Snavrum

On the jungle moon of Rizpah there are all manner of tropical beasties for exobiologists to amuse themselves attempting to classify.  Of these, deadly yet at the same time prized for its meat is the predator known as the Snavurm.  It appears to be a cold blooded reptile, sort of like the unholy spawn of a monitor lizard and python.  The long tail and neck are used for constricting around prey yet it also possesses strong limbs tipped in razor-like digits and sharp teeth.  Whatever evolutionary forces primed the Snavurm to have its body be this way must have been brutal because in most other environments such a combination of attack features would likely be overkill.  On top of all this they've also got a somewhat tough hide.  One that isn't too tough for the jungle moon's venomous Giant Army Ants to hack their way through but is durable enough to make good leather for boots, handbags and suitcases.

Different populations of Snavurm feature variations in the patterns of their markings and you can distinguish the males from the females by a difference in coloration.  Several exobiologists died during the early attempts at tagging them, but after enough study it was eventually determined that Snavurm, like snakes use a courtship system utilizing dance.  Males are also known to engage in ritualized combat when competing over mates.  The majority of the time two fighting males could easily kill one another with a simple jaw-snap cleanly into the carotid artery of the neck but in practice rarely do so, preferring to fight using a combination of wrestling and scratching with their claws.

Sometimes overly aggressive juvenile adolescent Snavurm that have not yet reached their mature adult stage will wind up getting entangled in each other during these matches.  Though you can never consider an animal like a Snavurm to be truly domesticated, on planets featuring them in zoos a warden or zookeeper having to untangle them behind thick gloves or layers of protective equipment is a familiar sight.

Submitted by Mycobacter #712744