The Creature Seen Above Inhabits The Grasslands Of My Alien World (seen Here). Ive Been Informally Calling

The creature seen above inhabits the grasslands of my alien world (seen here). I’ve been informally calling them “hoppers” but they don’t really have an official name. I’m probably going to keep up the trend of having nameless creatures in the future as I’m awful at naming things.

Anyways, back to the hoppers! They are a unique species that has several adaptations to allow them to survive and thrive in their expansive environment. Four of these adaptations are listed and explored in further detail below. I hope you enjoy reading about these creatures :)

1. Size- Excluding antennae, most adult hoppers are about the size of a large rabbit, however they are more upright. The length a hopper’s antennae average at about half the height of the hopper, however antennae length varies wildly among different members of the species.

When hoppers are born they only weigh a couple ounces, but they grow fast. Most hoppers become full fledged adults in about 15 months and they tend to live for about 9 years in the wild.

2. Locomotion- Another similarity hoppers have with rabbits their mode of movement. They take bounding leaps with their back pair of legs and use their front pair of legs to catch themselves. This allows them to achieve remarkable speeds to escape predators.

3. Diet- Hoppers almost exclusively feed on the near limitless grass of the plains. To eat it, they pull several blades of grass out of the ground with their strong front pair of legs. They then pass the grass into their arms and then their mouth. The mandibles on either side of a hopper’s mouth help move grass into the mouth while also tasting the grass to ensure it isn’t rotten or filthy. This will leave the mandibles dirty, so hoppers will frequently clean them with their arms.

4. Antennae- The two pairs of antennae found on a hopper’s head are very sensitive to movements in air flow, however each pair detects different things. The shorter pair on the side of the head are more sensitive to sound waves. This allows the hoppers to hear loud noises around them, however their hearing isn’t very refined as they don’t have an eardrum (or ears). The longer pair are more sensitive to wind and humidity. This allows the hoppers to detect coming storms. This ability to detect storms is so accurate (and storms on this planet so dangerous) that many other species have evolved to flee areas when they see hoppers doing so, making the hoppers an important warning system in many grassland ecosystems.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this! :D  Please feel free to ask questions about the creatures or planet, I’d love to answer them! I’m probably going to take a break from creating creatures and get back to more traditional art, however I still have many ideas for my planet that I hope you’ll enjoy. Also, please tell me if the writing is hard to read or if there are any typos. Writing is not my strong suit.

Makes me wish we'd seen dwarf whiptounge bulborbs in Pikmin 3; so cute!

a momma and her babies

I’ll just leave this here.

Been listening to the Super Mario 3D World soundtrack lately, it’s gotta be one of my favorite soundtracks in any game. Something about it just makes me want to get up and dance! Please feel free to comment. Thank you for stopping by. :)

first game to ever scare the shit out of you? horror or not.