: Climb like an Altamaran 8D

Stayed up all night making this for my original species
and it still won't get as many faves as the dragon thing I put up earlier today (which I hate) X'D

do my failing ego a favour? if you like it, fave it?
ok shutting up now- on to fake scienceeee<3

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Altamarans have a similar evolutionary history to humans, insofar as they are a species who's ancestors lived in the trees. They differ from human though in that they are still very much adapted to the tree-climbing lifestyle.

I spend way too much time drawing these guys just standing around, and not in trees, so here's some practice work I did of Zeni, demonstrating the various ways they get around among the branches~

If you can't read my handwriting, the basic stuff the notes say is this~

TLDR INFO

Altamarans mainly crawl around with their body held close to the tree-trunks, rather like an insect or a small mammal (like a squirrel?) would. When they do this, they mainly use their rear arms for grip, and the front pair for performing tasks.

when swinging and hanging from smaller branches, they are more likely to use their upper arms to grip, and keep the lower ones free.

Their legs are largely adapted for bipedal walking, but originally would have evolved from being used to leap and bound between large gaps in the forest canopy, usually in pursuit of prey. They can also handle the shock of impacts well.

Their arms are set out in a diagonal cross-formation, rather than just one pair beneath the other. The best way I can describe it is they are similar to how a tarantula or other spiders' legs are positioned. I imagine this probably improves the arms range of movement, but I could be making stuff up there.

hands and feet are a lot like human ones, but with claws for grip in place of nails. Fingers and toes would be slightly longer, but it wouldn't be much of a difference. The palms, soles and fingertips are covered in microscopic jagged, bristle-like ridges (inspired by insects), and would feel rather rough to the touch.

Altamarans have a good enough sense of balance that they can walk along branches while standing, and perform more acrobatic maneuvers like hanging upside down.

Again, thanks for reading :3 questions and feedback are welcome, as long as you keep it polite~