Beardshroot

The beardshroot replaced its ancestor the velishroot in the Flisch Taiga. In this rather disconnected biome its ancestors found themselves competing with the norats and chunky pipents for the same food sources without any use for their omnivorous ways and greater size; it therefore evolved into a predator hunting on its original competitors. Its ears and tail grew smaller to better adapt to the cold taiga, while its fur coating grew thicker for the same reason. Its face, though, has no hair on it, except for beard-like hairs that it grows from the end of its jaw. This is so that dirt and blood won’t get stuck in its face fur when it’s digging and feeding. The beard on the other hand is used to attract the females during mating season. By showing them, the male is capable of getting food for both of them by its being colored with blood: the bloodier the beard is, the better.

They still live in small groups of about 8 members, and still dig burrows in the taiga especially in the cold winters. They exhibit sexual dimorphism as the males have dark purple-stained fur on their backs while the females have brighter ones that are rounder and appear more like perfect circles as well as an open edge pouch. They live for about 10 years.