Possat

This animal is a short-haired rodent that grows in large colonies. Many ranchers and farmers fund their living by farming them for their meat, milk, and fur. The meat is not particularly tasty by itself, but anything can be seasoned to flavor. The milk is high in protein and fat and so can be used to make many dairy products (milk, cheese, cream, butter, etc). The pelt is not viewed as high class or special, but it is cheap and easy to work with.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Possats are horizontal creatures with four limbs, though they are able to balance themselves on their hind legs. They have webbed toes perfect for swimming in water. Being semi amphibious, their skeletal structure is more flexible than one would expect for a land rodent. Being accustomed to water travel, they also tend to have more fat in their bodies than other rodents.

Genetics and Reproduction

Possat females have a gestation period between 85 and 95 days, and will average 5 pups in a litter, though they can be as low as 3 or as high as 7. Females go into heat up to 3 times a year. All adult females in the presence of young possats will produce milk. This is beneficial since females have no more than 4 nipples while averaging 5 pups to a litter.

Growth Rate & Stages

Within a week of being born, young possat can eat the grass and bugs that sustain the possats diet, though they will continue to suckle for up to 12 weeks from any adult female.

Ecology and Habitats

Possats are at home in water as well as they are on land. Their habitats range across most of Prosia with the exception of deserts, as they tend to gravitate towards water and swampland. For possats that live in swamps or other lands unsuitable for burrowing, they will often build above-ground "huts" from mud and sticks, often on the edge of lakes and rivers where they can have underground tunnels to the bodies of water.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Possat dens can theoretically grow to any size, as many farmers have found out. There are often tales of massive networks of dens underground in the Stronto Plains, though few have been found to house more than 40 possats in the wild. The largest possat ranch, Stellock Ranch, is estimated to have between 200 and 400 possat in their dens. How many are in the individual dens is impossible to count, since possats seem to freely come and go between the various artificial dens constructed at the Stellock Ranch.

Domestication

Domesticated possats are on average larger and heavier than wild possats. Wild possats have a gamier taste and composition to them than domesticated ranch possats.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Possats are ranched for meat, leather, and milk, primarily. However, the Stellock Ranch has been devising more and more uses for possat products, such as the feces and bones to be used as fertilizer and the bone marrow to be processed as a sort of buttery spread or dried into jerky. Their eggs do not make for very tasty or nutritious food. Being semi-amphibious, their fur naturally wicks away water, which is why possat pelts are often desired for overcoats.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Being crepuscular creatures, their eyes are well adapted to see in the twilight hours and during the darker periods of their awake times. They have an innate sense between each other that allows for quick communication of danger, food, and water across a den. This is not supernatural in any way, but merely something inherent in how they notice the movements of each other faster than a spoken word can communicate between two individuals.

Average Weight

25 - 40 kg

Average Length

1 meter

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Possat fur ranges from light-grey to dark-brown and black. They have characteristic stripes perpendicular to their spinal column that help camouflage them in tall grass as well as make their numbers difficult to identify when grouped together.