Kipling Dridder

Based on a species of jumping spider that is actually actively herbivorous. Thats right, there is a species of spider that is herbivorous and below are two links that describe them.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8302535.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagheera_kiplingi

This is just the basic idea, and if anyone has any ideas on how to improve them I will gladly hear them.
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Kipling Dridders

Size: 10 to 15 feet tall
Threat: Low
Locations: Bulvon Woods, Deeper Felarya, Forest of Whispers (very small population)

Kiplings are a sub-species of dridder native to Felarya. Unlike their cousins, Kiplings are unique in that they are the only herbivorous species of dridder known. They typically feed on the various fruits and vegetables that flourish in Felarya's warmer climates, and their small size allows them to subsist solely on these alone.

While capable of producing silk, it is primarily used for either making egg sacs or "safety ropes". These ropes are made before a Kipling attempts a jump, that way if they miss they won't crash onto the forest floor which can sometimes be hundreds of feet below them. Should they miss, they merely climb back up the silken rope and try again.

Due to their small size, Kiplings often avoid their larger cousins who rarely think twice of making them a quick snack. They travel quickly via jumps from tree to tree in order to avoid them and other large predators. Besides this, they are quite social with creatures of similar size as well as giant individuals they trust.

Typically solitary creatures, they are mostly avoided by smaller humanoids who often confuse them for their predatory cousins. Mates rarely stick together, with the female raising the egg sac and ensuing young by herself. They will, however, raise the orphaned young of other Kiplings should they come upon them. Should anything risk endangering their young, even a giant predator, they will fiercely defend them and put their own lives on the line in order to ensure their survival.



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There is significant sexual dimorphism between male and female Kiplings, enough so that at a first glance many inexperienced explorers may confuse them for two different species. Males tend to have a more slender spider half with a reddish abdomen. Their cephalothorax is dark in color with their attached human half possessing a slight greenish tinge in their skin coloration. Females, on the other hand, have sturdier legs on their spider half and possess a light brown abdomen. Their cephalothorax is reddish brown with their human half possessing a slight blackish tinge in their skin coloration. Both sexes, however, possess amber colored legs and green markings on their abdomen.

It's an interesting idea, having them herbivore and so
But outside that, they may seem a bit too generic I think.. with their traits of making safety ropes and such being quite close to Bolas dridders for example.

wow cool idea i like ur style :3

Jasconius wrote:

Due to their small size, Kiplings often avoid their larger cousins who rarely think twice of making them a quick snack.

I don't think so.
Dridders once formed an empire that I'm sure must have included dridders of all sizes. Therefore it is reasonable to think that most dridders hold over from that and do not eat their smaller cousins. Dridders, like a lot of arachnids probably don't taste too good.

Anyway, their size is quite large compared with humans, unless the giant dridder is cocooning them and sucking them dry, I can't see them being a snack.

I though most dridders were around 80 feet tall and such.

In the context of Felarya, a majority of the tauric species have humanoid upper halves and therefor (in most instances) the digestive track of aforementioned humans. This being such, something like a normal dridder would be free to feed upon plants and the like at their leisure given the fact that they have the organs necessary for such a thing. This being said, what I've brought up isn't an idle fact yet to be touched upon, as indeed we do see some writers choose to make use of their predator's ability to consume plants, and to a further extent there have been a few entirely vegetarian predators about.

Taking all this into consideration, applying herbivore status to a species to create uniqueness is a futile affair as many species could have the same eating habits if they so wished. It would be like me wearing a red shirt then labeling myself as special in some way, regardless of the fact that hey, anyone can put on a red shirt if they so please.

However, to be fair I will grant the fact that some of the ideas for this particular species would be quite interesting, such as the extreme sexual differentiation.


In short, it looks good on paper but reading further into it presents some logical fallacies that complicate the whole concept.

Jasconius wrote:

I though most dridders were around 80 feet tall and such.

A common misconception is that all tauric species in Felarya are solely giant.
Dridders especially have a wide range of sizes, most other taurics have about 2 or 3 size ranges. (Giant, human-size and tiny)