Desert Hopper

The Desert Hopper is a snail about 1 foot (30 cm) tall that inhabits the Rainshadow Desert of the second Pangaea, 200 million years in the future.

Overview
Today, snails are restricted in size on land and they slide along on a sheet of mucus. In a desert, water for creating a lubricant is too valuable for use, and the animals need to conserve the little water they can get within their bodies. For this reason, the Desert Hopper has developed a new way of locomotion, as it hops along the landscape with its strongly-developed muscular foot, using its long shell for balance. Instead of eyes on stalks, the eyes of the Desert Hopper rest on movable turrets like those of today's chameleons.

To conserve water, the Desert Hopper's skin is tough and scaly like that of modern reptiles. They usually feed in groups to avoid the risk of predators. To eat tough desert plants, its toothed tongue functions like a drill to bore into plant material. This weakness for plant food makes it common prey for Deathbottles.

To protect itself from intense heat and predators, the Desert Hopper retreats into a spike-covered eight-inch (203 mm) shell and burrows underground. During mating season males and females gather to find a fit mate. In order to attract a female, males box each other like the present day Kangaroos do. Once a male succeeds in driving off other males he will escort a female to the breeding grounds. After mating the female lays eggs and both parents tend to the eggs for 12 weeks till the eggs hatch. Parents take care of their young until they are one year old.