Skullbeak

Skullbeaks are a species of cudgelbeak tripediornid indigenous to the planet Vuunega.

Physiology
Standing between 5.5 and 6ft tall, these three-legged, avian-like creatures live their lives in the Catapult Forests of southern Zeeon of Vuunega, but commonly are found on the neighboring beaches, where they feed upon rockscales which have washed ashore from the distant continent of Zorgen. They are not fast movers, and are therefore easy prey to much larger predators, although they deal much better with predators of the same height or shorter, where they can easily drive their powerful beaks into their foe's skulls or carapaces.

Skullbeaks are named thusly because their beak is firmly wrapped around their skull, reinforcing it and allowing for heavy strikes, which the skullbeak uses both to crack the tough, outer shells of the rockscales as well as to fight off foes, including the persistent clawgrips, their major rival for sustenance.

A little known fact is that skullbeaks still possess the ability of powered flight—however, they are only rarely known to actually use this useful tactic; this is because they will only use it in a pinch, generally to escape from major predators or the occasional forest fire that sometimes tear through their xenosurin homes.

Their feathers, while obviously green in color are also of a special texture which allows it to shimmer radiantly in the sunlight—almost like a rainbow in an oil stain—while remaining dark and inconspicuous in the shadows. This makes them harder to locate in their true habitats, due to the shadows cast by the local flora, yet makes them known to others of their kind on the beaches, should the need arise for them to require one another's aid against clawgrips.

Skullbeaks occasionally feed on small creatures to supplement their rockscale/whipscale diet.

Females lay eggs the size of baseballs, with a full clutch usually consisting of about 6 eggs. Eggs hatch after 2 weeks, at which point the chicks will follow their mother around for the first 3 months of their lives, before staking out on their own. Fathers do not care for the young at all.