Mantidore

A species of enormous insects that have recently been encountered in the Chad Zone's sandier, rockier northern regions, particularly the Tibesti Mountains. They have been speculated to be an Engineer experiment that got loose, but their origin has yet to be determined for certain. The informal name "Manidora" comes from a conjugation of the Chadian Arabic phrase "Ma ni dora", which means in English "I don't want it". This has led to the adapted name “Mantidore” by English-speakers.
An adult Mantidore is four and a half to five meters long and stands at roughly three meters in height, weighing an average of 550kg. Primary locomotion is provided by the two pairs of hindlegs, giving the Mantidore a quadrupedal appearance. The upper forelimbs are 1/3 shorter than the rearlimbs, but still grant the Mantidore significant reach. These limbs are used in a manner similar to swords, slashing and stabbing with their bladed ends. The most prominent feature of the Mantidore is their distinctive, pincer-like mandibles, capable of crushing rock, shearing metal, and severing limbs with ease. Mantidore possess a tough carapace resistant to gunfire and a durable insectoid physiology that allows them to continue fighting even after sustaining severe damage. The only fast way to take down a Mantidore is to aim for the nerve stem connecting the upper and lower sections of the body together; a difficult target to hit given the Mantidore's fast, agile and frantic movements when in combat.
Individual Mantidore are extraordinarily dangerous creatures. But, being insects, they are very rarely encountered alone and more commonly encountered in swarms of hundreds. Mantidore feel no pain or fear and will climb over their own dead to get to their prey, but do display a low level of intelligence and problem solving ability, having been determined to possess a human IQ-equivalent of 30 or so. They possess only two eyes, set behind the mouth on either side of the body. These eyes are roughly the size of a fist and appear completely black. They are surprisingly complex, granting the Mantidore the ability to perceive movement, light and distance.
Category:PACYOA: TE
Category:Africa