For years I've been a fan of speculative evolution, but I've never quite found a setting I myself wanted to play with- until I remembered things like mist deserts exist. I actually started with the plants, and moved out from there.

The "Baleen" are so called for the bristles on their middle toe and smaller middle limbs. Omnivorous, they filter food out of both water and sand using the bristles. They also farm the mist plants, and the symbiotic pill shrimp are considered valuable delicacies and are carefully tended.

Their habitat is a costal mist desert. Mist rolls in during the cooler mornings, and burns off before noon. Many plants and species have evolved to survive off the morning dew that collects on the surfaces of their bodies or things in the environment around them.

I will have more in the future, but for now this is all I've gotten actually polished and fit for posting.