Monket

The Monket is a neotenous descendant of the Fluttering Spardi. It retains a pseudo-radial body into adulthood, including rope-like limbs and four jaws. It has retractable membranes between its limbs and can parachute, but it is no longer powered by flapping. Instead, it simply spreads out to float to lower branches. It thrives in the crystal trees by eating arboreal crystals, Myserchen, and its bilateral Spardi relatives.

With its neotenous radial shape, the Monket is not suited to terrestrial life at all. As such, it lives exclusively in trees, hanging, swinging, or floating about. It is somewhat territorial, with mated pairs often claiming a specific tree to themselves. It is known to sometimes fling poop at rivals and potential threats, typically using its anal hand because of the automatic reload provided by its cloaca being in its palm.

Because of its rope-like limb anatomy, the Monket can parachute either face-up—its usual method when moving between branches—or face-down. When it spots prey below it, it will leap head-first with its limbs trailing behind it to catch the prey quickly before spreading its limbs out to slow its fall. It cannot reorient in midair, but it can steer to a new branch, easily gripping onto it despite its odd orientation thanks to its reversible toe joints.

The Monket, like its ancestor, gives live birth to pseudo-radial babies. Due to its neoteny, these look like tiny skinny adults. It engages in parental care and reproduces quickly. Like its ancestor, it hibernates under leaf litter during the winter; this is the only time it ever leaves the trees. The Monket mates by holding hands using its anal arm, where its cloaca is located.