Skewer Shrog

When the seashrogs arrived on the southern regions of the Dixon-Darwin super-continent, some populations found themselves following the sweet scent of bristlepile berries growing. However, at a cost to their quest for delectable fruits, they ended up in a more arid climate and had to adapt promptly into skewer shrogs.

Heat and Aridity
To better manage the heat, skewer shrogs are not only smaller than their ancestors, but their fur, spines, and tail-saw have become lighter in color and density. By having these heat adaptations, it also allows for the skewer shrog to be able to run faster than its ancestor. The skewer shrog’s ears are also less hairy and wider than its ancestor’s, which provides a larger surface area for better heat loss. Along with those heat adaptations, the skewer shrog has adapted to go without water for so long that they could even lose approximately 20 to 25 percent of their weight in water and recover quickly after 5 minutes of drinking water. Another adaptation that protects it from its arid environment is that its urine is more heavily concentrated than its ancestor, allowing it to further retain water. Lastly, it also seeks out plants that store water in them to further rehydrate them in the event they cannot find viable water sources soon enough.

Anatomy
Along with the aforementioned smaller size, light-colored and thinner fur, light-colored and smaller axe-tail, and larger ears, the shrog has evolved dark circle marks around their eyes that cut down the glare from intense sunlight, which especially comes in handy for shrogs living in the Dixon-Darwin Desert. The skewer shrog also has fewer, but longer spikes to ease the weight just a little more while keeping attractiveness needed to get potential mates. Skewer Shrogs are all born with varying sets of black stripes on their shoulders that help them recognize family from foe. One major difference between the skewer shrog and the seashrog’s appearances is that the skewer shrog has a body type more like that of a Terran pine marten with a slightly shorter torso and longer legs. This build improves its running capabilities and even allows the skewer shrog to live a semi-arboreal lifestyle.

Behavior
Much like its ancestor, the skewer shrog lives alone or in mated pairs. While they are normally not hostile towards other creatures that are not predators, mated pairs of shrogs can be aggressive towards male strangers. To deal with predators, they either use their large wooden skewers in a similar manner as their ancestors or, if close to a large enough tree, they run and climb up it to avoid being attacked. In order for the skewer shrog to protect its young, it either carries them up to the trees or stab their skewers at the enemy or even resort to swinging their axe-tails at the enemy. To deal with male strangers, the mated male will send a warning call to keep them away. If that fails, both the mated male and male stranger jab their skewers in the ground then the mated male smacks the ground three times with each hand in a drumming pattern in an attempt to scare off the male stranger. If this fails, the mated male will charge at the male stranger and they will fight each other by scratching and biting one another, and they do this until one of them surrenders. If the male stranger surrenders, it flees and the mated couple return to their lives; if the mated male surrenders, the male stranger kills the formerly mated female’s kits and mates with her, making them a newly mated pair.

Vocalization
Similar to its ancestor, the skewer shrog makes different vocalizations that are sometimes started by a short bark, although at a higher pitch than its ancestor and more varied. The majority of its vocalizations are shorter than its ancestors to reduce dry mouth and thus reduce water loss. Those that are followed by the barks are as follows: A gruff-sounding “Rreff” (“This is mine/Not yours”), a swift-paced “Or-or” (“Come here”), a quick and shrill cry of “Hahgaaa” (“I’m in danger/Watch out”), an attention-grabbing shriek of “Eek-eek” (“Help me”/”I need assistance”), and a gurgling snarl of “Hurr-gool” (“Back off”/”Go away”). Those without the barks are as follows: A whiny and short “Hurum” (“Too much”/”Too heavy”), a cocky yip of “Hekeey” (“Too light”/”Too little”), a coo of “Hurgle” (“I want more”), a short grumble of “Herir” (“I want less”), a quirky hoot of “Oop-oop” (“Funny”/”That was fun”), and a gurgling whine indicating pain. The skewer shrog’s mating call is considerably shorter than its ancestor’s and comes in the form of a gurgling howl of “Brrrago”, which is repeated twice. For those without mates, it means “I’m looking for a mate”, while for those with a mate, it means “I want to mate”. Not only having to worry about water loss, but also more predators, their mating is significantly quieter and typically occurs on higher ground or in the trees.

Skewering and Diet
The skewer shrog gets its name from the large wooden skewers it carves from purple wood, primarily from the branches of ferines or bristlepiles. It stabs its food through these skewers to make it easier to carry food and travel without having to worry about its next meal too often. To further keep the food stuck to its skewer, it uses bristlepile berries in between each piece of food as a sort of glue and even doubling as a flavor-enhancer. Much like its ancestor, the skewer shrog is an omnivore, though it now has more specific methods of consuming prey of differing sizes. Prey that are smaller than 30 centimeters do not get skewered as they are merely snacks to ease their appetite, those that are within a size range of 30 to 50 centimeters are skewered whole, and prey that are larger than 50 centimeters and smaller than 1 meter are torn to pieces that get skewered. When it comes to hunting, single skewer shrogs hunt by themselves while mated pairs without children are able to work together to help take down larger prey. However, for mated pairs with kits, one parent stays in the tree-house while the other goes out to hunt and for each hunt, they swap between roles of caretaker and hunter. The hunter typically hunts during the evening and night, providing an advantage against its prey. They keep some extra flora-loaded skewers to store for later consumption and sometimes manage to keep sun-dried meat skewers as well. To hunt for meat, it hides in the trees or behind rocks, eyeing its prey before impaling it with the skewer, using the skewer as a type of spear. Right after stabbing its prey, if it still struggles or is able to run, it leaps for its prey and bites and claws into its prey until it manages to kill it. After the kits are fully weaned, the parents take some time to teach their young how to properly set up skewers and eventually how to hunt. During the training, they sometimes find an odd way of having fun while learning through making skewers of assorted colors and posing the bits of food in different angles.

Nest
Unlike its ancestor, the skewer shrog makes a somewhat less complex nest by making circular tree-houses out of purple wood, a cement made from bristlepile berries, mud, and its own saliva, and leaves for roofing. It prefers to build these tree-houses in ferines and bristlepiles as they have strong enough branches to handle their tree-houses. These are smaller than its ancestor’s impressive wooden boats, but they suit the purpose of housing a family and keeping them safe from harm.

Reproduction
Much like its ancestor, the skewer shrog males will compete for mating rights, but do so through the previously mentioned drumming patterns, biting, and scratching. However, unlike when they deal with stranger males stealing mates, when males fighting for mating rights lose, they may find themselves winning the female regardless due to the female seeking healthy males. Just like with other shrogs, they they mate belly-to-belly to avoid poking each other with their spines. If either one already has a tree-house they will move into it, usually the one which is in better condition if they both already have their own tree-houses, transferring supplies stored in the other. If neither already has a nest, they will build one together. In a near-reversal of the seashrog’s lifestyle, kits have a somewhat reduced chance of surviving to adulthood compared to its ancestor, but they manage to have a higher chance at finding mates due to their tighter range on land. However, they still lack a fully-defined breeding season and mate frequently, although less than the seashrog and they prefer to mate during cooler and wetter times. Skewer Shrogs tend to have kits that are helpless, but more developed than the joeys of a Terran marsupial; resembling more of Terran puppies born with their fuzz, but unable to see. Despite this, the growth rate of a skewer shrog kit is still about as slow as that of a seashrog joey, to help with their brain development. It takes about 7 years for its brain to develop and it becomes independent at the age of 4 years old. Skewer Shrogs live about 25 years due to their more intense lifestyle, but some lucky individuals can still live up to 40 years. Males also lack a pouch, while females still have their pouch. As with the seashrog, homosexuality does occur with skewer shrogs and male/male couplings are still more common with older males, while female/female couplings can not only serve as a reproductive outlet for solitary males, but sometimes, they will manage to adopt orphaned shrog kits they manage to come across or can occasionally form from female shrogs that refused to mate with victorious male strangers and escaped.

Relationships with Other Species
Unlike with the seashrog, the skewer shrog only has relationships with the beneficial cleaner borvermid and the parasitic false cleaner borvermid, and has helped spread their range, especially in the Dixon-Darwin High Grassland, Darwin Plains, Darwin Chapparal, and Vivus High Grassland.