>>5406024Between the packs of more mobile Ripple Trackers, Flounder Feeders, and Fumble Eaters all preying on a finite population of Lump Grazers and Lazy Feeders, even with their unique multi-stomach, the Shufflers have begun to suffer from a lack of nutrients. Worse, the Ripple Trackers, Flounder Feeders, and Fumble Eaters don’t hesitate to attack the Shufflers themselves, tearing chunks out of their flesh and fleeing, or using numbers to overpower them, in the latter cases. This has pushed the Shufflers to the breaking point and they’ve made a radical, dangerous evolutionary shift. In an effort to increase their hunting success, the Shufflers have hastened their metabolism and are now much more mobile. This increases their hunger and risk of cancer but between being able to fill their multi-stomach with more regularity and their sheer size, even slightly larger than the apex predators, some are able to survive long enough to reproduce. The Shuffler hunting doesn’t stop but with an increased metabolism, their aggression has followed suit and it isn’t unheard of for a Shuffler on a ledge to “leap” partway into the waves using its muscles, to smother and crush an overconfident predator under its bulk. The Shuffler population has been in a heavy decline for a long time but some stubborn few still cling to life.
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