Dpison

Male

Dpison (Der-pie-son)(my username nickname of DP combined with the word bison)

Overview: A decedent of Ambulospeculida which on the surface shares many traits with the mammals of earth but underneath is still a native to Wallace 2. The Dpison is a herbivore herd animal that fulfils the same niche as the bovine of earth but being on average a whole metre taller (males reaching up to five metres tall) and with large bony protective plating.

Key Biological traits: Dpison despite being a decedent of the Ambulospeculida, it has evolved six distinguishing features.

The first of these features is its eyes. Dpison poses one pair of eyes located on the side of its head since as a prey animal it’s beneficial to have peripheral vision; however Dpison over time has had its compound eyes evolve to more complicated eyes more akin to those of cephalopod, reptiles and mammals. While the Dpison may appear to possess horns, it doesn’t, these are just extensions of its bony skull plating that have a gap in them that allow the Dpison to see forward (X-ray vision is pushing to far).

Secondly the mouth itself. Dpison is one of the creatures of Wallace 2 that has evolved a jaw, but unlike many of the predators of Wallace two that use its jaw to not only break down food but to also to grab hold of food, the jaw of the Dpison is solely for breaking food down into easily more swallow able and digestible sizes. The Dpison is able to do this since its hard outer armour common to most of the Ambulospeculida decedents has evolved to be the the Dpisons skeleton, this includes large molar like teeth inside the Dpison’s mouth which when moved by the jaw, break down plant matter inside the Dpison’s mouth. The Dpison is unable to use its mouth to grab as external biological armour makes it to difficult for the neck to move the mouth to a position to which it can grab.

Thirdly proboscis. At first glance the Dpison has no proboscis but it has kept Its proboscis which has evolved over time to essentially be the Dpisons tongues. The proboscis have moved up inside of what became the inside of the Dpison mouth which has granted the evolutionary benefits of reducing the creatures external surface area which its self reduces water loss and allowing the Dpison to bring food to its mouth despite the restrictions on movement that having external armour would have. Of the three proboscis two have become the “minor proboscis” which act like a tongue on earth guiding food to the teeth and taking part in the swallowing motion. The remaining proboscis has become the “major proboscis” that acts akin to an elephants trunk which is used to compensate for the Dpisons limited neck movement range by grappling on to plants and bringing them inside of the Dpisons mouth.

Fourthly Dpisons spiracles. Dpisons spiracles have split into two distinct groups. The spiracles to the rear have remained as the Dpisons method of respiration with large developed lungs but not only have they become larger in size, they have moved high up the body from the lower sides of the Ambulospeculida to the upper back of the Dpison. This has offered one key evolutionary advantage to Dpison, which is that the spiracles are out of the way. Dirt, mud and parasites from the ground don’t make their way into the Dpisons respiratory system as the spiracles aren’t close to the ground brushing on tall flora. Meanwhile an even greater change to the forward spiracles has happened. These spiracles have lost the ability to be used to breath but instead release a liquid depending on the gender of the Dpison. Female Dpisons excrete a milk like substance from their forward spiracles which is consumed by their calf’s, male Dpisons excrete a more waxing like substance that smells and tastes awful and is used by male Dpisons to mark territory and “rub” on female Dpisons to ward of other males that may try their luck with another males female.

The fifth feature is the external armour or rather lack of it. While Ambulospeculida and many of its decedents retain its hard external armour Dpison has lost its armour in many places of its body. However it hasn’t lost its armour entirely, underneath the Dpisons skin is the armour, it has just evolved to be internalised and became the equivalent of a skeleton while the connective tissue between armour plates evolved over time to cover most of the Dpisons body and turned into a leathery like skin to be resistant to natural solar radiation and prevent water loss. Meanwhile all external natural armour that remained outside of the body has either remained as armour or evolved into the animal’s hooves. Towards the front of the Dpison are its large face plating that acts like a natural shield for the creature which covers from the forward back, across the face and on the upper half of the legs. The face plating has protruding tip like horns that are used as biological sledge hammers so that when charging other armoured creatures of Wallace 2, the Dpison may crack open their external armour to either kill or ward off.

Lastly the animal’s legs. The Dpison has retained its four pairs of limbs, but while the first pair and the third and fourth have evolved to be strong legs with bony hooves; the second pair of legs has evolved upwards and has not been covered in skin. This is because the second pair is used for communication purposes. Since the mouth and the respiratory systems for the decedents of Ambulospeculida are separate, the Dpison can’t moo like its earth niche counter parts. Instead it rattles its bony secondary legs like the tail of a rattle snake on earth. So when coming across a herd of Dpison, they won’t moo at you, they will rattle instead.

Behaviour: the Dpison are herbivores that live in small family units consisting of 3-9 members consisting of one male with the remainder comprising of females and their offspring. These family units then group together to form larger herds that can consist of up to 40 family units. Dpison spend the majority of their time grazing the warmer grasslands and river basins of Wallace 2. Females raise their young while males butt face plating to control as many females as they can. when threatened the Dpison will try to run away but is not afraid to stand and fight to defend territory using its skull plating. The Dpison will charge predators or other inhabitants of Wallace two that get to close, using its strong legs to charge and skull plating to crack open the hard open shells of other creatures akin to a sledge hammer, this is why the Dpison has bony protrusions on its skull plating.