Rattleback species

The rattlebacks are an extremely successful species of 5 million AD, characterized as large rodents with several plates across the back, composed of hardened, matted hair.

The ancestral counterpart of the rattleback is a rodent called the paca, found commonly in South America, when the Amazon Rainforest disappeared, replaced by an open grassland, these rodents could no longer rely on the cover of the jungle to survive, and so evolved heavy armour and spines for defense. The great success of the rattleback bloomed with several South American rattleback's crossing the Amazon basin following Isthmus of Panama yet again evolved another magnificent species, the North American rattleback, adapting to arid dessert conditions.