Lipped Sauceback

The Lipped Sauceback replaced its ancestor. A mutation placed its jaws back inside its mouth where they belong, resulting in it basically having lips covering them. It can retract its lips to expose the jaws to bite into flora, or extend the lips to form a sort of proboscis for feeding on softer parts. This has the effect of making its lips incredibly muscular and flexible, even more so than before. It has also gained pinhole eyes derived from two of its scent pits, convergent with the unrelated Hearthead; though it has fewer eyes, not using all of the nostrils has allowed it to improve its sight much faster, and its own eyestrils do not have chemoreceptive capabilities. The spherical shapes of the eyes are supported by chitin. It is able to see a blurry greyscale image of its surroundings. This is very helpful for detecting predators and not giving away its position, not to mention far more useful in the snow which would otherwise absorb the sound and leave it blind.

Being able to see means that the Lipped Sauceback has less need for echolocation, so it could afford to shrink its ears—a helpful change in its frigid home, which is well within the arctic circle, as it reduces the risk of frostbite. Some additional features to help it in the cold include longer plumage, closable slit-shaped scent pits, and broad camel-like feet for walking on snow. The tail spike has been lost in favor of covering its entire tail in a bottlebrush-like layer of fluff.

The polar climate made depending on water for reproduction more risky than it was worth. The Lipped Sauceback has reverted to an earlier state of sauceback reproduction from before the ice age. It lays and incubates 3-8 soft-shelled eggs which hatch into limbless babies, which are already covered in a dense layer of downy feathers. The mother will “kiss” her hatchlings clean, basically lapping egg juices away and fluffing up their feathers, so that they can more quickly withstand the harsh cold. The young grow quickly, but less than half survive their first winter.

Like its ancestor, the Lipped Sauceback is an herbivore, using its beak to chomp through even the toughest flora. It can even chew through wood. It is social, but unlike its ancestor it does not form large herds, as its environment is not ideal for supporting such groups. Unlike its ancestor, it is awake during the “day”, but that term is relative in the northernmost parts of its range.