Bearded Amprat

The Bearded Amprat is a rodent-like creature that resembles a small white guinea pig with large brown spots on its face and back. Their heads are rounded with small eyes in the front and no apparent ears. As their name implies, their faces are draped in large amounts of long, straight hair which gives their face a slight resemblance to a skull. It has four, small, mouse-like feet which it uses to move around and to grab prey. Unlike the rest of its body, the feet are green with brown tips on the toes, which lack claws. Its body ends in a few small brown spots and a skinny, mouse-like tail.

Normally, the creature passively walks around its territory. When Pikmin or a leader come close, however, it will begin to rapidly rub its beard, generating electricity, which causes its hair to flare up and reveal its true face as it charges to try and grab Pikmin and eat them. This hair spikes up when they are attacked and electricity will begin to pulse through their entire body to harm all non-Yellow Pikmin. After a short period of being on the attack, or after the player leaves the creature alone, the Amprat will return to its neutral, harmless state of wandering around.

Alph
Structural flaw: soft hide

Weight: 7

''Electricity generation is a useful trait in an animal! I'm not sure if this one can be domesticated, but think of all the useful applications if it could. At the very least, we could study it to see if we could reproduce the trick.''

Brittany
''With a few tweaks to its output, I bet its electricity-generating properties could really open up my pores. I'll run the idea by Alph and see what he thinks.''

Charlie
''It looks cute and fuzzy, and that's how it springs its trap. Throw a few Pikmin on thinking it's easy prey, and it'll zap the life out of them. The best strategy is to take a squad of Yellow Pikmin. Then it's you who'll get the last laugh.''

Louie
''Pan roast the thighs with sprigs of rosemary and whole garlic cloves. Finish with a squeeze of fruit juice to highlight the subtle notes of the lingering electricity.''

Olimar
''The hair covering its face works as a capacitor. It charges electricity by rubbing the hair to build static, then discharges it at enemies intruding on its territory. It's more territorial than aggressive, attacking only when threatened rather than to hunt prey. It has several qualities unique to this ecosystem, such as breastfeeding its young, which may someday give rise to a whole new taxonomy of fauna here.''

In Pikmin Eco
The Bearded Amprat is a mammalian creature returning in Pikmin Eco. While the Bearded Amprat doesn't appear until after beating the story mode of the game, it's weaker relative the Cloven Amprat does make an appearance during the game's main story. The Bearded Amprat behaves like it did in Pikmin 3: it will rub its beard with its front paw and create an electric charge before charging at Pikmin, electrocuting those that get caught in it if it doesn't eat them first.