Glidda (Glid-ah)

Write about a herbivorous creature in your world and their favourite food.   Glidda are palm-sized, highly intelligent marsupials with tiny, dragon-like wings. They are native to the tropical to temperate rainforests and forests of Verorvare on Gheas. They require a high-sugar diet and feast on whatever fruit is available in their ecosystem. The shooda--glidda adapted to an urban environment--have discovered refined sugar, and one pedantic zoologist-philosopher, Clow Durchowder, has argued that the shooda have, as a subspecies, become addicted to sugar. Dr. Durchowder cites as evidence rising rates of shooda obesity and has statistically plotted the exponential increase of shooda raiding of sweet shops, candy stores, and bakeries over the past decade. Dr. Durchowder has published numerous papers on these topics in academic journals. They are not recommended reading.   Gregariously social little creatures, glidda live in extensive families and clans, and in their native habitats, they create grand ancestral nests high in trees. These last for generations. In Southeast Andyrra and other forests that are interwoven with andyrran enchantments and society, glidda may be found in great numbers, protected by the benevolent weave of andyrran nature magic.   Glidda communicate with each other, as well as other marsupials, rodents, and some birds, using chirps, squeaks, whistles, trills, and laughter.   In the Rumorring Region, a subspecies of these creatures, the shooda, has emerged over many hundreds of years. This bifurcation in the species started when a bunch of gnomes wanted to keep the glidda as pets; however, the restless nature of the creatures made them poorly suited to stay around their adoptive families. Many ran away, creating a population bloom of half-feral glidda in the gnomish district of Verda, in Niook. Since the glidda are incredibly fertile creatures with a gestation cycle of 15-20 days, this feral blooming spilled out of Verda, upward and downward and in all directions through the many districts of Niook.   Within six months, the proliferation of glidda in the city caused them to be treated as pests, rather than pets, and the urban glidda became a temporary boon for exterminators. And then they became a nightmare. Exterminator crews began to burn out. The glidda adapted quickly to the urban environment, nesting not only in trees, but in eaves, under shingles, in discarded bird nests, with fruit bats and muddy swallows in the many markets of the trade district, in cellars and basements, and just anywhere, everywhere. Some maladapting glidda ran with rats down in the Toes below Dwarfhome, eating refuse, offal, and carrion; these became the dark ones, the fallen shoodnaught.   A small group of very social nerds--interdisciplinary academics throughout Niook--solved the problem. Yuseff Brune, an archeologist of some repute, discovered that the family of shooda who made their home on his front porch were extremely fond of his special super-secret recipe vegan fudge. His initial annoyance gave way to wonder as they began to communicate with him through images and emotions--a sort of psychic/empathic communication. They really craved that fudge! And they would work for it, they told him. And so he suggested that they could run errands for him, acting as messengers and couriers. He tested their employability by sending quirky little notes to his colleagues, explaining to them about these shooda and the relationship he was trying to forge with them. Turns out, the shooda are highly employable. Driven by a playful and cooperative spirit, a dog-like urge to please others, an almost lustful need for sugar, and a natural inclination towards many short trips each day, the shooda have been standard and iconic couriers across the Rumorring Region for several hundred years. They are always paid in sugary treats.