Midgard - Hammerhead Birnam

Although they are similar in behavior and appearance, the Hammerhead Birnam is not related to the Holiday Ent [link] . Like them, they are part lithovore and part photosynthetic. How they absorb sunlight however is a little different. Birnams have a desert living algae that grows within sails on their backs, where specialised capilaries absorb glucose in exchange for water. Holiday Ents have a symbiotic relationship with an entire tree. Birnams also lack true eyes and tusks.

These Birnams, which are currently the only ones known of their kind, are the third of three known hammerhead animals of the Vincent universe, which also includes the Boomerang Gravivultus and Earth's Hammerhead shark. Unlike the others, the Birnam's head supports only its pitts and no eyes. Yet it still allows it to sense heat of potential predators around it.

Birnams live in the northern deserts south, feeding on nutrients of the soil. Occasionally, they migrate to bathe in mud near the sea to replenish their water supply. Birnams have a few meat eating predators that they can intimidate with their large 11 metre bulk. However, their main predator are the tiny Fafnirs, which are after the algae in their sails. Hammerhead Birnams defend themselves by folding their sails and blowing air upwards with the large nostrils on their back.

They received the name Birnam from that of a forest also represented in Shakespeare's play Macbeth, which was seen almost moving due to soldiers using the branches as camouflage.