Boloo
Commonly known as space cows, boloos are large sirenians from the Xauein System. They exclusively circle the star in the Kokhon Belt, crashing into one another in large migratory clumps.
Anatomy
Boloos are in the order Sirenia, containing sea cows, dugongs, and manatees. Their dense, squishy bodies are equipped to survive the spacial void, with armour plates just below their thick blubber that absorb the impact of asteroids they may crash into. Adult boloos are anywwhere from seven to fourty metres in length, males on the lower spectrum and females in the higher.
Their thick skin comes in an array of soft pastel colours, most commonly blues, pinks, and greys. Their heads are marginally larger than their necks, with small black eyes, curled whiskers, and a large mouth lacking teeth. Their tails are long and paddle-shaped, ending in a small white lump used to bat away other boloos wanting to mate.
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Sirenia
Family: Astrosirenidae
Genus: Astrotrichechus
Species: A. bothynus
Diet
Boloos are algivores, consuming space algae. It grows in abundance in the Kokhon Belt, in and around asteroids and smaller debris. Their mouths are designed to swallow anything that fits in it, and their stretchy stomachs can expel anything out their anus that is large enough to fit in their mouths.
Reproduction & Growth
Like other sirenians, boloos rarely have young. They mate once every couple of years, only having a single calf. They are taken care of very well because of how few calves any boloo produces. Females typically have five to thirty calves in a single lifespan.
During breeding seasons, males chase the much larger females around for days and days, the females swatting them away with their giant paddle tails.
Habitat
Boloos inhabit the Kokhon Belt, the only asteroid belt in the Xauein System. They rely on the space algae that only grows here, so they have not explored beyond this region. Boloos float between asteroids and debris in large clumps, and with their poor coordination, crash into asteroids and other boloos. They often stray too far from this asteroid belt and can't figure their way back, succumbing to starvation, unless they miraculously figure their way back.
Behaviour
Boloos have been intensely studied by atomians for hundreds of years. Boloo brains do not have a fully developed hypothalamus, the part of the brain that controls aggression.
It is not physically possible for a boloo to be aggressive, and their passive and docile natures have led them to become extremely popular with space-faring atomians. Many people have boloos as pets, especially those that live in zero-gravity homes.
These are super cool! We have real manatees where I live and I can confirm that they're lovely!
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Thank you so much! Yessss, I've been down to Florida twice but never got the chance to see any D: