Sprinks
Saliopedes sp.
Ancestor: Catus desultor (Jumping Cats)
Temporal Range:
Evolved: By 2 Myh
Extinct: Not yet.
Geographical Range:
Location: South West Catland, but absent in the most Southern forests.
Viable Habitat: From semi-desert, to grasslands, to shrubland and forest. Habitat depends on species.
Size: Smallest species is 50cm long from nose to back of hindquarters (85 cm including tail. Largest species is 85cm (125cm including tail).
Dietary Needs: Almost exclusively small vertebrate prey, that being mice, lizards, birds and small rabbits. Some species fish by dive-ambushing the fish prey from a ledge above the water. Although they spend most of their time on and around dry land they are unafraid of water and swimming.
Life Cycle: Northern species have kittens over fall and winter as these are wetter, cooler seasons. However in the milder South, the species there can breed all year round.
All adult cats are solitary, but a male's territory usually intersects with several females. He keeps other males away by marking his territory, warning off other males he meets and by sometimes fighting them.
He can tell his own kittens by a unique scent that is paternally inherited and during visits is affectionate to them. Male tenderness towards kittens is partly learned from these casual and playful interactions with their own fathers. However the kittens that smell unfamiliar enrage him and he will kill them, even if the mother fights back. It is the smell alone that does it, not the cute appearance of the kitten. If this scent were sprayed on a plain sports sandbag he would still want to treat it gently and nurturingly as a behavioural instinct, even if he can tell it isn't a real kitten.
Females have lost the ability to have litters fathered by multiple males. The father visits can be beneficial as he may even bring food. If the litters were mixed he would smell the foreign scents. This would enrage him into violence and even compromise the safety of the one or few that are his. So it's better that all of the kittens are the resident male's, this ensures peace except in the event that the father is driven out by a tougher male.
Other: Beneath the skin and muscle is a longer pelvis for muscle anchorage and as a broader impact absorption. The body is longer and able to compress and extend to improve it's jump not only t the bend of their waist, but the vertebrae can also compress closer together pre-jump and extend during the jump. As well as having excellent jumping abilities they make parkour look easy, able to run along and jump off surfaces as if defying gravity by having a lot of momentum built up beforehand with their powerful legs. They are predators that are also prey to bigger cats, so as well as having to out-manoeuvre prey, they also have to do so with those larger predators.
They like to swim to cool down in extreme weather.
Like many descendants of the jumping cats they have an enlarged thumb claw as an added assurance at hooking their prey when they swipe for it.
Species:
There are several species of Sprink. Here's some of them:
Saliopedes campus (West Grassland Sprink) - Smaller and slimmer species with larger ears compared to body size. these physiological adaptations help it thermoregulate in very hot weather. They're better suited to grasslands and have excellent agility and pouncing accuracy.
Saliopedes desilva (South-West Forest Sprink) - Medium-sized species better suited for warmer shrubland and forest. Is capable of chasing small animals through tree branches and even leaping between trees. They have very strong paws and claws for traction and grip on tree bark. They are also very capable ground hunters with a smooth, serpentine body shape to weave through undergrowth.
Saliopedes maximum (East Savannah Sprink) - The largest species adapted for a mixture of habitats. It has evolved larger and heavier to cope with competing with the many other species of cat they share their range with. While they need more food and are thus in greater competiton with larger species, they are the one species of Sprink that can kill larger rabbit descendants and don't sustain primarily on mice, lizards and birds. Hardship has honed a ferocious hunter, they have a very high kill success rate.