Longjack

The Longjack split from its ancestor. This larger herbivore is named for its long body and for its appearance akin to an eastern dragon (or “long”). Its long body gives it a long gut to digest flora. It feeds from trees, either rearing up to browse or cutting them down with its saw-like tail, though it may also eat from small shrubs. It may also strike branches off of tall flora to feed to its young while weaning them. It has lost the scales on its back in favor of a long mane which makes it look bigger, and its underside is covered in pebbly scales. To support its large size, its claws have become hoof-like. Despite its large size and the change to its feet, it is a surprisingly good swimmer and can often be found out in the shallows grazing on aquatic flora. This has allowed it to spread into Barlowe as well.

The Longjack has lost its pouch, with only a small flap of skin between its legs remaining of it. With their long gestation periods, its ancestors were clearly placental. It itself gestates for 6 months and gives birth to 1-2 babies per breeding. Its offspring are precocial and able to walk and even swim on their own at birth. The pouch is simply no longer needed. Instead, females have their teats out in the open and newborns stand under them to nurse.

The Longjack is a generally solitary herbivore. Males often leave soon after mating and the female raises her offspring alone. Its sharp tail axe allows a lone individual to fight off predators on its own, as a single well-aimed strike can disembowel or decapitate attackers. Convergent with the related Seashrog, its tail saw has a bone core so that it stays strong and deadly even in water.

Lacking the large fermenting chambers of more advanced herbivores, the Longjack is not the most efficient eater, but with limited competition for large herbivore niches this is hardly an issue. Still, the Longjack will often eat fruit before it eats tough leaves. The spread of various flora by Seashrog activity has granted it quite a few options to choose from. It is also semi-aquatic and may be found swimming in the shallows to feed on aquatic flora. Its hooves are powerful enough to break right through the shells of aquatic crystal flora, allowing it to access the soft easy-to-digest insides.