You have probably noticed that I don't follow a certain pattern with these. It was to be so by intent. It mirrors the fact that you can't just enclose each organism into a strictly defined box and mark it with 'Here lines everything you need to know about...' Everytime a tail, a fin, a leaf or a root will stick out, creeping its way into the next box on the shelf. So, why not get more comparative this time, shall we?

It'll be needed, because the reptiles I already mentioned a few times, Cragadiles, are quite similar to their "normal" relatives and vastly different at the same time... From egg to death we will watch them, or more precisely from egg to old age, as I still wasn't lucky enough to find any deceased.

Cragadiles

An egg. A stone. Big difference, right? In this case, it is not. Their eggs look like a porous rock about the size of an adult stallion's hoof. The mother lays the eggs on the ground and covers them with piles of rotting wood and foliage, much like normal crocodiles do. Although, a normal crocodile lays its eggs into a dug out hole and then stuffs it up with plant scraps. So be careful when roaming around swamps and wading through the leaf piles here. First reason is an angry Cragadile mother, second the fact that you'll remember tripping over a rock-hard egg for a long time. Also, you'll most likely kill the little one inside. Because, unlike bird egg with which you can shake nearly to your liking, these eggs lack the chalazas--the strings holding the yolk and embryo. One abrupt movement spells doom to the fetus inside. This is similar in all reptiles except birds.

So, what's inside the egg? Well, quite everything like in a "normal" egg: embryo, yolk sack and lots of membranes. And albumen rich in mineral ions. Those are dissolving from the inner side of the stone-y eggshell. They then stratify in the bones of the little ones, encrusting and hardening them, yet keeping the structure as porous as the eggshell, so the bones are lighter. Otherwise the adult Cragadiles would be too heavy to move. Just like their crocodile relatives, Cragadiles have scales that are made of bones. Now it's easy to guess where all the rocks on Cragadile's body come from, right?

Clusters of gemstones can be found on their bodies from time to time, but they are rarely visible, covered by mud.

When a Cragadile hatches, it needs to crawl through the compost above and away. When the mother sees her young crawling away, she may help them, but most usually she has no interest in protecting them anymore. Hungry, they start searching for anything edible. Insects, worms, amphibians, small fish and mammals, birds, eggs, whatever they happen to stumble upon.

They are getting away from their maternal swamp to drier parts of the forest, usually following smaller streams and rivers. One reason is that older Cragadiles won't mind young meat and second, their squamous armor needs to dry off to fully crystallize. Out of water, of course.

Young Cragadiles usually end up in territories inhabited by larger groups of Cockatrices. There are lots of food and next to none predators able to eat them. And being already part rock makes you immune to further petrification. Ideal, isn't it?

Growing up, they slowly abandon wasting energy by chasing their prey, and instead lurk in or near rivers and brooks, waiting for prey to come for a drink and... dinner. It meets its fate in a typical crocodile way. Since they can't chew, Cragadiles clench the prey in jaws, rolling and swinging with it from side to side, till they tear it apart. It's not exactly fast nor painless death and the sight is quite gruesome as well.

When lazing around and digesting, the Cragadiles start to communicate with each other by their jaws click-clacking, similar to our Marese code. Though be warned, only satiated Cragadiles are in a communicative mood. The hungry ones may be quietly waiting nearby. That means, the clapping sounds just give off the position of the territory, not all the individuals there. You will never find a single Timberwolf in a place where such sounds can be heard.

Getting older, they are slowly moving back to the swampy areas. Now they're big enough that they can just lie and wait for some prey to show up. And they can wait for a really long time, easily a few months. They will eat everything above certain size level, be it an overfed goose, a zebra or a Timberwolf. Older publications also speculate about them being able to eat gemstones similarly to dragons. This assumption is probably incorrect, as when they were experimentally provided with a pile of gems, the Cragadiles didn't seem to be interested in them. The mineral hardness of their teeth is also slightly below the level of quartz, thus rendering them useless for this kind of diet.

Upon arriving back to the swamps, they start looking for a mate. Males are becoming more territorial in these times. You can tell that the mating season started by the smell that can be most easily described as what you smell when you sniff two pebbles that were currently scratched against each other. This is the resulting mixture of their activated scent glands and lots of jaw clapping with rock teeth rubbing. The biggest and usually oldest male gets to the highest amount of females. The pairs, if we can even talk about them, last for just one season.

It is not a good idea to go nearby them in such times. The swamp is literally boiling with Cragadile males fighting, proposing and "handling" the females in a specific way.

After a few months, the female lays up to ten eggs and piles up leaves and wood over them, staying nearby to protect this small hill of compost till the hatchlings scramble out.

There is not much that can be done when they attack you. Killing them is almost impossible, theoretically speaking. The most useful advice is probably gonna be: incapacitate their maw and tail and get away as fast as you can. And good luck.