Grendon

"Long time foes and eventual prey of the Aurix of Vuunega, these terrapod spinocephalopods are also the main predators to the Quirlax, albeit through hemophagous tendencies, thereby leading to few deaths." — Vacotor Database description, Terran translation

The Grendon (pronounced \ɡrɛndʌn\) are distant cousins of the Aurix, residing in the same general area of the planet Vuunega. They are the only known descendants of the original Zocellium strain to have remained as terrapods. They are a major rival of the Aurix, as well as a prey item to them.

Statistics

Size comparison between a Grendon and a Human.

Grendons are cold-blooded terrestrial terrapods. They are diurnal, quite social, always hunting in packs, and hemophagic. When hunting, they are successful about forty percent of the time, and when photosynthesizing, they are successful about sixty percent of the time (they have a 99.7% success rate for photosynthesis during the day, and a 5% success rate during night. Grendons do not possess much in the way of armor, and are in fact quite thin-skinned over much of their bodies. Only in recent times has armor begun to evolve to help keep them alive during Aurix predation attacks. These come in the form of thickened, leathery pads covering their body's front. While this armor does not cover the rest of the body, their multitude of eyes affords them ample time to turn their fronts around to receive the brunt of an attack should an Aurix come at them. In direct correlation to their weak skin and lack of real defenses, they have several offenses, albeit all are weak. This "weakness" is made up for, however, with their pack mentality. Their most dangerous weapons are their whip-tentacles, which can slice out the throat of many species, including the Aurix. Grendons wield two whip-tentacles, which are covered in razor-sharp teeth. Because of this, the tentacles typically only manipulate prey and opponents. Grendons reach sexual maturity after 3 years. They can breed at any point of the year, and generally do. However, most of the young who survive do so when born during the warmer summer months, when the adults are more likely to lounge about, making easier for them to watch their young. There are 10-12 grendon young per litter, and there are typically 45 grendon young per year. The survival rate for the offspring is 30%. Because of the Aurix, their primary predators, and the Gargantua Wrays, many females are killed during the brooding months, which therefore leads to their young being killed by things such as egg thieves and overall negligence for their continued existence. Grendon young are also prey to several smaller predator species. The singular word for Grendon is Grendon, the plural word is Grendons, and the possessive word is Grendoni.

Food Chain

As seen in Monster Space.

Prey

Grendon are highly specialized predators, feeding on a single organism partially thanks to specialization.

• Quirlax

Predators

Few predators are known to exist for the Grendon, although this could be due to the lack of thorough exploration of the catapult forests by the Aurix.

• Aurix
• Gargantua Wray

Physiology

An adult Grendon, as it appears in Spore.

Below in this next section, there is information on the Grendoni physical appearance, and explanations of things including, but not limited to, their skeletal structure and their senses.

Skeleton

Grendons utilize a simple skeletal structure consisting mostly of a vast ribcage, a skull, and the vertebrae that attach the two. Various smaller bones can be found in their whip tentacles and in their sails as support rods, as well as in "eye cup sockets" similar to their Aurixan cousins'.

Musculatory System

Grendons are extremely powerful creatures, as they are heavily muscle-bound. However, much of this muscle makes up the legs, which are in fact modified tentacle-arms, and thereby lacking any bone material. Much muscle makes up the main body, as well, thanks to its relative bulkiness. Their most limber muscles in their bodies make up those that allow their three sails to move up and down for communications and sunbathing purposes.

Brain & Nerve Center

Like many of the Aurixan relatives, Grendons are incredibly intelligent creatures, possessing an intelligence level comparably equal to that of Terran dolphins.

Digestive System

Because they remained hemophages as opposed to their cousins who—with the exception of the Vrennum and the Screek—all adapted new feeding styles, they had little need for an actual stomach, and therefore their digestive system is ruled by their blood processing organ. Their enlarged size and bulky body allows for a significant amount of space available for this organ, making it quite large. This aids them in being able to process large quantities of Quirlax blood from a single kill.

Their intestines wrap unconventionally between their other, larger organs. Like other intestines, they are intertwining rope-shaped organs which leech any and all nutrients left over from the blood processor's work. Amazingly, almost no waste product seems to exist.