Little Lotgar

Little Lotgars are - as their name implies - tiny. They are minuscule balls of barely operable flesh and limbs that don't seem able to propel it with any great speed. Their strangeness, however, is in the fact that their little limbs move quite well, and they do have a means of survival. This is apparent in the fact that their body splits almost in half to reveal rows and rows of teeth. Similar to piranhas in their propensity for cleaning bone of blood and body, but infinitely more violent, Little Lotgars live in huge packs that can clear acres of land for any scrap of living creature that has the misfortune of existing in the general vicinity.

Some folks find them cute.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Little Lotgars are small globules of flesh - with an average of six centimeters in radius - that have a small multitude of limbs, typically from six to ten with perhaps three toes each, and a bushy coat. As any Little Lotgar that perishes is promptly devoured by its prior pack, its structure is unknown, but some suspect there is indeed bone hidden under their soft fur. There certainly are claws, with some demonstration of chitinous growths on the ends of their legs. Most of their body appears to be dedicated to their mouth and teeth, and it's suspected that Little Lotgars simply dissolve food in their mouths within seconds, leeching all nutrients from it and seeping any leftover matter out through glands near their fur.

No one is certain about this, because that would involve studying Little Lotgars closely which primarily ends in fatalities.

Genetics and Reproduction

Little Lotgars appear to have some form of sexual dimorphism, in that that one may carry hundreds of seemingly parasitic white spots upon its fur, and another will vigorously groom those spots via licking and nibbling, trimming away the smaller fur-growths to leave the larger behind. These are later revealed to be growing eggs; once they reach a certain size, they begin to darken and grow limbs before simply falling off and joining their parental pack of Little Lotgars.

Growth Rate & Stages

Little Lotgars don't seem to have an elderly stage per-say, as any Little Lotgar that begins to slow down or is otherwise unable to keep up with its pack is summarily devoured, but they begin their life in the form of parasitic eggs atop a Little Lotgar that are regularly cared for by the second parent. This stage lasts a mere month before they begin to darken and grow visible limbs; a week later, they fall from their primary parent and join the rest of the pack as adorably murderous lumps.

Notably, this typically happens around the period where the most Little Lotgars begin to decline and are cannibalized by their pack - perhaps as a means of feeding their voracious young without risking their life in a feeding frenzy on larger creatures.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Little Lotgars are hyper-carnivorous world-eaters. If it has flesh and is not plant matter, they will eat it. They are capable in surviving in all but the most extreme of habitats - though this will not stop them from trying - but absolutely thrive in overpopulated areas. During breeding seasons - which can vary from pack to pack - Little Lotgars will often congregate in open plains where the young can learn to function normally as the less capable of the Little Lotgars fall.

Biological Cycle

Little Lotgars, being creatures that need to constantly consume flesh in order to survive, are very rarely inactive, often sleeping for mere moments over the span of a day unless the entire pack - either due to lack of food or a cold front - enters into a hibernal state, where the Little Lotgars' biological activity almost entirely shuts down. These periods may last anywhere from days to weeks, but never longer than three months, else the entire pack will starve.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Little Lotgars have very little resembling a proper social structure, given that their packs are effectively a rolling wall of hunger. However, there have been some noticeable traits:

• The most fit Little Lotgar, being either the cleverest, strongest, or best adapted to the current clime, will lead most often lead the pack. These can be hard to recognize as there can be anywhere from five to twelve Lead Little Lotgars in any given pack, varying upon size, and the leads frequently clamber over and around each other. While there is no real sense of submission or control in the Little Lotgar pack - and any attempt to implement as much is often met with communal devouring - Lead Little Lotgars are often the boldest of the bunch, and will be the first to investigate any strangeness they encounter whilst roaming.
• The young and carrying of the pack are often found crowded in the center, where they are most protected while simultaneously most able to access any weakening member without having to fight to reach the faltering Little Lotgar. The youngest, colloquially known as Littlest Lotgars, are somewhat disciplined for the first few weeks of their life free of their carriers, being nipped or pushed until they learn how to function in the pack without attempting to snap at their not-yet fallen elders.
• Lingering Little Lotgars are those that are displaying signs of aging or injury without yet falling prey to their packs. These Little Lotgars tend towards the back of the swarm, often resorting to eating bone or attempting to scrape marrow from what remains the rest of the pack leaves while they either recover or wait to die.

Littlest Lotgars that were separated from a pack and then allowed to join or form their own often don't act in the same cohesive manner as their socialized counterparts; they are prone to lashing out at their packmates or attempting to eat more than they can generally fit in their mouths, seemingly to avoid allowing the rest of the swarm to consume as much. This has produced some writings with poor understandings of the Little Lotgars' natural socialization, creating such falsehoods as the idea of Little Lotgars hoarding excess resources or killing 'upstart' pack members.

Domestication

The concept of domestication is met with resounding laughter from sapients, and often the response you'd expect from a horde of gaping, starving mouths: devouring. Though there have been notable efforts to attempt to curb the Littlest Lotgar, and perhaps soften their hunger enough to at least reasonably co-exist, all but one attempt have resulted in little more than a perfectly avoidable tragedy.
The singular exception to this rule was someone who managed to produce purely cannibalistic Little Lotgars, though they were arguably even more aggressive than their normal relatives and trended towards auto-cannibalism when denied access to their brethren. The breeder responsible was later devoured by her traditional stock, and her cannibalistic Lotgars were found having bled out after eating their own limbs.

Uses, Products & Exploitation

Interestingly, some have found use of separated packs of Little Lotgars - typically consisting of four or five individuals - to chase pests away from crops or other greenery. So long as the pack remains smaller than what can feasibly devour the one using them, this is very effective, and has led to some of the most successful farms in the world as the Little Lotgars are almost bizarrely delicate when removing pests or other creatures from plant life. Rare is the day that a crop of any form is damaged by a Little Lotgar.

Other, more daring individuals will claim lone Little Lotgars to use as display animals - never for handling, but more so as a trophy or item than living creature. These Little Lotgars don't often last long, often dying of what seems to be depression or loneliness, but those who own them are made famous by the mere act.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Little Lotgars are everywhere, often invasive, and infamously difficult to get rid of beyond trapping them all in a pit and hoping they starve before they begin to claw out of it.

Average Intelligence

Little Lotgars are not bright creatures. Lacking any form of self-preservation or consciousness, they appear to exist for the pure purpose of creating a localized extinction-level event before moving on to cause more havoc. It would be adequate to say that their intelligence appears to be limited to separating Little Lotgars from food, and even then, inadequate Little Lotgars are indistinguishable from a small meal.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Little Lotgars have small, black eyes that function equally well for diurnal or nocturnal hunting. Their small feet have poor sensory abilities, but the bush of fur coating them is alarmingly sensitive to shifts in the air, acting as both scenting and hearing much like a giant bundle of antennae. Everyone would prefer to think of it as fur, however, as that is less alarming.

Lifespan

2 years

Conservation Status

Least Concern / Invasive

Average Height

10 - 12 cm

Average Weight

1.4 - 1.6 grams

Average Length

10 - 12 cm

Average Physique

Little Lotgars are rounds of flesh with partly-chitinous limbs and covered in explosions of fur. They tend to be deceptively thin under their thick fur and excess skin, however, and seem adapted to periods of feasting and fasting.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Little Lotgars are generally varying shades of beige to brown, trending towards being darker shades as they age. They rarely have markings, though those that do most often have them on the chitinous ends of their limbs in the form of paler stripes or splotches.