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Name: Murrayglossus – The Prehistoric Echidna Species Name: Zaglossus Hacketti Time Period: Modern Day Diet: Chitin or Keratin Temperament: Passive (Arthropods are an exception) Introduction The Echidna is one of the most unique mammals on the planet. This marsupial makes its home across Australia and parts of New Guinea. Known as the spiny anteater due to its appearance, the Echidna is one of the only mammal's asides from the platypus to lay eggs. The ancestor of the Echidna which was discovered in 1909 was named Murrayglossus or Giant Echidna. It is not said where this creature existed, only that it was the size of the average dog. However, as Ark has a tendency of enlarging their creatures, the Murrayglossus would be about the size of a Trike. The uniqueness of this creature as well as its adaptations could be useful for survivors of Ragnarök. Wiki page of Echidna: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna Wiki page of Murrayglossus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murrayglossus Wild The Murrayglossus is an insectivore that lives in the redwoods on Ragnarök. You may not find more than two in an area since the Echidna are solitary by nature in real life. For the most part, they are passive creatures but when attacked by any creature that is not an arthropod, the Murrayglossus will go into defence mode by burrowing part way into the ground, deflecting their attackers with its spines which will damage them. This can also provide a defence buff to the Murrayglossus. When approached by a survivor, it will also into defence mode. If there are arthropods in the area, the Murrayglossus will not hesitate to attack until its dead (tamed or not). Taming Like Carchardontosaurus, the way to tame a Murrayglossus is to feed it the corpses of Arthropods; • Araneo • Arthropleura • Deathworm • Dung Beetle • Giant Bee • Jug Bug • Lymantria • Mantis • Meganeura • Pulmonoscorpius • Titanomyrma If the new Rhyniognatha is put on Ragnarök, that can be added to the list as well. However, only by wearing a full set of chitin armour can the survivor approach the Murrayglossus, and the taming process begin as the Murrayglossus will follow you around. The Arthropod killed must be killed by the player otherwise it won’t count toward the taming process. If the Murrayglossus takes damage whilst taming, it will lose taming effectiveness. If you remove a piece of chitin armour while the Murrayglossus is following you, the Murrayglossus shall take its defensive position and won’t be able to tame again until you either get out of render distance or wait for a cooldown. Gameplay Due to the spikiness of the Murrayglossus, this creature would not be ridable properly. However, it can be ordered around like other creatures and can be commanded to bury itself. This can be useful as a way of defending your bases and creatures’ survivors wish to tame. This ability would be toggleable. Defence Mechanism Like the Echidna, Hedgehogs are another spikey mammal with its own uniqueness. As a form of defence, it eats anything it can find and anoint itself with their saliva. What if Murrayglossus had a similar ability? What if you put certain items in their inventory and it can apply different effects upon itself while in defence mode? Give it Narcotics, and it could do torpor. Give it Feces, and it will apply a disease effect. Give it Sap, and it will provide protection against Rhyniognatha attacks. The list goes on. Wiki page of Hedgehog: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog Video of Hedgehog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx4dONoJzzA Breeding As previously mentioned, Echidnas are one of the only Mammals asides from Platypus that can lay eggs. They store the egg in a pouch like a kangaroo and hatches after 10 days. This could be applied to the Murrayglossus. After mating, a Murrayglossus egg will appear in the creature’s inventory. Over time the egg will incubate and change its appearance showing the development process from egg to jelly baby to puggle. At a certain point of development, the baby would leave the inventory and can be claimed. Whilst growing, the Murrayglossus will start developing the spines. Video of Echidna hatching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHocViqKbbc Egg Collector From what I’ve seen of other creature submissions, people want a dino that can collect eggs. The Murrayglossus would be one of these creatures. It makes sense given the nature of an Echidna but whether it would incubate the eggs would be a different story seeing as the pouch incubates its egg at 32 degrees Celsius. Some eggs, not all. The Murrayglossus, like the Maewing’s nursing, would have a radius around itself showing the affected area in which the Murrayglossus can pick up eggs. This ability would be togglable. I believe this would be one of the useful creature on the Arks. If not for it's defence but for its breeding capabilities. Let me need what you think. Any ideas?