pkmn-prof-brightbeam

[pkmn-prof-brightbeam]

OOC: (Tumblr why do you keep breaking my intro post? Like a whole chunck of text is just gone... At least the OG version is still available via pokebloggingnetwork's post)

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I must admit I'm not all that great at sketching and art, but it wouldn't hurt to do little watercolor drawings of the pokémon in my home. It'll be a fun little exercise for me.

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People ask sometimes how Pokémon can understand move names– particularly, say, a Pokémon recently caught when its whole life has been wild. After all, if they haven’t been socialized by humans, how can they understand words in a language they’ve had little to no exposure to?

The basic answer is that they don’t!

Pokémon don’t naturally, inherently understand words. (No more than you or I, at least! We all learned language in our brains, not our blood.) But they do understand people.

Obviously, this varies to some extent (depending on both the person and the Pokémon, and how well they can get on one another’s wavelength), but the connections that form between Pokémon and humans are very real, and the varying effects of this connection are still being discovered and studied!

Another part of it is that Pokémon don’t have a singular verbal language; they all make different sounds, and yet they all understand each other. And the majority of them aren’t psychic. They simply have a common ability to listen for others’ intention and meaning beneath words they may not understand directly, and they use this with humans as well. (And some humans can understand Pokémon in a similar fashion, usually people with a lot of experience working with them!)

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hi! how do you train pokémon for service roles? are all pokémon eligible or are there certain conditions to become viable?

It depends! But in the most basic sense, training service pokemon is about identifying a need and then coming up with actions that a pokemon could perform to meet that need.

How we go about training those behaviors is all about motivation and discipline; a pokemon that isn’t primarily motivated by pleasing people or having a ‘job’ likely won’t be a candidate for this type of training (vs being primarily motivated by play, battle, or food). And if a pokemon is unable to focus on their ‘job’ (eg gets distracted, anxious, or aggressive in public) or has more independent, rebellious tendencies (testing boundaries, doing tasks at inappropriate times, etc) then they’d likely be washed out.

Eligibility is related to the above, as you could probably guess lol. Temperament is really important, and that’s why programs like the one I’m in work with breeders who select parents with ideal service pokemon traits. We also start training pokemon when they’re really young in order to get them used to different environments, stimuli, and people.

It’s also important to know the potential health risks before selecting a service pokemon candidate, since we’d never want a pokemon to become injured by doing their job or be forced to retire early. That’s also why breeders are invaluable to the process, since we know the medical history of the parents & they’re (theoretically) as healthy as possible.

(That’s not to say that you can’t train an adopted, traded, or wild-caught pokemon to do tasks! I know many trainers who didn’t get their service pokemon from any offical program and they are just as wonderful at their jobs as any of the pokemon I work with :] these are just guidelines to produce consistently ideal candidates in a setting where we’re training lots of different service mons for lots of different people!)

Species, type, ability, & moveset are all factors we consider as well depending on what tasks need to be performed! For example,

- if someone needs a mobility pokemon that can bare their weight, we’d make sure to select a species that is safe to do that with.

- Psychic type pokemon are ideal for psychiatric-related tasks due to being highly sensitive and most being able to learn calm mind.

-An aipom with the ability ‘pick up’ is a great candidate for retrieving objects, opening doors, and handling equipment.

Even with all of these factors, it also comes down to the individual ‘mon & luck tbh! Keep in mind that other regions may have different processes than what I’m familiar with as well :] ty for the ask!

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one misconception that drives me crazy is that people believe trubbish's stench makes it an "undomesticateable" mon or even go as far to call it a pest pokemon. :/ not a lot of people know or discuss it but once you gain a trubbish's trust their stench fades. they are some THE sweestest lil guys ever wish more people would give them a chance

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there are three known primary ways in which quagsire and clodsire care for their eggs. this care is usually done by large males known as "denmasters" without the females' involvement, and consists of tail-fanning, egg agitating, and hygienic filial cannibalism. bear with me for that last one.

tail-fanning is what i described earlier; wooper eggs need high levels of oxygen to develop and hatch properly, and denmasters use their keeled tails to fan the water surrounding their eggs to increase oxygen flow.

egg agitating describes a denmaster using his nose and face to move his eggs around. while the primary purpose for this is that wooper eggs also must be stirred to a certain extent to develop right, denmasters perform this behavior more often than necessary for that sole reason. thus, it's believed denmasters also do this to check for infertile, dead, or infected eggs, as well as probe for small nest predators. 'sire have poor eyesight, hence why they use their face for this task.

filial cannibalism, as you may have already guessed, is the consumption of eggs and/or offspring by the parent(s). it may seem contradictory to describe this behavior as parental care, but in 'sire, denmasters will consume dead/infertile eggs and eggs infected with aquatic fungi to prevent the spread of disease related to decomposition or infection. so, researchers dubbed this phenomenon "hygienic filial cannibalism".

parental care in the wooper line is still not fully understood. there may be other forms of care we don't know about yet, and we do not have a complete understanding of how long care lasts after the larval wooper hatch. however, this information is a good starting point, especially when combined with the fact that we know parental care continues to some degree after hatching.

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that question about drowzee & hypno and their supposed penchant for kidnapping reminded me of another pokemon with a bad rap- drifloon, and all the misconceptions surrounding it.

you’re almost certainly familiar with drifloon’s supposed habit of whisking children away- you might even be able to point to a few news stories outlining those exact sort of events. many people say that drifloon like to drag kids away to the afterlife, or to eat their soul or whatever.

and honestly- there is some truth to these stories. there are a fair amount of concrete, well-founded accounts of drifloon leading kids away from parks or out of backyards or playgrounds, who are later found deceased or badly injured, or rarely never found at all.

but that’s where the truth of it ends. for one, drifloon aren’t really able to drag anyone away by force like some believe. drifloon are extremely passive in terms of locomotion, unable to put much force behind their movements and being blown away by stiff breezes, they wouldn’t be able to generate the force needed to lift more than, like, a newborn baby, let alone a school-aged child.

secondly, drifloon really have no reason to be leading people away. it isn’t a predatory behavior, drifloon aren’t active predators for anything more than tiny flying (mostly non-pokemon) insects. they’re very energy efficient, passive feeders, going wherever the wind blows and grabbing small insects that wander (or are blown) too close with their tendrils. additionally, there’s no evidence they feed on psychic/spiritual energy like some ghost pokemon (ie litwick), so there’s zero reason for them to take anyone away in the first place.

so then, how do we explain the deaths and disappearances related to drifloon? its worth noting that such events are very uncommon, despite the fact that drifloon are found in almost every corner of the globe (and have been going down since these stories have become more widely-told). what’s far more common are cases of kids being missing for only a few minutes to a couple hours, being found, unharmed, playing with drifloon nearby from where they disappeared from.

what’s happening here is that drifloon, like many smaller pokemon, are playful, and view humans (especially kids more their size) as potential friends. so, they’ll wander into parks or playgrounds where kids are playing. but drifloon aren’t people, and they don’t really understand things like “kids need to stay in the playground and not wander off” or “forests, rough terrain, and cliffy areas can be dangerous for people, who cannot float”. an unsupervised child might wander off with their newfound friend (as many kids are prone to doing) and inadvertently into danger, whether that means aggressive wild pokemon, or falls off of ledges. to lend credence to this, there was a case a few years ago of a child who disappeared from a park in paldea following a drifloon, and was found injured soon after- because the drifloon that had befriended them had gone to find help, and led rescuers to the child’s location.

the overall point is that these pokemon aren’t malicious or evil, and they don’t mean to bring anyone harm. it’s okay for kids to play with drifloon, they can even make good companions with easy care needs, but keep a close eye on your kids, and make sure they know to be aware of their surroundings for potential danger and not to leave the backyard, park, or playground where they’re supposed to be. there are also plenty of guardian pokemon which can be taught these boundaries and prevent kids from walking into danger.

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Genetic Shininess

Generally, it is to be believed that what makes a pokémon "shiny" are it's genetics. In the same way the color of our parents' hair influence the hair color of our own, so does the "shininess" of two parental pokémon influence their offsprings. To visually represent it:

Quite a lot of outcomes, simply because of three alleles. 75% -two thirds- are standard colors, 10.9% are shiny, 7.8% have a non-"shiny" alternate color, and only 6.25% are albino

Noteably, the Ss allele, the one that determines whether or not a pokémon has a standard color, is epistatic. This means it trumps the other alleles and essentially masks them, and so as long as a pokémon has a single dominant S allele in their genotype, they get standard colors.

This does not apply to all pokemon, as those without organic bodies (like most steel types, rock types, and ghost types) don't have this genetic structure in the first place.

Either way, here's a quick, base-level look into the genetic world of pokémon!

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Bellabee came up to me earlier and handed me a small flower from outside the house, and just before now Spiritus patted my head. It's so interesting, and also adorable, how pokémon have their own ways to show appreciation for their trainers, making use of what they have.

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do discolored pokémon require different grooming or sanitation methods? i’ve heard certain pokémon have considerably more sensitive skin or fur…

In a majority of cases? Not particularly.

In the same way that there's specific shampoos and conditioners for specific human hair colors/textures, so are there specific shampoos and conditioners for specific pokémon colors/textures. That's majorly the extend you need to go through, if you wish to provide extra care regarding pokémon of unique coloration.

Some cases, like pokémon with albinism do still require extra attention, as they are extra sensitive to sunlight, as is standard with albinism.

My best suggestions regardless? Contact a local pokémon center, either in person or online, and figure out what's best for you and your pokémon specifically. The nurses there can provide a lot more information on which mutations can be detrimental to your pokémon, and how to provide care in those scenarios.

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Well I’ll be… another professor in Alola. I’ve heard about another professor studying the vast field of alternate color Pokémon in the news, but I haven’t gone around to finding out more until I read this blog. Lovely to meet you.

I do hear very much about trainers flaunting their “shinies” around to other trainers, but that has me wondering… are other coloring mutations rarer than the “shinies” popularly known? Surely albinism or hybrids/vitiligo aren’t as common?

Lovely to meet you too! It's always great to have a discussion with fellow scientists. I did do a small interview yes, but I'm surprised it actually made it to the news.

Regarding shinies, there are indeed other coloring mutations that are "more rare" than them, only because we determine shinies by how commonly that specific coloring mutation occurs. A "shiny" grey-blue Pidove is only categorized as "shiny" because 1 in a 100 pidoves are more likely to be grey-blue, than grey-green or grey-red. The chances of those occurring is more around 1 in a 1,000 or even 1 in a 10,000.

There's suggestions that "shininess" is a recessive gene, akin to our eye colors. It makes the cases of vitiligo quite interesting as it suggest that the dominant genes for their colors are either dying or simply being replaced by the recessive "shiny" genes.

Albinism is somewhat seen as a factor outside of "shininess" as it does not affect the color these genes produces, but the existence/function of those very genes.

I do hope this was clarifying in some regard, it's a interesting field of study as the anatomy of pokémon varies drastically, and as such can have unique effects on their coloration.

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Fantastic! I'd love to know your thoughts surrounding more spiritual, metaphysical pokemon like the general ghost type pokemons.

I have the personally theory that the surroundings of where they come to be have an effect their colors, and that the more supranatural connotations there are to the location, the more likely these "shiny" forms occur.

Just found out I'm not the only one on this site researching the shiny phenomena. Say, are you up for swapping research notes one day? It'd be great to figure out what theories of mine are more plausible than not.

Absolutely! I'd love to swap notes. I'm also eager to see your theories!

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rb this if youre a trainer or you post about your pokémon or etc

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It seems fitting that we get this out of the way first-things-first, and so, it's time for an introduction. Full post below the cut, I ended up rambling again.

Speaking of pokemon, I suppose I should introduce my "team".

Spiritus | ♂ | Cofagrigus | Lvl 67

Spiritus | ♂ | Cofagrigus | Lvl 67

Spiritus has been in the Brightbeam family for generations now. He first joined when my great-great-great-grandfather caught him, still as a yamask. It's been a standard tradition that the first one to move out brings him along, and luckily I'm the oldest of three. He's been a fantastic help with my research, and a supportive and generally great pokemon partner to have around. I've technically never caught him though.

Bellabee | ♀ | Ribombee | Lvl 32

Bellabee, in contrast, I did catch. A few weeks after I'd just moved to Alola, and was still trying to get settled, she came around to inspect the sudden, new presences. I gave her some berries and then she refused to leave my side, probably because she wanted more. When I offered to catch her she happily obliged. I'm not great at keeping plants alive, without her the place would have looked a lot more drab.

Litwick 1 & Litwick 2

Semi-wild pokemon, that did not leave when I originally moved in. Thank goodness for that too, because one of them is shiny! They constantly follow Spiritus around, potentially because they see him as a role-model/father figure. I've not been allowed to catch them, so I don't know anything about their gender, level, or other such details.

Drifloon

The same goes for drifloon, the only other pokemon that did not leave, when I moved in. It mostly stays in the attic, for months I didn't even know it existed. I only found it because I was up late at night writing notes, and I wanted to get a snack. And there it was, inside the pantry, arm-deep in a bag of chips. Like the litwicks, I don't know much about it, because it too refuses to be caught.

I still leave food out for the three of them, and they aren't actively hostile nor afraid of me, so I don't really mind that they stuck around.

OOC About Mod:

Hey, name's Tia, pronouns she/they. My main is @venomoustia and it's p much completely detached from pokemon, I'll be honest. I randomly found out about pokemon irl blogs, and became obsessed at the idea of joining. I’ve not got too much knowledge on Pokémon but I’ve the basics, at least. Please be patient w me in that regard. Not much else to say really, have a nice day!

Pfp made via Bright's Picrew Hell

Book PNG found via PurePNG

Repeating Background Pattern by peach-scented-chupacabra (colors editted and resized by me)