Gnark

* Male
* Female
* Juvenile Male
* Juvenile Female

## General Info

The Gnark is a small fossorial herbivore, They forage most of the day for ferns, seeds, fallen fruits. And the rest of the day is spent socializing, taking naps, and playing together. Gnark are quite skittish too, and will run at the slightest chance a predator is watching. They can live up to 25 years, but if healthy enough can live to 35. Gnark make a variety of different sounds that indicate different feelings, such has gurgled chirps to indicate happiness, or high pitched screeches when frightened. Gnark live in burrows, where they also make nests out of grass, large leaves, and sometimes feathers and scales of other creatures. They usually lay somewhere between 11 to 19 eggs, most of which dont survive. While Gnark are fossorial, the adults usually spend a lot more time outside the burrow, only going underground to hide, sleep, or lay their eggs and care for their young.

## Juvenile Behavior

After young gnark hatch they stay in the burrow for a few weeks until they're old enough to run alongside their mother. Once out of the burrow, the young gnark are very active and curious, even getting themselves in pretty dangerous situations. This behavior keep the colony active as they chase down their young before anything bad happens. Young gnark when not wandering off, like to race each other, which in the future they will need to know how to run fast to escape predators.

As young gnark get older, they start to distance themselves from their mothers and prefer to be around other young gnark in their colony. Eventually when reaching sexual maturity (Which is at 5 years old) the male gnark will leave the colony to find non-related female gnark to start their own colonies with. Females usually either leave to find a mate, or they stay and help look after the new young the breeding pair raise. Gnark will take turns foraging throughout the day in groups, and while the breeding pair is away their siblings or other colony members babysit. When the breeding pair returns they will feed the baby gnark with regurgitated vegetation.

## Behavior

Gnark are very social creatures, usually seen in colonies of up to 20 individuals mostly consisting of the breeding pairs young, with some outsiders joining the colony. These colonies usually only have one pair who can breed, this pair leads the colony. They prefer sticking around one area, but when food runs out or too many predators show up, the colony will leave in search of new foraging grounds. Once at their new foraging grounds they will create a network of tunnels, with lots of escape points. When solitary, gnark will travel with groups of large herbivores for safety while they look for a colony to join or a mate to start a new colony.

## Competition

Gnark aren't all that aggressive, but if another similarly sized species such as the Papoko is eating from their forage spots, the gnark will charge into battle to protect their food. With slashing toe claws and a powerful kick, gnark can be mean when they want to be. Gnark and papoko have a pretty intense rivalry, as they usually inhabit the same spots. And even though both species are known for being pretty docile creatures, they hate each other with a passion, and will chase each other away if they spot one another on their respective territories. Also, while they typically dont get upset with larger herbivores eating some of their food, but if they feel the herbivores are causing the food to run out, they will attempt to chase them out, which usually doesn't work due to the gnark's small size. So when the large herbivores eat up all the gnark's food, the colony will be forced to leave, and thats why they try to choose areas with herbivores that prefer different kinds of plants.

## Danger Response

When faced with an angry herbivore or a hungry carnivore gnark always choose to run. Usually running to their burrows, but when they cant get to their burrows, gnark still have one trick up their sleeve-er paw? Anyways, they have very strong legs, which they usually use for digging but they can run like crazy, they aren't called the crested runner for nothing. But when a smaller predator gets into their burrow, while they normally would run out of the burrow if they have young in the burrow, gnark can give a pretty painful kick to the face.

## Courting and Reproduction

When two solitary gnark meet, the male will attempt to court the female. Courting is a two stage process for gnark, first the male will try to look for the food gifts such as juicy fruits or large colorful ferns, and if the female approves the male will then begin a courtship dance. The male will stomp his feet and bob is head up in down, then he while doing that he will flash his crest, making it larger as he moves his crest up in down alongside his body movements. If the female approves the courtship will end and they will be a bonded pair for life, although, not all individuals are faithful to their partner. After bonding they will go in search of lightly forested foraging grounds, where they will establish a territory and a burrow, where they will raise their future young in. Gnark are very territorial in the early days of their first brood of hatchlings. Females usually lay 11 to 19 eggs, most of which dont survive, especially for first time parents. Gnark eggs gestate for about a month. But around their 3rd brood they will start to become more docile and accepting of other creatures in their territory, so long as they dont eat the gnark's food.

## Miscellaneous Info

* Gnark can be used as both a plural and singular adjective.
* Gnark are one of few creatures that can have same-sex couples! They usually join other colonies, and together they look after the babies when the breeding pair are out foraging.
* Gnark were the first creatures to be discovered by human colonizers, and therefore are known as the posterchild representing all creatures on the planet, Zemdros. (I will go into more detail about alien and human colonizers on Zemdros, later.)

## Previous Iterations

The history of all of my creatures spans back to August 14th 2017, starting with the gnark, on my old DeviantArt page (Which I no longer use). And no matter how far I get, I will always look back and remember the humble beginnings! So lets appreciate the original drawings that made my creatures the way they are today!

The original creature that started it all! [Publication Date: August/14/2017]The first female creature! [Publication Date: August/15/2017]The second gnark, when I moved from Gimp to Krita for drawing. And I still am using Krita btw. [Publication Date: July/24/2019]I wont spoil anything, but the Krita Gnarks were never actually replaced! As sometime soon, you will see a new creature that resembles them a lot! Especially with those larger eyes and rounder, shorter face. [Publication Date: July/24/2019]My first attempt at making a truly improved gnark! Also I finally got the legs right! [Publication Date: September/13/2020]Another thing I did, was try to make this new Gnark go back to its roots, and look somewhat similar to the original gnark, like making the pupils smaller, and making its face longer and pointer again. [Publication Date: September/13/2020]