Tribbybara

A large molodont of the soglands, the tribbybara is unfortunately an appealing snack for almost every sort of predator, but survives as a collective, even if the individuals may not always last long.

The tribbybara is a species of molodont evolved from the prairie poppit. At 275 million years post-establishment, it is one of the biggest non-thorngrazer molodonts, weighing as much as 120 pounds. These tribbetheres are low grazers, completely vegetarian - a rarity in global ecosystems at this time - and mostly consume water plants and the roots and fresh growth of grasses exposed by the feeding of thorngrazers. They have long but broad jaws and wide teeth that are suited for non-selective feeding of large quantities of fairly soft plant material, such as is found in most shallow waterways in the soglands. Their eyes are very high on their skulls, an adaptation that arose in earlier species that had to peer out of burrows for predators, but the tribbybara now uses to peek above the water as it swims or otherwise wallows in the water. It can hold its breath for up to fifteen minutes and swims well, being bouyant, using these skills to escape land predators.

Tribbybaras are very timid animals and lack many defenses against any sort of threat except for fleeing into the water. They are strongly social and have a flocking instinct when frightened in which adults surround all of the babies in the herd and keep them safe in the middle of the group. While mortality is high and predators lurk everywhere, tribbybaras breed quickly and can produce litters of four to six small but very precocious young twice a year, and their pups are able to feed themselves immediately from birth - they are one of the only molodont born with fully-developed teeth. This way, even if their mother is killed while they are young, they will survive under the protection of the rest of the herd. In tribbybara social structure the individual matters very little, as long as the group as a whole is able to persist.

While shy and quick to run from anything remotely scary, tribbybaras are also curious and will eventually investigate new things they come across in their environment. They habituate quickly to other animals that are not immediately threatening, something that can be used against them by intelligent predators that can feign harmlessness and quietly cull individuals from the herd at night, when they  have poor eyesight and are more vulnerable. While poppits in general are not very bright animals, and tribbybaras may seem to be dull and all alike with little individuality, they are not necessarily stupid. These animals have a good memory and recognize other individuals in their herds, have preferred companions to interact with, and have excellent pattern recognition to spot many different types of dangerous animals at a distance, even if they have not seen them in a long time. The tribbybara has a simplistic vocabulary of calls for each type of threat they can face which are understood instinctively and give instructions for how to deal with each one. Flying predators are faced by sheltering the young under the bodies of the adults, while terrestrial hunters like carnackles mean to rush to the water, and the opposite for swimming ones like river dragons that won't pursue them far onto land.