Olliwag

The olliwag is a cat-sized omnivore with large dark eyes, small pointed muzzle, tufted ears, and a long banded tail. It occupies a variety of different rocky environments, from sea cliffs to desert hills, and different species are found around the Adelantean basin. Its fur can be short or medium length, and comes in a wide variety of colors that do not seem to have any relation to the environment in which any particular olliwag lives.

Olliwags like to live wherever they can bask on warm stones and excavate shelters for themselves in rock crevices and dry soil. They like to pack their dens with sticks, grass, leaves, and down, and also with the great variety of "treasures" they are renowned for hoarding. These can be anything from pebbles, seashells, and colorful feathers, to coins or trinkets filched from human neighbors or travelers. Olliwags are renowned for their compulsively acquisitive nature and love for shiny and colorful objects, which can sometimes make them a nuisance to people. However they are also curious and readily tamed, so they are sometimes kept as pets.

Olliwags will eat nearly anything, though most of their diet consists of insects, small rodents and reptiles, seeds and nuts, and berries. They have clever paws which they can use to cache their food into narrow crevices and easily retrieve it again, and some people claim they have even seen coastal olliwags fishing with their feet after using the tips of their long tails for a lure. They have a great fondness for fruit and other sweet things.

The olliwag leads a somewhat solitary life for part of the year, but will come together with others of its kind to form a colony for raising its young. These colonies are typically established in places that allow both protection and a good view of the surrounding area. Cliffsides, craggy hills, and groups of boulders are especially favored, and dens are usually excavated in between the rocks if the rocks themselves do not provide crevices of the preferred size. Olliwag colonies return to the same places year after year, and probably include many of the same individuals or their offspring from previous years.

Perhaps because of their part-time social existence, olliwags are known to make numerous different noises, from chattering sounds and chirps to high-pitched squeals and whistles.