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Description
A male and female water weaver next to their woven nest, containing two eggs.

The water weavers are a type of semi-aquatic chitinopilosans found in rivers and estuaries in south-east Occidentalis and some of Occidentalis' offshore islands. On land they walk bipedally and stand about 80-90 cm tall, with females being slightly larger than males. Apart from the slight size difference, the sexes can be distinguished by the fact that males have a set of four chitinous spines on their faces, two on each cheek. These spines serve no offensive or defensive purposes, but are rather display structures for showing off to females. Underlying muscle attachments allow the spines to be moved in simple up-and-down and side-to-side motions.

The name water weaver comes from the fact that males and females work together to weave nests out of water plants. These nests are found on the shorelines of rivers and estuaries. Inside the nest, the female will lay two eggs. Water weavers tend to live in small groups, where all members help each other out a bit to look after their respective nests and eggs. Occasionally though one can find lone water weavers, who for whatever reason live away from any group.

Water weavers are hunters of aquatic prey like fish, tooth toads and shield eels. The most prominent danger to the water weavers are predatory aquatic radials. The shoreline nests can come under threat from terrestrial predators like plains runners and hawk bugs.

While it is no surprise that water weavers are good swimmers, it may come as a surprise that they are also pretty good climbers. They can often been seen up in the branches of trees growing by the waterside. Estuary dwelling weavers have been seen scaling seaside cliffs and there have even been cases of water weavers getting onto the roofs of houses built near estuaries and rivers. The reason for this climbing ability lies in their evolutionary history. Water weavers are descended from arboreal chitinopilosans that came down from the trees and into the water. While they are now more creatures of the water than of the trees, they have retained their ancestral climbing capabilities.

Description
A male and female water weaver next to their woven nest, containing two eggs.

The water weavers are a type of semi-aquatic chitinopilosans found in rivers and estuaries in south-east Occidentalis and some of Occidentalis' offshore islands. On land they walk bipedally and stand about 80-90 cm tall, with females being slightly larger than males. Apart from the slight size difference, the sexes can be distinguished by the fact that males have a set of four chitinous spines on their faces, two on each cheek. These spines serve no offensive or defensive purposes, but are rather display structures for showing off to females. Underlying muscle attachments allow the spines to be moved in simple up-and-down and side-to-side motions.

The name water weaver comes from the fact that males and females work together to weave nests out of water plants. These nests are found on the shorelines of rivers and estuaries. Inside the nest, the female will lay two eggs. Water weavers tend to live in small groups, where all members help each other out a bit to look after their respective nests and eggs. Occasionally though one can find lone water weavers, who for whatever reason live away from any group.

Water weavers are hunters of aquatic prey like fish, tooth toads and shield eels. The most prominent danger to the water weavers are predatory aquatic radials. The shoreline nests can come under threat from terrestrial predators like plains runners and hawk bugs.

While it is no surprise that water weavers are good swimmers, it may come as a surprise that they are also pretty good climbers. They can often been seen up in the branches of trees growing by the waterside. Estuary dwelling weavers have been seen scaling seaside cliffs and there have even been cases of water weavers getting onto the roofs of houses built near estuaries and rivers. The reason for this climbing ability lies in their evolutionary history. Water weavers are descended from arboreal chitinopilosans that came down from the trees and into the water. While they are now more creatures of the water than of the trees, they have retained their ancestral climbing capabilities.