Total Convergence..?

A worldbuilding project by Lizardsaurus





Nur'Errkhorr      nʊɹʔɛrk͡xɔr'

↑ This is an older animation with some outdated information, but captures the anatomy of this being nicely.

The Nur’Errkhorr, or hungry demons as the other sophonts named them, are two and a half to four meters tall squamate sophonts that lack vocal chords and communicate through colour change, touch and dances. Their size makes them partially gigantothermic, but their body temperature still depends on their surroundings to an extent.

Description

Nur’Errkhorr have markings on their shoulders unique to each individual. Even though they have wings, pneumatized bones and strong flight muscles, they’re unable to fly. Their hand-wings are used for fast climbing and lightening the impact after falling, but most importantly - communication. All those skin folds and soft tissue ornaments on their faces and necks along with said wings make their colour change more striking and versatile.

Females are larger than males, and have larger plasticity of their growth. In all Nur’Errkhorr, their size depends on their diet, the more meat they eat before adulthood, the bigger they’ll grow. But in males, this growth is halted by testosterone at some point in their life. Males possess more elaborate soft tissue “crown” on their faces.

Another quite bizarre feature is their tongue harpoon. It has developed from a hyoid bone and is used for killing prey, display, and by many cultures for sweing as well. It is usualy kept hidden inside the tissues.

A male Nur'Errkhorr
and an unsheathed harpoon.

Ontogeny and lifespan

The Nur'Errkhorr could live up to 60 years in the prehistory, if they didn't die prematurely.

Diet

Hypercarnivores (tba)

Gallery