Planet Eve - Mother and Child

These animals are, surprisingly, one and the same: Kakogonidos (bad gene). What makes these animals unique in the universe is their gene pool. Normally, the Kakogonidos is a peaceful herbivore that feed on the purple folliage of the desert. They have large stocky legs to fight the dust storms, are well armored and travel in massive herds. They also breed very fast. Females reach sexual maturity at 2 years of age, grow as large as a car and can lay 12 eggs at once.

They are very succesful animals, TOO succesful. To prevent themselves for over eating folliage, they evolved the bad gene , hence their names. Every now and then, females may give birth to an offspring with a great morphological anomaly. The "ugly duckling" has long horse like legs, spikes on their rear rather than on the back of their heads and are carnivorous. At birth, abnormal infant is chased out of its nest and runs to fend for itself. It feeds on small bugs while running away from bigger predators: a miserable life indeed.

But they grow fast too. Eventually, their clamps grow sharp stubs and black teeth capable to tearing through shells with one bite. One year after birth, the abnormals are instinctively driven by almost what appears to be a sentiment of vengeance. Each born from the same herd gather into their own pack, then wait for their former families to pass on by the usual trail (something that we see with Earth's Caribou). Driven by scent, the abnormals charge the herd seaking their own mothers. Using the strong spike on their chests as well as their jaws, they brutally murder their mothers and start feeding on the white flesh.

Shortly after, the abnormals are fully aware of the situation and stop eating. Tears are shed from their stocks and they mourn their mothers together and remain next to them until they litteraly cry to death. Scavengers from all over appear to feed on the numerous corpses.

It is a tragic but necessary part of the Kakogonidos life cycle. But even such outcomes won't wipe out the population because they breed so fast and females are quickly replaced. The mutants themselves can be male or female, but can't breed.

"This is another piece I've been planning since 2009. I always wanted to include some shakespearian tragedy on one of my alien worlds. This motivated me to create what is probably my favourite creature from planet Eve. This is howt Wayne Barlowe must have felt when he created the Amoebic Sea, something unique and never thought of before. I am proud of this piece and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to. It's even simple enough for everyone to comprehend and not over stuffed with detail (Hooray for deserts)."

The herbivores were originally going to have Y shaped eye stocks, with one bulb on each brach. But they are unique enough with their genepool, so I'm saving this feature for something else.

Please Comment

FAQ: If the females that carry the bad gene are killed off, wouldn't the bad gene eventually disappear?
Answer: It could but more likely if the environment changed first; for example if the plants sprouted faster or if the birth rate declined. But as far as research goes, each and every animal of this species carries the bad gene. It would be like if every human being carried the gene that caused second generation kids to be color blind.
This scenario may seem too destructive to be benificiary to any animal, but this is the Adam and Eve system we're talking about. Rules here are always broken, just like when the first humans supposedly decided to eat the fruit when they weren't supposed to.

Do you feel like a man, when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well, I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end
As your lies crumble down, a new life she has found
-Red Jumpsuit Appartus