Amarganix/Amarganix Ecology

## Biology

### Habitat

Amarganix thrives exclusively in the Hoarfrost Reach, the Winterflare Forest, and the Boreal Reef.

### Biological Adaptations

Amarganix is a herbivore and a fungivore, subsisting on a variety of tree leaves, herbs, shrubs, mushrooms, mosses, lichens, and grasses found within the Boreal Reef, and despite its small size compared to many other Titan Wyverns, it has few predators and rivals due to its strength, with the only creatures being able to actively threaten it being monsters equal or greater than it in terms of power, such as Legiana, Tigrex, Barioth, Gammoth, Kirin, and other Amarganixes. Despite what its small legs would suggest, it is fairly quick for its size, being able to run at speeds of up to 30-40 mph, and this speed is due to it having sturdy leg bones that can greatly tolerate bending movements, which act as a limit regarding how fast an animal's maximum speed will be. Its neck is covered in many long, bifurcated spines, which act in a similar manner to horns, being used to stab foes whenever it points its neck down, and these spines secrete a neurotoxin that induces paralysis within seconds, which it maintains by eating Parashrooms.

These spines can also create loud noises when clattered together, deafening foes within earshot of them, and males use these noises to attract mates, with the loudest sounds having the greatest potential when it comes to finding a mate. Furthermore, the spines also change colour depending on the monster's current mood, with green indicating tranquility, red indicating aggression, and blue indicating exhaustion. In addition to paralyzing toxins, it has a clubbed tail that can smash through barriers like rocks, and it can utilize weaponized permafrost to its advantage, spewing frozen rocks and beams of frozen soil at foes, even being able to summon giant pillars of permafrost that can crush smaller foes with ease, and it sustains this ability by consuming large quantities of rocks, soil, and ice. Similar to bull elephants and Mizutsune, males of the species develop a surge in testosterone levels during the mating season, causing them to become immensely aggressive and attack anything in sight, and they will even barge into nearby towns and cause wanton destruction in them, which is the main reason hunters are requested to cull them.

While normally docile, the Amarganix species forms a strong rivalry with a species of Brute Wyverns known as Grynotrum due to them attacking and eating the Titan Wyverns more frequently than other monsters do, adapting their paralytic spines, thick plating, and clubbed tails as a means of repelling attacks from the Brute Wyverns and competing with them for territory.

### Behavior

Amarganix is generally placid, keeping to itself unless threatened or provoked, but will become highly aggressive during the mating season, attacking anything in sight, from other monsters and hunters to hapless passersby; this aggression is one of the reasons why hunters are requested to deplete their numbers. It forms a strong rivalry with a species of Brute Wyvern known as Grynotrum, with the latter preying on it and competing with it for territory, and adapted its signature paralytic spines, navy blue plating, and clubbed tail as a means of fighting the Brute Wyverns off; in addition, it will become aggressive in their presence and will fiercely attack them even outside of its states of musth.