Gruesloo

The Gruesloo has split from the Snoofloo and has spread to the Darwin Temperate Rainforest. Aside from being twice the size of its ancestor, it has changed its color from a bright, conspicuous green to a darker, subdued indigo that matches with its surroundings, making it harder to spot by predators. These bluish pigments overlay their chlorophyll, which is still capable of photosynthesis, but to a lesser degree. In the event it is spotted and approached, the Gruesloo brandishes its claws, which have become larger and sharper and can inflict grevious wounds on the aggressor if it refuses to back down. The claws' sharpness is maintained by the fact that it no longer walks on its palms, but on its knuckles. Of course, this would mainly benefit their primary function: tearing deep into the nests of Trailblazers, Gamergate Gundis, and Treedundis, as well as the logs and wooden flora where they may reside. To seek them out, the tip of its sticky green tongue sticks out, seeking chemical cues for its favored eusocial prey. Since they lack teeth, gastroliths are present in the stomach to break down its meal as the stomach churns. But this species's diet is by no means limited to insectivory, for they can also eat the fruits of various species of flora, such as the Fruiting Grovecrystal, whose polygonal fruits it breaks open with its claws to then lap up the sweet, soft, spory innards. However, these supplement its primary diet, as the majority of its protein intake comes from its faunal prey. The antlers above the eyes grow even larger in males, whose function is solely for advertising fitness. Males, therefore, do not butt heads with these. Instead, they battle against each other much more brutally: they rear up and attempt to break the antlers off each other's heads, for females will refuse to mate with those without. Countering this are large, forward-pointing cheek horns that cut into the arms of both contestants, making their struggle for dominance a test of not only strength but also the endurance of pain and injury. The winner of this duel will have access to the local herd of females. The hornless loser will have to wait for his horns to grow back, for if he insists on mating a female anyway, her reception will be as clear as the sharpness of her claws.