Blobcat

> ***"Ah, the Blobcat, a very silly-looking creature indeed. Watching them hop around the icy surfaces of frozen wastelands, one cannot help but chuckle. But remember to keep your wits about you when interacting with a colony, as if you anger one, you anger the whole family."-William Tancard's: Guide to Haven's Glorious Creatures.'***
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## **Description**

**Blobcat** are a species of feline predator mammals native to shorelines of the colder regions of **Haven**, such as the continents of **Vanriel** and **Ruhiel**, as well as the many icy islands strung about the planet's oceans such as **Remina** and **Alannia**. They resemble a mix of the common house cat and sea lion species, and like the two aforementioned fauna, the Blobcat is a semi-aquatic predator species, often hunting small mammals and fish. They are a fairly common animal, with a theorized global population of around twelve million. They can be found in large quantities, as they travel in immense colonies, typically along the banks of a body of water.

They are a fairly famous animal, as many inhabitants of Haven have taken a liking to the Blobcat's esoteric appearance, with many even keeping them as pets. Though they require a large amount of upkeep, as well as a cool climate and plenty of water to swim in.

## **Physical**

Blobcat's have a quadruped build, growing at an average height of around three feet (0.9144 meters), and an average weight of two hundred and twenty-eight pounds (one hundred and thirty kilograms). They have two front-facing eyes, two ears on the sides of their head, sets of whiskers on its cheeks, and a nose at the center of its face.

A typical Blobcat's physical appearance and structure are very blubbery and fat, allowing them to live in extremely cold regions, as their internal organs remain well heated and insolated. As well, it allows the Blobcat to remain well buoyant while they are skimming across the surface of the water. Due to their large bodies, they move very slowly on land, hopping around at a maximum speed of around five kilometers per hour.

Thanks to their small limbs, they are unable to traditionally walk, instead, they are forced to bounce across the icy surface they inhabit. However, once they enter within the water, they become extremely fast and dexterous, being able to move up to fifty kilometers an hour, allowing them to catch many types of fish with relative ease. Their fur can have a myriad of colors, ranging from light-tans, to deep blacks, and in rare circumstances, a Blobcat can be born with albinism, turning them as white as the snow they traverse.

Their abilities of sight are fairly impressive, allowing a Blobcat to see up to thirteen kilometers away. Their eyes also have improved visibility in low light levels, allowing them to see cloudy midnight with a relatively high light level, in a form analogous to that of a mid-evening light level. Their eyes evolved this way due to the environment they primarily hunt in, as they require good visibility underneath the darkened water.

Their ears can detect many minute sounds, allowing a Blobcat to hear almost anything around them in a three-kilometer area, in a way akin to sonar. These ears were specifically developed to both locate prey underneath the water, as well as potential threats, making them able to retreat well in advance. Their abilities to smell are fairly weak, however, only able to smell objects in very close proximity to them. This may seem odd to some, but as the sense of smell isn't required as much since their other senses allow them to already locate prey with great efficiency, it seems to have been left by the evolutionary wayside.

## **Behavior**

Blobcats share many behavioral similarities to most feline species., they are typically very skittish, fleeing from any potential threats almost instantly. They are also very inquisitive, often investigating strange things they have not encountered before. They can also be very aggressive, often attacking things that pose no threat to themselves, as well as attacking each other for seemingly no reason. Despite their aggressive traits, however, those Blobcats who were born into the same colony form extremely tight-knit bound, making a Blobcat move heaven and earth to protect their tribe members.

As previously mentioned, Blobcats form large colonies, allowing them to give off an intimidation factor to other larger predators that may want to attack an individual Blobcat. These colonies can grow extremely large, with the largest known colony spanning around two hundred thousand individual Blobcats, located in western Ruhiel. During Haven's winter months, the Blobcat breeding migration begins, meaning that Blobcat colonies begin moving towards other colonies of similar size. After the mating migration is complete, a Blobcat will take around eleven standard months to give birth, and will typically have a litter of two individual Blobcats.