Desert Bloodstrider

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**Desert Bloodstriders** (*Mortestruthus corpusicco*) are an original species designed by User:TheAgent41. Desert Bloodstriders inhabit the *The Hole* universe.

## Appearance and anatomy

The Desert Bloodstrider is an exothermic pack-based predator with a vaguely theropod-like body shape. Desert Bloodstriders are large creatures capable of reaching just under seven feet in length and weighing over 200 pounds. Their bodies are covered in a thick, tan, leathery hide similar in texture to that of a rhinoceros. Like many of its relatives, the Desert Bloodstrider is classified under the phylum "Rigidiscapulae", meaning that its internal body is supported by a strong cartilaginous rod analogous to a vertebral column in Earth vertebrates.

The Desert Bloodstrider's tremendous running speed (approximately 45-50 miles per hour) is due to its powerful digitigrade legs. These legs end in sauropod-like feet, each ending in eight keratinous toenails. The Desert Bloodstrider has impressive stamina, being able to maintain its top speed for periods of up to an hour. Its long rigid tail allows it to keep balance when running for long distances, similar to Earth dinosaurs or kangaroos. The Desert Bloodstrider also possesses a row of anywhere from eight to ten keratinous spikes running down its back. These are useful for self-defense, as the bloodstrider can thrust them in an attacker's direction.

The Desert Bloodstrider's head is noticeably curved like the bill of an ibis and functions like an organic syringe, injecting digestive juices into its prey's body and liquifying its internal structures such as organs and muscle tissues. The bloodstrider locates its prey by detecting its body heat using the ten thermal pits on its head. After a victim's innards have been dissolved (a process that takes up to a minute), the bloodstrider will absorb the liquified creatures with a sponge-like organ called a "spongops". This spongops is attached to the end of a long prehensile tendril on the bloodstrider's chest. When not feeding, the spongops is generally kept tucked up underneath the head. Having the feeding apparatus separate from the main head allows the bloodstrider to keep lookout while feeding.

## Behavior and ecology

### Diet

The Desert Bloodstrider is a pack-based carnivore that, as stated above, feeds exclusively on liquified organs and muscle tissues from its victims. Bloodstriders are opportunistic predators; this means that they will attack and consume anything they can get their proboscises into. A pack of them can take down prey as large as a Willowhead or Giant Budapo.

### Behavior and intelligence

Desert Bloodstriders tend to live in packs of six or seven. Unlike many Earth-based pack hunters, there is no real social hierarchy such as alphas or other forms of leadership. It's every bloodstrider for himself. That's not to say that there's no communication between members of the pack, however. When taking down large prey (such as the aformentioned Willowhead or Budapo), there appears to be an unspoken understanding between all pack members that each member is to receive equal feeding time; this ability to "ration" food speaks to the potential that bloodstriders are more intelligent than normally given credit for. When a bloodstrider takes down a small prey creature that can reasonably only feed one bloodstrider, the meal always goes to the bloodstrider who killed it. The exception is if one pack member is ill or heavily injured, in which case the pack member who killed the victim gives it to them, indicating a high propensity for altruism.

Due to the lack of real social hierarchy, there are no fights among members for leadership. However, if a rogue bloodstrider attempts to join the pack, the pack members will force the individual to undergo a sort of initiation ritual in which the individual must defeat a pack member in combat. If the individual wins, they are allowed into the pack, but if they lose, the pack members will chase them out of their territory. Desert Bloodstrider packs can have a territory measuring ten square miles or so; they mark the boundaries of this territory by littering carcasses of prey they have drained.

### Reproduction

Like most achlysium-based species, Desert Bloodstriders are hermaphrodites, meaning they are both male and female. However, they are not asexual, meaning they can't fertilize their own eggs. When a bloodstrider reaches sexual maturity (approximately at 12 years of age), it will mate with members of its own pack (excluding its parents). The proboscis used to inject digestive juices into prey also doubles as a phallus, allowing bloodstriders to inject sperm into a mate's abdomen. The sperm will then swim through the bloodstream and make their way to the egg cell.

After three months of gestation, bloodstriders will give live birth through the cloaca located underneath their tails. Newborn bloodstriders start out nearly immobile, as their legs are atrophied at birth and only begin to grow sufficient musculature after two or three hours of being alive. During this 2-3-hour period, all pack members will protect the newborn from predators. After this external development period, the newborn will be capable of standing upright and walking, but it is incapable of sprinting for more than a few seconds. If this 2-3-hour period passes and the infant has not developed the strength to walk, it will be abandoned by the pack.

## Trivia

* The scientific name *Mortestruthus corpusicco* loosely translates from Latin as "body-draining death ostrich."
* The bloodstrider's original name was "Chupabestias", a reference to the chupacabras of Puerto Rican folklore. Whereas chupacabra translates into English as "goat sucker", chupabestias translates as "beast sucker."