#Also i had to redo this because i didn't give the Debu and the Frazi enough wrinkles.

[ntls-24722]

Bolur's mountain cows! Debu still read as "cows" to me, even though nothing about them reads as such, and as aliens, none are actual cows. Essentially the lineup of everything in the Debu's family, all members sharing the double sails, failed ungulacy, mouth-glow (either flashing or constant), and the lack of a tail.

Also, their scientific names are english translations! Even if common names suck to make, making meanings for their names is at least a little fun to play with.

The Freak of the lineup, the malmou (yeti yeti). It's the largest and most elusive mountain cow there is, originally not even thought to be real but a mythical equivalent to the "yeti" in the northern parts of their planet. It's also the only carnivore, with its tusks curving to make a sharp beak for piercing prey, its "hooves" becoming sharp claws, and flashing its mouth-glow to attract prey underwater. They actually still have their double sails, though often covered up by their thick fur. They're the 3rd closest relative to Debu, which lends to the uncanny valley impression debu get from its prescence. When it was officially discovered, it was named after their monster name, "malmou."

Debu, one of the homo mousike, and one of the two sophonts of the family. Obviously, they're not in genus homo, neither is the next guy, but their genus was named the same - "man." Debu earned their specific name "mousike" as their emergence as a species was signified in the prescence of instruments, just like the other 2 music men. They also sport the most vibrant mouth-glow, a constant white. I've talked enough about them but since these are the mouthglow champions, I'll explain why the family has it in the first place.

Despite mountain cows' opprotunistic eating habits, they actually have really shitty detox systems, they're particularly susceptible to poisonous plants (some trees actually have evolved against mountain cows specifically!) and what sucks even worse is that their eyesight is piss poor, so they can barely tell the minute differences in what will or won't kill them. Instead of taking the normal route in, yknow, getting better livers and kidneys, instead they evolved this mouth-glow and eyes that prioritize color over sharpness to pair with it, beaming UV light and visible light to see the minute differences in the color of their food. This worked somehow and it also came with a lot of other advantages, like recognizing eachother within social groups, getting ladies, and attracting prey.

The Simmon, Homo ignis, the 2nd sophont in the family who live in the tropical rainforests of Bolur, which aided to their smaller size and sails. Interestingly, this species doesn't have as much sexual dimorphism as the other species do, retaining the back hairs that are usually reserved for the females of the species and both sexes being generally the same. They were almost named something along the lines of "homo minor", or "lesser debu" as a common name during the very racist climate that bolur's taxonomy and naming conventions really began to take off. It was thankfully very quickly shut down, and Simmons were officially globally recognized as "Simmons" and their scientific name became "homo ignis," something along the lines of "fire man" to honor that they are the "bovine" credited with discovering and using fire first.

The frazi, "brooj imperator", the closest living ancestor to the Debu and Simmons. The frazi and the next cow have more "alien" scientific names because I don't think there would be an english translation for them - "yeti" makes sense for the yeti mountain cow and "homo" makes sense for the alien version of "mankind". They live in the same environment as the Debu, so they're just as wrinkly, they have the same hump, and their sails are just as long. Male frazi have this section of hair in front of the hump that they prick up to impress the ladies, and their flashy sails, facial hair, and actual mouth-flashing do the same.

The Cloe-mena (per bec), aptly named after their tusks, jutting forward into a flat "beak" because these mountain cows actually graze more than the others, who usually eat entire trees and shrubs and any small animal that crosses it. The cloe-mena actually is beginning to evolve away from mountain-climbing as their population begins to drift towards the plains again, and perhaps it's the fact their new environment is so large and less densely populated that they are one of the loudest land animals on Bolur, for their obnoxious mating calls can be heard for miles on the flatlands, to everyone's dismay. Albeit annoying, it's damn successful.

Metric (meters + decimeters) and imperial (feet) height charts