Nephur

This is the first animal fully drawn live on stream and made for my Patrons. Who I really want to thank for their awesome support. You are the ones making this project possible! The Nephur is a Lobster Frog Chimera. It's name is based on their Latin names and the name was voted on by the followers of my stream. The animals that I combined for this were chosen by the patrons.

Voted on: 3 January
Requested by: Brigand, Nauhst and Xanderkee

Time-lapse video
Merchandise

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Basic Information

Behavior:
Nephur are relatively calm creatures who are not easily scared and will try to protect themselves with their claws. When faced with a stronger opponent they can choose to jump away using their strong legs or swim away backwards at high speed with the use of their tail. The backwards swimming technique often surprises foes which give the Nephur a big advantage in conflict. Even though they generally live alone they can be found in large groups when there is a large quantity of available food. They are capable of living on land but they are more adept in water. Nephur can jump very fast but their front legs make walking difficult which limits them to jumping on land. Because the Males can become a lot heavier from carrying eggs they can become very hostile to intruders due to the lack of a chance to escape.

Habitat:
The Nephur can be found both in Freshwater and on land. It is relatively rare to see them on land since they only leave the water to migrate, look for food when it's scarce or to find a mate. They live in warm climates and dislike cold weather.

Diet:
Nephur are omnivores and are capable of eating a wide variety of food. They eat a lot of small aquatic animals, bugs, mollusks, water plants and worms. The prey has to be small enough to swallow whole or should be easy enough to cut into smaller pieces by it's claws because they don't have teeth. Their stomach acid is very potent and kills it's victim in mere seconds. Nephur use their long sticky tongue to catch prey and often use their claws to kill bigger prey.

Appearance and maintenance:
The skin and hard shell of the Nephur need little maintenance. Once a year the Nephur will moult and lose it's armor. When in the first year of it's life this will happen up to 5 times in order for it grow. Nephur can be found in several colors although blue with a creamy yellow is the most common one. Red and a more bright yellow are less common and in very rare occasions they can be spotted with a Green or Black skin color. From head to tail the Nephur can be 20 to 40 cm long.

Reproduction and lifespan:
Because of the warm climate in which they live Nephur can hatch all year round. When looking for a mate Nephur usually look for small ponds. After fertilization the female lays up to 20 eggs in this pond and the male will attach these sticky eggs with the size of 1 cm under his tail. He will then stay in this pond for about 3 days until the eggs hatch. The young Nephur only have 2 very small front legs and a thick tail. Within 24 hours the Nephur tadpole will morph which will cause the hind legs to appear from the tail. After it's transformation the Nephur will migrate to the nearest freshwater source to grow up here. It takes about 20 days for it's first armor to harden and they will lose this armor up to 5 times in the first year. The Nephur are vulnerable at these moments which causes a lot of the Nephur to die in their first year. When living under good circumstances the Nephur can live up to 74 years.