#Giant tapir

[cyborgzloth]

Giant tapir.

[fatehbaz]

thinking about "the Great Beast".

thinking about the superlatively unique and loveable creature, the tapir.

thinking about European colonial agents being perplexed and bedazzled upon first encountering the "forest cow" and the "elephant of the New World".

thinking about how an incredible extinct megafauna icon, the giant ground sloth, got its name (and became a central character in popular and professional discussions of paleontology and "extinction").

thinking about bulletproof moose.

thinking about eighteenth-century apothecary remedies.

thinking about how an animal name traveled from the Sahara in North Africa, through Arabic into Spain, to boreal forests of northern Eurasia, across the Caribbean and South America to describe "the beaste in which nature hath endeavoured to shewe her cunnyng".

[mortemcatabasis]

Custom designs for @krembearry

[adehl]

giant armadillo & lowland tapir from wwf camera traps gallery

[antiqueanimals]

Erklär mir die Tiere. Written by Hans Peter Thiel. Illustration by Fritz Köhler. 1974.

[the-knife-consumer]

I love moblins theyre so silly goofy i wish they were a little bit more mole though

[spindash]

i love it when any creature has a silly nose such as a tapir or an anteater or even the humble shrew.....

[blennie]

sorry to let down my beautiful mutuals….. no bears…. couldn’t find the giraffes…. 😞 there were a lot of monkeys though :)

[briefbestiary]

A nightmare-eating benevolent beast. The baku guards humans from evil spirits through its presence. Sweet dreams...

[karinzany]

SPOILERS: Chapter 1094 of ONE PIECE

We've finally seen St. Jaygarcia Saturn's real form on chapter 1094, and it is absolutely diabolical. It seems to be inspired by a yōkai called Ushi-oni. So I went back to chapter 1085 and tried to connect the rest of the Gorosei with other yōkai. Here are my predictions:

Ushi-oni: In Wakayama Prefecture, ushi-oni are mountain-dwelling beasts. Legend says when a hiker or traveler makes eye contact with the ushi-oni, the person cannot avert his or her gaze. The person's soul or energy is drained and he or she dies. This is called “Kage wo kuu (影を食う)” or sometimes "Kage wo nomu (影を飲む)", which translates to “eating the shadow” or "drinking the soul".

Aosaginohi: Aosaginohi, or Aosagibi (青(あお)鷺(さぎ)火(び), "blue heron fire") is a phenomenon illustrated by Toriyama Sekien in his Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki. It depicts a night heron with a mysteriously illuminated body. Folklore built around the phenomenon tells a story of an old black-crowned night heron transforming into a yokai. The herons' feathers fuse into shining scales that give off an iridescent blue light in the dark of night. The yokai's breath is also said to release golden powder into the air that collects to form a heat-less fiery light, though this light eventually dissipates in the wind. The harmless creature is said to flee from human contact, retaining a normal heron's shyness. Legend also warns to not confuse the glimmering blue-white light with onibi lights.

Baku: Baku (獏 or 貘) are Japanese supernatural beings that are said to devour nightmares. According to legend, they were created by the spare pieces that were left over when the gods finished creating all other animals. They have a long history in Japanese folklore and art, and more recently have appeared in manga and anime. The Japanese term baku has two current meanings, referring to both the traditional dream-devouring creature and to the Malayan tapir. In recent years, there have been changes in how the baku is depicted.

Benzaiten: Benzaiten (shinjitai: 弁才天 or 弁財天; kyūjitai: 辯才天, 辨才天, or 辨財天, lit. "goddess of eloquence"), also simply known as Benten (shinjitai: 弁天; kyūjitai: 辯天 / 辨天), is a Japanese Buddhist goddess who originated mainly from Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of speech, the arts, and learning, with certain traits deriving from the warrior goddess Durga. Due to her status as a water deity, she was also linked with nāgas, dragons, and snakes. Apart from being a patron of music and the arts, she was eventually also worshiped as a bestower of monetary fortune and was reckoned as one of the Seven Lucky Gods (Shichifukujin).

Ōkubi: In Japanese folklore, Ōkubi (大首) are giant heads of either men or women. An Ōkubi appearing in the sky is a sign of impending disaster, which may be a typhoon, earthquake, tsunami, or fire. These disasters are often attributed to the Ōkubi. Ōkubi are otherwise harmless and will disappear soon after the first sighting. They are thought to be sky spirits who protect the sky's or people who died during a natural disaster. They are said to protect people from the natural disasters and protect the sky from demonic sky spirits. It is said if one does not pay respect for the Ōkubi, they will be turned into sky spirits and their face will appear in the sky immediately. Those who do pay respect are said to get good fortune and gifts.

PS.: This silhouette probably belongs to Imu themselves, but I can't figure out what yōkai or supernatural being it represents. What are your theories?

EDIT: Thank you @ozo-blog and @marimo-kyun for your suggestion!

On chapter 1069, Vegapunk said that Devil Fruits earned the ire of Mother Nature, which is the Sea itself. The name Imu can be read as Umi backwards, meaning "Sea" in Japanese. So, maybe Imu has a power that controls the sea? Umibozu would be on theme for them.

Umibōzu: Umibōzu (海坊主, "sea priest") is a paranormal phenomenon or yōkai from Japanese folklore. Other names include Umihōshi (海法師, "sea priest") or Uminyūdō (海入道, "sea priest"). Little is known of the origin of umibōzu but it is a sea-spirit and as such has multiple sightings throughout Japan. Normally, umibōzu appears to sailors on calm seas which quickly turn tumultuous. It either breaks the ship on emergence or demands a bucket or barrel from the sailors and proceeds to drown them. The only safe way to escape an umibōzu is to give it a bottomless barrel and sail away while it is confused.

Alternative: I've also seen another theory that says Imu could be Satan (from the Bible, yes) because he has a Red Dragon form that could relate to the Celestial Dragon's symbol, a red dragon hoof.

Red Dragon (Biblical Satan): The Red Dragon is a form of the Biblical Satan, otherwise known as Lucifer, the former Seraphim that rebelled against the Creator and became evil in Christianity and Hebrew religions. His alias, the Red Dragon, was described in the Bible to have seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns, and a massive tail that knocks one-third of the stars out of the sky. The Red Dragon is mentioned to have other names like the Serpent of Old and the Devil. It is said in the Bible that Satan will take the form of the Red Dragon and will along with the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the Beast, deceive most of Humanity. After that the Red Dragon will be set free upon the world in which he will rule alongside demons for three long years. After that God will cast the Red Dragon, demons, and other dammed evil souls into Lake of Fire, thus finally destroying the evil of Satan forever.

During the time-skip, we've seen Brook being accidentally summoned by a Satanic cult, which implies the existence of Satan in the One Piece world. Now, on chapter 1094, we've seen again a summoning circle, this time for St. Jaygarcia Saturn. I think it's pretty obvious the connection between real world devils and the Gorosei and Imu.

It's all going to come to the ironic conclusion that the D. clan, the enemies of the Gods, are Gods themselves (like Nika) and the Celestial Dragons, the Gods of the world, are actual Devils.

[dinodorks]

[ Visitors pass by some of the iconic sculptures of prehistoric life within Crystal Palace Park. Photo by Richard Baker. ]

"When the Crystal Palace and Park opened in south London in 1854, it was an instant sensation. Visitors came from far and wide to see the giant glass structure that had been rebuilt there, bigger and better, after the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. Wide-eyed spectators wandered freely through Egyptian and Medieval Courts, delighted in high-wire circus acts, and were transported by a 4,000-piece orchestra. Tucked away in a corner of the vast gardens that fanned out from the palace, past sweeping terraces and more fountains than even at Versailles, was a smaller but no less ambitious attraction. Scattered across several islands in the middle of a lake stood three dozen life-size sculptures of prehistoric animals, including several dinosaurs up to 30 feet long—the world’s first attempt to model them at full scale. The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs were the work of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, a natural history artist who, aided by some of the leading scientists of the day, had dreamt up a grand experiment in visual education, bringing to life the “dry bones or oddly shaped stones” found in the British Museum and introducing the masses to the burgeoning science of paleontology. By reconstructing Britain’s long-extinct animals, he hoped to “render the appearance and names of the ancient inhabitants of our globe as familiar as household words.” The palace burned down in the 1930s, but, almost 170 years after they were crafted, most of Hawkins’ original sculptures still stand sentry in the park. Today, they’re mostly famous for being wildly inaccurate. With few complete fossils to work off, Hawkins had to use his imagination and the advice of comparative anatomists to breathe life into his models, which, in addition to four true dinosaurs, also depict prehistoric mammals, reptiles and amphibians. As a result, the sculptures look suspiciously like many modern-day creatures. “People kind of scoff and giggle, because they look so wrong today, but at the time they were really cutting-edge,” says Bob Nicholls, a paleoartist who, through careful study of archival images, recently reconstructed a lost sculpture that had disappeared from the park sometime in the 1960s. His tapir-like model of Palaeotherium magnum, an animal we now know looked a lot more like a horse, was unveiled in July and now stands among Hawkins’ own surviving creations."

Read more: "How a Victorian Dinosaur Park Became a Time Capsule of Early Paleontology" by Yannic Rack.

[alphynix]

Crystal Palace Field Trip Part 3: Walking With Victorian Beasts

[Previously: the Jurassic and Cretaceous]

The final section of the Crystal Palace Dinosaur trail brings us to the Cenozoic, and a selection of ancient mammals.

Image from 2009 by Loz Pycock (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Originally represented by three statues, there are two surviving originals of the Eocene-aged palaeotheres depicting Plagiolophus minor (the smaller sitting one) and Palaeotherium medium (the larger standing one).

The sitting palaeothere unfortunately lost its head sometime in the late 20th century, and the image above shows it with a modern fiberglass replacement. Then around 2014/2015 the new head was knocked off again, and has not yet been reattached – partly due to a recent discovery that it wasn't actually accurate to the sculpture's original design. Instead there are plans to eventually restore it with a much more faithful head.

These early odd-toed ungulates were already known from near-complete skeletons in the 1850s, and are depicted here as tapir-like animals with short trunks based on the scientific opinion of the time. We now think their heads would have looked more horse-like, without trunks, but otherwise they're not too far off modern reconstructions.

There was also something exciting nearby:

The recently-recreated Palaeotherium magnum!

This sculpture went missing sometime after the 1950s, and its existence was almost completely forgotten until archive images of it were discovered a few years ago. Funds were raised to create a replica as accurate to the original as possible, and in summer 2023 (just a month before the date of my visit) this larger palaeothere species finally rejoined its companions in the park.

Compared to the other palaeotheres this one is weird, though. Much chonkier, wrinkly, and with big eyes and an almost cartoonish tubular trunk. It seems to have taken a lot of anatomical inspiration from animals like rhinos and elephants, since in the mid-1800s odd-toed ungulates were grouped together with "pachyderms".

———

Next is Anoplotherium, an Eocene even-toed ungulate distantly related to modern camels.

(Apparently the sculpture closest to the water is a replica of a now-lost original, recreated from photo references in the same manner as the new Palaeotherium magnum. I can't find a definite reference for when this one was done, though – I'd guess probably during the last round of major renovations in the early 2000s, at the same time as the now-destroyed Jurassic pterosaur replicas?)

Anoplotherium commune is a rather obscure species today, but it was one of the first early Cenozoic fossil mammals to be recognized by science in the early 1800s. Depicted here as small camel-like animals, the three statues are positioned near the water's edge to reflect the Victorian idea that they were semi-aquatic based on their muscular tails.

Today we instead think these animals were fully terrestrial, using their tails to balance themselves while rearing up to reach higher vegetation. Their heads would also have looked a bit less camel-like, but otherwise the Crystal Palace trio are still really good representations.

———

Next is a sculpture that's very easy to miss in the current overgrown state.

Who's that peeking over the bushes?

Going all the way around to the far side of the lake reveals a distant glimpse of the Pliocene-to-Holocene giant ground sloth Megatherium.

A better view of the Megatherium | "Tree Hugger" by Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Fossils of Megatherium americanum had been known since the late 1700s, but the 1854 Crystal Palace statue was still one of the first life reconstructions of this animal. Its anatomy is actually very close to our modern understanding, depicted with correctly inward-turned feet and sitting upright to feed on a tree with its tail acting as a "tripod".

However, we now know it didn't have a trunk-like nose, but instead probably had prehensile lips more like those of a modern black rhino.

Something weird also appears to have happened to the Crystal Palace Megatherium's hands. Early illustrations of the sculpture all consistently show it with the typical long claws of a sloth, but today it's missing its right hand and its left has only a strangely stumpy paw – suggesting that at some point in the intervening 170 years there was an unrecorded crude repair.

———

And finally we end the trail with three Megaloceros, the Pleistocene-to-Holocene "Irish Elk" that's actually neither exclusively Irish nor an elk.

A closer look at the second stag and the doe.

There was originally a fourth giant deer sculpture in this herd, a second resting doe, but it was destroyed sometime during the mid-20th century. The stags also initially had real fossil antlers attached to their heads, but these were removed and replaced with less accurate versions at some point by the mid-20th century.

One of the stags' antlers suffered some damage in 2020, ending up drooping, and since then one antler has either fallen off or been removed.

In the 1850s Megaloceros giganteus was thought to be closely related to deer in the genus Cervus, and so the Crystal Palace reconstructions seem to be based on modern wapiti – specifically in their winter coats, fitting for ice age animals – since both the stags and the doe sport distinctive thick neck manes.

The stags from the other side.

We now know Megaloceros was actually much more closely related to modern fallow deer, and so probably resembled them more than wapiti. Cave art also shows that it had a hump on its shoulders, and even gives us an idea of what its coloration was.

———

…But wait!

There's actually one more thing.

A small statue sitting on the far side of the deer herd, missing its ears, and seemingly representing a Megaloceros fawn.

Except it's actually something very different and very special.

Ceci n'est pas un cerf.

Some recent investigation work revealed some surprising information about the Crystal Palace mammal statues – much like the nearly-forgotten large Palaeotherium, there was originally an entire group of four small Eocene-aged llama-like Xiphodon gracilis that had disappeared from living memory.

There was also no historic record of a fawn with the giant deer, but instead a suspiciously similar-looking sitting sculpture is illustrated among what we now known are the four missing Xiphodon in early records.

An 1853 illustration of the sculpture workshop. The four Xiphodon are shown in the center, directly in front of a Megaloceros stag and doe. (public domain)

Somewhere in the late 19th or early 20th century three of the Xiphodon must have been completely lost, and the remaining individual was misidentified as a fawn and placed with the giant deer herd.

———

Rediscovering a whole extra species among the Crystal Palace statues is exciting, but it also demonstrates just how much of these sculptures' history has gone completely undocumented. 

The mammal statues especially seem to have suffered the most out of the "Dinosaur Court", being often overlooked, neglected, disrespected (at one point the Megatherium was inside a goat pen in a petting zoo!), and subjected to cruder repairs. A total of five original statues are now known to be missing from this Cenozoic section – the original large Palaeotherium, the three other Xiphodon, and the second Megaloceros doe – compared to the two pterosaurs lost from the Mesozoic island.

Hopefully the excellent recreation of the lost Palaeotherium magnum is the start of a long overdue new lease of life and conservation attention for all of the Crystal Palace sculptures. It was disappointing seeing them all in such an overgrown state, and with signs of ongoing disrepair in places such as the plant growing out of the big ichthyosaur's back.

But there has been some resurgence of interest and public attention in the Crystal Palace sculptures over the last few years, so with any luck these historic pieces of early paleoart will survive on to their 200th anniversary and beyond, to keep on reminding us of where things began and how far our understanding of prehistoric life has since come.

[lord-amaranth-12]

(Almost) every food/drink etc. mentioned in obey me nightbringer and shall we date

Notes:

I'll update with links to the sources soon just bare with me. Also please tell if the link arent working

Update: ill stop linking stuff for now

Update: i alphabetized everything (using https://onlinetoolz.net/alphabetical-order) and removed the ingredients for potions cause i will be moving it to another list. I also edited the layout abit to make it more readable

Update: ill start linking stuff now, have to get all out of my storage and posted here before i get full storage again

A

• Abyss crimson bee honey

• Abyss crimson wasp honey

• Alla death cream

• Artic butterfly scales

• Ash fall chocolate brownies

• Assam

B

• Backstabbing sandwich

• Barely cooked black tapir steak

• Bat leaves

• Bavarian cream

• Bell peppers

• Black cloud chocolate gâteau

• Black coffee of melancholy

• Black shark flavored gummies

• Black tapir casserole

• Bloody marmalade

• Bloody rice omelets

• Bloody soda

• blood-red velvet cupcakes

• BLT devil sandwich

• Blue rose crystal pickles

• Blue rose petals candied in crystal syrup

• Bufo egg milk tea

• Bufo egg milk tea hell poison honey flavored

• Bufo toad

• Bufo toad sushi

• Bulbul bird eggs

• Butter pancakes

C

• Castella

• Cat cookies

• Colossal jumbo surprise parfait

• Comfort candy

• Crazy ghoul hamburger

• Crimson bonito flake

• Crimson bonito flake dressing

• Crimson dogwood

• Crimson tea

• Crispy chicken nugget LXXXIII

• Crushed millefeuille

D

• Dark star fruit sandwich

• Death maggot sauce

• Death mask bat chips

• Deaths door sauce

• Deep-fried devil zebra skewers

• Demi-glace sause

• Demon salmon

• Demonic Sausage

• demon silk moth-flavored gummies

• Demonkiller remora

• Demonkiller remora sauté

• Demonus-infused chocolate

• Demon-luring seaweed salt kalbi chips

• Devil cabbage

• Devil cacao bean

• Devil canelé

• Devil chocolate

• Devil chocolate canelé

• Devil duck confit

• Devil flower fruit trifle

• Devil ham

• Devil lohas milk tea

• Devil moray sushi

• Devil salmon meunière sandwiches

• Devil salmon rolled sushi

• Devil salmon terrine

• Devil zebra bacon

• Devil zebra meat sushi

• Devilbee popcorn

• Devildom gummy Horror house flavored

• Devildom-style boneless pararucu

• Devildom-style vampire bat sandwich

• Devils soft serve

• Dragons mark pie crust

• Dreamfeather cookies

• Dreamfeather meringue cookies

• Dried bufo egg

E

• Earl grey cookies

• Eternal night herbal tea

F

• Family pack sushi

• Fish meunière

• flaming hot mushrooms

• Flaming toad

• Fluffy egg pancakes

• Fluorescent rich yogurt

• fried devil chicken

• Fruit of wisdom jelly

G

• Galaxy burger

• Galaxy fries

• Garlic anchovy dip

• Giant shadow sea cucumber cream pasta

• Glazed Shadow chestnut

• gold demonus

• Gold hellfire newt syrup

• grilled vampire bat

H

• Hamburger gummies

• Hamburger stake

• Hamburger steak

• Haunted hamburgers

• Havoc devil

• Havoc devil ribs

• Hawthorn berry powder

• Hell demon salmon

• Hell pudding

• Hell velvet parfait

• Hellfire chocolate pie

• hellfire curry rice

• Hellfire mushroom rooled cigar

• Hellfire mushrooms

• Hellfire rose

• Hells kitchen hamburger combo

• Heros herbal tea

• Horror's horror cheesecake

• Hunter sandwich

I

• Instant noodles (hell-sauce flavor)

J

• Juicy shadow hog rice bowl

K

• King-sized fried devil chicken

• King-sized hellfire curry rice

• King-sized poison bleu cheese hamburger

• King-sized shadow hog ramen

L

• Laughingshroom powder

• Little devils white sauce

M

• Madam scream's super sweet scones

• Magma butter

• Magma butter pasta

• Magma butter scone

• Mandragora powder

• Marinated bufo toad

• Melted cheese

• Mimic latte

• Mint chocolate chip

• Mont blanc

N

• Nightshade cream

O

• Ocean of cloud cake-parfait

• Ocean of Clouds cake

• Ordeal orange fondae

P

• paradise blue

• Pasta alla death cream

• Pickled vampire bat

• poison bleu cheese hamburger

• Poison strawberry

• Poison veggie juice box

• Poison viper worm al ajiilo

• Poison worm sauce

• Poisonous cheese burgers

• Poisonous cheesecake

• Poisonous marsh pudding

• Princess poison apple

• Promised glory donut (?)

• Purgatory mustard

Q

• Quattro Hungry Pizza

• Quetzalcoatl brains

• Quetzalcoatl brains soup

R

• Rainbow paw print chocolate

• Red riding hood sandwich

• RedxRed apple pie

• Region exclusive Devildom gummy

• RIP burger

• Ruby chocolate éclair

S

• Sabbat salad

• Salted hell rose petals

• Salt-grilled black goat bat

• Scorpion syrup

• Shadow caramel

• Shadow chestnut

• Shadow chestnut paste

• Shadow chocolate

• Shadow chocolate brownies

• Shadow hof stir fry in demi-glance sauce

• Shadow hog

• Shadow hog buns

• Shadow hog dumplings

• shadow hog ramen

• Shadow hog soup

• Shadow hog steamed bun

• Shadow hog stir fry

• Shadow pork ragu pasta

• Shadow tuna sashimi

• Silver birch sap

• Simeons special BLT devil sandwiches

• Siren bench caviar

• Smoked cocktraice glizzard

• Smoky black loco moco

• Spicy rainbow pizza

• spiderweb powder

• Sponge cake

• Stardust soda

• Starry-sky waffle

• Stonefish Meunière

• Strawberry shortcake

• Super-sized limited-edition beef

• Sweet and salty canned kraken assortment

• Sweet milk tea

• Sweet tears donut

T

• thick-cut giant devildom slug sauté

• Thunder sparkle flavored gummies

• Toe bean stamp salad

• Troll coffee

U

• Ultra D

• Unhappy Mega Combo

V

• Vampire bat

• Venti brashberry frappuccino with double whipped cream and extra berry powder

W

• Whole roast shadow hog

• Wicked cupcake

X

Y

Z

Not in devildom

A

B

C

• Camping meal (Witch camp)

• Cursed goat cheese tartar sandwich (TSL)

D

E

• Ema datshi (human world)

F

G

• Ginger ale (human world)

H

• Hamburger (mama's cooking) (levis animes)

• Herbal tea (celestial realm)

• Huckleberry (human world)

• Hyper chili dog (human world)

I

J

• Japanese giant salamander (human world)

K

L

M

• Mapo tofu (human world)

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

• Tornado tomato (human world)

U

V

W

• White mochi balls in syrup (march comes in like a Panda)

X

Y

Z

Unnamed

A

B

• Barbatos's homemade cake

• Barbatos's homemade pudding

C

• Celestial tea

D

• Demon lords castle edition premium demonus

• Demonus with scorpion syrup and spiderweb powder

• Devilcats favorite food

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

• Leviathans homemade granola

• Lobster

M

• marshmallow

• Moryo Town's special demonus

• multi colored Jelly

N

O

P

• Popcorn Deaths door flavored

• Popcorn lava salt flavored

• Popcorn magma butter flavored

• Popcorn Tree sap caramel flavored

• Pudding from devilmart

Q

R

• Ramen infernal bahamit flavor

• Rare flower used in baking as a sweetener

• Really big chocolate bar

• Really big chocolate coin

S

• Salad from Sound Off, Symphony! Summer band camp storyline

• Sheep cake

• Star-shaped chocolate

• Sun and moon cookies by simeon

T

I

V

W

X

Y

Z

Characters

• "Little cake thingies"

???

• Chocolate mold

• Devildom miso

• Egg berry whole mil

• Marinated bufo toad

• Marzipan

• Meunièr

• Newt

• Surströmming

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

In Brazil, hopes to use AI to save wildlife from roadkill fate

In Brazil, where about 16 wild animals become roadkill every second, a computer scientist has come up with a futuristic solution to this everyday problem: using AI to alert drivers to their presence.

Direct strikes on the vast South American country's extensive road network are the top threat to numerous species, forced to live in ever-closer proximity with humans.

According to the Brazilian Center for Road Ecology (CBEE), some 475 million vertebrate animals die on the road every year—mostly smaller species such as capybaras, armadillos and possums.

"It is the biggest direct impact on wildlife today in Brazil," CBEE coordinator Alex Bager told AFP.

Shocked by the carnage in the world's most biodiverse country, computer science student Gabriel Souto Ferrante sprung into action.

The 25-year-old started by identifying the five medium- and large-sized species most likely to fall victim to traffic accidents: the puma, the giant anteater, the tapir, the maned wolf and the jaguarundi, a type of wild cat.

Souto, who is pursuing a master's degree at the University of Sao Paulo (USP), then created a database with thousands of images of these animals, and trained an AI model to recognize them in real time.

Numerous tests followed, and were successful, according to the results of his efforts recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Continue reading.

[weirdanimal-tournament]

THE COMPETITORS

After hours of filtering, I have a list! From 411 submisstions to 134 competitors. Of course, that means that not all the submissions are competing. My main rule for filtering was that when many similar animals were submitted, one was selected. This means that even if your submission din't get in, there is likely somthing else similar you can vote for instead! I'm hoping to get the polls out this Saturday or Sunday, and I'll post the time once it's decided. That being said... here's the list!

Mouse deer

Blanket octopus

Twenty plume moth

Anomalocaris

Caecilian

Bagworm moth caterpillars

Balaenognathus

Banded archerfish

Barnacle

Barreleye fish

Tripod fish

Bigfin squid

Bilby

Black sea hare

Black snub nosed monkey

Blobfish

Blue sea dragon 

Nano-chameleon

Bush brown caterpillar

Chinese water deer

Maned wolf

Colugo

Common spotted cuscus

Corpse Assassin Bug

Messmate pipefish

Cotylorhynchus

creatonotos gangis

Tongue eating louse

Ganges river dolphin 

ghost pipefish

Giant Anteater

Giant gippsland earthworm

Giant tube worm

Giraffe Weevil

Glowworms

Goblin shark

Golden mole

Green-banded broodsac

Greenland shark

Gum leaf skeletonizer caterpillars

Hagfish

Hallucigenia

Hammer head bat

Helicoprion

Honduran white bat

Short horned lizard

Green hydra

Jerboa

Jerusalem cricket

Lamprey

Largetooth sawfish

Bulwer’s pheasant

Lowland Streaked Tenrec

Lyrebird

Marbled polecat

Mata mata

Mexican mole lizard

Ghost faced bat

Mudskipper

Muntjac

Naked bulldog bat

Naked mole rat

Phillipene tube nosed fruit bat

Oarfish 

Mantis shrimp

Ogre faced spider

Okapi

platypus

Pangolin

Parrot fish

Partridge bug

Pelican eel

Asian giant softshell turtle

Pink fairy armadillo

Pipa pipa

Platybelodon

Portuguese Man O War

Potoos

Predatory tunicate

Pufferfish

Sea spider

Red lipped batfish

Bowmouth guitarfish

Roseate spoonbill

Pink iguana

Royal albatross

Sage grouse

Saiga antelope

Sailfin dragon

Volcano snail

Schaefer’s anglerfish

Sea cucumber

Sea pig

Sea sheep

Sharovipteryx

Echidna

Assassin spider

Spider tailed viper

Siphonophore

Solenodon

Spectral bat

Spix’s disc winged bat

Spotted wobbegong

Stalk-eyed fly

Stoplight loosejaw

Giant phantom jelly

Sunfish

Sword billed hummingbird

Tailless whip scorpion 

Tapir 

Tardigrade

Tarsier

Telescopefish

Woodcock

Aye-aye

Bobbit worm

Nautilus

Glass frog

Immortal jellyfish

Olm

Mirror spider

Trilobite Beetle

Trumpetfish

Vampire bat

Vampire squid

Velvetworm

Wonderfish

Wrinkle-faced bat

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #332: Dobrynya Nikitich

today on grailfinders we’re saying good riddance to Tunguska and the year 2023, but not before getting one last build in! our final build in 2023 is none other than Dobrynya Nikitich, the legendary bogatyr dragon slayer. and dragon rider, it turns out. maybe even just dragon? tbh I stopped reading this event after the story chapter that was almost literally just every character gathering around to say the sentence “Koyanskaya is not Daji” over and over. I might not have a great handle on what Nikitich is, but I’ve got what she can do down pat, so let’s get into the build!

Dobrynya’s a Drakewarden Ranger to have a permanent dragon partner to ride, as well as a Champion Fighter for a meatier axe, and a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer to grab her armor phantasm, as well as her later ascensions. I mean she’s definitely got a lot of draconic blood, it’s just all wrapped up in a pervert horse. oh god I just realized he's staring at her underwear in the FA art what the hell

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

next up: wait a minute, didn’t we just shoot you into space?

Ancestry & Background

our first question of the day is, “what the hell is Nikitich?” our second question of the day is “do we really want to waste time waffling on what she is when Custom Lineage exists?”

answering no to the latter gives her +2 Charisma as well as Darkvision and the Strike of the Giants feat to fight for better working rights for meteored animals. or it gives you a frost strike you can do once a turn proficiency times a day to deal an extra d6 of cold damage and force a constitution save on whatever you hit, reducing their movement speed to 0 for a turn if they fail. I know the ice axe doesn’t show up until third ascension, but I think a treat is warranted here.

Dobrynya talks a big game about how tenuous her connection to humanity is, so she’s an Outlander now for proficiency in Athletics and Survival. Folk Hero would also fit here, but a dragon is not a beast in D&D, so that animal handling proficiency would be completely wasted.

Ability Scores

I’m not going to lie, this build needs a lot of stuff, so we’re just going to point buy things this time around. even then, it’s pretty hard to get everything where it needs to be. Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom will be set at 14, the former two to be good with an axe while wearing a bikini, and the last one so we can multiclass, and to make your dragons’ breath a little hotter. Constitution is at 13 so we don’t die. meanwhile, Charisma is all the way down at 9. we’ll need to invest a little for multiclassing later, but she’s not the life of the party. that means we’re dumping Intelligence at 8. not much worse than charisma, but she does leave all the thinking to others most of the time.

Class Levels

1. Ranger 1: starting off as a ranger nets you proficiency in Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as Animal Handling, Nature, and Perception. I know your dragon isn’t a beast, but there’s Fou who… is probably an aberration. well, at least there’s Taigong Wang’s tapir, which… also isn’t a real animal… but there’s the sheep thing! yeah, I don’t think that counts either. so much for an animal sanctuary, huh?

for further bafflement, we’re actually going with mostly OG ranger features this time around. but if you’re going to be a dragonslayer, it probably helps to have Dragon as a Favored Enemy for advantage on checks to track and find out about them. thankfully, most dragons are pretty easy to track on account of their size and their tendency to hang out in the sky. that being said, you need to slay/mount a white dragon before this is all done, so getting used to the Arctic is a must. thankfully, you’re a Natural Explorer up there, so it’s pretty hard for your traveling group to get lost or slowed down. you can also track creatures a lot better!

2. Ranger 2: second level rangers get a Fighting Style, and the Dueling style will even out the damage differences between two-handing and one-handing your battleaxe. you really need to lean over your dragon if you want to hit anything, so a free hand to grab onto something helps out a ton.

you also learn some Spells this level- Hunter’s Mark lets you deal extra damage with every attack against a target for up to an hour, and you can swap it to another as a bonus action if the first gets ko’d. it also gives you another bonus to tracking the target down! it’s hard to get species-specific bonuses in D&D, but if you only use this spell against dragons it’s kind of the same thing, right?

also, you get Jump, to jump. getting onto the back of a dragon after every time you attack is rough without something to boost you up.

3. Ranger 3: at third level you gain a Primal Awareness of the world around you, giving you some extra spells as you level up. I’ve said it before that I’m pretty sure your dragon isn’t a beast, but it’s better safe than sorry, so you get Speak with Animals for free. you can also cast Longstrider now to dash as a bonus action. when your main way to attack is hitting things with a big piece of metal, some extra movement can be very helpful.

you also become a Drakewarden this level, which gives you a Draconic Gift- it’s Thaumaturgy and a language. thankfully, you also get a much cooler draconic gift- your Drake Companion. you can summon a small dragon as an action whose appearance and breath type you decide on. it moves after your turn, but it can’t do anything but dodge unless you spend your bonus action commanding it. you can summon your drake once a day for free, or re-summon it by spending a spell slot. since you can decide on your drake’s appearance and breath weapon separately, you aren’t shackled to ice-type attacks this entire run, thank goodness. tbh I don’t think we ever see Nikitich’s ride use its breath attack. it could be anything! it could even be ice! though we don’t get any breath attacks until level 11- right now, this just gives it a damage immunity, and it can use its reaction to add its element to a nearby creature’s regular weapon for one attack, dealing an extra d6 of damage.

4. Ranger 4: use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Charisma to multiclassing levels. I wish we could keep this lower to match her… her, but we’ll make do.

5. Ranger 5: fifth level rangers get an Extra Attack each action, as well as second level spells! you get Beast Sense for free, but we’re more here for Magic Weapon. it’s not quite the glowy blue axe you get at third ascension yet, but this should help cut through dragons a bit easier.

6. Fighter 1: bouncing over to fighter gets you another Fighting Style, like Great Weapon Fighting. now if you hold your axe with both hands, you can re-roll 1s and 2s on your damage dice. with your dragon, giant strikes, and hunter’s marks, you can add a lot of dice to your axe.

you also get a Second Wind once per short rest, healing up as a bonus action. in most builds this is basically free healing, but even with the draconic wrinkle it’s still a nice addition.

7. Fighter 2: second level fighters can Action Surge once a short rest, adding an extra action to your turn

 this doesn’t give you more bonus actions, but it’ll be super useful later.

8. Fighter 3: third level fighters get their subclass, and as a Champion you get an Improved Critical, allowing you to crit twice as often. again, you can add a lot of dice to specific attacks, so adding them all to a crit just makes it even sweeter.

9. Ranger 6: now that we’re a couple levels in, let’s start talking about how we’ll take down Koyanskaya. if we’re going into Tunguska, we need to get prepared- that’s why this level you get another Favored Enemy in beasts and another Natural Explorer biome- forests. that should help with most of what you’ll be facing in there. probably.

10. Ranger 7: at seventh level you forge a Bond of Fang and Scale with your dragon, granting it a flying speed, and letting it grow large enough to ride on- though you can’t do both at once. it also starts adding elemental damage to its own attacks, and giving you resistance to the chosen damage type.

also, you can cast Lesser Restoration now. it’s not quite debuff immunity, but curing a debuff right after you get it is pretty close, right?

11. Ranger 8: for our next ASI, pick up the Fury of the Frost Giant feat for +1 Constitution, permanent resistance to cold damage, and when you get hit by an attack you can blast them back with ice, forcing them to make a constitution save to avoid cold damage and being frozen in place. you can do this proficiency times a day.

your Land’s Stride exists now too, so you can pass through any nonmagical terrain without worrying about being slowed down or hurt by plants.

12. Sorcerer 1: it’s been long enough, let’s ascend. as a Draconic sorcerer you get Draconic Resilience, giving you an extra 1 HP per sorcerer level (so. 1 for the build) and a permanent mage armor effect as long as you’re not wearing real armor, making your AC 13 + your dexterity modifier. it’s not super strong with your dexterity, but if you’re going to stand in front of 999 turrets this should help some miss.

you also learn some charisma-based spells! light and message are just kind of here because… why not. a lot of stuff in FGO glows for no reason, and if you’re on the Chaldea team they’re going to give you a communicator at some point. Blade Ward is another layer to your armor, giving you resistance to physical damage, and Sword Burst is spinning around in a circle. it’s a neat trick!

you also get a breath weapon a little early by casting Burning Hands. as a level one spell it’s pretty weak, but it can always be upcast.

13. Ranger 9: ninth level rangers don’t get a lot, but third level spells are nice! now you can Speak with Plants (boring) or turn that axe into an Elemental Weapon! this gives your weapon a +1 to hit, and deals 1d4 damage of an elemental type on hit. it’s not as good as hunter’s mark, but it does work on any weapon, not just your own attacks. also, flaming axes are cool.

14. Ranger 10: tenth level rangers get a third Natural Explorer biome like, for example, Mountains. sadly, “blasted hellcape” and “corporate office” aren’t biomes you can pick from- partially because they’re synonyms. that being said, if you’re stuck in the death zone you can use Nature’s Veil to hide yourself as a bonus action, becoming invisible for a round up to proficiency times a day.

15. Ranger 11: eleventh level rangers get their guts thanks to casting revivify, and your Drake’s Breath finally kicks in- as an action, you or your drake can breathe elemental damage in a cone, forcing everyone inside to take elemental damage if they fail their dexterity save. you can use this once a day for free, and you can gain extra uses by spending spell slots.

16. Ranger 12: now that we have multiclassing and feat stuff done, we can finally get a handle on your Strength for more accurate and damaging attacks.

17. Ranger 13: thirteenth level rangers get fourth level spells, letting you get in touch with your wild side and become a Guardian of Nature. there’s two ways to use this spell, but we’re here entirely for the first, turning you into a cat monster… turning you into more of a cat monster, increasing your walking speed and darkvision distance, and giving advantage and bonus damage to strength-based attacks.

18. Ranger 14: fourteenth level rangers get one last Favored Enemy, so let’s track down Koyanskaya and end that Aberration once and for all! (she is an aberration, right?)

if things go south you can Vanish as a bonus action, which despite coming later that NV, only lets you hide rather than actually vanish. you also can’t be tracked without magic, but you’re level 18, your enemies have magic by now.

19. Ranger 15: fifteenth level drakewardens have stronger breath attacks as well as a Perfected Bond, adding more elemental damage to your dragons attacks, and making them large enough to ride on while flying. on top of that, you can now spend your reaction to give yourself or your drake resistance to an attack proficiency times a day. it says “or”, but you can always be a rules lawyer and say it’s an inclusive or! I won’t tell!

you can also cast greater restoration this level, reducing the effects of exhaustion or removing one effect that is charming, petrifying, cursing, or reducing a stat or HP total of yourself or a party member. again, it’s not debuff immunity, but it’s the closest you can get in D&D.

20. Ranger 16: use your last ASI for more Strength. it’s not complicated, but neither is Nikitich.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, I’m giving riding a dragon its own spot on the pros list. why? because riding dragons is cool, and you’re playing an RPG to feel cool.

as far as actual gameplay goes, you are fantastic at dishing out Burst Damage. whether that’s piling all sorts of damage modifiers onto a lucky crit, or action surging to blast a crowd with two breath attacks at once, you can fire off a lot of damage in a short amount of time. (also, while it’s technically not Rules As Written, you should be able to easily argue that freezing them in place with frost giant stuff would at least give them disadvantage, if not a force failure, on dex saves, forcing them to take the full brunt of 20d6 damage if you time it right)

as a ranger, you have a surprising amount of Utility for a mostly martial fighter, greatly improving your party’s time while traveling and providing emergency debuff removal and revivals. you’re no healer, but sometimes staying alive is a victory all its own.

Cons:

your multiclassing requirements alone use three ability scores, and that’s before we factor in the two other stats we need for the build to play well. all this means we never really get a chance to get the abilities we want high, which leads to…

weak spells that are easily avoided by enemies. your casting modifier for both kinds of spells is only a +1, so they’ll be whiffing a lot before you reach level 10.

we don’t even get started working on your strength, your main attacking stat, until level 16. even if we skip over the giant thing for later, that’s still not until level 11. you’re not very accurate for a majority of the build, let’s leave it at that.