magpie

How so? In wild, females often eat their dead or sick newborns, or even healthy ones if there's not enough food to sustain them. Chimpanzees kill and consume members of other chimpanzee tribes, allegedly. Rats eat their deceased comrades - this occasionally happens among pets as well. And I'm pretty sure there's ton of other examples, except I can't recall any at the moment and am too lazy to use Google. As I said, I understand if people find this too digusting to let it appear in the game; but, disgusting or not, cannibalism is a normal and natural thing (for some species). Edit - ooh, mantis is quite a cool example as well!

I'll understand if you happen to find this suggestion overly morbid, but since our packs can already devour befriended bearyenas... ..., I'd like to propose the packs should be able to hunt and ingest rogue males and possibly wandering nichelings. Both rogues and wanderers would give the same amount of feedings (7?) and would be able to protect themselves/flee on a level corresponding to their genes. For example, a strong/poisonous/spiky/etc. wandering nicheling could pose a serious threat to the pack (yet somehow I doubt anyone would kill such a promising potential member), while a crippled rogue male could be an easy prey, and a life-saver in case there were little alternative food sources. Neither rogues or wanderers would attack the pack on their own (initiate fights), ever, with the exception of the 'attacks' the rogues already conduct.

Perhaps if the nest matched the environment, it could have a camouflage bonus - bluebirds and dodomingos wouldn't spot/use it as often. And vice versa, an 'odd' nest built from foreign material would attract unwanted attention, including predators.

I really like the snowshoe paws and cold-resistant ears suggested by Asterai, they'd be rather helpful. ^.^