Name Pending
Similar to Earth's South African oryx, or Gemsbok, but the size of Earth's moose, this species stands two meters tall at the shoulders and is 3 meters in length, coming short only by a few inches from the average game on the planet Venari. Scales cover most of its body, rather than fur, though it appears to be mammalian. Further observations revealed its two pairs of branching antlers are phosphorescent, emitting a soft light, that has persisted almost all throughout EM-8ER's longest recorded night, yet, only dimming towards the morning hours.
Upon further observation, the swarm of creatures around it appear to be a cross between Earth's butterflies and dragonflies, with their size varying between 6-12 centimeters, depending on age, in a presently undetermined life-span. The two pairs of wings are positioned like a dragonfly's, in the shape of a butterfly's. This constant entourage of insectoids lives in symbiosis with the large animal. Its skin secretes an adhesive substance over the scales, forming a thin layer, which, according to scans, is both water-repellent and shields from ultra-violet radiation, theoretically allowing the animal endure higher, otherwise intolerable, temperatures, as well.
The scent of the glue-like coating attracts smaller insects, trapping them, easy prey for the animal's symbiotic swarm, which consumes them and, in the process, cleans the scales, before the layer can dry and lose its effectiveness, allowing a new one to form. Through this act the level of protection the layer offers is effectively maintained. /Carmen/
