Guinea Titans

The early graminivores were under intense selective pressure to grow as big as they could as quickly as they could. A larger body meant a larger stomach to better digest a grass diet, and it also meant better protection from the emerging predator species. As such, the once tiny rats quickly began speciating into numerous enlarged forms.

The guinea titans are arguably the first megafauna species on Loki. Looking somewhat like a cross between a capybara, a wombat and a bear, these beasts have the largest individual mass of any animal currently living on Loki. Standing at around 6ft at the shoulder, guinea titans are solid slabs of muscle and fat, adults being completely unassailable to predators.

To support their immense weight the legs of guinea titans have become stronger and stouter, supporting the body as four sturdy pillars. The toes have shortened and widened to better spread weight. This has made them obligatory quadrupedal, and they can no longer stand on their hind legs like their ancestors. Their legs still retain a great deal of flexibility however, and many a predator has met an unfortunate end by an annoyed titan swatting it with an enormous paw.

Guinea titans live in herds of around 20 individuals, mostly consisting of females and their young. A herd is led by a single male who will jealously guard the herd from predators and other males. If a male wishes to breed with the females he must take on and overthrow the existing male, which is no easy feat. The two will slam their enormous bulks into each other until one is overpowered, the defeated male being driven away from the herd out into the wilderness. The ruling male will also cast out any male youngsters once they reach breeding age. Ejected males will often form bachelor herds for protection, only leaving these herds if they find a mixed sex herd they believe they can take over.

Guinea titans spend the vast majority of their time eating, their wide incisors acting like lawn shears to crop grass down to the base. Although herbivorous they will not say no to accidentally devouring bugs or the occasional slow rodent that didn’t get out of the way fast enough. These industrial eating machines can clear huge swathes of grasslands as they steadily munch their way across the land.

Because of their size and appetite guinea titans are ecosystem engineers, changing the environmental around them. Their heavy feet churn up the soil, and cropping the grass low gives other grass species a chance to proliferate in the disturbed ground, which in turn encourages animal life. The passage of these hungry herds has helped create a new cycle of renewal across the grasslands of Loki, showing a new symbiosis of plants and animals on this young world.