Colonial Scuttlehopper

Life in the Ittiz Desert is tough. The colonial scuttlehopper has split from the scuttlehopper and shows primitive colonial behavior. It is smaller than its ancestor and now lives most of its life inside a plurge and the surrounding sand. Colonials work together in family groups to build tunnels into sand surrounding a plurge. They will then tunnel into the plant from underneath. Each individual will reproduce and protect each others young as a family. They react violently when a colonial from a different family attempts to enter their home. Any plurge could have tunnel after tunnel under the surface. The colonials sleep and breed in chambers underground and, with all the nutrients and water they need on their doorstep, they never need to leave their tunnels. To prolong the food supply, approximately half the young colonials are forced out by the elders once a year. These individuals leave and use heightened smell senses to locate a new plurge under the cover of darkness. If they don’t find a plurge by dawn, they are in serious danger of drying out. When a plurge reaches the end of its life, the whole family will move at night. They cross the desert, carrying young colonials on their backs, trying to find a plurge. Usually, many of the young or old will not make it, but by moving in groups they increase the chance of at least one colonial reaching a new home, as when one family member dies, the others feast, recycling the nutrients and water. The colonials even defend their home from scuttlehoppers, pushing the scuttlehoppers to the edge of the desert, whilst the colonials inhabit the hot center.