Some taxanomy(?) or is it zooology questions.

[Ferret]

What is the naming/mouth shape of a sap eater (not a bug but a mammal)?

Would it be possible for the ulna and rada to split into two seperate fore arms.

Do any animals have large egg sacks they stick to trees?

 

[alsih2o]

Do any animals have large egg sacks they stick to trees?

Yes! Several kinds of tree frogs do this. Some onto bark, some on leaves and some making a mucousy nest.

The other questions are beyond me, I have never heard of a "sap eater", sorry

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

I AM NOT A VETERINARIAN.

Well, there's a bunch of dissimilar mammals that eat sap. You got one in particular in mind?

Can't find the answers to your other questions.

 

[Umbran]

Would it be possible for the ulna and rada to split into two seperate fore arms.

Perhaps, but there'd be a big detriment.

Hold your right arm straight out in front of you, with your writs straight, and your palm down. Now, while keeping your elbow as it is, rotate your hand so that your palm is facing to your left.

You can do that because you have those two separate bones in your lower arm. If you split the arm into two separate limbs at the elbow, neither one of them would be able to rotate like that.

Mind you, in a fantasy game, you don't have to worry about this. There are six-legged vertebrates wandering around all over the place in fantasy, so there's no reason to say that another ritter cannot have odd arm structure.

 

[demiurge1138]

Possible fantasy methods for a sap-eating mammalian creature:
1. A sharp tounge that acts like a stylus, drawing sap from the tree.
2. A rasp-like tounge for licking up sap spilled by wood-gouging teeth.
3. Nothing special about the mouth, but a long finger used to collect sap from the wood.

I'd not worry about six armed mammals and the splitting of the radius and ulna, although a creature that has four hands but only two upper arms leads towards an interesting description.

Oh, and another creature that sticks egg sacs to trees is the spider, with strands of webbing.

Demiurge out.

 

[Ferret]

Thank you very much, those are nigh perfect answers. It is fantasy but I don't want to throw magic at everything that doesn't/couldn't work in real life.

@Wrangler not a genus etc but a Sapivore where sapi is replaced by something that doesn't suck. [edit: Just googled for 'animal' and 'diet' and found that a specialised herbivore that eats sap is a Phytisuccivore.

@Demiurge1138 I like number 2 a lot more then 1 and 3 isn't too bad.

@Alsih2o not small creature but something the size of a rhesus (at least)

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Some small bats eat sap and nectar. They do this with a long tongue.

I'm not sure what you meant by naming/mouth shape. Some animals might have longer mouths but a lot of sap eats gather the sap with their tongues.

 

[Ferret]

Some small bats eat sap and nectar. They do this with a long tongue.

I'm not sure what you meant by naming/mouth shape. Some animals might have longer mouths but a lot of sap eats gather the sap with their tongues.

But I'm thinking it would either take to long or yeild to little for eith a small rhesus sized animal or human sized creature to simply use that tongue.

However it's quite believable that some plants and tree could make far more sap that ours.

 

[Deadguy]

But I'm thinking it would either take to long or yeild to little for eith a small rhesus sized animal or human sized creature to simply use that tongue.

However it's quite believable that some plants and tree could make far more sap that ours.

It's true that as a diet it would be demanding. There's only so much sap you can get per unit time even from a very sizeable tree. And of course, most such eating styles will leave you head down and oblivious to danger (visually at least).

But as you point out there are possibilities for magically-inspired commensal or symbiotic relationships between the sap-eaters and the sap-producer. Perhaps they sap-eaters help protect the tree from the depredations of other creatures (e.g. picking off grubs and caterpillars). In return for this, co-evolution has led to the development of specific 'sap-secretion' sites, which uniquely-shaped mouthparts on the sap-eaters can reach.

It would certainly make for a distinctive tableau! Out of interest, what prompted this idea, Ferret?

 

[Dogbrain]

The creatures might not eat sap directly. Instead, they "herd" animals that eat the sap directly and exude very concentrated "honeydew".

Some ants do this with aphids. Aphids eat the sap and concentrate and excrete honedew. Ants eat the honeydew and protect the aphids. The aphids almost never move, since sap has so little energy/nutrients. The ants get a much more concentrated food.