unearthlycat

[unearthlycat]

sometimes i need to remind myself that i'm writing fanfiction for free and i'm allowed to have a shitty sentence or two

[unearthlycat]

sugcat

[unearthlycat]

I drew this in may, but uh I dont think I have any energy or desire to finish that animation.

I should have chosen a simpler style for this

[unearthlycat]

Sometimes I’m tired of being nice. One day your femur will be mine

[unearthlycat]

introducing cute baby number 1 to cute babies number 2, 3 and 4

[unearthlycat]

(minor content warnings for discussion of alien reproductive biology, infant death, cannibalism, and implied incest. nature is fun. i would say im sorry but i am unfortunately not.)

Me, specbioing out general hearthian reproduction/life cycle stuff for brain purposes (fun and recreation): Okay, so we have basically zero instances of any known individuals being described as related, or any kinship terminology outside of Nomai contexts, and it doesn't sound like anyone particularly cares about any of that either, so lets say maybe all the eggs get laid in a sort of communal nesting site pool/hatchery? Like a nice cave or pond or something? (Cave pool sounds good as a traditional choice of hatchery site, you'd want it to be somewhere that can be secured against predators and generally protected, and Hearthians seem to already make good use of local caves as it is...)

Me: You'd still expect some kin selection and subsequent cultural baggage unless there's some kind of counter pressure or obstacle to doing so, though, so maybe they just straight up don't track lineage at all -- maybe a dedicated breeding season that's sort of a poly free-for-all, and all the eggs are laid/incubated/hatched at around the same times? (Yes I have thought out the implications of the lineage thing; it involves significantly more deranged specbio we're not even touching on here tbh)

Me: I like the frog/salamander/tadpole thing, so let's say eggs are laid in water, maybe buried in pond muck a little for protection; if you can't or don't want to go to the water directly maybe you lay eggs in a bucket or washtub or whatever and carry them down to the water later. Tadpoles are initially fully aquatic (lungs not properly developed yet) and take a year or two to undergo metamorphosis into fully amphibious/terrestrial, and move out of the water once they're ready.

Me: For maximum obscuring of lineage, probably you want a lot of eggs to get laid (plus the frog-spawn imagery is fun), but the R-selection aspect of that feels a little out of place for Hearthians, considering the population size (you'd have to be drastically winnowing down the initial cohort size to match the number of hatchlings actually seen in the village, especially assuming they're not all from the same season), so maybe a lot of the eggs are duds that don't hatch, or maybe get laid even if unfertilized -- could serve as predator decoys? A lot of species like these also eat their own eggs upon hatching as their first meal, so that might make a good additional food for the newly hatched tadpoles (hehe eusociality go brrr).

Me: By sheer numbers, probably a lot of tadpoles still don't make it, though, which feels rough for a species that acts more human in terms of emotional attachment... maybe they view tadpoles differently from "babies", per se, almost more like a kind of animal that becomes a person as it develops? So there's an emphasis on caring for tadpoles in a collective sense (i.e. securing the nesting site) but they don't get into the more K-selective "child-rearing" behavior until they're a little older and past the initial dropoff threshold for infant mortality. That makes sense, I think.

Me: Given those conditions, tadpoles would probably be precocial and basically like horrible little fishies/salamanders until metamorphosis; they're not totally fending for themselves, but they're not exactly getting bottle-fed either. (Side note thank you to Wingheart for the delightful tadpole fic and tadporridge for inspiring the use of the term 'larva'; both have definitely had significant influences here lol. awful wet little creetchurs…) The whole process is almost more like animal husbandry than childcare, at least until they're a little older and more independent and terrestrial. Tadpoles are hungry little menaces and probably eat whatever's around with supplementary food from the adults caring for them… evolutionary pressures might encourage them to eat their genetic competition (i.e. unhatched tadpoles from other clutches) too given the chance, especially if they're already eating the other dud eggs. Might contribute to the whole winnowing-down thing, actually, but also is probably a thing that the hatchery caretakers have to manage. Whoops.

Me: Lol if I had a nickel for every blorbo species I've specbio'd that ended up having baby-on-baby cannibalism I'd have three nickels

Me: …

Me: …

Me: …

Me: GOD DAMMIT

outer wilds headcanon status:

[unearthlycat]

i love installing indie games lol they're like "File Size: 4mb" LET"S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[unearthlycat]

thinking abt cascade again

[unearthlycat]

ch5 weird route ferris wheel

❤️ (Grab her/do not below)

❤️ Grab her:

❤️ Do not:

[unearthlycat]

shape (triangle)

[unearthlycat]

@ivanaskye submitted: who is this jump spoo!!! I'm in the Denver, CO area... tried comparing the markings here to the guys listed on inat for the area but couldn't find anything conclusive. seems maybe "extra cute" but I don't think that's a real diagnostic trait...

I agree they are extra EXTRA cute. It's Phidippus sp., but I'm not positive on exact species. There are so many Phidippus fellas with similar colors and markings.

[unearthlycat]

which shall shine you the way

[unearthlycat]

[unearthlycat]

[unearthlycat]

Light in Passing

[unearthlycat]

🫵 YOU. STOP WHERE YOU ARE

say something nice about prev!!! find something cool about them!! give their blog a skim!!

compliments are FREE TO GIVE so GIVE THEM OUT. pls. thamnk. (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

[unearthlycat]

The Emperor's Reason