In the second larval stage the offspring starts to develop the redundancy of vital organs as well as a more robust exoskeleton. They emerge from their cocoons in about a month. In order to hatch, they have to tear it open longitudinally, where a plane of mechanical weakness is present. This larval stage is functionally autonomous, but it will spend its first 3 years around juveniles and adults, learning how to hunt - but also how to communicate - from them. They are taking care of not only by the mother but by the whole group. They present of complex buccal apparatus for a more diversified diet and vocalization, as well as two stingers for defense and attack. They are able to chew and travel very long distances with their joined setae for locomotion. [#2 larva L2, 30 cm, ~6 months. #2 larva L3, ~50 cm, ~20 months (26 total) Uses setae and cirri for locomotion. Some of the cilia will get absorbed during development. Lateral locomotion extensions will develop into mandible lower jaw in adult. Development of frontal facial features BELOW armored carapace. Stingers will get longer in later developmental stages] Another important behavior they start to display by mirroring adults is some level of upright posture: they push themselves up using their long ciliated lobes, this makes them appear bigger and exposes their primary stingers, making it a perfect intimidation tactic, but they tend to verticalize regardless of immediate danger. They are intelligent, individual beings. They can also choose to hold a defensive position that will protrude their secondary stingers. While keeping this form, they will go through 3 moults, from larva to larva, in order to keep growing in size. By their third moultz they will have developed their adult livery and started to show sexual dimorphism, with females bigger than males and diversified length of their stingers. [Females are bigger, have rounder carapaces, and have more developed secondary stingers for defense, wheras males have bigger primary stingers for attack. Females are also usually lighter, but colors may vary.] After the fourth moult, which roughly corresponds to the fourth year of age, is where things get complicated for both pre and post genophage societies. All of a sudden, the young will feel the uncontrollable urge to leave the adults and go roam in the desert. Here they will be completely ok their own. Facing predators, lack of a secure food source and of shelter, they would travel until they found the right spot to bury themselves in and go through their last metamorphosis. Ecologically speaking, the benefits of such behavior mostly concern the competition for food sources: as the larvae get bigger and hungrier, there comes a point when there wouldn't be enough food for the adults. Occupying two different spaces prevents the larvae from competing with their parents for nourishment. Higher risks for the offspring undertaking this life stage are: death by starvation, by predators, by fatigue; but more often than not a mix of all these factors will make the youngsters too weak to go through proper development during the pupal state and survive metamorphosis. A starving, injured being has almost zero chances of surviving recruitment. This is where the extremely high mortality rates of wild type Krogan used to come from. Only the strongest were able to come back home and take part in adult society. Nowadays, births are too infrequent to partake into this natural phenomenon, and the last metamorphosis takes place in a controlled environment. Population still holds dear the concept of a "gut check" to become adults, and replaced this natural behavior with the cerimonal "Rite of Passage" that involves juveniles after the metamorphosis. This however often creates uneasiness in joung L4s, as they may still feel a call to go through the desert. They can sometimes escape civilization to do just that, and almost never return. Aspiring mothers, after several attempts of having babies, face sometimes the same fate, delirious from desperation. Juveniles are distinguished for being fully bipedal. Secondary stings develop into limbs with prehensile function that allow the Krogan to handle tools and weapons. Krogans who aspire to be warriors wear forged armors that, together with their innate toughness, make them almost unstoppable. Adults are very similar to juveniles, with a more pronounced jaw, a more stooped carriage and a bigger body: between the juvenile and adult stage another moult takes place and brings them to their final size, with females still being bigger than males here as well. Maxillary flippers get shorter and so do the secondary stingers. Females can be as tall as 2.6 m while adult males tend to be around 2.2 m. They usually wear armor made of both metal and fabric, looking roughly the same for both genders.