Rattleback (rodent)

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The Rattleback is a mammal hypothesized for the documentary The Future is Wild. It will possibly live 5 million years from now. Its body is covered in tough armored scales, made from compressed hair (such hair forms the scales of pangolins and the horns of rhinoceroses). This armor is hollow, so when shaken these plates rattle, hence the name "rattleback". There are two types of Rattleback: the Amazon Rattleback and the Northern Rattleback.

[edit] Amazon Rattleback

It inhabits the tropical Amazonian grasslands of South America. The Rattleback has massive armored plates to defend itself against predators, like the carakiller. Even its face is armored and its sides are laced with spines. These plates are also used for territorial display, fending off invaders. This rattleback is carnivorous, feeding on carakiller eggs. When there is a bushfire, the rattleback's fire-proof scales help it avoid being toasted. Whilst there is a bushfire, the rattleback feasts on fleeing insects.

[edit] Northern Ratlleback

A subspecies of the Rattleback, it lives in the North American Desert. However, this desert will not be assaulted by heat, but by cold. Their scales are used to store heat to avoid the cold currents of the Midwest. The Rattleback's predator is the Deathgleaner, a giant carnivorous bat. The Rattleback destroys underground galleries made by Spinks, a small digger bird, only to find a subterranian plant, like a bulb, a tub.

[edit] Evolution

The rattleback evolved from a terrestrial South American rodent, possibly the paca. Once the rainforests opened into grasslands, the pacas had no place to hide and no defense against predators. The pacas have to migrate norh to find food. The rattleback specializes in such tactics.