Content:Agkistrodon
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| Creator | EvoMan06 – More content by EvoMan06 |
| Locomotion | Slithering |
| Environment | Deciduous forest |
| Diet | Carnivore |
| Size | Eight feet long, 200-275 pounds |
| Lifespan | Eighty years |
| Personality | N/A |
Contents |
[edit] Morphology and General Information
Name: Agkistrodon (Agki for short)
Type: Warm-blooded decendent of reptillian ancestory
Morphological Description They look like very large snakes. Their lower half of their body slithers across the ground and curves upward where they hold themselves upright with large muscles. Their two forelimbs being half up the upperhalf of their body and extend outward around four feet each. Their forelimbs have one joint halfway through them but it can bend either way. The Agki's head has three eyes. Two on either side of the head and one in the top of their forehead. Their nose is composed of two small slits that sit at the bottom tip of the lower jaw. They have no teeth as they do not rip or tear their food. The ears are located in the lower jaw as well, but back towards the joint hinge near the base of the skull. They are surrounded by a funnel like piece of scaly skin that acts as an amplifier.
Lifestyle: Intellectual Carnivore
Habitat: Moist deciduous forest
Size: Generally eight feet long. Sexual dimorphism is not present.
Weight: 200-275 pounds.
Diet: A variety of small animals but mainly the roaming herds.
Armor: They are covered in rather tough scales although do use bark from trees as a light protection.
Defenses: Sharp claws on the ends of their forelimbs and a barbed, venomous tail.
Weapons:
- Natural: The barbed venomous tail mentioned beforehand along with the claws.
- Manufactured: They use bows made from the trees. The arrows are made of the wood as well and often tipped with bone.
Tools: The two forelimbs have four digits each. They protrude in a square like pattern.
Method of Eating: After the kill (with bow, tail, etc) they inject digestive enzymes (found in the poisonous tail) into the organism. The enzymes move toward the muscles and reduce it to a pastey material. It is then scooped into the mouth and absorbed into the skin inside the mouth. The waste is excreted from under the scales and mixes with an oil which runs down and off the body. This is why they often bathe twice a day.
Lifespan: Roughly eighty years.
Reproductive Rate: Is sexually mature around six years of age.
Gestation: Five months then the egg is laid. The egg must be laid in water as the shell is much to porous to be outside of water, it would dry out in an hour.
Offspring incubation: The egg is incubated for one month until hatching.
Number of Offspring: Clutches of eight have been rumored although most often the clutch consists of four to six eggs.
Offspring Survival Rate (before age of maturity): 80%
[edit] Planet
The Agkistrodon planet is relatively dominated by water. Around eighty percent is comepletely covered. The land that is above the water is pretty much all forest of one type or another. The close proximity to water has virtually eliminated deserts.
[edit] Skeletal Structure
The skeleton is made largely of cartilidge to allow for greater flexibility. The danger it poses to the inner organs is minimal due to the rough scales on the outside of the body. They have double humerus bonesthat end on a rotation plate. The single forearm bone can rotate much like a human humerus. The carpals are bunched and allow for versability of the four digits. They are place in a rough square pattern and close inwardly. The shoulder blades function much the same as in humans. The skull has three eye sockets; one o neither side and one at the top of the forehead. The tip of the tail is a bone stinger with a hollow that runs through it to allow the digestive enzymes to flow into the prey. The rib cage, which is made of cartilidge, beings at the seventh vertebre and continues down to the last vertebre of the spinal column. The sternum also begins at the seventh vertebre but cuts of at the eighteenth.
[edit] Sociological Structure
The Agkistrodons are very pacifistic. They hunt only for food, shelter, or clothing. They rarely, if ever, kill one another. They devote their time mostly to tinkering with new objects or exploration. Curioisity is built into them even more heavily than in humans. The females are often venerated above the males although not necessarily more important or having any more status; they are just viewed often as respectable. Family units generally consist of multiple partners combinations of male, female, and mafemale. (Mafemale is a "genderless" Agkistrodon in that it can switch when needed. The society would not be able to subsist on these alone as they are often ezymatically and hormonally incapable of bearing children). It is usually a joining of the three types with the male often out hunting, the female hunting as well, and the mafemale generally taking care of the offspring.. Mafemales, although not essential, are incredibly advantageous in filling in any inadequecies or points that the other parents cannot. Due to the large clutch size the community can sustain a three individual joining.
[edit] Breakdown of Family Structure
The male is often out hunting although when the offspring first are hatched the female and mafemale are often the only ones that hunt. The male stays and nurses the hatchlings as far as thier immune system. Immunities are passed from the male to the children from predigested food. They male will inject a carcass with the enzymes that breakdown the food as well as many immunities that the children then inherit. The children do not need to be fed any different than the adults as it is only absorbing through the mouth tissue that is required. After the children have had about five meals prepared this way the male will join the female and mafemale in hunting. At this point Two of them will hunt or keep up the housing and society while one stays and takes care of the children. It often falls to the mafemale to bring up the children.
[edit] Hunting
Agki's are extremely docile towards those of their own species except in rare circumstances. They have never been to war with each other as they think that is the most destructive thing they could do. The bow has never been used on one of their own kind. When they hunt they generally slither and climb up into the tree's and shoot from the branches above at the herds roaming the prairie just outside of their forests. There are some that live outside the trees in makeshift underground shelters. They begin by each scouting a herd animal and making small noises to indicate which one they will aim for. When the signal is given they all shoot at the same time and mostly hit it. At this point they begin firing at any more they can bring down. They make sure they always have one carcass to bring home. They slither to the downed animal and inject it with the enzymes in their tails. The enzmes eat away at the muscle tissue as they bring the kill home and share it with the community.
[edit] Religion
The Agkistrodons are proportionately staunch atheists. They easily abstract thoughts but find it rather difficult to think in metaphysical terms. When they cannot explain something, such as their sun moving across the sky, instead of inventing a god for it they simply ignore it until it can be explained. If they do not understand something at least partially they will not attribute it to anything. It will simply exist. This is not to say they will stop attmepting to explain it. Occasionally the subject will be revisited. Young Agki's are often encouraged to solve these problems although it is in no way expected of them. However, if a subject that was previously unexplainable is described in understandable terms the honor bestowed upon the young Agki is large indeed.
[edit] Exceptions
There are very few exceptions to the atheistic stance. Those that do hold a belief in a higher power simply believe in a "force" that drives the unknown phenomenon. There is no conscious being behind the actions but simply a force that pushes the unknown things. This does not limit there curiosity, but some of the Agkistrodons find it difficult to leave something alone with no explanation.
[edit] Rituals
As they have no real religion they have few rituals and they are often performed sparingly. However, when these are performed they are very important. One such ritual is the joining of the three individuals to form the family group. They are often given the choice of who they would wish to join with although recomendations as to which three would be best are given every time. Very few times are they not given a choice and the only time this generally happens is when they have three very intelligent or accomplished indivuals and wish to continue that line with children. The individuals chosen for this almost never refuse as it is one of the highest honors to have a family group chosen specifically because of accomplishments and actually be chosen as one of them. The children from this grouping are not expected to perform well although there is always anticipation to see if this will happen. More often than not it does which keeps this custom alive.
[edit] Languages
Opposed to what most would think by looking at the Agkistrodons their speech involves little extended "s" sounds. In fact, it resembles modern German as in the word "Ich". It would sound more like a cat hissing than a snake. The languages are diverse although all stem from the same basic language of course. It is often easy for one Agki to learn another's language becase of how meticulously their parents teach the children. Having a third parental unit leaves more time to be devoted to the children. Success is measured by intellectual ability and the useful inventions and innovations throughout an Agki's life. For this reason they memorize their language and the grammer for it extremely well. There is little word change or slang because of this.
