Thirsty Burrower
From Reach
Contents |
Morphology
The thirsty burrower is a small, nocturnal desert opportunist. Ranging in weight from 30 to 50kg, their front end has three burrowing arms, each ending in a scoop-shaped claw, and reaching ahead of an armored head. The head has only two notable features, a heavy beak and a large sensory organ for sniffing out underground chemical deposits. They live most of their lives around 10 meters below the surface, only climbing higher to feed on animal carcasses, underground chemical deposits, and Silicon Crawler hives. When they encounter food, they latch onto it with their beaks, and extend a proboscis to leach nourishment. The rest of the body resembles a short, stubby, featureless tail, and houses the internal organs.
Life Cycle
Burrowers live only a few years. They hatch from a clutch of 10-20 eggs. They mature in four months, and live a mostly solitary life. They generally only meet others of their kind when feeding on a particularly rich food source. After mating, the female lays her clutch, and releases strong chemical signals which repel other burrowers. This ensures that no other burrowers will take the food source until the eggs hatch, ensuring the young burrowers have a first meal.
Hazards
Burrowers are mostly harmless, if left alone well below the surface. If uncovered, they will generally try to burrow as quickly as possible back into the sand. If unable to do so, they have been known to strike with their claws and snap at their beaks at anything that moves. They are surprisingly strong for their size, and can cause serious gashes. Workers excavating in the desert generally keep a sharp eye out for burrowers, and usually kill them immediately with a swift hit from a shovel, as careless workers could easily lose a hand or a foot to an angry burrower.
The real victim of burrowers are Silicon Crawlers. Crawler hives contain a cocktail of nutrients no burrower could pass up. When they can, they latch themselves onto the base of the hive, remaining underground, and leach nutrients. One or two burrowers pose no threat to a hive, but enough of them can deprive the hive out of everything except raw silicon. Without these additional compounds, the bottom of the hive mass becomes brittle, and may fracture under stress. These fractures travel up into the healthy hive, and can shatter the entire structure.
Miscellaneous
Burrowers are called "thirsty" because when they feed, the movements of the proboscis resemble a tongue licking the food.
