Brecht's Biped

Brecht's Bipeds are a sapient species from Brecht's Planet, a world 18 light-years away from Earth. When Humans colonized their planet, they refused to acknowledge the Bipeds' sapience and treated them as animals, to the point of capturing individuals to be displayed in Earth zoos. By the 21st century, Human exploitation of Brecht's Planet had turned the Bipeds into an endangered species.

Biology
Members of this species are short-statured bipeds with flexible bodies covered in greyish-green spiny feathers, similar to a cactus' spines but softer. Their hands have three fingers. Their faces look like a combination of humanoid, feline and avian features, with a smooth lipless snout like a beak. Instead of teeth, the mouth is equipped with two sets of cartilaginous blades with cutting edges. Adults have a reddish-purple growth on their foreheads which differs in shape and coloration depending on the individual's age and gender.

Brecht's Biped physiology differs from Earth creatures. They consume food rich in beryllium salts and sulphur, and are physically incapable of sneezing. Sodium and potassium salts, such as those found in soap, have an intoxicating effect on them.

Bipeds communicate vocally and are capable of learning Human languages.

Reproduction
Like Humans, Brecht's Bipeds are a dioecious species, meaning that there are male and female individuals. Before the first specimens of this species were dissected and studied, Humans mistook the female Brecht's Bipeds for males and vice-versa. This is due to the fact that female Brecht's Bipeds are larger and more vibrant in color, and have a display organ between their legs that resembles a scrotum, which is absent in males.

In adult males, the organ on their foreheads is more developed, oval-shaped and more red than purple in color. This is actually their sexual organ. When they mate, the female bites the male's forehead organ, which releases the gametes and impregnates her.

Brecht's Bipeds are viviparous, the fetus developing inside the female's placental sac.

Culture and society
Before Human colonization of their planet, Bipeds lived in large groups on the Great Northern Plateau and had a complex social structure. Now an endangered species, they are usually found in scattered groups of three to five individuals on the mountains.

Appearances

 * The Other Foot, a.k.a. Mind Switch, by Damon Knight (1965)