Shingmow
| Shingmow | ||
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| (Cochlealepus lystrorostrum) | ||
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| Information | ||
| Creator | Disgustedorite Other | |
| Week/Generation | 27/167 | |
| Habitat | Vonnegut Subpolar Beach, Vonnegut Archipelago Subpolar Beaches, Vonnegut Prairie Archipelago, Vonnegut Subpolar Volcanic, Nemo Subpolar Coast (Breeding) | |
| Size | 30 cm long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Unknown | |
| Diet | Herbivore (Sunstalks, Yanisflora, Marbleflora, Snotflora, Pioneeroots, Tepoflora, Cryobowls, Larands, Chitjorns, Glaalgaes, Rustmolds) | |
| Respiration | Active (Lungs inside shell) | |
| Thermoregulation | Ectotherm | |
| Reproduction | Sexual (Male and Female, Eggs in Water) | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Superkingdom Kingdom Subkingdom Phylum Class Subclass Order Superfamily Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Viridisagania Mancerxa Siphonozoa Konydonta (info) Echinopoda Euechinopoda Pneumatostraca Otoconchoidea Zephyricisternidae Cochlealepus Cochlealepus lystrorostrum | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
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The shingmow split from its ancestor as various baby shingoes moved southwards and made it to the subpolar regions of Vonnegut. These mostly inhospitable islands had very little food to offer, so the shingmow evolved to chow down on the low-growing flora that ekes out a living in such a harsh environment.
As the shingmow is limited in size by its soft legs and heavy shell, it has adapted to process tough flora by chewing. This resulted in it gradually increasing the size of its lower beak until it grew so large as to meet its head plate, where a joint formed. This served to allow it to shovel up food with more efficiency and to push against its upper beak to grind up whatever it caught. Its beak is more calcified than most uktanks', allowing it to easily mash whatever it can get in its maw. These adaptations are directly responsible for its unusual facial features, as its snout must be turned down to graze.
The shingmow also uses its powerful lower beak to burrow. It survives harsh subpolar winters underground, where it brumates. It is able to be active for much more of the year in the volcanic province, due to geothermal heat keeping its surroundings above freezing, and overall maintains a higher population there for the same reason.
Much like its ancestor, the shingmow is an air-breather, and its lungs are located in its shell. Unusual among shaillor uktanks, its shell has very little secondary curvature, instead being conical like the shells of the various uktanks of Drake and Maineiac. This helps it maintain a stout form that resists frostbite should it be exposed in a sudden freeze. It still has a very horizontal stance, typical of shaillors.
The shingmow breeds in the late spring or early summer, laying its eggs in aquatic flora such as the spaghettigrass. Juveniles hide in the shallows for much of their early life, with their main threats being hallucigillia and necroeel, and will regularly surface to breathe once they grow too large for sufficient oxygen to diffuse from the water into their air-filled shells. They emerge from the water in the fall and bury themselves to survive their first winter, and are terrestrial for most of their lives.
The shingmow's biggest threat on land is the kurtback of the volcanic island, though in the prairie islands to the west it may sometimes be trampled by vonnegut quillmows. Its shell protects it to some degree, as does its formidable beak, but there is very little it can do if a kurtback gets a hold of its hind leg. However, fully grown shingmows are often too large for the kurtback to handle and are mostly safe as a result.