Big Frakking New Caprican Devil Worm

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The Big Frakking New Caprican Devil Worm is a "Cryptid," a hidden animal, and a proposed explanation for the conspicuous absence of New Caprican wildlife, a phenomenon which directly contradicts the initial reports concerning the habitability of the planet.

Though it was stated to have been a world capable of supporting animal life, any such life, other than that directly imported by the Colonials, would remain unseen during the Fleet's time on New Caprica. The theory states that the worm in question is an immense, subterranean predator that burrows through New Caprica's alluvial deposits, feasting on many a hapless victim.

Diet

The worm is the major predator of the Two-Legged Squidhead Grazer, an animal resembling the head of a cuttlefish or a squid on two, jointed legs capable of carrying it for extended distances. The Grazer is a quick-moving, fastly reproducing animal that is typical of New Caprican surface wildlife. Other typical New Caprican wildlife forms include arboreal animals that have evolved to take advantage of the niches offered by large, dominating flora, and in turn have adapted to regions inaccessible by the Worm (which does not swallow vegetation, such as trees, though it is physically capable of doing so). The worm therefor is assumed to be dependent on a high-protein diet.

The relative absence of other New Caprican faunal wildlife can be explained as thus: none of them are herd creatures, as that would make survival in the face of such a worm near-impossible: rather, they are lone creatures, traveling long distances alone, or they are adapted to arboreal life.

Behavior

The worm is never seen, as it lives underground. The Worm detects vibrations through the soil, and can hone in on the rhythm of a human being's footsteps. As it has no eyes, it is not affected by such weapons as the Adama Glare and the Shield of Disapproval. The Worm was long thought to be myth, supported only by inconclusive DNA evidence at the last known locations of various individuals. Finally, as human encroachment threatened its main source of food, the Worm became visible to the Colonial settlers as it desperately struggled to survive in an environment that was being, for all intents and purposes, invaded by an alien species (Humans). The worm was defeated when Gaius Baltar poisoned its food supply, solidifying his own leadership. Gaius was henceforth known as "Baltar the Worm-Slayer." A common saying on New Caprica is "walk without rhythm, or you'll bring the Worm."

Worm sign

The Worm is presumed responsible for many disappearances of New Caprican citizens prior to the arrival of the Cylon Occupational Force. A charge leveled against the current Colonial government accuses them of the obfuscation of the times of such disappearances, so as to solidify support for the New Caprican Resistance. It is also suggested that the worm lives in symbiosis with the dominant flora of New Caprica. One theory has even gone so far as to state New Caprican leaf is an immature form, or part of the reproductive process, of the Worms.

Although it burrows easily through the alluvial deposits, the worm cannot travel through solid rock, and thus New Caprica City was built atop bedrock, so as to prevent the worm from devouring its inhabitants.

The worm is now presumed to be extinct, having been destroyed within one year of Colonial settlement of New Caprica. Although sightings occured until the Exodus from New Caprica, many later reports were considered to be a product of the stresses of colonization. Many such reports were fanciful, recalling the ability of the worm to spit fire or corrosives, and bringing to mind ancient colonial descriptions of fictive animals, such as the New Caprican Lock'Ness Monster and Bigfoot, other "cryptids" or hidden animals whose existence is continuously mocked by Colonial science.

Notes

The Worm's scientific name, according to Colonial trinomial nomenclature, is Lumbicus Terrestris Demonicus, meaning "Demonic Earth-Worm."
"I saw it! I swear it! It was real!" - Colonial Citizen on the Big Frakking New Caprican Devil Worm.
"My gods, Bill! This DNA's not even human!" Forensic analysis of disappearance by Dr. Cottle.
The spice must flow.