Snapgator

Snapgators are a common reptile found within most deserts. Alligators and crocodiles seem to have no direct evolutionary ancestry, and as such seems to be much closer to that of a monitor lizard and appears to be an example of convergent evolution. Despite there monitor lineage, they strangely behave much like the crocodiles they mimic. A snapgator is known to kill by clamping it teeth into the prey followed by it barrel rolling or, slamming the body into the ground to cripple the limb. Sometimes the snapgators will slam the prey to the ground in an attempt to break the neck. Snapgators are ambush predators, using the webbed fingers to bury and hide itself under sand, then it uses strong muscles near the jaw to open its mouth nearly 180 degrees wide. A specialized bone is used to lock the jaws into place until it is dislodged by unsuspecting prey. Due to their large size, and webbed feet, the snapgator is not that fast of a runner reaching a mere 12 mph. Appearance: The snapgator is a large reptile resembling crocodiles and alligators. Unlike these however, the snapgator has a light tan skin with many small colored dots on the body to aid in camouflaging. Snapgators are also known to have 10-18 large dagger like teeth used to clamp on the prey. The animal also has webbing between the fingers which are used to burrow beneath the sand. Snapgators unlike those it mimics lack the scutes, a specialized scale for swimming, and feature a slimmer tail due to the low need of water in its environment. When the snapgator drinks, it will bite off sections of cacti in the area and crushes the cactus for water. To protect itself from the spikes, the roof of the mouth is armored with thick bone. In some regions the sands it buries itself in can reach temperatures of up to 210 degrees. Due to the excessive heat, a snapgator willingly exposes itself from the sand to cool off. Due to this, if it has the mouth trap opened, this could prove lethal to the reptile. As one would imagine, as a snapgator buries itself and sets its trap, sand will get into their mouth and may swallow some sand. Because of this, a snapgator has adapted to have a unique organ for processing sand separate from food. The resulting product is known as lygg, this byproduct can sell for a good handful of coin