| Dawn Scraper | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| General Information | |||
| Universe | Sagan IV | ||
| Classification | Pinnipedflora amphidontus | ||
| Species Type | Sealplent | ||
| Homeworld | Sagan IV | ||
| Environment | North Polar Coast, Allen Ice Cave | ||
| Intelligence | Non-sapient | ||
| Biochemistry | Carbon-based lifeforms | ||
| Biological Information | |||
| Reproduction | Sexual; give live birth through mouth | ||
| Average Length | 1.5 meters | ||
| Locomotion | Powered swimming | ||
| Feeding Behavior | Carnivore, Autotroph | ||
| Prey | Ice Swarmer, Crymaid, Onyroslee, Photosynthesis | ||
| Predators | Blue Sledodil | ||
| Distinctive Features | Large tusks | ||
| Eye Color | Black | ||
| Skin Color | Green | ||
| Lineage Information | |||
| Ancestor(s) | Sealplent | ||
| Cultural Information | |||
| Alignment | True Neutral | ||
| Sociocultral characteristics | |||
| Scientific Taxonomy | |||
| Planet | Sagan IV | ||
| Domain | Eukaryota | ||
| Kingdom | Mancerxa (Plents and Ukfauna) | ||
| Phylum | Phytozoa (Plents) | ||
| Class | Terraphytozoa (Land Plents) | ||
| Order | Pterophyta (Flying Plents and Cetae-Plents) | ||
| Family | Cetiomimidae (Whale-mimicking plents) | ||
| Genus | Pinnipedflora | ||
| Species | amphidontus | ||
| Other Information | |||
| Status | Extinct | ||
| Creator | Somarinoa | ||
| First Sighting | Martykian Period | ||
| Possible Population | 0 | ||
Moving along the coast northwards over many years, some sealplents within the BigL Coast began a somewhat migratory life, feeding in the LadyM Open Oceans just off of Nuke Coast, yet returning to BigL Coast often. However, during a massive storm, almost the entire populace became lost, and those who didn't were not populous enough to warrant anything even close to a subspecies, and soon returned to their regular way of life without their more influential brethren. However, those lost were not dead, and although many drown from exhaustion, a small number found their way to the North Polar Coast, where they slowly began life anew.
First, they adapted a layer of blubber to insulate themselves from the cold waters, allowing them to fully explore the biome. They also have adapted a larger set of lungs, and a heart system that slows down while on a dive, allowing them to hold their breaths underwater for upwards of 20 minutes, although this time obviously decreases with increased depth. With these evolutions, they spent much time swimming around, seeking out and scraping ice swarmers off of the local icebergs. To aid in scraping these ice swarmers off their 'anchoring point', they developed large, almost tusk-like extensions at the external corners of their mouth. Once forced to swim freely, the swarmers will quickly be crushed by the scraper's back molars, which have developed to be very blunt and rounded. It was a meek existence, but they soon discovered and subsequently began hunting the local crymaids, and they eventually discovered the entrances to the onyroslees, as well. Dawn scrapers adapted even more here, transforming their front teeth into forward-facing dagger-like objects, to better catch these creatures during agile swimming escape attempts.
At around the same time, its posterior ventilation shaft has grown upwards into a short dorsal ridge, to help with stabilization while gliding through the water — especially useful when hunting at top speeds. It also allows them to stick it out of the water with less effort, as wasted energy in the arctic can be a deadly mistake. Another evolution is in the caudal fin; although the legs are still attached to the tail, they have spread out somewhat near the tip, with the splits being filled with webbing, to allow for a more powerful swimming mechanism. Superficially, its stumpy forelegs have elongated slightly, allowing it to lift itself onto the ice easier when exiting the water.
Despite spending most of their lives out at sea, they still return to land to breed, which they do once every year, during the warmer summer months (in order to keep their young out of the colder waters of the later seasons). Dawn scrapers will now rest and raise their pups within the Allen Ice Caves. When raising young, they will attempt to find thinner sections of ice in the caves, and scrape through them to make small escape holes, should danger come barreling into their den. The birthing chamber has gained a blubbery substance within it to help insulate the young while they are developing inside of the female scraper.
They will often resort to scraping ice swarmers off of icebergs while swimming around, trying to locate larger prey. This provides them with a minimal energy supply, which allows them to hunt for larger prey longer before needing to return to the caves to rest. They have grown in size from their ancestors to better handle hunting the crymaid and onyroslee. Because they live within the Allen Ice Caves, they can spend all their time hunting below the ice, never being in direct contact with the sun. Despite this, they can still photosynthesize should they come in contact with it, as the more energy they can glean, the better.
They are a common prey item of the blue sledodil, especially the young and inexperienced juveniles.