The bullet shrew

**The Bullet Shrew** (CRURACONIUNCTA BRONTEPROICERE)

Proite (Cruraconiunctid)

Ambulospeculid

Dispeculata

The Cruraconiuncta bronteproicere is a large proite known colloquially as the Bullet Shrew. It’s an ambush predator approximately the size of a large dog (standing at around 44” or 112cm fully grown), able to hold their ‘primed’ hunting position for hours at a time. Getting as low to the ground as possible they hide in short foliage, waiting for an unwitting prey to feed on their hiding spot.

This Bullet Shrew’s natural habitat is one of plains of Polyspeculates, temperate weather, and a broad variety of extremely large Ambulospeculids, some of the latter making up the Bullet Shrew’s diet. The ancestors of Cruraconiunctidae fused their middle two legs to form a single limb, but kept the two bases of the limb separate, which is what gives the family it’s name. In Bullet Shrews and a few of their closest relatives these two bases are connected by a thick, elasticated tendon that snaps together with an incredible amount of force after being pulled apart.

## **Hunting**

#### **‘Primed Position’**

When these creatures enter their ‘primed position’ they dig their front claws deep into the ground in front of them for purchase, they pull the two bases of their main limb apart, spanning almost the entire length of their body when fully primed, and hold it there, incredibly still. This ‘priming’ movement typically takes around 2 minutes to complete. When an unwitting prey stumbles upon them they tense every muscle in their body and interlock their bones into a tightly connected pattern which allows them to direct most of the force of impact through their body, forming themselves into an exceptionally tough spear.
A Bullet Shrew was once observed holding this position for 5 weeks. The zoologist observing this specific specimen unfortunately left to urinate before hearing the distinctive pop of the Bullet Shrew pouncing. They could not find the proite or any remains of prey afterwards so it’s unknown whether it was successful in it’s hunt or whether the creatures have an upper limit for how long they can stay primed. It is however thought that once their leg is cocked in it’s primed position the only way the creature can release its tension is by firing, it’s thought that they can not stand up slowly once cocked. It seems that this is because, despite being able to draw their leg-bases back slowly, they can not reverse that process and can only relax the whole leg-base muscle all at once. Zoologists have speculated that this is some form of energy saving mechanism to enable the proite to hold it’s position for as long as possible as there is no visible physical locking mechanism for the legs implying their primed position is actively held.

####  **Pouncing or ‘Firing’**

Within a fraction of a second of this first act they relax the muscles holding the bases of their leg apart which allows the thick tendon to forcefully spring the bases back to their original position right next to each other. As the back leg-base stays in the same position relative to its body, allowing only the front leg-base to move, this propels it’s body forward at eye watering speeds of up to 30 meters per second.
It’s thought that one of the reasons for the creatures colloquial name is the loud bang or pop that is made when the Bullet Shrew pounces. This sound is created by the forward base of the animal’s middle limb moving so fast and hitting the padded backward base of the middle limb in such a manner as to create a loud, low-pitched bang or pop that can be heard up to 4 miles away on a still day.

#### **Larger Prey**

Usually waiting for a larger animal, when the Bullet Shrew pounces, it fires its body, nose first, into the mass of the unfortunate creature in front of it. Usually if the animal is more than 5x the Bullet Shrew’s body mass (which is common in the time period and area it lives) the Bullet Shrew will get lodged in the body of it’s prey. Most of the time creatures up to about 8x the proite’s body size will die instantly from the initial strike, depending on the animal and area of impact, but for animals much larger or those unlucky enough to survive the initial impact, the serrated boney plates lining the outside of the proite’s body will tear at the flesh as it enters the body, often leading to paralysis, extreme amounts of pain and eventually death by bleeding out from the entrance wound and internal damage. Once sufficiently lodged in, the proite then starts digestion.
If its prey doesn’t die from the initial force of the impact or the subsequent damage however, the Bullet Shrew will start this process of digestion regardless, with little its prey can do to stop it, as it is usually lodged so far into the animal’s body that the prey can not expel the Bullet Shrew. In all recorded accounts this has lead to the death of the prey.

#### **Smaller Prey**

The Bullet Shrew will usually settle for a prey between 2x and 5x its size if it has been primed for more than 3 weeks without a larger prey being available. With this size range the proite will almost always pierce completely through the creature, and often travel a fair distance afterwards. This means the proite will have to come back and search for its prey’s body which will have been flung a fair distance from the force and often obliterated into many smaller pieces. This is also assuming it’s prey hasn’t already been found by a nearby opportunist, which isn’t as unlikely as it may appear due to the distinctive pop the proite makes when firing that can resonate through it’s environment, a tell some local scavengers have learnt to read as a dinner bell, such as the Bullet Shrew’s cousin the Box Proite (C. carriolestes).
If a Bullet Shrew attacks creatures within this size range too often it can cause serious issues for the proite as it seems, despite being evolved to fire themselves with much force, they are ill adapted to actually land these jumps, unlike their cousin the Kangaroo Shrew (C. megadissilio) which uses its rear limbs to brace its landing. As such the Bullet Shrew’s landings often look clumsy and painful, and can often cause severe bruising and straining of many of their joints and ligaments. Surprisingly they have also been observed, although very rarely, to break bones during these landings as it’s thought that their bones have evolved a directional strength – that being of a high longitudinal compressive strength but relatively weak in most other directions. As such this option of smaller prey can keep the Bullet Shrew going in times of scarcity, but is much more of a risky last resort than a behaviour the proite would enact in anything but desperate circumstances.

####  **Digestion**

When ready to feast, the Bullet Shrew retracts a bony plate, located on the bottom of it’s head (its speculated that this opening evolved from its ancestors breathing apparatus known as spiracles), which leaves an opening for it to expel its stomach, thought to be adapted from the proboscises it’s ancestors had. The proite digests it’s prey externally, using the pulsating motion of its stomach to suck in the digested material into a hole in the centre of it’s stomach.
In an animal of between approximately 5x and 20x the Bullet Shrew’s body mass, the full digestive process will take between 3 and 9 days. If this process takes longer than 20 days the proite will usually exit what’s left of the body by kicking or ‘firing’ its conjoined limb, either pushing the proite out or breaking the body apart.

## **Skeleton**

Somewhere along their evolution the ancestors of Cruraconiunctidae swapped out the majority of their cartilaginous skeleton with a specially adapted type of bone, with increased durability when a longitudinal compressive force is applied to the mass, but a lower durability when pressure is applied in other directions. As such the orientation of the bones in this family have a lot of bearing on the animal’s life.
Cruraconiunctidae swapped out the cartilage of the skull, specific sections of the spine, and the middle limb(s) – it is unknown whether the conjoined middle limb evolved before the swapping of cartilage for bone or vice versa.
The main internal mass of the rear crest (though not the boney plates attached to it), the rear limbs, the fore limbs (now functioning as claspers) and sections of the spine remain cartilage. It is important to note the internal bone that spans from the ‘shoulder’ to the ‘hip’ is thought to be an adapted external boney plate, that has, at some point in it’s evolution, migrated inwards to help the forward base of the middle limb slide more smoothly against the body while reducing wear and tear from the motion.

#### **Spine**

The Bullet Shrew has a spine that encases its central nerve that spans the length of its body, connecting it’s brain, housed in its skull, with the rest of its body. The spine is easily categorised into 3 sections: the cartilaginous section (at the rear), the boney section (in the middle), and the dual section (at the front).
 Cartilaginous Section
The rear section of the proite’s spine consists of 3 flexible vertebrae who’s composition is almost identical to the hard, elasticated tendons that spring-load the middle leg’s pouncing movement. These 3 vertebrae are all separated by a springy cartilaginous padding that is incredibly efficient at expelling energy outwards. This mechanism helps relieve stress from the other areas of the skeleton when the proite pounces without reducing the force of propulsion or impact. It also helps during intercourse as it allows the rear of the females a wider range of movement and angles to allow easier access for the male claspers to enter. It connects to the single hip bone that spans the width of the proite, separating this section from the next.

#### **Boney Section**

Leading on from the hip bone, the middle section is formed of 6 individual vertebrae bones that are held together by smaller, softer tendons connecting them. When stood upright fatty deposits fill the gaps between the now curved vertebrae, cushioning the central nerve and reducing the wear between the bones. During priming, the fatty deposits are pushed out the way to allow the vertebrae to lie completely flat against each other, locking into place, making for an incredibly sturdy central pillar to support its hunting habits. It should be noted that like its other bones, the Bullet Shrew’s spine is extraordinarily strong when it comes to compressive longitudinal force, but relatively fragile when receiving impact from other angles. The two vertebrae closest to the head from this section of the spine start to separate into two.
 Dual Section
The upper vertebrae resemble, in composition, the tough vertebrae of the boney section of the spine, forming an arc when primed, directly supporting the skull.

The lower series of vertebrae are the same composition as the rear vertebrae – elasticated, allowing for more flexibility for this section of the spine. This lower section hangs loose with slack when the Bullet Shrew is primed. This helps protect the central nerve which is encased in this lower spine, not the upper spine which is for structural support during firing and impact. The springy vertebrae of the lower spine and the slack the spine holds when primed reduces the forces felt by the central nerve in this section of the creature to a negligible amount, and yet allows the flexibility of the head the Bullet Shrew needs when in it’s standing position.
When standing the lower spine extends straight, aiding the muscles in supporting the boney head of the proite. The upper spine curves, relaxed, with the spaces between the vertebrae being filled with fatty deposits.

## **Reproduction**

#### **Sexual dimorphism**

There are only a few subtle differences between male and female Bullet Shrews; the rear of the females are slightly smaller and rounder, with the rear most spike on their rear crest being slightly curved forward to allow for easier mounting during sexual intercourse.
Females generally have fewer spiracles on their rear which vary more in size and appear slightly closer to the middle of the creature than their male counterparts. This is thought to allow for easier breathing during intercourse.
Probably the most obvious difference between the two are the claspers that appear on the lower abdomen of the males, thought to have evolved from the creatures forward-most limbs, early in the family’s evolution. These claspers tightly grip the females sides and enter into their cloaca, found at the rear of the animal, to fertilise the eggs held inside. The females also have limbs in this same spot but are laid flat against their stomach and are practically useless in grown adults.

#### **Eggs**

When fertilised the female deposits these 5” wide, flattened-spheroid-shaped eggs, surrounded in a thick, boney shell, in a nearby bush, in groups of between 3 and 5, leaving them immediately to incubate, hatch and fend for themselves. The eggs will usually take about a month to incubate fully, depending on external temperatures. When they are ready the baby proites will kick open their egg, having an impressively formed kicking ability from 2½ weeks incubation onwards.

### **Early Life**

Within a few hours the baby proites learn to orient themselves, walk and prime themselves for attack. This is important because within the first 14 hours of their hatching, a baby proite must fire itself into a nearby animal in order to survive. Being only 3”- 4” long (about 7 - 10cm), ½” in width (1.27cm) and lacking all external boney spines when first hatched most animals will barely notice the proite’s entrance into their body with but a sharp sting and a small red welt to show for it.
The proite’s will stay in their host for between 5 and 7 days, depending on the size and species of the host, where they will have grown up to 5x their original body size. This period of their life is very similar to the full lifecycle of the Bullet Shrew’s closest contemporary relative the parasitic Jigger Proite (C. proicerepestis). They will then use a combination of their claspers and rear legs to pull their heads out of the body. Once their heads are free they will usually use their middle legs to fire themselves out of the host and clear of the now dilapidated, angry and often dying animal.

For the first time in their lives they will have to find a hunting spot of their own. They will often hide in grass like organisms belonging to the celestiphyta family branch, and fire themselves into a fresh host. The next stage of their development is much longer. They will spend at least the next month in this host and will usually grow up to ¾ their fully grown weight. Because the proites are burrowed in the same host for the whole of this stage, and it being such a long period with extreme amounts of growth, the adolescent proites have to find a host large enough to survive a month of them growing inside of them – if the host dies before the 3 week mark then the proite will die inside it. By the end of this month long period the proite will be ¾ it’s final body weight and will start hunting as an adult, acting out the same patterns and behaviours as fully matured individuals.