Tuskpeak Beetle

Tuskpeak Beetles are named after the mountain range where they were first domesticated for use as beasts of burden. Thousands of years past, the goblin nations were driven into the mountains to eke out the barest of existences among the inhospitable peaks, displaced from their homeland by the vicious pinkskins.
Instead of being driven to extinction, they found salvation in the Tuskpeak Beetle. A large, pig-sized beetle native to the lush mountain valleys of the Tuskpeak range, the beetles served every imaginable purpose for the goblin refugees; food, water, labour, and companionship. What the relatively simple minds of the beetles lacked in higher intelligence, they more than made up for in predictability and suggestibility. The beetles, while dim, can gradually be made to recognize their owners, and be taught a variety of complex tasks. They lack the cognitive ability to adapt to new situations, but the beetles excel at the tasks they are "programmed" to do.
This programming takes time, and no beetle can be taught by more than one or two individuals. As such, the goblin tribes were all assigned a beetle larva at birth, raising their children side-by-side with their beetle companions. In the modern day, it is a rare to encounter a goblin without his beetle companion. As training and husbandry techniques improved, so did the intelligence and resilience of the beetles; nowadays, beetles can be taught quicker and more effectively than every before, and can even receive orders from multiple individuals.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The standard Tuskpeak Beetle is 1.5m long with the peak of its shell about 1m high. They have six segmented legs, vestigial wings, and a wide flat head. The vascular system of the beetle is such that it can pull and push up to 250 times its own mass. They vary from pale grey to dark brown, depending on their habitat.

Genetics and Reproduction

The Tuskpeak Beetle lays a clutch of thousands of eggs that hatch into microscopic larva. The larva burrow into a substrate of dung, fungus, or rotting plant matter. Only a few dozen will ever undergo metamorphosis into adult Tuskpeak Beetles. A juvenile beetle is about the size of a goblin's hand.

Growth Rate & Stages

Larva >> Adult.

Ecology and Habitats

Tuskpeak Beetles are native to the Tuskpeak Mountains, a vast chain of mountains that arcs across the central Plains of Garm and culminates in the Armoured Plateau. Tuskpeak Beetles can be found all through the mountain range, and are common within the Plateau. Some breeds can be found as far afield as the Tuskpeak's foothills, and one species in particular is common east of the Plateau on the Plains of Garm.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Tuskpeak Beetles feed on dung, rotting plant matter, and fungus. In modern times they feed on whatever their goblin companions feed them, but wild beetles tend to prefer dung to other forms of nourishment.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Tuskpeak Beetles have a pair of compound eyes, but mainly navigate via their sense of smell. A well-trained Tuskpeak Beetle can suppress its hunger while in the middle of an assigned task, while a wild beetle can rarely control itself in the presence of a food source.

Scientific Name

Scarabaeformia ganoderma

Origin/Ancestry

Arthropod

Conservation Status

Widespread and common. Various species of Lamprima exist within the Allied Goblinoid Territories, used variously as companions, food, and burden.