Hoshzéé'

Hoshzéé' (genus armislepus, armour rabbit) are a genus of desert dwelling armadillos descended from Riverrunners. As Riverrunners retreated from the drying Mississippi basin during the Calidocene-Ariducene boundry, they began to adapt more terrestrial forms as they migrated west in search of food. Some waves of migrants found a new home in the the new, rapidly expanding Spine Barrens. The name "Hoshzéé'" (pronounced hosh-zay-eh) is a combination of Navajo words translating to "cactus" and "mouth" referring to the Hoshzéé''s diet.

Biology

Hoshzéé' measure in at 4 feet in length (including the 1.5 foot tail) and 2 feet at the top of the shell. Their posture alternates, most of the time they stay in a hunched position walking on their knuckles. In other circumstances they stand on their hind legs while keeping balance with their tail.

The shell has 20 bands to help support the changes in posture. The shell only covers the full body while the Hoshzéé' is in its knuckle walking stance. While the Hoshzéé' is in its bipedal stance, the shell only covers the back and the bands interlock to form a shield that protects the armadillo's blind spot.

The Hoshzéé' has a diet consisting mostly of descendents of prickly pear cacti and their fruits, although they sometimes eat cactree roots, insects, and worms. When eating cacti, their leathery lips and roof of their mouth as well as papillae minimize the damage caused by the smaller spines. The Hoshzéé' will hack off a nopal with its claws to make preparing the cactus safer. In order to help get rid of the larger spines, the Hoshzéé' will tear the spines out with its claws, similar to how a hammer's claw pulls out nails. Hoshzéé' will sometimes use their claws to tear into dead cactrees, where they can ants to slurp up.

Behavior

Hoshzéé' are solitary animals, only coming in contact with each other during mating season. They dig out large burrows under cactrees, after being abandoned, they serve as homes for other animals and as shelter from the occasional wildfires.

Hoshzéé' are fairly intelligent, being able to use their wits to circumvent the dangers of the Spine Barrens. They also use the benefits of their intelligence for their own amusement, something very rare in the harsh desert. Hoshzéé' will often make deeper offshoots of their burrows filled with stored food thats protected from rotting by cool underground air. Hoshzéé' will often use these storage chambers to store their precious prickly pears which are valued for their sweet taste, high nutrient content, and water content. However, Hoshzéé' sometimes purposefully store the prickly pears for too long and get drunk off of the fermented fruit. This is very dangerous for the Hoshzéé' as they can get alcohol poisoning, get swept away by a flood before they can get to safety, or get killed by a predator. 

 Hoshzéé' give birth to quadruplets. The first few days of their development are crucial as they are easy pickings for other animals before their shell hardens. Their mother will spend the first few days without ever leaving her burrow and living off of the food stores. As they grow older, the pups will journey out woth their mother and learn how to tap into cacti for water, remove cactus spines, and where to search for food. Whenever Hoshzéé encounter a predator, they stand on their hind legs and brandish their claws as a warning.