Platyplotter

280 million years PE the descendants of the platyporp have become larger and more amphibious, becoming one of the most secondarily-terrestrial tetrapod animals, second only in their dedication to this reversion to form to the more diverse burdles. Now known as the platyplotter, it is the dolfinch most adapted to move across dry land.

The hips of the platyplotter are now free again from the fat and muscle of their abdomens, giving them a greater range of motion, while their forearms are nearly pillar-erect as in the distantly related gravediggers they now somewhat resemble to allow for weight-bearing while letting these 30+ pound animal walk fairly quickly. Platyplotters are mainly piscivores and hunt in the weedy shallows of the soglands as well as in more open, fast-flowing rivers; their ability to leave water and wander on land lets them easily colonize new territories, avoid water-based predators, and access food sources other dolfinches cannot, as they sometimes catch and eat small land animals such as lumpuses and poppits.

Platyplotters live in family groups and nest cooperatively in dens dug into the banks of ponds, a task accomplished with a keratin spur on the tip of their wingtip which has recently re-developed after being lost in many million of years of swimming ancestors. They produce litters of three to ten chicks each; usually only the dominant pair breeds while others assist in caretaking, but it is not unknown for multiple adults to give birth at the same time; infanticide by the dominant female may occur occasionally if food resources are not enough for both litters. Chicks begin life small and mostly helpless and so are fed in the nest for several weeks, and there have few enemies, but mortality is high as they begin following their families out into the water and exploring independently. Growth is quick, but only one in five is likely to survive to its first year. 

Platyplotters may appear plump and defenseless, but their sociality allows them a great deal of confidence, and they are formidable opponents for many predators due to the fact that an enemy cannot attack one individual without having to face the entire group. Little chicks may be taken quickly by flying or aquatic predators before any adults even notice, but though a single adult platyplotter may be easily subdued by a larger carnivore, its fellows will defend it savagely, slicing at their enemy with their serrated fish-catching bills and making it very difficult to successfully drag the victim away. Groups of these unusual dolfinches have many eyes to keep watch for enemies and if they show up, despite their small size, the platyplotters rarely run from danger but face it head-on, seeking to unnerve the hunters who expect their prey to flee. Platyplotters will even mob juvenile riverdragons up to ten feet long for their kills, jabbing them in the eyes as their mouth is full and ripping at their tails with their beaks until the hunter retreats, then feeding on the carrion. Nonetheless, they pick their battles wisely; aukvultures and the biggest adult river dragons are beyond their power levels, and they will give them a wide distance.