Diet Fatruck
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The diet fatruck split from its ancestor. True to its name, though it is the same length as its ancestor from nose to tail, the diet fatruck is much skinnier. This is because it has traded thick blubber for dense pelage, allowing it to be slimmer and more maneuverable. As a consequence, it can also stand up as an adult again—and cartoonishly run upright on its two flipper-like legs straight for water when threatened.
The diet fatruck primarily makes its home in the Soma archipelago and nearby coastlines, where the islands and mangroves create lots of sheltered habitat for aquatic flora to grow, which in turn attracts various edible fauna such as gilltails which eat that flora. It is a social creature which can be found relaxing in large numbers on beaches, though in the water it usually hunts alone or in pairs. As its ability to hear in air is poor, it must honk very loudly to communicate while socializing, making a beach full of diet fatrucks quite noisy. As a consequence of its long, skinny body, It is a surprisingly good climber and can rarely be found sleeping in trees near the coastline.
When the diet fatruck hunts in pairs, one hunter will swim through the rocks or between mangroves to drive prey out to where a second hunter lies in wait. Prey is usually stunned using the tongue, and killed and dismembered using the jaws. Parts from kills are shared with any juveniles accompanying them, usually the offspring of one of the hunters. Lone hunters will usually use their fangs to overturn rocks and then chase after the fleeing prey.
The diet fatruck has no strict breeding season, though it may favor late winter in lean times. It is polygamous, with a male mating with several females and defending a shared nesting ground. Other males may attempt to steal a female by courting her, or by attacking the dominant male to attempt to steal his entire harem. These battles involve bodily whacking one another with their torsos like living pool noodles. Nests are burrows which females dig into the sand above the high tide line using their fangs. As a plent, the size of the diet fatruck's young is restricted by the size of its mouth. Females will give birth to, on average, about a dozen rat-sized babies one month after mating.
Newborn diet fatrucks, also called socks, are fat and hairy and must be brought food. Within a month or so, they slim out and denser pelage grows in. At this point, they can leave the burrow, and their mother may already have another litter on the way. Due to their slimmer build, they don't float very well and instead more directly accompany their mother on hunting trips. Swimming with their mother means that they are effectively protected by the entire harem, which keeps an eye out for predators over a wide area; however, most are still picked off by predators and disease. Juveniles usually start hunting on their own at 4 or 5 months of age, at which point often only one or two from their litter is still alive. They reach full size in about 2 years, and females will start breeding on their third; males will often take longer, as they need to be strong and skilled enough to fight off rivals even if they can already successfully court females.