(okay I am off my buttocks now)
EVOLUTION ATTEMPTS: Make silk water retainers- 2, Bone shells with neurotoxin grooves- 6, Larger packs- 5+3=6+, Become larger and more robust- 4, Symbiotise larger predator- 5+3=6+, Better ground movement- 3, Better senses- 1, GIGAWEB PARTY- 3+1=4,
SURVIVAL ROLL- 5! We've managed to escape from the slope to extinction.
The shelled nightmace is another step up from the last generations, and now forms even larger packs. They have formed a symbiosis with a larger predator, the greater eagle-squid, which has powerful day vision but is virtually blind at night. We have taken to nesting alongside it, going out with it at night and guarding its chicks. Our sense of smell has dwindled, now that we are able to find food by following the eagle-squid. They have developed a strong, light and grooved shell, and neurotoxin leaked from the poison-tubes is spread around the body by their shape. Our webs are slightly larger, but a bit looser, to allow our hosts to navigate them. We have a slightly larger size, as well, although this has had an effect on our flying abilities.
The world is continuing to dry. The forests have been replaced by meadows.
GENERATION 25:
Nightmace
A mottled dark purple bird-like animal that hunts under the montane forest canopy. They use their fanged tentacles to attack and kill their prey. They mostly fly. They grow up to 40 centimetres long, and their offspring are called tentaclets. They use two claws on their back to snatch prey from the ground or air.
SOCIAL: They live in groups of about 25, alongside one or two eagle-squid.
SENSES: It has a sense of touch that lets it figure out if it's touching food, and an extremely good sense of smell/taste. A keen electrical sense lets it find creatures that are close to it, and it can feel vibrations from moving creatures. Its hearing is superb, and it can echolocate. However, this is still inferior to the eagle-eyed vision of other slicers, although the eagle-squid partially makes up for that.
REPRODUCTION: It 'kisses' a mate it approves of, passing male cells to it, and growths grow inside of the womb. Tentaclets follow their mother and are fed by them. They eat regurgitated food from the mother's guts, and when they are old enough, they leave.
MOVEMENT: They fly by using their front wings to glide and their back wings as engines. They have two legs on their underside, which can break through wood and dig through dirt.
EATING: It impales small animals and digests them by drawing them into the guts. They are able to prey on most animals smaller than them, and they use venom. Most of their food is from grazing worms and the dense vegetation. Other prey include land-dwelling spearfaced worms (slitherers) and other flappers, as well as leggedgrinders. We can use a precise jet of neurotoxin, laced with silica shards (to pierce the skin), to kill prey. We scavenge from the kills of our host when we are not hunting.
PREDATION: We have few predators, now we are protected by our shells and our hosts.
SYMBIOSIS: The greater eagle-squid, a large predator with a 3-metre wingspan and powerful vision and claws.
COMPETITION: Many predators our size are taking over the daytime niches. However, we can scavenge from our host's kills as well.
ENVIRONMENT: A woodland with loose trees and quite a few balloons above it.
CURRENT ENVIRONMENT: Lowland woodlands
NEARBY ENVIRONMENTS: Bubblegrass prarie, mudflats, taiga, open ocean, alpine meadows, overseas coastline
Author
Topic: Competition- An evolutionary suggestion game (Read 107722 times)