Spelun Ketter
| Spelun Ketter | ||
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| (Porphyrorhachis segnoklimmen) | ||
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| 17/116, Cave Plague | ||
| Information | ||
| Creator | Somarinoa Other | |
| Week/Generation | 15/99 | |
| Habitat | Rabid Sandstone Caves | |
| Size | 34 cm Long | |
| Primary Mobility | Unknown | |
| Support | Endoskeleton (Jointed Wood) | |
| Diet | Omnivore (Cave Pear, Nightstrainers Young) | |
| Respiration | Active (Lungs) | |
| Thermoregulation | Unknown | |
| Reproduction | Sexual, Two Sexes, Live Birth | |
| Taxonomy | ||
| Domain Superkingdom Kingdom Subkingdom Phylum Class Subclass Superorder Order Suborder Family Genus Species | Eukaryota Viridisagania Mancerxa Phytozoa (info) Chloropodia (info) Phyllauria (info) Olfactoptica Kitrii Eukitrii Paleokitrii Porphyrorhachidae Porphyrorhachis Porphyrorhachis segnoklimmen | |
| Ancestor: | Descendants: |
|---|---|
When the violet ketter of the Huggs-Yokto Savanna discovered the Rabid Sandstone Caves en masse, they quickly adapted to life within its grainy walls. Soon, the spelun ketters were born, scurrying about in the darkness.
With the cave floor now crawling with creatures more than willing to snap them up and digest them, they have evolved a new strategy of getting around. While they are entirely capable of quickly scurrying around on the cave floor, they have specialized pads on the bottom of their feet which secrete a sticky resin that they can use to temporarily stick against a surface; in this case, the cavern walls and overhangs. While on these surfaces, however, they move deliberately, pulling one leg away from the resin holding it in place, setting it down in a new place, and then going on to the next leg. This is a somewhat slow process, and so they usually will choose to flee on foot into the darkness from immediate danger as opposed to this scaling. This is aided by their naturally high sense of smell, which they will use to tell if potential predators are nearby.
Unlike their predecessors, they have stopped burrowing for the needs of living quarters; this cavern-dwelling species now lives on the tops of rocky overhangs or in small crevices that they can fit into; if they're lucky, they may come across a squeeze that opens up into a dead-end gallery, through which their predators cannot get through. In the case of those living on overhangs, they will attempt to make small burrows to place their newly born young in; these are generally too deep for the young to get out of at younger stages, but as they grow older, they will eventually learn how to escape and join up with the rest of the family unit, which consists of up to ten individuals. Until then, they are brought pieces of Cave Pear as food.
The spelun ketters' main source of food is the cave pear, and because these plants live only where light enters the cave, they have developed very simple camouflage to disguise themselves as cave pear plants from a distance. Because their camouflage is only cryptic coloration that actually covers only certain portions of their body, and not mimicry, they use their sense of smell to determine if predators are nearby, and if so, they will try to disguise themselves against the cave pear, with as much as their body within the shadows as possible. Despite being mainly herbivorous, they will supplement their diet with newly born nightstrainers, and will often be found slowly scaling a wall towards nests when they are full of young. Their nose horn is used to kill young nightstrainers, as well as for attempting to fight off foes, and they will struggle as long as they can, attempting to pierce a predator with it, even while being held in one's mouth.
The leaf of a spelun ketter has widened at its tip, and with the aid of specialized muscles, can be lowered to the ground. The ventral side of this leaf's broad section also has a pad, similar to those found on the feet, only it does not secrete resin, and instead has an almost rubbery texture to it—this aids the spelun ketter's scaling by providing a powerful anchor with which to lean back against. The leading edge is, however, very smooth and waterproof, and is actually rather successful at 'scraping' the resin left by the feet off of the walls. This helps both in covering its tracks, but also in another way; once in the relative safety of their dens, they will preen their tail, consuming the resin stuck to it. This allows them to recycle as much as the resin as possible, so as to not waste energy producing new resin every time they choose to scale a wall.
