Frankenstein’s Lab

Welcome back to the Monster Maker lab.  Today, we have 3 beasties donated by the esteemed John W. Howell.  Well . . . Let’s get into it.

Sergannexera

Also known as the ‘Bearded Moose’, this large deer is found in rocky deserts and travels in small herds. Sergannexera get their nourishment from cacti and shrubs, which they will eat down to the roots. Water is gained thanks to their antlers, which are able to pivot on joints that give its head a rather bulbous appearance. At night, dew gathers in the bowl-shaped antler and they turn them in the morning to have the pools flow down grooves directly into the mouth. During the day, the antlers are adjusted to give their hairless bodies enough shade to keep cool.  A tail that can flare out like a fan helps and the Sergannexera take turns being in the front of the herd where one can’t be cooled off in such a way.  You may be wondering where the ‘bearded’ part comes from if they are hairless.  Since the desert gets cold at night, they sprout thick fur similar to that of a yak as soon as the sun goes down.  Part of this change is a beard that goes down to the ground.  It is believed that the beards are used by males and females to choose mates since these deer don’t shed their antlers.

Twipp

A pesky insect that gets its name from the sound it makes when it bites a larger animal for food.  Instead of taking blood as a whole, they jab into the animal quickly to catch platelets, which they can sense through the skin. Twipps are lean like a dragonfly, but they have the nose of a mosquito and eight legs like an arachnid.  The reason it is still called an insect is because one pair of legs is actually their genitalia.  Because of this, an animal may quickly find a male Twipp arrives right after a female has landed to eat.  The fertilized eggs are eventually washed off and they hatch in the water instead of on the animal’s skin.  Compared to their body, the Twipp’s wings are very small and move very rapidly, so it appears that they are flying without them.  Due to their diet, they are used by natives to locate and breakdown blood clots.  It is not uncommon to find these villages surrounded by aromatic lanterns that are designed to attract the insects.

Whannaterexes

Nobody is really sure what this creature can be categorized as, which is why it has the name.  Part of it is because it is believed to be able to change shape and live in nearly every environment.  When first encountered, it had taken the form of a Sergannexera that was trailing behind the rest of the herd.  Observers thought it was injured because it walked with a limp, but it soon became clear that the others were uncomfortable with its presence.  They lost track of the herd overnight, but found it again in the morning to see that the limping animal was missing along with one of the others.  Similar incidents have happened across the globe, which is why the Whannaterexes is considered an ambush predator of communal beasts.  It disguises itself as its prey and stays nearby before attacking, but this is a guess since nobody has ever seen it finish a hunt.  Aside from a limp, the other signs that an animal may be one of these mysterious is that they stay on the outside of the group, there is always a circular patch of discoloration on their body, never drinks even when at a source of water, and is avoided by other predators.  These signs aren’t much, which is why scientists are still leery to say without a doubt that the Whannaterexes even exists.