Wooly Starrus

I thought my project could use some more critters, so here goes.
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Taxa Notes – Wooly Starrus

The remarkably mammalian wooly starrus is the most prominent animal on the terminator’s frozen expanse. Like the star walrus, its warm-weather relative to the East, it bears an uncanny resemblance to pinnipeds. Pictured here are two adults and a juvenile, likely a family group. The dewlap seen in the individual up front houses its fetal young. Instead of simply giving birth, however, the female sheds the entire pouch and grows a new one in its place. The pouch then serves as a soft, self-heating “egg” for the developing infant. When the external womb depletes its fat stores, it rots away and the hatchling emerges.

- Alex O’Hearn, plant biologist and exoecologist (Odyssey II)

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See also for context:

Star walrus [link]
Archersnake, a predator of the wooly starrus [link]
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