Gnawsferatu

Within the Javen Temperate Rainforest, the native population of grabnubs began to experience trouble. This was due to the rise of obsiditrees, whose immense size and black leaves covered much of the forest floor in shadow. This resulted in the grabnubs' patterns, once great for camouflage, to stick out like a sore thumb to predators. Alongside the rise of competitors such as the hikahoe, the increased predation forced the remaining grabnub population to adapt. The changes this population would make would not only be in coloration, but also in their diet and lifestyle. This would lead to the population becoming a completely new species, known as the gnawsferatu. As the species evolved, they would end up replacing the remaining populations of grabnub, leading to the extinction of their ancestor.

Due to its ancestral eye-hearing method proving very ineffective at actually picking up sound, the gnawsferatu had to make some important changes. In a similar fashion to the ballichehara, the crests work by passing sound through their skin which then resonates with the thin bone core, afterwards being detected by jaw bones adjacent to it. While the crests do help with hearing, with the nasal crest also helping with their scent of smell, their primary function now is for display. The two digits on their hands have developed large claws, helping with digging up the roots of certain flora such as carnossamers and crystal swordgrass. Unlike their ancestor or their close relative, the gnawsferatu will feed on tough flora species such as hydrabowls and the osziza. To properly handle this food, their front teeth now continuously grow in a similar mannar to rodents so they do not wear down from constant use. The gnawsferatu uses these teeth to snip off bits of vegetation, with their larger molars then helping to grind up the food. The large claws and big teeth can also help protect the gnawsferatu from predators such as the terrorbeak, along with another defense. Unlike their ancestor or close relative, two of the three toes on the rear-most leg are permanently raised off the ground, with the claws having become longer and sharp. This adaptation is present due to the fact the gnawsferatu will briefly lean forward and lift up its tail leg to violently kick at any predators coming at them from behind.

While the species no longer utilizes echolocation, they still make a wide variety of high frequency sounds to communicate with others of their kind. For protection, the gnawsferatu travels in small herds consisting of females and their young and one mature male. If not leading a herd, mature male gnawsferatu live in small bachelor herds consisting entirely of males. Every spring, males will seek out herds and challenge the alpha male for mating rights. When this happens, both opponents size each other up by holding their heads high up to display their crests, with one of the two often backing down. If neither is willing to give up, however, the two males will then turn to what can be best described as a series of “attack hugs". This is when both combatants would turn towards each other and charge with their arms outstretched, colliding with their opponent and trying to use their arms to grapple the other male and tossing them to the ground. While males often get scratched up or bruised from these “attack hugs”, serious wounds are extremely rare.

In a similar fashion to their ancestors, the gnawsferatu lays hard shelled eggs within a burrow, though the species does it in a very unique way. When a herd is ready to lay their eggs, they will dig a large communal den, where each female will then enter to lay their eggs before exiting. After this, the alpha male will then enter the burrow and stay at the entrance, guarding all of the eggs from potential nest raiders. When the male gets hungry, a female will briefly take his place while the male gnawsferatu gets food for itself. This process continues even after the young hatch two weeks later, although in a slightly different manner. When the young hatch, the male will let a single female in at a time to feed her young. This is to prevent the burrow from getting crowded and risking some of the youngsters being accidentally trampled. This continues for another month and a half until the babies are old and large enough to keep pace with the herd. In total, a gnawsferatu takes one full year to reach sexual maturity with both the females and males departing from the herd. For females, they will try to find another herd to join or a male gnawsferatu to start a new herd. Males, on the other hand, will often try to find a female to start a herd with or a different herd to challenge the alpha male for breeding rights. On average, the species can live to be around 15-20 years old, with the females usually breeding about 4-6 times in their lifetime(males can potentially breed every year after their first birthday for the rest of their lives).

Due to their generalistic diet of flora, the gnawsferatu is an important seed disperser since a lot of seeds and spores can make it past their digestive systems intact. This has allowed them to spread several different species of flora and one species of flora to new biomes.


 * Carnossamer is spread into the Javen Tropical Rainforest


 * Hydrabowl is spread into the Javen Tropical Rainforest


 * Mainland Fuzzpalm is spread into the Javen Tropical Rainforest


 * Twin-Tail Orbibom is spread into the Javen Tropical Rainforest


 * Carnofern Flugwurm is spread into the Javen Tropical Rainforest due to the spread of the Carnossamer, which it pollinates.