Essnakal

A predator species native to Tebburus.

The essnakal are feared even by suons for their ability to impale a creature from long distances. While the essnakal have no mouth, they eat by firing projectiles at prey using a crossbow-like 'mouth' appendage. A long tubelike material spans from the 'mouth' to the projectiles they fire which serves as a connection point between its digestive system and the projectiles. After striking a target (or missing), they will retract the projectiles back into the mouth for reuse. They can store up to 6 projectiles before needing to retract and reload. The essnakal have a fast metabolism in order to quickly regrow any projectiles that are lost or damaged in battle. They are comprised of a strong material that is quite malleable for creatures to manipulate within their body, which allows for this. 

The essnakal would attempt to eat suons upon spotting them. Due to the use of advanced technology, suons have a significant advantage at long and short range when they are equipped. During history, the essnakal were one of the predators of the suon species, behind Walapi Worms. They have a large round body that is about 0.7 m in diameter, on average. Their body is, however, slightly longer than it is wide.

They are a quadrupedal species that can walk on land and wrap their legs around trees to climb them. They mostly exist within forest regions of the planet, but can be seen in a number of other biomes. The forests also have more cover which allows careful prey to take cover, but the essnakal can also sneak up on its prey to get closer, more accurate shots. 

They reproduce asexually by laying few, large eggs. They can only lay 1 egg once every several months, but make up for it in that their offspring are more self-reliant and are born relatively large. Even newborn essnakal can injure unarmoured suons but beyond that it is difficult for a creature that small to kill suons. Newly hatched essnakal can be up to about 25 cm in height. After birth, they will take around 30 years to grow to full size and become capable of laying their own eggs.