Egg Doppelganger

First place winner of the Creature of the Week online creature design contest #201 at Conceptart dot com.

The newborn egg doppelganger is birthed into an anomolosaur's nest while she is away hunting. The newborn superficially resembles an anomolosaur egg at first glance, but hidden in the nest debris are six segmented legs which allow it to move about, and the "egg" pod opens to reveal a digestive sac complete with 3 grasping tentacles and one specialized hollow feeding tentacle tipped with a barbed spine. The entire feeding orifice is lined with wicked teeth, which may be used for attack or defense, but are primarily used following the creature's metamorphosis into adulthood. The feeding tentacle may be used to suck vital liquids from shattered eggs, while the young unborn embryos may be pulled into the digestive sac and absorbed by the creature.

The egg doppelganger uses the nutrition it gets from the nearby eggs to build strength while it prepares for metamorphosis into an adult. If it does not feed within moments of birth it risks its own death, for the mother anomolosaur may identify its odor and destroy it unless it feeds upon one of the mother's eggs, thus absorbing the odors of the egg and masking the smell of the egg doppelganger.

After consuming all of the unborn eggs the creature takes advantage of the anomolosaur as a source of protection while it undergoes metamorphosis into an adult. Once metamorphosis is complete, the egg doppelganger usually slips away quietly, but occasionally the last act it will take upon leaving the nest is to slay and feed upon its foster mother. For this reason it is known to some of the local settlers as the "wicked stepchild."

Copyright K.L. Turner. All work is the original creation of the artist (K.L. Turner) unless otherwise noted.