Everything you need to know about...
SPOODLES
Pronunciation: “Spoo-Dill”
Plural: Spoodles
Baby Spoodle: Spud
A bunch of Spoodles: Doodle (Example: A Doodle of Spoodles)
It has been much debated whether a spoodle is a plant-based lifeform or a regular animal. Many wyngrew agree: “They’re just weird.”
Spoodles do not produce any form of excrement, despite the fact they do eat. Instead, they simply produce more wool the more they are fed. Despite many attempts with different diets and foods, spoodles only produce white wool that must be manually dyed to become any other color.
During a budding season, a single well-fed spoodle can spawn up to two dozen offspring. A spoodle, given little to no extra feed during this season, however, will likely only bud off two to five young.
Spoodles are not a very popular prey item for carnivores, both due to their thick wool protecting their bodies and a very distinct flavor their meat has.
These creatures have a very distinct, high-pitched “Neh, neh, neh-nah, neh!” vocalisation that most wyngrew find extremely annoying, though some find it endearing.
Spoodles can live just about anywhere, although tropics and deserts are not ideal, as their thick coats can cause overheating. Because of this, Spoodles are a popular form of cloth in colder climates where crops are not easily farmed.
So long as they are given adequate water and sunlight, and warmth after being sheared. Basically, anywhere there are wyngro farmers, you’re likely to see spoodles, especially in colder regions where the Coatala Tail plant cannot grow. Their many legs give them steady travel across all sort of tough terrain, including icy patches and steep rocky paths.
Wild spoodles’ ‘natural environment’ appears to be high in rocky mountain areas, where their thick wool, ability to live on little to nothing, and many legs able to take them up even the steepest cliff faces so long as there are tiny ledges for them to fit on work the most to their advantage.
Uses In Wyngrew Society
Spoodles are a popular livestock animal for smaller farms, due to how easy they are to care for and the fact that they are much smarter than puckoo. Spoodles quickly learn to keep close to where they get food, though, because almost anything can be ‘food’ to them it’s good to keep them penned in or an eye on them so they don’t wander too far off (or begin eating someone’s prized crops).
A well-fed spoodle produces wool more quickly than one that simply lives off of rain and sunshine, so many farmers make full use of this creature's ability to eat anything and feed them things they need disposed of, such as weeds, excess plant clippings, produce that’s unsellable or has gone rotten, etc. On this same vein, spoodles fed trash will produce coarser, rougher wool of lower quality. Larger, wealthy farms that can afford it usually feed their spoodles fresh fruit, nuts, and puckoo eggs to ensure the growth of soft, luxurious coats that sell for a high price.
Spoodle meat is considered extremely stringy and tough, along with tasting heavily of almonds (or roasted almonds if cooked). Spoodle seedling meat is much softer and more fatty, all in all, a more tasty meat, making it an expensive delicacy in some cities.
One way farmers keep their spoodle population under control is by regularly shearing their spoodles, so even when the spoodle begin producing seed buds, they have no wool clumps in which to place and germinate their young. The ungerminated buds, once detatched, make for a tasty treat if boiled. The taste is akin to cinnamon roasted pecans.
Spoodle wool is usually always in demand, and even once turned into clothing still retains the ability to absorb water instead of getting soaked-through by it, making spoodle-wool garments in high demand in rainy or generally wet areas. Even if completely submerged in water, after being pulled back out again a spoodle wool shirt will dry off in minutes.
Domestically, spoodles often have a lifespan of 15-18 years.
Disposition and Personality
Spoodles love Wyngrew. They are very domesticated, although wild Spoodles are relatively easy to tame as well! They will flock to a friendly Wyngro and can recognise specific owners, affectionately grabbing at them with their long empty beaks and “clonking” them together happily. They also make excited “Nyeh” noises continuously when curious or happy to see a Wyngro. It can be annoying, but most farmers are happy to see their Spoodles respond so happily to them so they don’t mind. Wyngrew love to take naps on their fluffy wool, and Spoodle are simply the biggest cuddlers. They often sleep together in a pile. Wynglings can even ride on their backs without causing much stress at all to the easy-going Spoodle.
Because they don’t breed with each other, Spoodles are fairly relaxed, somewhat lazy creatures that don’t fight with each other or cause a ruckus. They don’t even particularly seem concerned with protecting their growing seeds. They just plonk them in and move on. Wyngrew will even pick up the seeds and eat them right in front of them with the Spoodle not batting an eye.
