Creature:Seeker Beast

Seeker Beasts are incredibly tall, bird-like abstractians who roam the open savannahs of their homeworld.

Information
One of the tallest of all abstractians, Seeker Beasts wander the great open savannah as if on stilts, constantly on the look out for their favorite meal, the Densect.

Statistics
Species Type: Warm-blooded Terrestrial Abstractian Lifestyle: Solitary Forager Hunt/Forage Success Rate: 100% Forage (90% success rate) Armor: Seeker Beasts do not possess armor of any kind, and thereby rely on various other defensive means. Defenses: A Seeker Beast's main defense is its incredibly long, stilt-like legs, which provide powerful kicks. Unfortunately, adults are so tall that they must kick carefully, or miss their intended target entirely, swinging high over its head. Their secondary defense is running away, as their legs are so long they can take them great distances.

Weapons: Under Construction

''Aurix possess a row of cnidocytes on either side of all four of their tentacle-arms which possess weak neurotoxin to incapacitate smaller prey or creatures with thin skin. They also possess a radula which usually lies within a tiny "nook" deep within their split jaw mouths; when used, it sticks out this tongue and whips it around, trying to saw against chitinous armors, although with less success as it did when the species possessed their ancient proboscis. However, this weapon has fallen into rapid disuse due wholly to their stomachs now possessing enough acidic content to successfully digest chitin, allowing them to just swallow their armored prey (however, they also no longer feed on any species of arthropods, and therefore do not need this evolution, and may soon lose it). As mentioned earlier, they can also use their electroplaques to stun or even kill some prey. Another weapon they possess a large bone scythe at the tip of their tails, which possesses a hollow center in order to release venom by way of a venom sac located at its base. They possess a spitting organ as well, which they use to fire a projectile venom attack from their mouths at foes, sometimes from the safety of their watery homes, like some kind of poisonous archer fish. The more recent addition to the Aurum's arsenal is elongated claws on its second pair of tentacle-arms; these are used to rake at prey (generally, Grendons, but also the occasional Quirlax) during hunts, or even at foes during fights; this has even more recently been supplemented by a pair of killing claws on their feet, located on their inner toes - these can be used to attack prey either by slashing from a standing position or jumping at prey, where they can inflict relatively deep wounds. The final weapon they possess is the split jaw mouth itself, which is actually separated into four jaws, which can open wider than a regular mouth to bite huge chunks of meat from foes and prey. This mouth is filled with a large complement of very sharp teeth, which are used for tearing rather than chewing; this means the Aurix, when feeding, typically tear large chunks off of prey, and then set this down, and tear it into smaller chunks that will successfully glide down their esophagus.''

Tools: Under Construction

''Two pairs of tentacle-arms, capable of simple manipulation of objects, or for wrapping around prey. The first pair of these tentacle-arms possess a split tentacle style of hand (which is formed when the tentacle-arm splits into four or five shorter tentacles, which are used like makeshift, yet far more flexible, fingers), designed to allow further manipulation of objects. The second pair possesses hunter's claws, which are long and slender; they are used for raking against foes and prey alike. However, they are also capable of a little manipulation.''

Method of Eating: Under Construction

''Grab prey with tentacles, using split-tentacles, if needed, hunter's claws to hold on. Certain prey is incapacitated by injecting them with cnidocytes that line the arms. Other prey that possess hard chiton shells incapable of either fitting the mouth entirely around or too tough to crack, use of radula to wear through armor is not uncommon. Bring prey to split jaw mouth and tear off large chunks of meat off of prey. If chunk is too large to immediately swallow, can either set food down and tear smaller chunks off until entire thing will fit down the esophagus, or use smaller, inner teeth (adapted from proboscis barbs they once had) to tear and chew the meat until it is in small enough chunks to fit safely down the esophagus and into the stomach, where digestion begins. After being processed within the acids of the stomach, it descends into the intestine, where nutrients are partially digested by the body, with wasted remnants excreted out the anus on the opposite end.''

Reproductive Rate: Sexual maturity is reached after 3 years. Reproduce during the cooler months, to prevent harsh times on their young. Gestation: 2 weeks then lays eggs -- eggs are lain in shallow nests dug out of the dirt, forming a slight bowl shape. Females lay on the nest for much of the time it takes for the eggs to hatch, only leaving the nest to feed on the nearest Densect hive. Most nests are built quite close to Densect hives, to minimize time it takes to return to the nests. Offspring Incubation: 2.5 weeks until eggs hatch after being laid. Number of Offspring: 2 eggs per clutch Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity): 42% -- By laying only two eggs per clutch and by being a non-sapient species, many offspring do not survive past maturity. Of these deaths, about 37% are killed by local ovivores before hatching even occurs, and another 60% are killed by predators. 3% are killed by various accidents such as drownings or falls and such. Singular/Plural: Seeker Beast/Seeker Beasts

Related Species

 * Dowsing Beast

Trivia

 * The Seeker Beast was a creature originally created for the game Graffiti Kingdom.