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I don't think it makes sense for them to shrink to one-tenth of its ancestor's size all at once, given the starting size was only 1.5 m. Its ancestor's size as roughly the size of dwarf island elephants, and there's probably a point where the shrinkage patterns level off. I was going to bring up thermoregulatory problems from such a sudden downscaling that would require extra fur, but the environment's tropical anyway and this does appear slightly furrier than its ancestor.

What happened to the scales on its underside? The description doesn't mention them. Are they vestigial, and well-hidden by fur?

Islands on Earth usually also get the really small base niches filled in, while this one does not because of Alpha's mechanics. This is well in line with how I've seen island scaling used in Alpha. I'd be willing to make it a little bigger though, since it still works at a larger size.

Similar to what happened with Seashrog, I excluded scales from the underside because they would be converted to quills and make mating more difficult. Even if it mounts like a hedgehog, though I doubt it would because the scales are immobile.

This post has been edited by Disgustedorite: Nov 1 2020, 08:27 AM

Oh, I wonder what little parasites will evolve to live within that fine spiny quills.

QUOTE (Nergali @ Nov 2 2020, 10:04 PM)

Oh, I wonder what little parasites will evolve to live within that fine spiny quills.

I wonder what little things will end up eating those parasites...