#non-ungulate

[inatungulates]

Cape buffalo Syncerus caffer

With great white pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus

Observed by simben, CC BY-NC-ND

[phantomtrax]

Actually y'know what deleted my reblog on the "mountain goats aren't goats" post because im starting to get mad thinking about it but I'll keep my tags

[littlespacecase]

No non furry option, it's 2025 you get a fursona now

[explorermoo]

[C] Chia's Reference Sheet

A big gnu fella with lots of cute and edgy accessories! _ Commission for Squee!

Posted using PostyBirb

[time-thy-pyramids]

There's a nice post-hoc story to be told here about how monophyletic groupings are for talking about evolution of a new trait, paraphyletic groupings describe conservation of something basal, and polyphyletic groupings are about convergent evolution

ok ive explained this before but the idea that only monophyletic groups are coherent in biology is such nonsense. its kind of hard to explain just look at this diagram

so, clearly polyphyletic groups are nonsense. theres no rules. but paraphyletic groups are very reasonable! "everything descended from this organism, but not this other organism". "monkey" is a coherent group! with this you can even say "fish" is a coherent group

fish is evertyhing in vertebrates but not tetrapoda! its a good category! it includes all the fishy animals that arent mammals or invertebrates. and invertebrates shouldnt be fish because theyre totally different inside (but inside, pretty much all the vertebra are pretty similar). its a great category

[kiame-sama]

Humans Are Extinct (Yandere!TWST x Fem!Reader) Monster AU pt 45

(Vargas is a Longhorn Minotaur bull. As a bull, he is territorial towards other fully mature ungulates. He doesn't view the students as fully mature so they fall into the same category as members of his herd. He is instinctually programed to protect his herd from outsiders and to keep a close eye on those he considers to be his calves. He considers The Human as a calf, so he is extra protective and territorial over the Human around the others.)

Warnings: yandere, illness, high fever illness, helplessness, yandere behavior, aggressive behavior, intense yandere behavior, platonic and romantic yandere, fever dreams, nightmare, blood, violence, dreamed non-con touching, harpy, Minotaur, shinigami, nightmare creatures,

~~~~~~~~

Your head was swimming as the room seemed to be spinning around you. Each breath was labored and felt painful as your lungs fought you for every inhalation. Somewhere in your mind you felt like you were overheating, but the blanket was too heavy to throw off of you.

"... Help..."

You croaked out, barely even audible as you tried to get someone's attention. Limbs feeling more like lead and your stomach lurching every time you opened your eyes, there was no choice but to close them and keep calling out. Hopefully someone would be able to hear you before you roasted in your skin.

"... Help..!"

A far too loud sound of footsteps slamming in the hallway let you know someone was present. The ear piercing creak of the door made you want to curl up and scream with how deafening it was to your ears. Soft and repetitive whimpers escaped your lips with low wheezing sounds from your labored breath. Someone approached from the side of the nest.

"What's wrong?"

The thunderous voice of whomever had answered your call made your body flinch in response. They didn't seem to realize how loudly they were speaking, or perhaps you were just sensitive to sound given the way everything seemed too much for you. Still, the sound wasn't what was bothering you.

"... Too hot... Can't... Move..!"

A blind panic was beginning to fill your confusion addled brain the longer your body struggled to respond to your commands. Whoever it was seemed to at least believe you as you felt the weight of the blankets lifting from you. The overwhelming heat continued to roll off of you but at least it wasn't trapped beneath covers anymore.

"Here, you should drink something. It has been a while since you last stirred."

Your heavy body was moved into an upright position, whoever it was that came to your side sitting behind you to let you lay exhaustedly against their front. A cold drink met your senses and seemed to spread throughout your body as you tried to gulp down the inviting liquid. If there was a flavor to it, you didn't recognize what that flavor was.

"Is there anything else I can do to help keep you comfortable?"

"... Tired..."

Your brain faintly registered the feeling of rough fur as you were settled back down into the bed, a rather hulking shape of your current attendant walking to the door. They paused a moment at the threshold and you wondered who it was out of the many that craved you violently. Perhaps that was not important as darkness pulled you back down into fitful sleep.

~•§•~

The ground beneath you rolled like waves, knocking you down and battering you as you tried to stand. Each wave taking you farther and farther out into what seemed to be a void of darkness that surrounded you. These waves were not gentle and slammed into you. Instead ot was like you were being hit by hundreds of pointed grains of rice.

Your skin felt sensitive to the touch and made you feel like everything stung whenever it touched you. Voices echoed with no clear origin in your mind, making you look wildly into the shadows for an answer. If it weren't for the rolling ground tossing you around, you may have been able to tell what direction sounds were coming from. Even as you struggled to orient yourself, another roll and pitch beneath you would send you tumbling back down into the hissing darkness.

"Come back here!"

A voice hissed from behind you and the jaws of a white wolf snapped at your leg. Even when you tried to run, what felt like a hand gripped your ankle to pull you back and throw you roughly to the unsteady floor. As your back hit into it, you couldn't tell if it was a solid or liquid, but it was enough to force the air out of your lungs.

"You're mine!"

Another distorted voice hissed and this time you saw the snapping jaws of a dark dragon catching your shirt and jerking you back. Claws tore at your arms as this beast pinned you to the pitching floor. That weight lifted before being replaced by the sharp feeling of fangs digging into your neck as a scream escaped your lips.

"Delicious little Human, keeheehee, you will be my precious little meal!"

The sudden feeling of falling made your body jerk as you dropped into a warm and thick liquid. It was viscous and filled your mouth when you tried to scream. The iron taste overwhelming you and congealing on your tongue as you tried to fight your way back to the surface.

"I am your one and only Hero! You can't leave me!"

The long teeth of an angler fish came shooting towards you and ripped greedily into your sides, cutting and pulling with each long fang dug into you. It felt like you were dragged through the thick liquid around you and thrown out into an icy tundra. The blinding white light making you close your eyes in agony as you shivered and cried out from disorientation.

~•§•~

Eric pulled the blankets up around your shivering body. Lord Hades had gone ahead and given you a bath with the aid of his magic before asking the Harpy to help you settle down again. Despite not being awake, you had audibly struggled against the water to the point the others could hear you whining and splashing. When the Shinigami emerged with your shivering and soaked figure, he informed them of your struggle and how you seemed to be unable to wake yourself yet still fighting.

The Harpy felt immense pity for you as you whimpered again and weakly tugged at the blankets as if to cover yourself completely. You had been switching from sweats to chills in your troubled sleep, leaving him and the others struggling to keep you comfortable. He felt somewhat relieved that the other staff had not made him abandon his duties to you and had instead incorporated him into their own rotation.

Even when he was not checking in on you, it made Vil seek him out and he was thrilled to actually be able to spend time with his son. Both Eric and Vil had been busy most of their lives as Vil was a child-actor from a young age, so they didn't often get to spend time together. Being able to talk to Vil and hear all about how much his son loved you soothed Eric's heart.

Truthfully, Eric had worried that Vil would never find someone that met his standards who wouldn't leave him behind. Even beyond the standards Vil had, there was always that painful part of his childhood that held him back from getting too close to others. The Harpy even distanced himself from his father until he became this untouchable idol of beauty.

Amidst the glamor and the coy smiles, Eric knew his son was hurting. He could do nothing to aid his boy as he was relegated to the sidelines of the young beauty's life. Being present with this fragile and gentle Human gave Eric such rich and fulfilling bonding time with Vil that he wouldn't trade for the world. Even if Eric was kept at arms length, you could get close and comfort the distant and brilliant Harpy who trusted you so deeply.

At least Vil had someone in his life he trusted. That was all Eric could ask for his son.

~•§•~

Your footsteps echoed in the shadowed woods. The ground stuck and pulled at your feet while you attempted to flee. No matter what you did, it felt like you were stuck running in slow motion.

Behind you, loud hoofbeats gained in volume as equine figures approached, their hands reaching out towards you greedily. No matter how you tried to run, they overtook you far too quickly. The hands pulled and ripped at your clothes, trying to grip to the soft flesh that lay beneath the covers.

You squeaked and cried out in fear when the centaur shadows began to kick at each other, fighting for the right to have you to themselves. Each hoof landing with loud thuds that hurt you just to hear. Cracking bones splintered through your mind as the shapes fought viciously and bucked, trying to get the other to stop fighting or die.

More shadowed figures joined the battle, leaving you trapped in the middle and trying to avoid getting hit by the limbs that lashed out. It seemed like a battlefield was forming around you as you tried to duck and escape the crossfire. While you struggled, a sudden stillness overtook the fighting figures. Dark shapes all turned to look upwards in silent horror as you followed their gaze.

Standing higher than the treetops was a pair of glowing green eyes. A low rhythmic growl escaped the shape before there was a sudden flash of bright green fire that escaped the maw of the beast. Glinting white teeth sent chills running through you as those around you screamed and burned in the flames.

Despite the fire that engulfed everything, you remained untouched and sheltered from the heat. But that didn't mean you were sheltered from the beast. That slender head covered in black scales ducked down to snap those large jaws around your midsection and hoist you off of the ground. No matter how you cried and struggled, the beast ignored you and took flight, the forest escaping far beneath you.

~•§•~

Divus frowned as he checked your temperature again, that damned Yeti standing by his side and watching closely. The Selkie was no stranger to ill students and had been both potion teacher and triage for the school for years already. He was skilled in caring for others so it felt rather insulting to have the Ape breathing down his neck while he took care of you.

If anything, the Selkie felt like there was a breach of territory by the Ape being so adamant to be present with him in your room. Though the presence of the Ape was insulting, Divus was determined to take his time and ensure you were comfortable. He halfway considered rousing you, but instead he was busy setting up a liquid drip into your veins.

You hadn't woken up for a few days and none of them wanted to risk you dying of dehydration. It was Divus who had suggested aiding you medically and the ancient Shinigami had agreed with him. Everyone seemed more on edge the longer it took for you to break this fever of yours and it was clear tensions were high.

Eric- who was supposed to leave a day prior- was instead extending the time he planned to spend in the dorm while you were ill. Divus didn't like yet another set of hands trying to take care of you. It had been difficult enough keeping the students away from your door even with Vargas standing guard outside of your room.

Students from every dorm had tried to visit you, even those who were not your guards had made an attempt to see you. It was like everyone was on some kind of pilgrimage to get to your door and leave offerings of fruits, vegetables, soft blankets, pillows, clothing, gold, anything that they could offer. Some Royal Sword Academy students had even made the trip across the island and up the mountain to Night Raven grounds.

News of your illness was impossible to contain and countless countries had been hounding Crowley for updates. All of the prior representatives- minus Rattigan- had reached out to check on your wellbeing. Scientists begged to be allowed to asses your current state and run tests to see if they could be the ones to break your fever. All had been turned away.

If the current behavior of those on and off of school grounds was anything to go off of, the school was likely to be put under scrutiny again. Divus wouldn't let them take you away. Not without a fight.

~•§•~

Slowly your eyes opened and you tried to look around, feeling like your limbs were too stiff to really function. Everything was sore and you felt as if you had been put beneath the wheel of several cars. Your mouth felt like sandpaper as you tried to wet your lips and move your neck to look around you.

Sparkles danced across your vision as you whined, slowly forcing yourself to be louder in the off chance someone was nearby. Your eyes trailed up the nest to see an odd little device that reminded you faintly of a baby monitor. The sound of your voice was foreign to you and felt scratchy in your throat as you whined again, louder this time.

"... H- Hello..?"

The moment you spoke, the door flew open. Standing there was Vargas, his eyes wild as the ensured you were alright. His horns stopped him from walking straight into the room and you almost giggled when he seemed to be struggling to understand his own horns were keeping him back. More footsteps approached as the man finally tilted his head and entered the room, several more coming in behind him.

You recognized the faces of those who entered the room. From the professors, to the staff, to Vil's father Eric, to Papa Hades. All of them looked worried and seemed more than relieved to see you were awake despite how disoriented you were.

Divus was first to sit on the nest next to you, resting his hand on your forehead and sighing in relief. From what he could feel, your temperature had finally gone down from that worrying fever and felt normal to the touch. You leaned into his hand and the Selkie smiled at you, adoring the gentle way you responded to him.

You had enough stress from those around you, he was going to do everything in his power to keep your stress down.

"Headmage Crowley," Divus said, not looking up from you or your confused expression, "I would like to formally adopt (Y/n)."

"What? No. She is-"

"Without a family. Without any documentation beyond this school. She is alone and I don't want her to stay that way. I would like to formally declare her as my daughter."

"... Then I hope you are willing to fight for that role. Trein, Lord Hades, Vargas, Sam, and Clay have already requested the same... Unless we all agree to take on that role and share to equally, all of us will be fighting over who gets to be her father officially. Even I endeavor to do the same."

You almost frowned, but felt too tired and drained to argue with the beasts. Even if they were trying to choose something for you again, you couldn't really argue with Divus' logic. Part of you had even wondered if accepting one of the many professors and other older beings as family would be able to protect you from those that romantically seemed to pursue you.

Perhaps claiming one of them as your parent was actually a good idea. For the time being, you tried to focus on sitting up to talk with them. This most recent illness telling you what you already knew; you needed to try and avoid the constant stress that surrounded you, and you would need their help to do so.

Hopefully the students that took interest in you didn't view it as a threat to them as well.

[artechoceneexplorer]

Dungeon Meshi Encyclopaedia: The Red Dragon

Another creature added to the dungeon meshi encyclopaedia!! Feared by every soul that enters the dungeon, this crimson titan can take down every creature that crosses its path: the Red Dragon (Ignidraco puniceus).

Full piece view

Close-ups and notes on the design choices:

The scientific name, like the last creature I drew, is pretty simple, as for the genus name is just a combination of fire (Igni-) and dragon (-draco); and the species name is a reference to its color, as "puniceus" refers to a bright red color (I also considered "sanguineus" for its blood red color).

This time for the external appearance of parts of the anatomy like osteoderm plates and general head morphology I stuck really close to the original design (although the body and specially head proportions are WILDLY inconsistent between manga and anime, and between parts of the same manga or anime sequence) so I tried to mix them all into a shape I ended up liking quite a lot. I based the "beak" and upper jaw texture on crocodilians and birds, and used ungulate horns as a reference for the keratin cover and the bony core shown in the skull illustration.

One detail I added that I felt was quite necessary are the black, iron covered osteoderms covering the tongue and inside of the mouth, that are used to create sparks and protect the mouth tissues from the heat. These are not present in the original design, the tongue and mouth are pink and smooth, but it probably wouldn't be able to create sparks by doing the tonguing motion without some sort of hard structure to smash together.

The inverse scale was one thing I initially wasn't sure how I was going to explain, until I started designing the mechanism of the gas fuel production in the stomach, and created this symmetrical gular sacs to hold the fuel before ignition, and thought that maybe the development of those sacs could've pushed the aorta artery to pass through the middle of the neck, right below that scaleless spot. This would definitely be a very vulnerable spot and cause the results we see in the series if that point is stabbed, with blood gushing out at high pressures and causing the dragon to rapidly bleed out.

Close-up of the head, fire breath and neck internal structure

My favourite part of the design process for this one was making the fuel mechanism. I love that the indigestible materials, similarly to birds like owls, are accumulated in the anterior chamber of the stomach and used to create fuel (this part is exclusive to dragons owls unfortunately don't produce fire from their pellets). Because the way they ignite the fuel is ambiguous, and it would be hard for the dragon to straight up ignite a stream of wet hair and bones, I opted for giving it a symbiotic relationship with microbes, hydrogen producing ones to be exact (which do exist btw). These microbes could adapt to the acidic environment of the stomach chambers, not competing with other microbes, which would allow them to produce more hydrogen. Which if you don't know, it's not only light, but extremely flammable. I would imagine at first the gular gas chambers evolved, and then the separate had tubes evolved for a more effective transport of the gas towards the sacs.

Close-up of the proventriculus, interior of the "dragon pellet" and front legs

For the second cutout I chose the "stomach" they mention in the series, which is technically not the whole stomach but a chamber of it, the gizzard, which is also found in birds and non-avian dinosaurs. I would imagine not all indigestible materials can be dissolved by the stomach acid, or digested by microbes to create fuel, but I feel like the dragon can use those as gizzard stones, to grind up the food it probably swallows whole (given that the "dragon pellet" had bones, hair and human tools). The heat and constant grinding would eventually smooth the material into round-ish objects that would eventually be passed through after being too worn down.

Close-up of the gizzard and lungs of the dragon

The skin was another part I had to speculate a little, and sort of used the ol' reliable, iron mineralised tissue, but not quite. I imagine it probably incorporates iron oxides into the keratin (maybe that's why it's red??), but below it, above the osteoderm, there is a layer of not only iron mineralised tissue, but also mixed with other more durable metals (maybe adamant?) to make it more resistant to physical and magical attacks.

Close-up of the tail and a tissue cutout of the skin showing all layers up to the dermis

The best way to fill an empty space where I don't know what to put in these pieces, babies! In this case, a baby dragon inside of a very spherical egg, similar to the ones other giant reptiles laid, such as sauropods. I would also imagine female dragons demineralise some of the iron in their tissues to reinforce the egg, making it less susceptible to braking. Also like most reptiles (including extinct ones like sauropods) it has an egg tooth that falls off after hatching.

Close-up of the back spines and a dragon egg, showing a developing embryo inside

Lastly, I had to include something about their social behaviour, so I included a drawing that is very similar to a sketch made by Ryoko Kui herself, showing the different intraspecific social behaviour of different dragon types, with red dragons being described as "persistent" and that "the weaker one will be forced to leave first". So I imagine they fight similarly to komodo dragons (since they're also shown to be able to stand on two legs for short periods of time). They probably also don't fight a lot, prefering to show off and intimidating the rival without wasting their precious fire, but using their other weapon arsenal to fight the other if they have to.

Close-up of a couple of female dragons fighting

Anyways this was all, I spent a LONG time on this one as you can see so I hope you enjoy it, the living armor is next!! :>

[taxideermied]

What is "prey rage"?

Thanks for the question! And sorry that my answer is so long. I like to yap and this has been on my mind for a while. This is coming from anglophone USAmerican observations, for the record, I don’t and can’t speak in absolutes on this issue as it applies to other countries and cultures.

But in therian and non-therian spaces both, there is a general tendency to characterize prey animals as passive (innocent, helpless, harmless) and predators as active (hunters, killers). And this notion is harmful and unhelpful across the board, but especially, in my opinion, when it comes to large ungulate species.

Most of us (USAmericans) are extremely alienated from the beef, dairy and pork industries, and are unlikely to interact closely with cows or pigs. Given the general cost and land requirements of equestrian hobbies, the same goes for horses. Deer are somewhat present in the collective consciousness but usually as pests or a road hazard or a hunting season. The fact that these animals are capable of violent self defense is obscured, almost on purpose, in a land of friendly milk advertisements and Disney cartoons. You don’t want to think about Bambi goring someone, do you? That might make you buy less merch.

And to be fair, I do think it goes deeper than that. Humans anthropomorphize reflexively. Predator species are often more charismatic and their relative rarity and ecological importance makes the study and documentation of individuals much easier. Predators are usually independent, and when they’re not, they often exist in family groups, lifestyles that are not only approachable but downright appealing to the USAmerican mindset. These animals are framed as intelligent (as it relates to a human way of thinking) and active ecological forces that keep prey animals (necessarily passive in comparison) in check.

So the prey species become largely secondary. Since humans are at the top of the food chain, it’s difficult to properly conceptualize life for animals that are predated upon. They eat (mindlessly), they reproduce (mindlessly), and they are killed (mindlessly). If humans have deigned them worthy of conservation, they become not just mindless, but sin-less creatures uniquely devastated by climate change or habitat loss (a characterization that also hurts predatory species). Their passivity is a virtue in need of protection and, if it’s not obvious, the idea that these animals are as equally capable of killing as they are of dying sort of throws a wrench in the whole well-meaning paradigm.

Elk and bison injure people annually at Yellowstone, and still humans wander up to them as if that outcome is a complete impossibility. And yes, the public is largely uneducated on animal behaviors, but I hear a lot less about tourists toddling off towards bears and wolves, don’t you? It’s like that gif of that biker guy holding his arm out to a horse clearly displaying every “fuck off” warning sign in the book, and the guy gets bit. It’s not just that he doesn’t know horse body language, it’s as if he can’t conceptualize the idea that a horse might feel threatened and lash out and hurt him. Because horses don’t do that. They’re literally nice.

Obviously, prey species will defend themselves, violently, explosively and “no holds barred” if necessary, because the other option is usually death. And this defense, by design, will fuck up humans or any other predatory species.

Granted, prey “rage” is an unhelpful anthropomorphization of this behavior as well, but in my defense I was talking about myself.

I’ve talked before on this blog about how I value kindness and compassion, and partly why I value it so highly because it is often against my nature entirely and is something I have to actively work at. If I feel I have been wronged or hurt my first instinct is the kind of kick-your-lights-out, kill-or-be-killed reaction an elk has when a wolf is latched onto its hock. I have to get them back, and it has to hurt.

Now I can recognize that that is a self destructive and unhelpful impulse (there is no wolf latched onto my hock), but I do believe it is informed by my “prey brain” (among other aspects of my nonhumanity). It is unhelpful to characterize me as innocent or incapable of harm on account of my deer-ness, and I will always reject that sentiment. Further, is damaging to discuss deer and other prey species as wholly sweet and innocent even and especially in therian spaces, and that was largely what I was getting at with my original post. Hope that has answered your question lol :>

[bovineblogger]

How do you feel about non bovine ungulates?

i love u ungulates. i love u antelope. i lvoe u donkey. I LOVE U MUSK DEER.

^musk deer

[inatungulates]

Common hippopotamus Hippopotamus amphibius

With serrated hinged terrapin Pelusios sinuatus, on adult hippo, and Mozambique tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus, around juvenile hippo

Observed by anibotani, CC BY-SA

[ranticore]

Centaur anatomy notes which I might turn into diagrams (courtesy of me in 2023)

The air flow is one-way, in the nose and out the mouth, the main body lungs do the most work and the human torso lungs work to strip out the last % of oxygen, so they are actually engaged on the lower chest exhale which passes air back out through the human lungs and mouth. In times of exertion they can inhale and exhale simultaneously using their two sets of intercostal muscles. Even non-athletic centaurs have very high endurance and good breath control. lower respiratory tract infections are extremely dangerous as are any conditions that might partially occlude the airway (like a common cold), so pulmonary health is very important to centaurs

cardiac system is similarly duplicated, there's a big barrel heart and a smaller human chest heart which aids in the circulation of blood from the upper lungs. the human half heart and lungs are larger than their equivalents in humans because the alimentary canal is not duplicated, so there's lots of free real estate in there (i.e past the human half diaphragm there's no stomach, liver, etc, those are all in the animal half)

a centaur can survive their upper-body heart and lungs ceasing to function (by trauma, disease, etc) but not the reverse. in the modern era, it is actually possible for a centaur to give a(n upper) heart transplant and survive but they would experience reduced quality of life as a result (having low tolerance to physical exertion). however it is an option for recipients whose lower heart has reduced function as this is life threatening

diet is determined by animal type. ungulates are nearly all vegetarians, they need a specialised diet high in cellulose and enough roughage to save them from getting painful ulcers. they drink spirulina water and consume specially-formulated hay/grass/etc products. they could eat a handful of plain grass if they wanted but there's not much flavour in that. grazers eat as many as six or seven small meals a day, carnivores would eat one or two.

the babies are all altricial like human babies. this means ungulates are born with their lower halves less developed than their newborn animal equivalents and can't walk for the first few months of life (coordinating six limbs is tricky). human chest handles the lactation as it's easier to cradle a baby there. i know we were all dying to know

flexibility is pretty good as previously mentioned but it does vary by species. the big cats can even climb ladders and have an easier time living in conventional housing

an ungulate centaur has two ways of lying down; sternal recumbency and lateral recumbency. in sternal recumbency the human half is held upright, in lateral, that's the full 'passed out' lying on ur side experience, and lateral recumbency is required for REM sleep. beds consist of thick pads or bedding (straw etc) and are usually ground-level. REM sleep time varies for animal type, for horses they'll need about 2 hours of it every day. they can nap and sleep shallowly while standing up. too much time spent lying down is bad for circulation as weight on hooves is actually a part of the circulatory system in horses, so they will spend most of their time standing to avoid issues with venous drainage. where a centaur is injured, a full body sling (suspended from a wheeled frame usually) can help them keep as much weight on their hooves as possible while also supporting them.

spinal injuries are very common in centaurs for obvious reasons, particularly torsion or compression fractures to the acute spine, which is the junction between the upper and lower body. this area is heavily reinforced and incorporates a structure similar to the stay structure in a horse's leg, which makes supporting the upright torso effortless. but all the reinforcement in the world won't stop nearly every centaur getting a sore back in their later years. ruptured discs are extremely common. in modern times, many would have brace implants fitted there. because there's more than just the torso's own muscles supporting it, it's easy for a centaur to hold their torso in what might seem like a high-effort position to humans (i.e not just upright)

[markov--chains]

Miscellaneous chimera xenobiology notes yaaaay

aka my various notes attempting to make the biology of this fantasy species that my Teto (and her family) belong to make some sense. Obviously it's fantasy and these are fantasy creatures with fantasy abilities, so there's only so much one can go down the "realism" front before just going "man fuck it it's fantasy", but I still wanna just do fantasy biology because it's fun. yaaay

Chimera are, to put it short, an evolutionary attempt at the ideal apex predator. Their unique appearance, seeming to have the traits of multiple different classes of mammals, is the result of very delicate convergent evolution and mimicry, and also the reason for their namesake. They belong in the carnivora order, and are earlier mammals who are (albeit very distantly) related to felines, though share some traits with what would branch off into primates and later, hominids. Despite their humanoid appearance. They are ambush predators by nature, so as a result have the body structure more befitting for an ambush predator unlike their human lookalikes, with strong jaw and hind leg muscles ideal for short bursts of speed. Early chimera were 6-limbed mammals, with their extra appendages eventually evolving into wings. They were climbers, using their two sets of arms for climbing before evolving flight, and like other gliding (or in the case of bats, flying) mammals, eventually evolved to glide and fly rather than climb for efficiency.

Chimera evolution was a process unlike that of any other mammal on earth. Their evolution was based entirely on mimicry, though unlike uses of mimicry in nature mainly being used by prey animals to avoid predation, or even that of some predators to attract prey, their natural selection-based mimicry was rather centered on adapting to rapidly changing environments with unprecedented speed. With specimens being frequent climbers, they evolved hoofed back legs akin to ungulates for ease traversing steep and rocky terrain, despite hoofed mammals being herbivore specimens. With the evolution of primates, they began to also take after them. The primate species that would eventually evolve into the humans we know of, which had high dexterity, stronger communication skills, and resistance to many pathogens; a trait an ideal apex predator would hope for.

That being said of course, all animals are ultimately still just that, animals. Despite being a highly adaptable predator species, chimera are not superior to any other animal, and are still vulnerable to injury or even death from fights with large prey animals or territorial disputes with larger predators, and of course, human causes. As with most ambush predators, they exhaust quickly. But as chimera display sapience on par with humans, the need to hunt for food has ultimately diminished as human societies advanced from relying solely on hunting for food. Hunting is now mainly done recreationally, but still has sufficient risk of injury, so it's usage has declined much in recent years.

Addendum on fire breathing abilities:

Chimera and their ability to breathe small spurts of flame is a very flashy display, though this ability is not used for attacking purposes like one may think. It is instead a very dramatic threat display, used in earlier non-sapient chimera as a way to challenge rivals over disputes involving territory or food. This process is made possible by a small sac in the throat that stores byproducts of digestion, and a gland located at the back of the neck that secretes a highly combustible fluid. When firing off a blast, this fluid will be pumped into the flame sac, where it will be manually heated up and combust, the sudden kinetic energy sending the flammable digestive byproducts out from the mouth, where they quickly burn up. Due to their fire-breathing abilities relying on using digestive byproducts, chimera must maintain a stable diet to produce it. It is for this reason that fire breathing displays were also used in courtship, as stronger flames meant a better diet, which would indicate strong hunting skills.

And that's it for just my general biology notes!! I might compile this into a fun visual thing sometime, but it's just fun to write and imagine stuff!!

[markrosewater]

Do you have any insight on why Deer and similar ungulates are creature type 'Elk' when Elk are a subcategory of Deer and many of the deer depictions show non-Elk morphology? Deer are my favorite animal and this has always been a big pet peeve of mine with magic.

There is some inconsistency with how creature types are used. I'm not sure how Elk specifically got chosen.

[hyperbali]

I've been tooling around on My Version of the DA canon in regards to Veilguard and here are a few fun things you should know about it

Varric, obviously, survives

He also has Titan stone powers now, which in his opinion is a shit-poor replacement for the fact that the lyrium dagger damaged his pectoralis tendon so badly that he couldn’t pick up a crossbow again even if it were to get fixed (RETIRE, BITCH)

He and Pina were together for a few years, but between how burnt out she was post-Trespasser and Varric’s absolute insistence on finding Solas with full intent to change his mind instead of kill him like she wanted, they went their separate ways

Proserpina Lavellan had since retired to Halamshiral, where she basically kicked the Imperial Court out of the Winter Palace, dared them to stop her (no one has tried), and made it her own

She turned much of the property's land into an ungulate farm (sheep, goats, harts, and halla) and surrounded it with Fen'Harel statues that very specifically have their eyes gouged out

Iron Bull joined her in this retirement; they have their own set of twins! Occasionally the Chargers (now led by Krem) have stopped by to hang out for a few weeks at a time and help take care of the farm

So she's REALLY REALLY REALLY PISSED OFF that she's being forced out of retirement to help deal with TWO MORE of her own damn gods!! Solas when I fucking catch you!!!

Prospero relocated to Minrathous with Dorian, where he basically flaunts his position as a trophy husband and has become a massive pain in the ass for most of the magisters in general while also absolutely charming the general public

In that vein, he's become a fairly lucrative merchant who regularly does business with Xenon the Antiquarian and The Viper

He sent the magic mirror to his twin sister and they talk on the regular

BUT SPEAKING OF ORLAIS

In the aftermath of the incredibly damaging civil war, the loss of pretty much every single upper hierarchy in the Chantry, the rumors of a puppet government (Pina forced a public truce), the installation of such a radical Divine (Leliana), and the mounting cruelty of the chevaliers in an effort to regain control, Orlais is a powder keg

These flames are both fanned and stifled in equal measure by the Bards, who have now become a sort of entity all their own rather than being informal mercenary spies

Rumours abound that at this point, Orlais is the only country in Thedas that wants to be entirely rid of their monarchy - it hasn't escalated into all-out war yet, but it feels inevitable

Given the history of the founding of Orlais, a population desperate for a sense of identity and trust turned to their most vaunted and uniquely Orlesian tradition - that of the Bards

Bards, who have always been largely comprised of commoners hoping to make a decent living, elves wanting to leave the alienages, non-inheriting nobility, the bastardborn, and mages hoping to avoid detection anyway, certainly did not turn up their noses at the idea of becoming a symbol of rebellion

It has now become sort of a point of pride for the Bards to effectively target and slaughter the nobility and chevaliers as creatively as possible - whether that be in the literal or social sense (the Great Game is still held in high regard)

A Bard then has the opportunity to take a trophy from their claimed victory - this trophy is usually whatever fanciful finery that noble owned

As a result, Bards have become increasingly easy to spot because they patchwork pieces of items from their defeated quarry into their ensembles. The more variety and asymmetry to a given outfit, the more targets that Bard has taken

(It’s deeply frowned upon to wear more than one piece from a given victory, or to wear something taken from the estate of someone that particular Bard was not responsible for dealing with)

Basically making a mockery of how important style and flamboyance have always been to the Orlesian nobility by stealing their shit and turning the dial to 11

Some Bards have taken this to mean entirely different materials, textures, and colours - the most 'decorated' of them can look like Alexander McQueen meets Bisa Butler

The really dangerous ones manage that patchwork design, but also look cohesive - meaning they've taken down enough nobles and chevaliers to be able to start matching pieces

Anything not taken as a trophy by a Bard is then free game to be raided and distributed among the people, so tensions are HIGH and security is VERY EXPENSIVE

Divine Victoria publicly denounces all of this but secretly provides information to the Bards when she can

(Yes I am giving you all this setup because the Orlesian Bards are a Faction for a planned companion)

As for Dejana

Yes I'm going to be proceeding with Emmrich as her romance

No I have not decided if she's getting Bone Daddy or Bone Son

Maybe this will end up being a threesome with Varric

Yes she is going to have a lot to explain to the parents she forgot existed for several years in any case

Kieran will also be an installation of the party thanks to Morrigan telling him to watch over his sister but he's pretty much going to usually be in the form of a black sphynx cat (he likes creepy cute)

[serpentface]

Can we see more about pyliod....he's so silly. ♥️ kissing him on the head.

I'm obsessed with how khait mimic real world bulls but also goats in their behaviors. are there any other behaviors/traits they mimic from IRL animals?

Which leads me to the question: what separates livestock from pets?

Esp for brakul, I'm assuming the animals he lived around when he was younger were livestock and meant for eating - but what if you had a favorite? Was it different for janeys? Hibrides?

Also leads me to another question: fish keeping - is it a hobby? Are fish just seen as food or can they be considered decorative?

(please forgive any spelling errors it's 1 in the morning for meeee)

Don't know if you saw this post but this gives a good rundown of khait behavior. They're based on wildebeests and most of the descriptions of their social behavior are accurate to them, other aspects of their behavior is pulled mostly from other bovids (other antelopes mostly. l swear I saw urine self-anointing+wallowing by topi or hartebeest or smth in a documentary once, but in terms of bovids that might just be a goat thing. Cervids also do that). Not much of their behavior is actually based on cattle, besides using cattle as a model to inform the concept of a hypothetical domesticated antelope. There's also some horse influence, though in that case it's pretty much exclusively to inform the concept of a non-horse domestic ungulate used Primarily for riding, and their interactions with humans.

The like, general definition of distinction between livestock/pets would be a venn diagram between 'livestock' 'working animals' and 'pets', with livestock being animals raised for production (meat, wool, fur, leather, eggs, milk, etc), working animals being used for physical labor or otherwise performing utilitarian 'jobs' (plow animals, riding animals, ratters, herders, guardians, etc), and pure pets having no directly 'productive' role and exist for companionship, ornamentation, etc (though the definition of a pet can be pretty nebulous, especially if you're framing it around emotional attachment instead of the lack of a productive angle). These categories can heavily overlap.

This is just a generalized answer (not even in-universe). How a culture defines these concepts separately (if it does at all) is going to vary extensively.

Brakul grew up surrounded by livestock/working animals and virtually no animals kept EXCLUSIVELY for companionship. The core subsistence method is a mix of settled agriculture (producing primarily grain) and seasonal pastoralism of cattle and horses (producing primarily dairy and wool), occasionally supplemented by hunting and fishing of wild game. The diet revolved around dairy and grain with meat being eaten irregularly, especially for people who aren't rich (which in this particular context is primarily measured in the quality and quantity of livestock- someone wealthy in cattle can afford to slaughter more frequently). Slaughtering a cow is a special occasion. Brakul's clan was on the lower end of the livestock wealth scale, so he ate meat infrequently and almost never his Own livestock (mostly eating hunted/fished game, meat given as gifts or in trade, meat provided by the ruling clan by social obligation).

(This is also broadly true of animal husbandry in Real Life across history prior to industrialized farming- most livestock is more valuable alive as a continuously replenishing resource (milk, wool, eggs, pulling plows, etc) and thus would be slaughtered for personal use infrequently. In class stratified societies, the majority of animals raised for meat would often feed upper classes rather than the people actively involved in rearing them. Some pastoralist societies will rarely or virtually never slaughter their animals for meat, as they are wholly relied on for products they produce while alive.)

So Brakul existed in a context where it was very possible to get attached to livestock and working animals. A lot of basic survival revolved around the dairy and wool the livestock provide, there are high emotional stakes in their survival and well-being, so personal attachment to these animals (even those likely destined for slaughter) can come naturally and be beneficial. The concept that's more alien to him is pure companion animals that don't really do anything directly productive. House dogs kind of freak him out because they're SO different from the dogs he was used to (extremely independent livestock guardians that don't really bond with people, and herding dogs that bond readily with their owners but are notably intelligent and self-sufficient). Encountering dogs that are utterly dependent on their owners and desperate for human attention was like 'what the fuck is wrong with that thing? sad'.

Pretty much the exact reverse situation for the characters from noble families. They would rarely be in close contact with livestock or subsistence level working animals (if anything, they/their families own land and livestock that is entirely raised by peasant workers), and instead would have most contact with pets/ornamental animals/leisure type working animals (hunting dogs, sport khait), and animals used in transportation (cart khait and oxen). They have VERY clear, clean-cut delineations between 'pet' and 'food' (though still not as much as is common in industrialized societies where most people are completely and utterly disconnected from the sources of their food. They're still Connected to the process, seeing animals being slaughtered is a part of daily life). They also would have eaten meat on a much more regular basis, while having little to no personal involvement in its production.

Wardi culture as a whole is not big on companion dogs (there are a few companion dog 'breeds' within the region, but most are hunting or herding dogs). Polecats are by far the most common companion animal in this cultural sphere (they technically fill working functions as ratters, but are mostly kept as housepets). Other animals kept purely as pets are mainly ornamental fowl and ducks. There's also a kind of pygmy horse breed that is kept as a companion animal (reminder that horses in this setting share the size range of goats).

Faiza, Couya, Janeys and Hibrides all grew up with pet polecats and hunting dogs, and sport khait owned by their families. Hibrides had pygmy horses as a kid. In the present day, Janeys' household has two hunting dogs that he doesn't like all that much, he also got two polecats for his children (one of which died tragically after being thrown from a window by his eldest), and has 14 total khait (12 of which are Brakul's) (technically owns another herd and a herd of cattle, but has nothing to do with them. It's an investment). Faiza likes dogs quite a bit and owns three bred hunting dogs and one feral dog she took off the street, also two khait (she owns land and the animals are kept there).

Re: fishkeeping. There's going to be plenty of variation in a global context, but broadly speaking keeping fish as a hobby/for display/other non-meat purposes is going to be on the rarer side in this setting. This is a limited practice in Imperial Wardin (you'll get the occasional wealthy home keeping fish in a courtyard pool but there's no traditions built around it). In terms of nearby civilizations, it's a much more significant practice in Bur, where water gardens with ornamental plants and fish are integrated into temples, city layouts, and wealthy homes.

[pekoehoneyncream]

Ghoaptober # 21

Prompt: Forest

Words: 2000~

TW: None (sfw)

This version of Ghoaptober was created by @spadesandshovels

Return of the Shifter AU from #16! and a return of Router Woods from #1.

Fair warning that this one is set Pre-Relationship

Enjoy!

“MacTavish.” Ghost let a grin twist up the edges of his mouth when the Sergeant jolted violently, having not noticed Ghost lurking outside the mess’s doors, waiting for Soap to emerge. 

“Sir!” MacTavish recovered admirably, snapping upright when he registered who was addressing him. 

“With me.” Ghost commanded as he turned and walked away. He heard the Sergeant stutter a half-jogging step to catch up with his abrupt exit, then settle in to pacing along behind Ghost's left shoulder. Refreshingly, without asking any inane questions. 

Ghost led them out the main building’s northernmost exit and headed up towards Router Woods, the copse of trees that bracketed the north of the base. Reaching the small forest’s south entrance, Ghost nodded to Price and Gaz, who had been waiting for them as agreed. 

“Soap.” Price greeted, “We’re here to get our Shifts acquainted. Best to do it in a non-critical situation, instead of having you dropped in it mid-mission.” 

“Sounds good, Cap.” MacTavish nodded looking between all of them with a curiosity glinting in his eyes that he couldn’t smother. 

That wasn’t surprising, he was the only one here without full knowledge of everyone’s Shifts. Ghost had told Price what MacTavish’s Shift is as soon as he’d found out, he didn't doubt that Price had told Gaz soon after that and, of course, they all already know each other’s Shifts. 

“This is what’s going to happen,” Price continued, “We’ll step into the trees and shift. Your task is to wait three minutes, then shift and come find us, Clear?”

“Yes, Sir.” Soap nodded, an eager tension starting to knot in his muscles. 

He watched the three men walk into the woods and checked his watch, making sure to remember the time it showed and not just let himself scratch ‘look at watch’ off the to-do list without actually having read the fucking thing. 

Impatiently waiting out the allotted time,  Soap forced himself not to pace. Picking at the seams of his pants and compulsively checking his watch every ten seconds, instead. When the third minute finally ticked over he immediately threw himself into his shift. 

The ground coming closer, his palms thickening into paw pads, warm fur coming up to shield vulnerable bare skin as his clothes vanished into the unknowns between magic and science that was intrinsic to all Shifters. 

He shook himself out and blinked away the slight blur of his vision adjusting, thankful that he kept the human colour range, instead of the wash of blues and yellows that actual wolves purportedly see in. 

Putting his nose to the ground, he snuffled around until he had the three distinct scents of Price, Ghost, and Gaz. He followed their trail into the trees and sneezed in frustration as the scents muddied together, they weren't playing nice. Well, by the smells of things, Ghost wasn’t playing nice. What was once three distinct lines of Price, Ghost, and Gaz had become two lines of PriceGhost and GazGhost, that occasionally muddled into one big mess of GhostPriceGhostGazGhost. 

The Lieutenant had purposely messed with the scent markers. 

It didn’t help that he’d done it over the spot they’d shifted, their normal scents gaining the undertones and edges of their Shifts. From what little he could parse, Gaz had the clean almost chloriney smell of some kind of cat, Price had the tallow, mineral, rock smell of ungulates, and Ghost had the dark musky reek of a large predator. 

Sneezing again and rubbing his nose into his own side to clear the mess of unhelpful scents from it, he started canvassing the area. Finding three distinct sets of prints that matched up nicely with his assumptions. The small round prints of a cat, probably a bobcat or a lynx, the teardrop prints of what looked to be a massive deer, and the signature two step of a bear. Backtracking until he found a scent that was clear and untainted by Ghost, Soap paced out in wider and wider circles, keeping the scent in his nose, listening closely for any out of place sounds and watching carefully for any more prints. He’d decided to try his hand -or paw as it were- at tracking Price, a deer couldn’t climb trees to hide like a cat or maul him like a bear.

Eventually he passed out of the area tainted by Ghost’s evil machinations and found a crisp line of prints and a nice clear scent trail. Flicking his ears he could hear something moving through the brush ahead of him and sunk low. With his belly brushing the dirt he slunk around until he was upwind of the scent. Creeping forward his target slowly came into view and Soap froze in slack jawed disbelief. 

That was no deer. 

It was fucking mountainous, what ever the fuck it was. Some kind of horrible love child between a moose, an elk, and Benandonner. Soap could have stood under it and not have his back even brush its belly. All that without mentioning the truly unnecessarily gargantuan rack of antlers it was crowned by, Soap could easily lay down in the bowl of one of them with no risk of slipping out. The sharp points they were sporting didn’t look like they were there for giving bairns tickles either. 

Abandoning his plan of sneaking up on Price, Soap stepped out from his cover with a yip and a friendly wag of his tail. Getting a closer look at the weapon’s rack he was touting as Price swung his head around to face him, Soap mentally retracted his previous thought. 

This thing could absolutely maul him. 

Price gave a snort that Soap prayed was friendly and came over to nudge at the wolf with his nose, wuffling around Soap’s ears for a moment, then pulling away with another snort. 

“Soap?” Came an echo of Price’s voice, faint like he was calling from the back of a cave system, “Are you hearing me?”

An old hand at forging mental links, Soap easily brought Price’s presence into focus, memorizing the unique shape of Price’s mind touching his and slotting it into place amongst the veritable phonebook of others that crowded in the back of his mind. 

“Aye, Price.” He answered, “I hear you.” 

“What?” Price asked, tilting his head -mindful of his antlers- to eye Soap.

“What?” Soap returned, not understanding what Price was questioning.

“Soap, you’re not speaking English,” Price informed him.

Ah, fuck. Old hand at forging mental links, Soap may be, but it’d been months since he’s had to deal with the headache of shifting his internal monologue out of the Scots Gaelic it defaulted to. 

“Sorry, Captain,” Soap enunciated, “I hear you fine.” 

Price blew out a hard breath, and bobbed his head, “That’s good, Soap. Off you trot then, go find Garrick and Ghost.” 

Soap darted a step forward to lick boldly at Price’s jaws, feeling safe enough to dare giving in to the instincts demanding he show deference to his superior. Price licked him broadly across his head then gave him a shooing nudge. Obediently trotting away, Soap couldn’t help the way his tail wagged, it would be nice to have a more permanent pack again. 

A breeze stirred a susurrus through the treetops and carried the dim feline smell of Gaz down to the wolf searching amongst their roots. Freezing where he was, Soap started sniffing hard, intently searching for any other sign of his quarry. Standing up onto his hindlegs and stretching his nose up to the branches, the smell became more clear. 

Soap knew that the cat would hide where he couldn’t reach. It’s what Soap would do if he was in Gaz’s fur. 

Engaging every stealth tactic he knew, Soap crept towards the epicentre of the scent pooling down from the trees. He carefully kept his head forward and his eyes down, not looking up, not letting Gaz know that he'd caught on to where his fellow Sergeant was hiding. When he was crouched at the base of the tree that his nose told him Gaz was -probably- sitting in, he abruptly threw his head back into the loudest throat-aching baying howl that he could scream out of his lungs. An old buddy that Shifted into an Eastern wolf had taught him how to howl like a North American, and Soap in turn had taught him how the Europeans sing.

A startled yowl followed by scrambling crashes sounded from the branches above his head. Looking up, he easily spotted the puffed up furball clinging to the trunk of the tree and glaring death down upon him. Soap let his tongue loll out of his mouth and his tail wag as he reared up to brace his forepaws against the trunk, giving Gaz a friendly boof.

Gaz hissed at him. 

Understandable really. 

“-uck would you do that?! Is mimicking bagpipes some kind of national Scottish pastime? Are the train horn imitators olympics coming up and I just wasn’t informed? Or are you just-” Gaz’s voice faded into Soap’s mind mid-rant. 

“Found you!” Soap cheered, making sure he said it in English the first time this go around. 

“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” Gaz grumbled, his stump of a tail flicking irritably, “Go find Ghost then.” 

Soap padded his paws against the tree, a bit upset that he couldn’t make friends with -read: ‘lick’- Gaz like he had Price, but he did still have to hunt down Ghost, so he pushed off and headed out.

Half an hour later he must have tracked over every square metre of Router Woods, but still couldn’t find any signs of Ghost clear enough to get a good heading off of. As a cherry on top, his unfamiliar surroundings were messing with his paranoia and ever since he left Gaz behind he’s felt like something’s watching him. Soap paused, gave a great whining stress-yawn and a halfhearted attempt at shaking off his tension, then sat to think over what he could do for next steps. Obviously, just wandering around wasn’t going to turn up Ghost. What other options did he have? As he mulled it over, a terrible idea started to take shape in his mind. 

If he couldn't find Ghost as the Hunter, it was time to be the Hunted. 

Leaning down, he nipped through the skin on his left ankle, and an offbeat crackling sounded from behind him as his blood rolled down to patter onto the earth. Whipping around, Soap found himself nearly nose-to-nose with a grizzly bear. 

A feeling of being watched indeed. 

Soap realized now that he’s been the hunted this whole damn time, but with adrenaline jolting through him, he wasn’t willing to give up his plan just yet. Wheeling about, he started sprinting through the trees. He could hear Ghost crashing after him, but accelerating as close to his top-speed as he dared while still having to weave through the trees, he easily outstripped the bear. Thankfully, the blood still dripping from his leg was giving Ghost a nice easy trail to follow. 

Soap barreled out of the trees at the south entrance of the woods, nearly mowing over Price and Gaz, who were waiting just outside like Soap had hoped they would be. Shifting back to his human form as swiftly as he dared, Soap panted to get his breath back under twin baffled stares.

“Wha-”

“Did you not find Ghost?” Price cut over Gaz’s question.

“Nae,” Soap denied, straightening up as much as his cramping side allowed, “I found him.” He hunched back over, bracing his hands on his knees. If he’d known he’d be running a marathon he would have stretched first. 

“Where is he?” Gaz asked for the both of them, glancing around like the Lieutenant might fall from a tree like a fresh ire-filled apple.

“He’s-” A worked up grizzly bear charging out of trees with an agitated bellow nicely punctuated Soap’s statement, and he continued with a cheering tone “Right here!” 

He turned a bright smile on the Captain. Ignoring Gaz’s disbelief-filled goggling, Price’s flat staring, and the huffing breaths stirring his warhawk, from the bear -presumably- looming over him.

“So I see.” Said Price.

Thank You For Reading!

Here's a Height comparison of the 141 and their shifts, for a bit of perspective, done in my usual colour coding.

and here's some images to put the sheer size of the Irish Elk into perspective.

They were frikken HUGE!

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