The Bestiary
Tree Rat
(Abdor var.)
The Forcaline Tree Rat is a small rodent-like creature native to Focaline (in the Aramis subsector). It weights 3-4 kilograms, and measures 79-80 cm in length. Two thirds of its length is tail. Tree rats have a red-brown fur covering the entire body except for the soles of their paws. Some specimens are shaded more to a deep chocolate brown or maroon. Tree rats seem sable to adapt very quickly to temperature changes, and exposure to cold weather for more than a week results in their growing a thicker and rougher coat. Though they physically resemble terrestrial rodent types, tree rats have longer legs, feet adapted to grasping, and a prehensile tail that all help them in their arboreal habitats. This tail allow tree rats to easily pick up small objects and hang from tree limbs using their tail alone (most tree rats sleep in this fashion). In the wild, tree rats use their tails to carry food to treetop nests, to retrieve food dropped into areas that cannot otherwise be reached with paws, and in combat, either to free their other limbs for the fight or to grab a small opponent and dislodge it from its perch on a limb. They are omnivores, and have very sharp teeth that they use to pierce thick fruit skins (or unwary fingers!). They are quite intelligent (about the same level as most small Terran monkeys) and have an elaborate social structure in natural environments.
On their homeworlds, tree rats are looked upon with a mixture of dislike . . .
