Lavawalkers
Basic Information
Anatomy
Lavawalkers have four strong legs that make up over fifty percent of their body height ending in feet with a fish-like membrane between the toes. Retractable claws on all four feet are stury enough to punctuate solid stone and long enough that they can be used as climbing aids. The rest of the body looks similar to most lizards and is covered by hard redish scales that can be straigthen to release body heat. Most of the time their eyes are covered by a thick membrane to protect them from heat.
Genetics and Reproduction
Being sexless, every lavawalker can reproduce by laying an egg. Due to the high energy consumption of the process, they only do this very rarely resulting in only one or two offspring during their whole lifetime. Producing an egg is a deliberate decision and the egg only needs about a week growth inside the body before it is deposited in a lavalake where it often continues the growth without the presence of its parent.
Growth Rate & Stages
As most lavawalkers are abandoned even before their egg hatches, they make use of their extensive genetic memory to mature quickly. A lavwalker hatchling is scaleless and resembles more a fish than its full-grown versoin. In the next few months, the newborn lives in lavalakes and -rivers, mostly living from the thermal energy while slowly growing their scales. Depending on the final size of a lavawalker this process can take only months but also years for bigger exemplars. When they are finished growing, their innate thermal energy conversation is no longer sufficient and they seek other sources of nourishment.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Most of the time, lavawalkers use their thermal vision that can even detect the slightest change in the environment to find their way and prey. Although thy have eyes, they rarely use them as they usually dry out very quick in the normal habitat of lavawalkers. Lavawalkers also don't have ears or similar organs but they have the ability to recognize vibrations and their approxiametly strength.
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