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sciencespies · 4 years

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What the Rhythm of a Maned Wolf's Heart Reveals

https://sciencespies.com/nature/what-the-rhythm-of-a-maned-wolfs-heart-reveals/

What the Rhythm of a Maned Wolf's Heart Reveals

Smithsonian Voices National Zoo

What the Rhythm of a Maned Wolf’s Heart Reveals

September 8th, 2020, 10:09AM / BY

Ashley Goetz

(Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Spindly legs and thick, red fur have earned them the nickname “foxes on stilts,” but maned wolves are neither fox nor wolf. These charismatic canids are a unique species (the only members of the genus Chrysocyon) and are found solely in South America’s savannas, where Brazilian researcher Rosana Nogueira de Moraes has studied them for nearly 15 years.

In 2015, Moraes came across a study of wild black bears that used heart sensors to reveal what observation couldn’t — that the bears had a hidden stress response to drones flying overhead. She wondered what the same technology might reveal about maned wolves. Two years later, she helped launch the Rhythm of Life Project, a maned wolf heart rate monitoring study at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. Moraes shares the latest on the Rhythm of Life Project and what researchers have learned.

Why is it important to protect maned wolves?

Maned wolves are a “keystone” species because they provide critical ecosystem services. They keep pest populations under control by hunting small rodents, and they help disperse the seeds of native plants. Maned wolf poop can be full of the seeds of a tomato-like wild fruit that they love to eat. The fruit, called the wolf apple, is even named after them. Maned wolves are also great ambassadors for the conservation of the Brazilian Cerrado, one of the most threatened savanna biomes in the world.

What do you hope to learn by monitoring their heart rates?

Maned wolves are very secretive and shy animals, so they are good candidates to help us answer some important questions. How well do animals hide their “emotions?” Is behavior a good indicator of an animal’s internal response? And how does their heart respond to human presence or changes in the environment?

Heart rate is a result of the balance of activity in the autonomic nervous system — the part of the nervous system that automatically controls body functions, like blood flow and digestion. When an animal is excited or stressed, the system increases its heart rate to prepare for a fight-or-flight response. If an animal is calm, its heart beats much slower. So, by tracking heart rate, we can identify if situations have a positive or negative impact.

VIDEO: Maned wolf Hope stops to stretch in her yard, with a relaxed heart rate of 57 beats per minute.

It becomes even more powerful when combined with other tools — like a daily report from animal care staff, a measurement of stress hormones from fecal (poop) samples, or a genetics report on the kind of microorganisms present in a maned wolf’s gut. These tools can inform us about levels of stress, but heart monitors can help us pinpoint the moment when stress occurs and find the cause.

How do you monitor a maned wolf’s heart?

We use heart monitors that were made for humans by Medtronic Inc, who donated the devices used for this project. The monitors weigh only 2.4 grams, and we place them under a maned wolf’s skin, over the heart area. The process is like injecting a dog with a microchip, but because the monitor is larger than a microchip, we need to make a small cut and then close it afterward with stitches. The monitor continuously senses each heartbeat or, more precisely, the electric current that comes from the heart when it beats. It records the average heart rate every 2 minutes and can last up to three years.

The heart rate monitors that we use for our maned wolves are the same monitors used for humans with heart problems. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

To read the data, we use a special computer and a handheld device that connects with the heart monitor via radio. The monitors are also equipped with a remote transmission system that can send data to a computer whenever a maned wolf rests near one of our “antennas,” which are set up near their dens.

How many maned wolves are you monitoring?

We care for 13 maned wolves at SCBI, and so far, we have monitored six of them — three males and three females. This is the first study of its kind for maned wolves, and we’ve collected more than 2.5 million points of heart rate data! Heart rates increased in response to people, restraint, loud noises (like lawn mowers) and social interactions with other wolves. Often, heart rates spiked in response to a negative experience, like being startled by the presence of a neighboring wolf in the middle of the night. They also increased when an animal was positively excited, like when a couple approached each other during the breeding season.

VIDEO: Maned wolf Caido reacted to a neighboring wolf barking in the middle of the night, and his heart rate spiked to 118 beats per minute.

How can you tell if stress is positive or negative?

A good example in humans would be the body response of two different people riding a roller coaster. While one person could be very excited, the other could be extremely scared, or even sick, during the ride. Both people might have similar spikes in heart rate, but the stress would only be positive for the person with positive emotions. Since maned wolves can’t tell us how they feel, we use their behaviors, hormone measurements, and the magnitude of their heart rate increases to tell us when their stress is positive or negative. Some wolves like the presence of a familiar human and get excited when that person visits. We call that positive stress. Others might show a similar heart rate but a totally different behavior, such as avoiding the visitor, which is negative stress.

Has anything that you have learned so far surprised you?

I was fascinated by the wide range of heart rates, and the extremes that the maned wolf’s heart can reach. The heart rate ranges we found were very different from what was previously known. When maned wolves are asleep or resting, their heart rates can drop below 30 beats per minute. But they can have a 10-fold increase, reaching up to 330 beats per minute, when they are stressed. Those extremes normally last for just a few seconds.

I’m also amazed and genuinely happy to see how technology can help us learn so much about ourselves and about animals. The footage that we capture with our trail cameras at SCBI can be inspiring, enjoyable and even poetic at times. So, it’s fascinating to also capture what is happening inside an animal while they freely move and live their lives.

For example, we have videos of a maned wolf couple fighting across the fence when they were first introduced for the breeding season. In later images, the same pair is very playful and moving around together, as if “in love.” And the best part is that the heart monitors were capturing the changes in heart rate for all those moments!

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VIDEO: Maned wolves Echo and Layla play together in their habitat at SCBI. In this moment, Echo’s heart rate was around 143 beats per minute, and Layla’s was about 136. They were positively excited.

How has heart rate monitoring helped support the care of maned wolves at SCBI?

Maned wolves are solitary animals, so living as a family group (parents and pups) might be stressful depending on the group’s size and how long they are together. Heart rate monitoring helped us identify that one of our male wolves was stressed while living with a female and their four pups — and confirmed that moving him to a new area solved the problem. We can also work with animal care staff to test if maned wolves respond positively to novel forms of enrichment.

VIDEO: Enrichment takes many forms. Sometimes, it’s a simple pile of leaves to pounce in. Maned wolf Fin’s heart rate increased to 158 beats per minute as he played with leaves and a stick in his yard one night.

The core of this project is the heart. As humans, we can understand that heart rate tells us a lot about our emotions and how we feel in each life situation. Since we don’t speak the “language” of animals, we need projects like this to better understand how they perceive their environments, so we can use that information to help them thrive.

How can this data support the conservation of maned wolves in the wild?

Only 3% of the natural habitat available for maned wolves in Brazil is inside protected areas. That means animals are also living in areas where encounters with humans, vehicles and farming machinery are common — and stress levels are higher. When sugar cane fields are harvested, for example, wolves can lose all their vegetation cover and food resources in less than 24 hours.

Having objective measurements of stress levels, and an understanding of where and how wolves move, could help us and land owners think about managing the land in ways that are more beneficial to wildlife. Our main goal is to become experts in the use of this technology, so we can apply it to the conservation of maned wolves and other endangered species in the wild. Studying the animals at SCBI has provided us with the skills we need, as well as the opportunity to overcome any obstacles in a controlled and safe environment.

What’s next for the Rhythm of Life Project?

This project is an excellent example of how much we can accomplish when we work as a team. We are physiologists, ecologists, biologists, veterinarians, animal care staff, students, donors, partners and more, all coming together to make this work possible. After a successful start, we’re expanding our scientific research at SCBI to other species, including eight scimitar-horned oryx. We proved that heart monitors can be safely used in maned wolves, and generated valuable information to compare with wild wolves. In 2021, we plan to start a field study with maned wolves in Brazil.

The Rhythm of Life Project was made possible with generous support from Medtronic.

Ashley Goetz is a web content writer at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, where she translates animal care research and conservation science into compelling stories. Ashley earned a bachelor’s degree in public communication with a minor in marine biology from American University. When she isn’t at the Zoo, she spends her time traveling, crocheting and watching reruns of “Parks and Recreation” with her two cats.

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akaypour-blog · 5 years

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I tend to watch a lot of political debates on facebook (usually what goes on within the House of Representatives) and I came across a video of a man addressing his questions regarding his religious stance of being an Evangelical Christian to democratic candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren. The man was extremely polite and well composed, he meant no aggression with any of his questions. His primary concern was the question “I am continually bombarded with democratic canidates that demonize my beliefs, calling them bigoted and intolerant, I love this country and I love my fellow citizens. And I don’t feel the respect and honor for my values and what I believe in. My question for you is why should I give up things that I hold dear, that I teach my children about, that I share with common beliefs with my fellow christians, things like ending abortion, traditional marriage, and religious freedoms. Why should I give up those things that I love so much and believe so deeply in, to vote for an individual like yourself”. Throughout our time learning about evangelicals, I viewed them as being extremist and this man’s mix of morality and politics is why the two should not be correlated with one another. It disadvantages many politicians and leads to the wrong people getting elected because people don’t want to jeopardize their personal beliefs and morality. I believe there’s a misconception of compromising your morals for politics and it makes it challenging for people who have strong beliefs like evangelicals who make religion a majority of their life. Evangelicals purpose is to spread the word of god and by advocating a political party that believes in abortion and non-traditional marriage they are no longer spreading those “values” therefore christianity. I believe our traditional history has made it comfortable and normal for people to correspond religion and politics. For instance, the word “conservative” is used to describe republicans and the word “conservative” is also used to describe people who are anti-abortion and don’t advocate gay rights. Similar with the “liberal” community, they are typically identified as being democratic and advocate these the opposite of opposing views. I found the man in the video much more different than the people we had viewed in class within the evangelical documentary. The man said,“I’m probably the most unpopular person in this room”. In the evangelical documentary the people seemed to have a much more “unusual” personalities, they seemed traditional and very EXTREME towards their beliefs. I believe documentaries like that make the entire religion look bad and gives a negative connotation on evangelical religion. I feel for those who are afraid of being abandoned from their discourse community or being “shunned”. I do believe evangelicals are given a bad name for being so passionate towards the things they believe in. Even to myself, I see myself maintaining a very liberal stance towards most topics and I am afraid to agree with conservative views because I am afraid of losing the respect of people in my discourse community. That may be why people are so close minded when it comes to arguing their beliefs and being open to other perspectives. I believe our morals are so intertwined with our political beliefs that they almost make us feel diminished as a person when we acknowledge or agree with outside perspectives. Religion has become a social thing and has steered away from practicality.

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amassingeffect · 6 years

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Ficlet Prompt Friday - Popcorn - mReyder

@trajektoria asked for: Reyes and SAM plotting something together behind Scott's back?

Reyes and SAM plot with a little help from someone who’s done this before.

Warnings: post-Meridian

Reyes didn’t think it would be this hard. He was used to being able to source pretty much any and everything. It was Kadara Port after all, everything could be bought for a price.

Anything except this one thing.

All his sources, all his contacts came up with nothing. It was mystifying. If he could get a cat, why were dogs so hard to find? He still remembered Scott talking about the dog he had back on Earth, the one he had to rehome before journeying to Andromeda.

He knew the Tempest had just docked, it was hard to miss that distinctive black, white and red ship. Scott had been gracious enough to give him a connection to SAM. How he swung that, Reyes didn’t know, but he accepted it and kept his mouth shut about it. But it was certainly useful now. If he knew Scott, he had about thirty minutes before he came to Tartarus.

“SAM, if I could ask you something?”

“Of course Mr Vidal?” SAM’s measured tone was crystal clear.

“How are dogs impossible to find?”

“The canid DNA banks are still in cryo storage.”

“Cats aren’t.”

“The felidae DNA banks were illegally accessed by a tech and felis silvestris catus were propagated before the action was caught.”

Reyes had no doubt someone caught a ton of shit for that. But it did tell him that if someone had done it once, another person could do it again. And given how things had settled down a bit after that madcap battle with the Archon on Meridian…

“How would one go about getting a dog then?”

“Species propagation paperwork should be filed with the DNA bank director as well as Directors Tann and Addison to ensure that proper care is taken with the introduction with a new species to the Heleus cluster.”

“SAM, that is not what I wanted to hear. What I want to know is what it would take to get a dog for Scott.”

“The Pathfinder’s clearance would expedite the process. Shall I—”

“No,” Reyes wanted to shake his head. “I don’t want the Pathfinder to know. Surely there are other avenues to pursue to see this done.”

There was a prolonged silence from SAM and then, “As the Pathfinder is outside your door, this is a conversation we shall continue at a later time Mr Vidal.”

“Wait—”

That was all Reyes got out before the door slid open and Scott stalked in. He flopped down on the seat and snatched up Reyes’ glass of whiskey to drain it in one gulp. Then he filled it up again and sagged back into the seat.

“One of these days, I’m gonna shoot Tann. Do know what he actually said to Morda’s face? I don’t like her, but I damn near let her fight him.”

Even Reyes had to admit, when Scott told him, his eyebrows rose. Tann was definitely an idiot and if he could pull this off somehow. If anything, he would go to the Nexus himself to give Scott the dog in front of Tann.

The first part was easy, he didn’t really need a particular breed of dog. Scott had said he adopted his dog from the pound and it was as much a mutt as a mutt could be. SAM was suspiciously quiet until one day, in the middle of a firefight with Roekaar, SAM piped up.

“Are you busy at the moment, Mr Vidal?”

“A bit,” he returned fire, catching a sharpshooter that was trying to reach the high ground. “What is it?”

“Connecting you to Sidera Nyx. One moment.”

What the hell, was this SAM’s idea of a joke? Seriously, this fight was nowhere close to wrapping up and—

“Hello?” a flanging turian voice came on. A young sounding one. “I was told you’re looking to get a dog and— Is that gunfire?”

“Yes, SAM has terrible timing,” Reyes grunted as he lobbed a grenade and ducked back behind cover. “But I am indeed looking for a dog.”

“Hm, I can’t do it. I got into so much trouble with the cats and…” Sidera paused as the grenade went off with a loud boom and yells and screams following after the split-second of silence. “But I can put you in touch with someone in the DNA bank. Who exactly is this?”

“SAM can get me in touch with the person— One moment.” Reyes dashed to new cover, firing bullets at a Roekaar attempting to set up a turret. The invasion program he fired at it worked quick and the turret identified the enemies and opened fire. “SAM can contact me when the person wants to talk.”

“Oh no no no,” Reyes could practically see Sidera shake her head. “That’s not how this goes. No name, no contact. Take it or leave it.”

Of course it was. “Reyes Vidal, a pleasure to talk to you Miss Nyx. Are you perhaps related to Vetra?”

“She’s my sister!” Sidera sounded delighted now. “And I know all about you Mr Vidal. No worries, I’ll see about that contact for you, if this is for who I think it is,” there was a moment of swearing from Sidera and then, “Gotta go!” before the line cut out.

At least now Reyes could focus his attention on the fight. Once the last Roekaar was dead, and they were sweeping through the bodies and base for info, Reyes managed to slip away to a quiet spot. However, SAM did beat him to the punch.

“I apologize for the hasty connection Mr Vidal. She was quite insistent on speaking the person wishing to procure a dog.”

“It couldn’t have been at any other time?”

“No. I was only able to secure the connection for that small window. Her activities are monitored ever since the ‘feline episode’.”

Reyes barely smothered a snicker at the delicate tone SAM used. “Understandable then. Are there any other problems you foresee?”

“Only one. While species propagation and the DNA banks fall under the purview of Tann, Addison and the DNA bank director, the recently formed Andromeda Council takes great interest in what is revived from the DNA bank. We may have to field a representative with questions.”

“Direct them to me and I’ll handle it.” Reyes said. “Pretty sure we can pull this off.”

In all honesty, Reyes expected to be dealing with Tann or Addison when the call came through. SAM sounded very urgent when he finally called Reyes.

“I have the krogan Council member insisting on speaking to Pathfinder Ryder about the revival of canids from the DNA bank,” SAM paused for a moment. “They are not pleased.”

Thank god Reyes was at home when this came through. And at least SAM gave him some warning this time. But damn, Sidera worked fast. She hadn’t even gotten in a return call.

“All right, put her through SAM.”

“Acknowledged. Ryder and Morda have an acrimonous and tense relationship. I will be masking your speech with the Pathfinder’s. Please endeavour to approximate Ryder’s speech patterns as best as possible. Connecting you now.”

It was just a few moments and then, “What the hell are you playing at Ryder, wasting resources on pets?”

“It’s called diversification of resources,” Reyes snapped. “Did we plan for cats? No, but they’re helping with morale where they are and some people are training them to hunt small game. Dogs can be used in the same capacity and to assist in hunting as well as guarding. Be glad it was dogs I approved because geese are far worse. Now I’ve put in the approval, so quit wasting my time when I have better things to do.”

“Pathfinder Ryder,” Morda sounded like she was in full bluster.

“It’s approved and I’m done here.”

Reyes disconnected the call as he heard an angry growl. After a moment, he sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “How much worse did I just make things for Scott?”

“Scott usually is sarcastic with Morda unless he has reached a point that he refers to as ‘done’. Given their recent interactions, Scott is officially on the verge of ‘done’. Morda should suspect nothing.” There was a moment of silence and then, “Sidera Nyx is requesting an immediate call.”

“Patch her through.” Reyes waited until he heard the soft beep of a connection. “I understand you wanted to talk to me?”

“Man, you work fast. My contact in the DNA bank wants to know what kind of dog you want. She wants to get it started and some out before they try to shut her down.”

“Give me a mutt.” Reyes said.

“I know, but what kind?” Sidera asked again.

Nothing like a translator to take some things literally. “Just a mixed breed dog. When you look at the dog, you can’t quite tell exactly what breed. You can guess some, but don’t really know.”

“Okay,” Sidera sounded hesitant. “Can you arrange to smuggle it off the Nexus?”

“I shall do you one better: I’ll be there in person to pick it up.”

“Oh,” Sidera said with a knowing thrum in her voice. “All right then. I gotta go now. I can hear Morda stomping into Tann’s office, so gonna get this going. Call you later, bye!”

“Kids.” Reyes chuckles as the line went dead. “SAM, if they get this started today, how soon until we have dogs?”

“Approximately two weeks. Once the process is started, it’s inadvisable to halt it. While yours is first in the queue, I do see some requests for dogs now too.”

“How many exactly?”

“418 and increasing.”

Reyes couldn’t help but smile. That wasn’t precisely a number to shrug at. And if they tried to cancel it, it would be like the cats all over again.

“SAM, is there perhaps an urgent reason for the Tempest to come to Kadara?”

“You have given me numerous reports of increased Roekaar presence and there have been rumours of kett presence. I shall bring it to the Pathfinder’s attention.”

“Since you mention it,” Reyes pulled up his omni-tool. “I just sent you some copies of reports I wrote up on the last few Collective missions I ran where we encountered Roekaar. Does help to have something backing you up. Embroider where you need to.”

“Acknowledged. Can I assist you with anything else today, Mr Vidal?”

Reyes laughed. “I think I should be asking you that. But no. And thank you SAM.”

“You are welcome, Mr Vidal.”

“You can call me Reyes, you know.”

“I know Mr Vidal.”

That was the last thing SAM said and Reyes felt fairly sure the AI was pulling his leg.

Scott was really damned confused now. They’d spent the past two weeks on Kadara weeding our Roekaar hideouts. They were winning points in Evfra and Keema’s books, which was never a bad thing. But he’d had some words with Morda before coming to Kadara that left him more puzzled and pissed because what the hell was she going on about him lording it up and making such massive and arbitrary decisions.

Once they were done, Reyes announced he’d come back with him to the Nexus. That alone left Scott wondering because Reyes had also once said he’d be damned if he set foot on Tann’s little kingdom again.

All Reyes had done was shrug and say, “There’s a Council now, right? So they’ll bicker about what to do with me and I’ll be gone by the time they decide.”

Then he’d smiled and winked as he strolled onto the Tempest and Scott felt like he really missed something massive. Not that Reyes said a damn thing about whatever it was.

“I feel you,” Vetra had commiserated with him one night in the galley over dinner. “Sid’s up to something but damned if I can figure out what. I just hope it doesn’t involved another trap.”

“Hell, I’d take a trap. I have no idea what Reyes is up to.”

Setting foot on the Nexus… he was desperately confused. Everyone was so damned nice, high fives, grins and waves and shouts of ‘Thank you!’ He had zero damn idea what he supposedly did. Reyes seemed entirely unruffled by it all and Scott finally narrowed his eyes in suspicion as they walked along.

“This have anything to do with you?”

“Me? I’ve been with you on Kadara this entire time.”

“That doesn’t sound like a denial.” Scott pointed out.

“I think we should get to your apartment.” Reyes just smiled and kept on walking.

“What did you do?” Scott hurried after him. “Reyes!”

All Reyes did was turn and wink at him, a wide smile on his face. Scott followed after him, the door to his apartment on the Nexus closing silently behind them. There was Sidera half vanished behind his couch, talking to something.

“C’mon you little cutie, they’ll be here any moment.”

“Or they already are.” Reyes chuckled.

Sidera yelped, jumping up and knocking the couch out, something furry and wriggling in her arms. Scott looked around, eyes settling on a carrier and his heart leapt into his throat.

“Reyes,” he asked weakly. “What kind of cat did you get me?”

“It’s better than a cat.” Reyes’ smile softened as he tilted his head to Sidera.

Scott looked over as she came over and he could see floppy ears, paws everywhere and a tail wagging a mile of minute. Sidera was laughing as she was vigourously sniffed and then she deposited the wriggling bundle in his arms.

“You’re welcome Pathfinder.”

Scott could barely see through his now blurry vision. He blinked, seeing golden fur splotched with black with clear blue eyes looking up at him. Then big paws were scrabbling at him as his face was licked.

“You got me a puppy?!” he managed to ask, holding the animal tighter.

“First one in Andromeda.” Sidera grinned as she headed for the door. “I’ll just go now and can one of you please tell Vetra that it was a good thing I did.”

All Scott could do was nod as he held the excited puppy in his arms and looked at Reyes. Once the door was shut, he was walking over.

“You are impossible, you know that,” Scott hauled him in for a teary kiss. “How the hell did you pull this off? Is this why everyone suddenly loves me again, because you somehow got us dogs?”

Reyes shrugged, suddenly looking sheepish. “I wanted to get you a dog. Everyone else is a happy byproduct. I’m very much willing to be the unsung hero here.”

“Is this why Morda was so pissy with me?”

“I had words with her.”

“You’re my damn hero,” Scott kissed him again only to have the puppy break it up. “We have to name him.”

“That’s entirely your honour.”

“Popcorn II,” Scott didn’t even have to think about it. “In honour of the long passed Popcorn, back on Earth.”

“The first dog ever in Andromeda is named Popcorn.” Reyes looked like he was trying to not laugh. “I do like the lack of gravitas.”

“And you got everything for him too!” Scott could see a dog bed, a leash and feeding bowls. He set down Popcorn to let him run about.

“Mr Vidal wanted you to have as little to worry about as possible initially.” SAM’s smooth voice interrupted.

“SAM’s lying, that’s all them. I worried more about the logistics of getting the dog.” Reyes stepped in close, wiping the tears away on Scott’s cheeks. “Please tell me you don’t want a horse. I have no idea where to even put one.”

Scott sputtered with laughter. “No horses. Popcorn is more than enough. We’re in another galaxy and you got me a dog. Never let anyone tell you that you’re not incredible.”

Now Reyes was quiet, a blush coming to his face. “Anything you want, Scott.”

“This. It’s more than enough,” Scott took his hand, giving it a quick squeeze. “C’mon, let’s take Popcorn for his first walk.”

#mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #ficlet prompt friday #mryder #reyes #reyes vidal #mreyder #fanfic #writing #trajektoria

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fierce-little-miana · 6 years

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Hey I noticed you're interested in The Beast of Gevaudan, do you think it's possible it was a lion? I mean the descriptions of its leaping ability, its choice of prey, the location of the attack, its tail and coloring, the fact that it attacked with claws, and the way it scoured bones as if polished are all inconsistent with canines and consistent with a large feline

This an interesting, even if completely unexpected, question.

I will start my answer with a disclaimer. I am not an expert on the beast of Gévaudan, it is merely a subject that fascinates me (that’s what happen when you bring your 6-7 years old granddaughter to the scariest museum in the world folks!) and with which I enjoy a geographic proximity. However I lack academic reading about the subject (which I am trying to fix but the subject attracted a lot of terrible “academic” productions).

That being said let’s dive in. Could the beast of Gévaudan have been a lion? It is not impossible (since we will never know for sure what the beast was, catch me crying bitter tears over that) but, in my view it is highly unlikely.

Arguments in favor of a lion:

It seems to be a popular theory? After all this the one used in the french movie Le Pacte des Loups. It also seems to be or to have been a theory published in 2016 in the National Geographic Society.

Some of the beast’s physical characteristics such as its color (apparently some sort of light brow, borderline slightly ‘feu’), some sort of quiff (a mane?) around its head, a large head etc could work with a lion. Here keep in mind that we are talking about observed physical characteristics taken from witnesses of the living beast, not observation duly noted from autopsy (more about this later).

The strange behaviour of the beast while attacking could, as you say, also indicate a big feline. Here I am personally thinking about the fact that the beast seemed to have prefered attacking its preys at the head or at the neck (to the point that some victims were nearly or completely beheaded), which, from what I have heard is highly uncommun with wolves or wild canids. But way less uncommun with big felines.

There is also the inability for the witnesses/victims/hunters to precisely identify the nature of the beast (hence its name The BeastTM) which could indicate that the animal wasn’t naturally present in Gévaudan (or in France). And this is coherent with the idea of a lion since lions aren’t native to France since prehistoric times.

Arguments against a lion (aka everything else):

While wild lions have been noted to attack and specifically target humans, I have yet to hear about any such thing happening in France or even in Western Europe. If the beast had in fact been a lion it would be a unique and isolated case. However having a wild unidentified (but often recognized as a canid), animal attacking people for some time was a thing that happened several times in France alone. We call them bêtes féroces (ferocious beasts)

Also how did this lion get there? Did it escape from someone’s personal menagerie (did someone even had a lion in their menagerie in Gévaudan or even Auvergne at the time? This was hardly a rich region)? Did it escape from a circus (anachronistic term but your get my meaning)? In this case why did no-one signal the disappearance of a wild big feline?

Following the same idea how did it survive in this environment? I mean besides eating people of course (which the beast didn’t always do, sometimes it only killed its prey). Winters are pretty harsh around here, even by France standard. The average temperature for Saugue (the current place of the museum of the beast) in january is 0,8°C, (with a annual average of 8,3°C) and it snows there, often. This is not exactly your ideal environment for a lion. Keep in mind that the beast terrorised the region for three years (1764-1767) and didn’t stop during winters. So expect if we are talking about a mountain lion (no mane then?) or a barbary lion it seems difficult for it to have lived in the wild of Gévaudan for three years.

That is if we rule out human participation in the beast killing spree (which I don’t). But even if the beast was indeed the creature of a human being once again we are left with the question of where did it came from? Also a lion is considerably harder to hide from your neighbors/suspicious people (the region was a bit in a paranoid state at the time)/your servants than let’s say a weird canid that could find a spot in a, otherwise already full of imposing dogs, kennel.

Now to go back on the undefined nature of the beast. We saw earlier that it can play in favor of an exotic animal non-native to the region but here the lion sort of have a specific place in Europe. The lion was and still is an extremely present symbol in Europe: in heraldry, in religious art etc. You got to have someone who saw the beast that went “Hey that’s a lion!” at some point. (They even were persons send from Versailles at some point, that had certainly seen realistic artistic depictions of lion or even actual lions in the royal menagerie).

Which lead me to my last argument, the autopsy. The beast killed by Jacques Chastel, aka “the real beast”, underwent an autopsy that was carefully recorded (you can access part of it on the French wikipedia page of the beast which is gloriously complete, someone went the extra mile here and I can’t thank them enough). The persons performing the autopsy were unable to identify clearly the animal but did say that it was a canid. To give you a sample the animal was 99cm long (excluding the tail), its back-leg were around 45 cm long, it weighted around 50kg, and it had 42 teeths. Hardly a lion at all.

Here to continue pushing the lion hypothesis we would have to defend one of this 3 hypothesis. Hypothesis 1: Chastel’s kill is unrelated to the actual beast. But here we have to remember that the beast’s killing spree stopped after Chastel’s kill. So it’s either a big fat coincidence (which isn’t statistically impossible but it is unlikely) or there is fool play. Which leads me to hypothesis 2 Chastel did get rid of the beast or (knew that someone had or that the beast wouldn’t be a problem anymore) and delivered a fake beast. In this case I am left wondering why? I mean with the royal disinterest in the case in 1767 what would be the point of not delivering a lion? Who would have faced danger from the beast being a lion and from what authority (from a royal perspective the affair was officially closed)? This seems to complicate things for the pleasure of complicating them (and considering the already dubious context in which the beast was killed I don’t think we need to complicate them anymore). Or hypothesis 3 the autopsy record lies which lead me to the exact same questions I had for hypothesis 2 with the addition of why bother writing a report at all?

So in the end I would say that it is highly unlikely that the beast of Gévaudan was a lion. There are more concrete evidences pointing toward a or several canids (wolf, dog, hybrid etc).

#beast of gevaudan #history #french history #bête du gévaudan #anonymous #hope this is an interesting answer #and sorry for my English

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llaevateinn · 7 years

Text

Puppy Problems 1: Paw beans

Gabriel woke with a gasp, fire burning at his fingertips. For a moment he was disoriented, the image of hellfire raining down upon the Swiss HQ still etched into his vision. It was only when something wet left a trail of blazing sensation across his palm that he remembered where he was.

“Shh, puppy,” he whispered. “It’s okay. Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”

He was met with darkness and silence, his fire having retreated now that he knew he was safe. Only the shifting, nearly crushing weight draped across his legs told him his companion was still there. He reached out and tangled his fingers into the patchy, rough fur, feeling more than hearing the resulting huff of contentment.

“Are you thirsty? I’m going to get us both some water.”

Another lick, then the weight slipped off Gabriel, and off the bed. Apparently he was coming with. In the narrow strip of moonlight that fell onto both of them when Gabriel opened the door, he saw that intelligent, blue eyes were watching him closely. Worried. Anxious. He patted him on the head once, trying to dispel some of the thoughts that were undoubtedly haunting that thick skull. It didn’t work, obviously, and he resigned himself to having a solid mass butting against his hip at every step. He knew it was to reassure himself of Gabriel’s presence, but it did make walking slightly more difficult than necessary.

Their trek to the communal kitchen was blessedly short, though, and he poured himself a glass of water to chase away the last remnants of his nightmare. His companion waited patiently for his turn, and then proceeded to noisily slobber all over the kitchen floor. He never had gotten the hang of drinking like a canid creature. His deformed jaw and teeth were no help in that department. So Gabriel waited patiently for him to finish, and then mopped up the mess. Maybe he was imagining it, but the eerily human eyes were looking slightly apologetic.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep,” Gabriel said, wringing out the wet towel he’d used. “If you’re up for it, we could try that combo we came up with last time.”

There was no reply from his companion, but when he took the turn that would lead him to the weapons range, there was the telltale click of claws on linoleum that told him he was being followed.

Overwatch had always been a collection of misfits and oddities, even before its fall. Over half its roster of active duty agents and brass had consisted of magical creatures or magically gifted humans, ranging from witches, halfbreeds, shifters and others to even rarer creatures. Gabriel, as a phoenix, had been one of a kind, and he still was. Aside from his mother, he had never met someone like him. But Overwatch had been a different kind of family, bringing humans, creatures and magic folk together from all over the world.

That had not changed, now that Overwatch had been reborn, called back to life by Winston’s civil courage. But there had been some additions to the roster, among them Gabriel’s silent shadow.

Most people would call it a monster. The gnarled limbs, patchy fur and threatening stance. The perpetual snarl, sharp canines peeking through, the dripping drool. The shape was so clearly other, somehow between a creature resembling a canine of sorts and distinctively human that was entirely different from the way wolf and person melded into one in a werewolf. It made you stare and want to look away at the same time. The clear, human eyes were the worst. Peering out intelligently above the threatening maw. Evidence of intent and purpose behind the violence it could bring. And the silence. A ‘wolf would bark and yip and yowl and growl. But there was a quiet enshrouded in this one that put off most people.

But its clear white fur and the blue of its eyes, along with some of its mannerisms had halted Gabriel’s initial urge to kill it when he encountered it for the first time on Cairo’s streets. He immediately recognized the creature as the hellhound it was – a soul tortured and reshaped by the relentless hunger of hellfire. Usually it was best to simply release them from their misery. But this one. With this one he had come to a terrible, terrible realization.

“Jack?” he had whispered into the darkness between them.

The hellhound had remained silent, merely bowing its neck and collapsing into an exhausted curl. It let him pet its rough fur, and when he’d brought it to his safehouse to clean both of their wounds, it showed its gratitude with rough licks.

There had never been any confirmation. But Gabriel knew that this was the tortured soul of his husband. And it didn’t matter if he looked different. If he would never speak or laugh again. They had always taken care of each other. They always would.

“So how do we do this? I don’t know if the training bots will keep up with us, but we have to try it out on something,” Gabriel said while he put in his code to access his weapons locker. His trusted hellfire shotguns sat there ready and waiting for him. They didn’t mind his second of hesitation before he picked them up, and Jack was too busy sniffing at the bots to notice. Sometimes it felt like he was talking to himself more than anything. “Okay, let’s go through the first one. Whenever you’re ready.”

The bots, which had started beeping in concern at the attention of the hellhound in question, started moving in their pre-programmed pattern. At first, Jack stood motionlessly in the middle of them, watching them trundle along their paths. Gabriel was almost ready to call it off, knowing that sometimes Jack just wasn’t in the mood, when the massive body suddenly vaulted across the room, smashing into one of the bots. It let out an alarmed noise at being shot-put directly into Gabriel’s line of sight, but he didn’t hesitate to fire a single, precise round. With a pitiful warble, the bot crumpled into a heap of scrap.

“Were you playing billiard when I wasn’t looking?” Gabriel joked. “Your angles are much better.”

Jack didn’t reply. The only reaction he got was a lolling tongue, and the noise of claws skittering across the floor. A few moments later, the next bot sailed through the air, thrown off course by powerful limbs. Gabriel needed two shots to disintegrate this one.

“Too fast,” he commented. And perhaps Jack’s sneeze-snort was a response to that, but he couldn’t be sure of that. “Let’s try this with me on the high ground.”

The first light of dawn started creeping over the edge of the horizon by the time Jack decided he was done playing with the bots and simply flopped over. He remained motionless, only giving a single half-hearted wag of his tail when Gabriel petted his fur.

“Tired?” he sighed. “Yeah. Me too. We were pretty successful though. Maybe next time they’ll let us go on a mission with them and we can try it out in the field.”

He continued to pet him for a while, hoping that it gave Jack some semblance of comfort when Gabriel rubbed his ears and scratched at his chin. The latter earned him a few licks, though perhaps it was just Jack trying to stem the flow of his drool. It was hard to decipher his gestures sometimes. How much of it was Gabriel desperately reading into something that wasn’t there?

When Jack’s ears suddenly perked up, swiveling to find the source of whatever had managed to grab his attention, Gabriel stayed calm. There was no real danger on base, but sometimes unexpected things made Jack twitchy.

“You should try rubbing the paw beans,” came a voice from behind Gabriel.

Jack sat up abruptly, baring his teeth in a silent snarl, ears flattened against his skull. With a heavy sigh, Gabriel rose from his kneeling position to face Jesse McCree.

“How you manage to sneak with those horrible spurs of yours I will never understand,” he said in lieu of a greeting.

“It’s a talent,” the werewolf smirked, tipping his hat in their direction.

“You shifted, didn’t you.”

“Yeah, okay, I shifted.”

The both of them turned to look at Jack, who had pointedly turned his back on them, and was currently chewing on a piece of destroyed training bot. Gabriel was initially worried about Jack’s teeth, but then he remembered that he was a hellhound.

“So what brings you to the training range?” he asked Jesse, flinching when Jack’s jaws snapped shut, crunching bits of metal, plastic and rubber into dust.

“Was looking for you, boss. Winston sent me – apparently there’s a Talon-related mission he wants your opinion on.”

“He doesn’t want us to handle it?”

Jesse hesitated for a bit, and then said: “Naw, he just wants confirmation on some intel.”

Neither of them acknowledged the way Jack’s ears had swiveled back to point at them, indicating the fact that he heard and understood what they were saying. He’d moved on to chew on something else that Gabriel couldn’t identify, but still kept one ear trained at him and Jesse.

“Talon, huh.” He started disassembling and cleaning his shotguns, trying to dispel the strange tension in the air by ignoring it. “Well, there’s a lot I can tell, but I don’t know how fresh the information will be. Jack and I have been out for a while now. We’re always happy to help though.”

“’kay. If you’re done here, just go upstairs to the command center. I trust you’ll find your way.”

“You are not here to make sure we keep our word?” Gabriel grinned mirthlessly, and reassembled his guns with practiced ease. As he stowed them away, he felt something bump against his leg. “Come on, Jesse, we both know Winston has benched us. He doesn’t trust us. There is no need to sugarcoat it. We may be able to move freely – within the Watchpoint’s perimeter, mind you – but we haven’t been given clearance to all levels. There is always someone keeping an eye on us, and he hasn’t let us go on a single mission yet.”

Jesse didn’t look troubled at being caught out, only rocking back and forth on his heels as if he didn’t have a care in the world. His eyes darted to the warm presence at Gabriel’s side, but he could only guess what he saw there. What everyone saw there.

“You know we’re happy you’re home,” he said then. “It wasn’t right, thinking you’d betrayed us for Talon. But we still gotta be careful. I’m sure you understand.”

“I do,” Gabriel muttered. He didn’t acknowledge the fact that Jesse hadn’t addressed the topic of Jack. It wasn’t an issue he was prepared to press, afraid of hearing what people – what his friends and family really thought.

Jesse silently parted ways from them on the way to the command center – the direction he took could either lead to the communal rooms or the outdoors. Gabriel didn’t ask. But he took the comfort Jack offered with a warm huff of breath against his palm, and buried his fingers in his wiry neck fur.

“You wanted to speak with us?” he said upon entering the command center.

Winston turned away from a wall of projections and monitors, pushing up his glasses with one finger as he spotted them. If his eyes lingered a second longer on Jack, Gabriel let it slide. They were here to make peace.

“Good morning, agent. Uh, agents. I wanted to consult your expertise on this matter. We have received an anonymous tip: the location of backup servers that Talon is allegedly using to store their data. Perhaps you can confirm that this intel is correct?”

Gabriel frowned, but extracted his hand from Jack’s fur to examine a holographic map more closely.

“Argentina?” He rubbed his chin. “I’m not sure, it depends on what kind of data storage we’re talking about. The financial records were all kept in Monaco, under Maximilian’s purview. Scientific data and blueprints were kept at the Oasis servers. What else could there be?”

“Personnel records,” Winston said. “The anonymous note said this would reveal any and all names of people who are or were on Talon’s payroll.”

Gabriel whistled, impressed.

“That’s a gold mine.”

“It would be,” Winston agreed, “if we could be certain that the anonymous tipper is trustworthy.”

“Can I see the note?”

“Athena?”

Staying uncharacteristically silent, the AI opened a holographic projection in front of Gabriel, showing the short message.

Hello friends, the servers at this location contain information on anyone who has ever worked for Talon. I’m sure you can do something useful with this. XOXO

Gabriel snorted.

“Yeah, it’s trustworthy.”

“May I inquire as to why you would come to this conclusion?” Athena finally chimed in.

“The XOXO.”

“A shorthand for kisses and hugs,” she said, contemplatively. “Is this really enough to deem this note trustworthy? It could be a trap. A ruse.”

“No. I recognize the style, the language of it. This is Sombra. She is the one who helped extract me and Jack from Talon. She has her own agenda, and she certainly stands to gain from this as well, but she has no reason to betray us.”

“Hmm,” Winston grumbled, sitting back on his haunches and frowning sternly. “I don’t know. We are stretched thin as we are. I’m not sure I can afford to send a strike team on a wild goose chase. But if you say this is real, we might be looking at the motherlode of information. We’d have Talon in the palm of our hands.”

A sudden mass collided with Gabriel from behind, and he was nearly thrown off balance. Just as he was about to spring into action, decades of combat experience coming to the forefront, he felt a familiar huff of hot, humid breath against his neck.

“Jack,” he chided, still bent over from the force of the push. “Now’s not the time.”

But Jack was busy doing a weird hopping dance the way a kid might if it had to go to the bathroom, seconds before it was too late. His eyes were strangely imploring, and the snap of his jaw right next to Gabriel’s ear was insistent.

“What if,” Gabriel said calmly, “Jack and me went to check out these coordinates?”

“What?” Winston, who had backed away from the hellhound going nuts in front of him, visibly swallowed. “I haven’t cleared you for active duty yet.”

“That’s the beauty of the plan. You don’t have to expend any of your resources, we’d get some fresh air, get rid of our cabin fever, and you don’t have to worry about Jack scratching up your walls anymore. Plus, we might return with some actually valuable information.”

“It is sound logic,” Athena surprisingly agreed with him.

“Hm. Alright. But I can only give you a minimum of support. An ORCA, and your own gear, nothing more. You’ll have to figure out the rest.”

“Fine by me. By us,” Gabriel assured him.

A few hours later, an older ORCA model was deployed from Watchpoint: Gibraltar, with only two passengers. Gabriel, strapped into the pilot seat even though the plane was on autopilot, tried to ignore Jack’s smug grin reflecting off the windshield.

“Bastard,” Gabriel muttered, with no heat behind his words. “You’re far too used to getting what you want.”

Well, Jack didn’t disagree with him. He did, however, benevolently allow Gabriel to grab one of his paws and massage his toe beans. Just to pass the time, of course.

Puppy Problems 2: Carsickness

Puppy Problems 3: Hygiene

I have a ko-fi!

#mythical creature au #morreyeson #reaper76 #overwatch #my fic #i needed to post this or i will never get done with my uni assignments #gabriel the phoenix #jack the hellhound #crack AND angst you say?#impossible! and yet!

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obscuraxrp · 7 years

Photo

The smoke settles to reveal PARK JIMIN, a 22 year old were-dhole of Sunseong. He is a police officer who appears to be adept in enhanced senses, enhanced condition and canine manipulation --- but like most things in Sunseong, there must be more to him than meets the eye.

FACECLAIM: Park Jimin, bts

APPEARANCE:

Jimin’s dhole-form is distinctly canine but his coloring is most similar to the red fox. His coat is plush; a vibrant copper from his face to the base of his tail and on the outer parts of his legs. From his jaw to his belly, inside his legs and his paws are snowy white. His ears are large, rounded, and soft, with feathery tufts of white fur inside. His nose, whiskers, toe pads, and long fluffy tail are black.

BIOGRAPHY:

It’s not easy to fully understand ‘who’ you are when you don’t know from ‘where’ you came. This was something Jimin found especially painful as he grew up in the Busan orphanage where he was abandoned. He has never managed to remember any details about his parents and without any way to track them down, a void began to grow inside him. As a few years came and passed slowly in the orphanage, Jimin couldn’t help wondering why his parents didn’t want him and why none of the other parents who visited wanted him either. What was wrong with him that others could see but he couldn’t?

Eventually, the day did come when he found a home, but it was not with a happy young couple like he’d expected. An older man had been hanging around near the orphanage grounds for a few days prior to him beckoning to Jimin when he caught the young boy’s eye. Far too trusting, despite multiple lessons on the danger of strangers, Jimin raced over to see what he wanted. The man told him that he was different from the other children; he was special. It was everything Jimin had ever wanted to hear. The old man didn’t seem to mean him harm although he did smell strange, but he offered to come back that night and take him away if he could manage to sneak out without getting caught. And Jimin did just that.

Thus started a strange but beneficial journey between the two males. The old man was a recluse who lived completely off the radar of modern society. The next few years of his life were spent living in wild forests with the strange old man who claimed he could actually turn into a leopard when he felt like it. Jimin believed him wholeheartedly, despite the lack of visual proof and soaked up every little bit of knowledge the seasoned survivalist bestowed upon him. As he came closer to puberty, Jimin began to resent their lonely lifestyle and doubt the stories of magic and strange creatures he’d been told up to that point. He started to think maybe he should run away and try to find a city to live in with ‘normal’ people. This agitated, unrested feeling continued to grow until the full moon when Jimin’s reality was turned completely upside down.

The wise old man had managed to teach Jimin everything he would need to know about living part of his life as an animal without actually mentioning the part about him being one. Sensing that it would only cause fear and distrust in the boy, he waited patiently until the change inevitably happened naturally. The realization of what he truly was could’ve been quite scarring for Jimin, but more than anything, he began to realize not only 'who’ he was, but 'what’ he was. The animal part of him is a dhole, a type of wild dog that’s nearly extinct in Korea. Somehow instead of being depressed by this information, it gave him a sense of hope that his parents and other relatives were out there somewhere but living their lives as humans, which was an undoubtedly safer option.

Life became much easier after that realization. Since then, Jimin has worked tirelessly to rejoin society and catch up on what he’s missed. Now, nearly ten years later, he is living a life that he’s proud of. And has a reputation he’s proud of too. He has lots of friends; which he likes to think of as his own honorary pack and finds enormous fulfillment from his work on the Sunseong Police Force.

CHARACTERIZATION:

Above all else, Jimin is kind. He has always yearned for a family, meaningful friendships, and bonds strong enough to form a pack someday. He is diplomatic and dutiful; a dependable young man with strong moral fiber and a code of honor that he is willing to defend until his last breath. He’s protective of those he has befriended and anyone he feels could benefit from his care. It’s clear by looking that he is quite athletic and capable but it’s not in his nature to be overtly aggressive or confrontational. He is soft spoken and friendly; easily approachable. Perhaps too empathetic; he habitually puts the feelings, desires, and well-being of others before his own. He tends to worry about what people think of him and second guess his acceptance in social circles as he does suffer from abandonment issues.

Positive Traits - Nurturing, determined, patient, forgiving, honest, altruistic Negative Traits - Stubborn, idealistic, naive, workaholic

SPECIALTIES:

Shapeshifting (Innate) Enhanced senses (See below) Enhanced condition (See below) Animal communication (See below)

Enhanced Senses - Rank I (20 pts.)

Jimin’s five senses are enhanced due to his canid DNA, but he’s also spent extensive work sharpening and honing these skills. His senses are amplified from strongest to weakest as: smell, hearing, taste, touch and finally, sight. The time he’s spent living in the wilderness has led to the following enhancements through his fine-tuned senses.

Enhanced Tracking - Using his senses, Jimin can track targets via various means, ranging from sound/visuals to scent to footprints. In some cases he can even reconstruct what happened in a certain location by examining the area they are searching.

The longer it has been since the target passed the area or the more the area has been disturbed, the smaller his chances of success become.

Enhanced Intuition - Jimin can sense near to immediate danger to his well-being and attempt to evade it. Intuition usually involves another person in suspicion, but may include surroundings such as a building or oncoming car accident. Jimin can sense ill-will or malice, usually by scent but also as a gut instinct feeling. + to Body Language Analysis

He cannot sense distant dangers. Sensing an attack or malice does not mean he can defend himself from it. Can be hard to decipher the specific threat beyond the feeling. He would probably doubt the feeling if it is coming from a person that he previously trusted, i.e. a close friend.

Lie Detection - Jimin is able to sense/identify when a person is lying to him. If the target is close enough to him that they are speaking face to face, he can hear their heartbeat quicken, for example.

This is not necessarily applicable to people who lie easily and without guilt.

Enhanced Athleticism - Rank I (20 pts.)

Jimin’s physical condition is enhanced due to his canid DNA, but he’s also spent extensive effort training his body so that it reacts quickly, precisely and can endure long bouts of physical activity and strain.

Enhanced Dexterity - Jimin can control his movements and muscles expertly without fumbling. He can slip through narrow spaces, keep balance at high altitudes, and manage to usually land on his feet if uprooted or pushed. He’s able to regain balance quickly and can perform tasks at inconvenient angles or on unstable surfaces. This also contributes to exceptional aim.

Accuracy is diminished when Jimin is exhausted or distracted by outside means.

Enhanced Leap - Dholes are exceptional jumpers and so is Jimin. He can jump farther than average both in human and dhole-form; vertically and horizontally.

Not to the extent of superhuman distance. Requires a solid surface to land on. Circumstances could affect his aim or cause him to miscalculate distances.

Enhanced Reflexes - Jimin has enhanced reaction speed, allowing him to dodge, block and maneuver around complex attacks, catch falling objects, block detriments react almost instantaneously to events. + to Enhanced Intuition

Objects moving at tremendously quick speeds or with too much force may be too difficult to dodge.

Body Language Analysis - Jimin can intuitively read others’ body language and anticipate their actions. He can intuitively anticipate their actions and respond accordingly, often allowing him to predict opponent’s attacks. + to Enhanced Intuition

May not work on targets with enhanced speed, strength, or that use misleading or erratic movements.

Canine Manipulation - Rank II (40 pts.)

Jimin is able to influence and manipulate canines such as dogs, wolves, coyotes, foxes, dholes, dingoes, etc. The skill allows him to communicate telepathically, sense emotions and empathize, request assistance, or even form a spiritual bond with the animal he is focusing on.

Not applicable to shifted animals. Range is limited to hearing distance. Canines with sentience may be hard or impossible to control.

Mind Link (Canine) - The ability to develop a link between minds with other living canines, sharing thoughts, memories, emotions or feelings.

Limited to a maximum of five animals. May be irreversible.

Animal Scrying - Jimin can access a linked canine’s senses. He can experience what they taste, feel, smell, see and/or hear while he is channeling through their link.

Only applicable with an animal that is bonded or linked with Jimin. Maintaining the scrying takes complete mental focus and leaves Jimin completely vulnerable to what is happening where he is.

#obs: follow #*park jimin #*bts

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