Frogs, Furred, General

Class:Beasts, Realistic
Hab: Any; by species
Fre: Common to rare, by species
Num: 1, 1-6, or, near breeding pools, 10-100
Lair: 90% in shelter when resting
Size: Any; by species or by food supply
Move: Incredible leaps
Def: Light skin to heavy pelt (= "none" to "studded leather armor") + very quick dodge
Att: By species; most have teeth, some very impressive
Int: Dim to bright beast, by species
Spec: Possibly
Posns: Unlikely

Furred Frogs, various

The Furred Frogs are a diverse group. They are much like normal frogs, but have luxurious pelts. Many are actually warm-blooded; some speculate that they are not derived from actual amphibious frogs at all but rather are descended from some earless, pouncing rabbit-like creature. The skilled swimming abilities of most furred frogs show this to be unlikely; comparative anatomy dissections make suggest that the original furred frogs were actually tropical creatures that developed fur as a means of sheltering their skin and keeping it moist. Today, furred frogs range from the savannas to the tundra, tropical thorn-wood to arctic pine-forest.

Some species of furred frog are thought to have no real size limits; they alternately grow and shrink according to food supply.

Furred frogs have, strangely enough, eggs that are soft and semi-gelatinous, just like regular frogs. However, these eggs quickly grow fur, and so are able to keep warm when the parents are away hunting. These may hatch directly as miniature "froglettes," or they may have a tadpole stage.

As tadpoles, they look like furry eels. Some are aquatic, and must grow in a pool of water, but others are amphibious or, in damp areas, may even land-dwelling. Some are vegetarian, and could be cute pets, but others have the same hearty appetite - and sharp bite - as the eels they resemble.

(For tadpoles, use eel statistics, but slightly tougher hide, due to fur pelt.)

The "Faux-Feline Frogs," such as "leopard" and "jaguar," "panther" and "tygre," range from sweltering savannas to snow-clad mountain slopes, covering much the same territory as those great cats whose pelts they so closely resemble in pattern, if not always in colour scheme. These faux-felines also resemble those cats in other ways (i.e., use the same statistics), but can leap five times as far. Their claws and teeth, while perhaps structurally simpler, are just as effective.

"Arctic Lurker" furred frogs have two pure colour phases, snow-white in winter and a pebble-mottled brown in summer, plus a mottled phase in spring and fall as the new colour of fur pushes out the old, which blends in perfectly with the melting or just-arriving snows. The "arctic lurkers" get their name from their hunting habit. A lurker hunkers down near a burrow or cluster of burrows, flattened and well camouflaged. Eventually the inhabitants of the burrows come out, and the patient arctic furred frog snares them with its talented tongue. Lemmings and ptarmigan, mice and seabirds are the prey of smaller arctic furred frog species, but well-fed frogs have been known to get large enough to lurk near seal air-holes or the doors of cabins or stables.

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Apr 4, 2006