Agropspyt

Facing increasing amounts of competition for other herbivores as well as a wide variety of predators, some populations of greenscales adapted to these selective pressures by becoming highly aggressive. Since they developed the habit of facing attackers and preferring to fight over flight, these greenscales evolved ferocious weapons to maximize potential damage to anything they attacked. Combined with developing coloration and patterns to blend in with their environment, these populations would split off from their ancestors and became the agropspyt.

In some ways the agropspyt resembled its ancestor, with the two toes on each limb helping them navigate rough terrain and big claws that can help dig up roots and tubers. The agropspyt is also covered in photosynthetic scales, though they have a large amount of anthocyanin found within their tissues which allows them to blend in with the abundant purpleflora. The large powerful bill helps the agrospyt to deal with particularly tough and woody flora or the shells of crystal flora.

Since the agropspyt can’t outrun potential threats such as the bubblewraptor, they instead rely on their numbers, weaponry, and sheer aggression to fend off attackers. When isolated, which rarely occurs, the agropspyt will constantly try to face the closest threat. They open their mouths and show off their blue tongues as an active warning. If the assailant does not retreat, the agropspyt will lunge forward, trying to use its powerful beak or large claws to deal lethal wounds. The butt-nostril has become shorter and bulkier while developing a larger amount of spines which deters predators from grabbing it. If something does try to attack there, the agropspyt can temporarily lean its weight forwards and lift its hindlegs off the ground, where they can be used to deliver deadly kicks. The hind legs have large claws and strong spines on the legs to cause more damage with their kicks.

All of these weapons mean solitary predators rarely bother attacking a solitary individual, with an agropspyt’s main threats coming from pack-hunting carnivores such as the bubblewraptor which can attack it from multiple angles. Agropspyts, as a result, stick together in tightly-knit groups where they can fend off pack-hunting predators by sheer numbers. If one predator is attacked by an agropspyt, the whole group will swarm and maul it, usually leaving it dead or close to death. Agropspyts will also use their numbers to drive off other herbivores from their preferred sources of food, as something like a frilled greenscale does not want to fight what can be best described as a gang of highly aggressive herbivores adapted for fighting.

Since living in a group has proven so vital for the species, interspecific conflicts have pretty much disappeared in the agropspyt. The few times there is aggression between one another is usually squabbles over food, which usually boils down to a nip or at worst a swipe of an agropspyt’s forelimbs. Males also do combat each other over mates, though in these matches it's more a show of strength then actual physical violence, with the males bobbing their brightly colored heads in front of their opponent until one of them backs down.

The agropspyts will rear their young as a group, though two agropspyts will care for their young as a pair, with the females giving birth to 2-3 babies at a time. Once the young are born, one of the two adults will leave the safety of the group to feed as well as gather vegetation to bring back to feed their offspring. It's at this period of time when agropspyts are most vulnerable, as predators can take advantage of the adults going out to get food since they are in a small group at most but are more often alone. After the young are able to walk, which takes a few weeks, the whole group of agropspyts will leave the nesting site behind with the youngsters keeping pace with the adults.