Robertson’s Mudwalker

Feral Plant Pot Man

Today we were observing mudwalkers in a marshland near the southern peninsula. These creatures, legless blemmys who walk upon their hands, live fairly sedentary lives. They sit in gourd husks and only occasionally shuffle across the ground, either in search of food, socialisation, or better access to sunlight. I have noticed their social interactions to have the most jarring civility, these golems so similar to the sordid wallowing mudwalkers we encountered last week in appearance, are nothing alike in behaviour. Where the grub grabbers would only snap and shriek at each other, these instead are golems of incredible civility. I saw a smaller specimen travel uphill a moderate distance to get some better access to the sunlight, however as he approached his destination, a larger specimen took his desired space. The larger specimen, upon noticing the smaller, appeared to acknowledge that the smaller one had precedence on the sunning spot, and shuffled to a slightly inferior spot nearby. The smaller specimen in turn, appeared to nod its head in thanks, and the pair then performed an odd clasping, grasping ceremony, attempting to take ahold of the other's wrist while keeping their own unheld. Although this had all the appearance of a quarrel, I could not sense any aggression in the display from either specimen. And when the display ended with both specimens tipping from their gourd and then re-situating themselves, neither then occupied the best sunning spot, which leads me to suspect this behaviour is some form of play, or possibly behaviour associated with some form of apology or acknowledgment of politeness. In any case, I have grown fond of these creatures on today's scouting and have set camp to spend the coming days studying them in more detail. Perhaps they could be holding a far deeper intelligence than the other creatures we have encountered thus far. 

~ James Naysmith Robertson, Robertson Expedition 1885