The Ratfink Comprising aspects of the lizard and the rodent, the Ratfink has a scaly skin but also whiskers and a furry head, not dissimilar to a rat. The feet have claws which are poisonous on the weekend, and fully grown adults can be a foot in length.
The powerful teeth of the Ratfink can gnaw through anything, and its gastric juices can dissolve non-ferrous metals. Possessed of a powerful musky smell when frightened, the Ratfink's 'spray' can linger for years and clothes thus tainted have to be burned, making a meeting with a Ratfink a potentially expensive encounter.
Slow-witted and lazy in demeanour, the Ratfink has a vibrant barcode easily logged by the hobby-zoologist. Unusually, the Barcode is raised as well as brightly contrasted, and if careful, a rubbing might be taken of a Ratfink's code with little effort, so long as it does not wake.
Strictly Parthenogenic, no males are known to exist. The Taxa number lies in an odd place somewhere between Reptilia and Mammalia: 8729182360091-62911?????????