the coast by mangrovecrystals, the fast growth of which encourages the shrogs to regularly harvest them as building material. This creates a network of nests, collectively a "village", which are supported by one another and by the mangrove, preventing them from being swept out to sea. Dockshrogs walk along these paths to interact with other dockshrogs or to look out for prey hiding underneath.

Some paths lead further out to sea and terminate without any nest or tree. Some of these are made by accident, as a tsunami or a careless flumpus damages the "village", but others are intentionally constructed, first curled up along the edge of the mangrove before it is allowed to unwind and stretch out to sea. Dockshrogs use these to hunt in deeper water where they are more likely to find larger pelagic prey, while still being able to quickly return to the mangrove if there is any danger.

The construction of the floating platforms making up the "docks" is a modification of nest maintenance behavior and is primarily done by juveniles. This is in part because juveniles have more flexible, less ossified tails, which in turn makes them better at swimming than their parents. Though they can be built on top of nests and then pushed into the water, moving the platforms around and binding them to nests and neighboring platforms requires swimming. The wood used to make them is still gathered by adults, transported to the site by floating them in the water and guiding them with lighter pieces of wood held in hand.

"Villages" usually consist of 8 to 15 families and will have many unused nests that fall into ruin, though their connecting platforms are generally still maintained and used. Though larger "villages" can exist, ruined nests, bad weather, and careless megafauna can cause them to physically fragment and drift to different parts of the coastline, preventing giant ones from lasting forever.

Social Behavior
The dockshrog is more social than the seashrog, as evidenced by its floating "villages". Nests are widely spaced and usually occupied by a single mated pair and their offspring, much like seashrog nests. However, dockshrogs commonly wander along the floating paths to interact with other families. They form friendships deeper than mere tolerance, and friends may hunt, forage, groom, build, or relax together. Hierarchies do not exist except between parent and offspring, and their social groups have no leader. Dockshrogs are capable of some amount of mob mentality, which allows them to band together to attack or scare off a predator.

As many friendship behaviors were reserved for mates in their seashrog ancestors, instinct cross-wiring may occasionally cause a friendship between adult dockshrogs to take a brief unexpected turn as their instincts command them to mate. This unintended consequence of developing their social behavior usually leaves the pair confused and embarrassed after the fact, as instincts to remain faithful to their respective mates are still very much intact and they correctly anticipate a negative reaction if they were to find out.

Vocalization and Body Language
Dockshrog vocalization is roughly identical to that of seashrogs, with the notable exception of name-barking, which extends to adulthood and is used by friends and family alike to call out to specific individuals. Nameless barks are still used to grab attention before another call. Other calls with specific meaning, which are entirely instinctive, include "akakak" ("this is mine/not yours", often used when defending food or a play thing from another shrog especially among juveniles), "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.) They also still have emotion-related vocalizations that do not usually follow a bark, such as a threatening creaky growl, frustrated grumbling, nervous huffing, excited or playful chattering, a content sigh, terrified squealing, and a long whine indicating pain.

Dockshrog body language and facial expressions, too, are similar to those of seashrogs. To effectively communicate not just with other shrogs but with unrelated species, 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. Their facial expressions, however, are exaggerated to better support their more social lifestyle. For example, the "shrog smile" where the mouth hangs open and the ears point outwards; in dockshrogs, the mouth not only hangs open but is flexed very wide, sometimes resulting in soreness after a period of great excitement. The ears may also be flicked to emphasize their position. Similar to many non-human animals on Earth, a dockshrog only grins as a threat.

The dockshrog is less vocal while mating than the seashrog. This is because, as their nests are more or less static, a predator such as a stonebeak phlyer can use their calls to distinguish which nests are occupied and choose one to target. It still has a mating call, "brbrbrbrbrbrbree" repeated a few times, used by adults without mates to advertise themselves and more quietly by mated pairs to communicate the desire to mate.

Feeding
Like most shrogs, dockshrogs use tools, particularly wooden spears, to catch and kill prey. Juveniles, more aquatic than those of other shrogs, will also dive into the water to collect aquatic flora and small bottom-dwelling creatures such as scuttlers with their bare hands. As Fermi is very dry in terms of humidity and precipitation, dismembered prey stretched across a platform or dragged to the beach quickly dries out and can be preserved for a short time using salt from seawater, but much of what is caught is eaten within the same day. Fruit from the beaches, as well as crystals from chopped down mangrovecrystals, are readily consumed.

Dockshrogs generally catch small prey without assistance, but a pair will work together to wrestle something larger. Surplus is shared with friends and with other dockshrogs in the community.

Tool Use
Like other shrogs, dockshrogs use their saw-like tails to cut down trees, split wood into planks, and sharpen sticks into spears. The spears used by dockshrogs are generally made from mangrovecrystal wood, as it grows quickly and is therefore readily available. Being made of chitin instead of cellulose, it is also stiffer than other types of wood available. Spears come in two main types, thick spears that are used to stab and wrestle with larger prey and skinny spears that can skewer smaller creatures.

Juveniles are oddly more dexterous than adults when it comes to small tools. A juvenile might bypass the difficult task of biting through a bloister's carapace using a knife formed from a shard of bone or crystal shell to access the meat inside more quickly. Try as they might to show the adults this "trick" they learned, however, the adults can never quite get it right. The growth of muscles used in spearing and moving heavy logs, as well as the thickening of their callouses as they bear their adult weight on their hands, causes them to lose much of their juvenile flexibility, a fate that the youngsters usually meet as well. However, on rare occasions, a dockshrog will be separated or disabled from a young age and never learn to make spears nor build a nest; should it survive, it may retain this dexterity into adulthood.

Reproduction
Like its ancestor, the dockshrog is naturally monogamous. The odd "broken" pattern of its osteoderms is the result of sexual selection, as the emphasis of shoulders and hips creates an illusion of greater upper body strength, which is an important trait in a shrog. The facial osteoderms also play a role in attraction. Though monogamous, dockshrogs are also willing to break up with their mates and find a new one, which results in mating rivalry extending beyond younger males. A newly-mated pair will typically make a new nest which floats free among the connected nests of their community before paths are made. Much like the seashrog, the dockshrog has no specific mating season and females are almost always pregnant or nursing.

Like most other tamjacks, the dockshrog is placental but retains a pouch. Its more restricted habitat range and higher population density means it no longer has to produce an excessive number of young; instead, it only produces one or two at a time. It gestates for half a year, more similar to basal tamjacks, and carries newborns in a pouch. Though the newborns are not permanently attached to a nipple like a baby marsupial, the pouch effectively swaddles them and allows them to be carried without restricting the mother's movement. The tails of newborns, though already flat and keratinous, lack serrations and can bend easily, preventing them from injuring their mother. Juveniles can leave the pouch only 2 months after birth, but return to nurse until they are about 6 months old, at which point they are weaned. They can theoretically live independently by that age, but they remain close by and practice their construction and tool use abilities close to home until the age of 4 or 5 when their tail is no longer flexible enough for prolonged swimming. They reach full size at the age of 6, and if they do not find a suitable unrelated mate nearby, they may then disperse along the coast or across the island to other communities. They usually live to about 30 years, but with good health and luck can push 40.

Relationships with Other Species
Most partner species and parasites of seashrog adapt well to the different nesting habits of the dockshrog.

Cleaner and false cleaner borvermids fulfill the exact same role that they do in other shrog nests.

Shailnitors are just as babied by dockshrogs as they are by seashrogs, and the dockshrogs willingly help them up and down between nest and path. Using their shell lungs to float, the shailnitors can paddle between floating platforms and will lay their eggs among the abundant flora found in the mangrove. Though dockshrogs do not let their food spoil as often as seashrogs, their dung is just as abundant and they appreciate the shailnitors' efforts to clean up after them. The shailnitors which live with dockshrogs regularly interbreed with those that live with seashrogs, but they nonetheless tend to be slightly darker in color and have proportionally larger ears, better mimicking the appearance of juvenile dockshrogs to appeal to their sense of cuteness.

Kakonats are able to exist in greater abundance than they do in seashrog nests. A constant pest, they are able to run and hop along the same paths the shrogs made for their own convenience to get from nest to nest eating borvermids and any stored food they can find, as well as gnawing on the nests themselves. However, their presence isn't all bad for the shrogs, as they will eat the various potentially damaging puffgrasses that grow on the nests and platforms.

Shorelances prefer to stowaway on seashrog nests for the migratory benefit, but they will still enter dockshrog "villages" in search of food. They are agile enough to chase kakonats on the floating paths to attack and bite them to death.

With very little food stored, stowaway harmbless do not fare well in dockshrog nests. However, they are still present in the region due to the activity of other shrogs.

Sometimes, dockshrogs will interact with other species of shrog, particularly the seashrog. Though seashrogs are potential competitors, they have no choice in what beach they wash up on, so the dockshrogs don't bother them unless there is a food shortage. Seashrogs prefer using wood from trees growing on the beach while dockshrogs use mangroves which grow in the water, so they do not compete for building materials. Sometimes, orphaned young seashrogs may be adopted by dockshrogs, as juveniles of the two species look fairly similar and will activate their parental instincts.