Trowelhorn Gulper

The trowelhorn gulper has replaced its ancestor, the shorthorn gulper, in the Huggs-Yokto Savanna. Those shorthorns who lived here adapted to living in burrows by gaining a curved scoop on the dorsal side of their horn. To break the earth, they will dash forward and shove their horn into the ground. They do not reach top speed for this, only enough to successfully break ground, and therefore do not do any damage to their bodies.

While seeking an area to build a nest, they will become temporarily nocturnal, to avoid every organism in the area knowing where they are to be located. They can work fast, but even so, excavating these nests entirely can take a full night, but eventually will include a few rooms once finished. The largest room is used for defecation, and will have a sideways-facing opening as a ventilation shaft. The second largest room is the birthing den/sleeping quarters, while the third is the main shaft, where they will wait for prey to get too close to the hole. Their tongues have gotten longer in order to let it reach further out of the shaft, as the gulper is not likely to leave its tunnel to hunt.

Spending so much time underground began to make them susceptible to sunburn, especially on their tongues, and so they have adapted it to reflect light, especially of the UVA variety. This makes it gleam in the sunlight, which lets them now use it to warn oncoming, non-predator, non-prey organisms of the den's presence, to hopefully deter them from stomping around above it, to help keep it from collapsing. However, because it is so reflective of light, they must keep it below the burrow most times to keep their prey from noticing them. However, their smelling capabilities have become significantly more potent, letting them know if a species is approaching. The body itself has become darker to make it blend better into the shadows of their den holes in order to keep prey from seeing them below and dashing away too soon.

Trowelhorns mate for life, and when two trowelhorns of differing sexes find one another, the male will first mate with the female (assuming she's receptive to his advances), and then build a second nest next to hers, with the sleeping quarters combining into a single, larger den. With two adults hunting in the same location, they are more likely to catch prey, as well. Young are birthed in the birthing den, and remain there for up to a year before leaving the den to seek out an area for their own nests. Trowelhorns will mate once a year, and juveniles will not pass up an abandoned den if they come across one.