Noant

The noant is a eusocial creature. It split from the nosqueak. It has became much smaller than its ancestor. It now lives a colonial lifestyle. A noant colony can consist of hundreds of individuals. There are only two castes so far: workers, and the queen. The workers do a multitude of tasks, such as digging, raising young, retrieving food, etc.

The workers can be both male and female, but only the queen reproduces. The males are fertile, while the females are sterile due to a hormone from the queen's urine-sweat. This is only temporary, though. When the queen dies, it is replaced by another female, which takes the position as her hormones kick back in. The queen gives birth every week, and the litter can consist of ten babies. They are altricial, and need much care. They are retrieved by the workers, and they gently place them in their cradle chambers.

Noants house themselves by digging deep burrows, containing many chambers. Some of them are for resting places for the workers, and other chambers are for raising young, and one is for the queen only.

When finding food, they "march" in trails similar to Earth ants. Noants collect rotting fruit, rotting flesh from larger animals, and even dead or dying small animals.

In physical changes, the legs are bent due to wooden bones that other plents evolved on Sagan IV, and they sprawl from side to side. The feet have two opposable digits facing rearward to gain better foothold on the ground, and to improve climbing. There is five digits total on each foot. The wings were no longer needed, so they disappeared completely. The noants' posterior breathing hole now faces anteriorly, and squeaks to signal and communicate. Their squeaks are inaudible to larger animals, as they are ultrasonic. The incisors are now used for carrying objects rather than biting. The anterior eyes move to the tip of the snout.