#Most Powerful Extinct Tiger Species

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - September 8-14

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1. Pair of rare Amur tiger cubs debuting at Minnesota Zoo are raising hopes for the endangered species

“[The Minnesota Zoo’s] Amur tigers have produced 57 cubs, [… 21 of which] have gone on to produce litters of their own, amounting to another 86 cubs. […] “They’re showing a lot of resiliency, which is something that we work hard for in human care. We want these animals to have a lot of confidence and be able to adapt to new environments just as they’re doing today.””

2. Powered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO₂ into protein and vitamins

“The team designed a two-stage bioreactor system that produces yeast rich in protein and vitamin B9. [… The protein] levels in their yeast exceed those of beef, pork, fish, and lentils. […] Running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions in food production. It uncouples land use from farming, freeing up space for conservation[… and] will help farmers concentrate on producing vegetables and crops sustainably.”

3. JCPenney Launches Apparel Collection Aimed At Wheelchair Users

“A major department store is rolling out a new line of clothing specifically tailored to meet the needs of women who use wheelchairs featuring options for both everyday wear and special occasions. [… The clothing have] modifications like zippers located for easy access, pocket positioning and extended back rises optimized for the seated position and shorter sleeves to limit interference with wheels.”

4. Snails bred in Edinburgh Zoo sent to re-populate species in French Polynesia

“Thousands of rare partula snails bred at Edinburgh Zoo are to be released in French Polynesia to restore the wild population of the species.The last surviving few of the species were rescued in the early 1990s[….] 15 species and sub-species [are being bred in zoos for repopulation], the majority of which are classed as extinct in the wild.”

5. [NH Joins 19 Other States] to Provide Essential Behavioral Health Services Through Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams

“[CMS] approved New Hampshire’s Medicaid State Plan Amendment for community-based mobile crisis intervention teams to provide services for people experiencing a mental health or substance use disorder crisis. […] The multidisciplinary team provides screening and assessment; stabilization and de-escalation; and coordination with and referrals to health, social, and other services, as needed.”

6. Recovery plan for Missouri population of eastern hellbender

“It is expected that recovery efforts for the Missouri DPS of the eastern hellbender will reduce sedimentation and improve water quality in the aforementioned watersheds, which will also improve drinking water, as well as benefit multiple federally listed mussels, sport fish and other aquatic species.”

7. How $7.3B will help rural co-ops build clean power—and close coal plants

“[The funds are] serving about 5 million households across 23 states [… to] build wind and solar power, which is now cheaper than coal-fired power across most of the country. […] Some of it will be used to pay down the cost of closing coal plants[….] federal funding could help co-ops secure enough wind, solar, and battery resources to retire their entire coal capacity by 2032, cutting carbon emissions by 80 to 90 percent and reducing wholesale electricity costs by 10 to 20 percent[….]”

8. Native-led suicide prevention program focuses on building community strengths

“[Indigenous researchers have] designed programs that aim to build up a community’s endemic strengths, rather than solely treating the risks facing individuals within that community. By providing support and resources that enable access to Alaska Native cultural activities, they hope to strengthen social bonds that build resilience. […] “In a Yup’ik worldview, suicide is not a mental health disorder, and it’s not an individual affliction, it’s a disruption of the collective.””

9. Another rare Javan rhino calf spotted at Indonesia park

“A new Javan rhino calf has been spotted in an Indonesian national park, the facility's head said Friday, further boosting hopes for one of the world's most endangered mammals after two other […] calves were spotted earlier this year at the park, which is the only habitat left for the critically endangered animal.”

10. Transparent solar cells can directly supply energy from glass surfaces

“[Researchers have] unveiled a method of supplying energy directly from glass of buildings, cars, and mobile devices through transparent solar cells. […] It has also succeeded in charging a smartphone using natural sunlight. It also proved the possibility that a screen of a small mobile device can be used as an energy source.”

September 1-7 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[max1461]

A couple of the worldbuilding ideas that I come back to again and again, mostly in stupid shitposts but maybe I'll use them in a story or something someday so hashtag dont steal:

Archaic human vampires. Like, Neanderthal vampires, homo erectus vampires, etc.

Similarly, ghosts or other supernatural beings derived from extinct species. Everybody's thought of the idea of dinosaur ghosts before but I'm always thinking of bacterial mat ghosts, shambling stromatolite ghosts and so on. Earth's gotta be full of those.

Mystically animated robots. I have this idea that the more advanced a robot, the less mystical energy is necessary to bring it to life. So like a human, which is a very complex biological system, basically only requires a very minimal soul because the biomachinery can do most of the work. On the other hand, a Pinocchio type of thing would need a really magically powerful soul because it needs to be fully animated by magic. What about some being in the middle? Where it's significantly robotic but also needs a significant amount of magic to make it work? I like such robots.

Per the above, mystical robots made of odd materials. I made a post about a robot made of antler once I still like that imagery.

"Daemons, daeuuas, and jinn"—kind of like "lions, tigers, and bears". If you're raising an army, you might want to recruit various "daemons, daeuuas, and jinn" to your cause. Some may be of the above sorts.

[death-mothblog]

Otodus megalodon (/ˈmɛɡələdɒn/ MEG-əl-ə-don; meaning "big tooth"), commonly known as the megalodon, is an extinct species of giant mackerel shark that lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago (Mya), from the Early Miocene to the Pliocene epochs. It was formerly thought to be a member of the family Lamnidae and a close relative of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), but has been reclassified into the extinct family Otodontidae, which diverged from the great white shark during the Early Cretaceous.

While regarded as one of the largest and most powerful predators to have ever lived, the megalodon is only known from fragmentary remains, and its appearance and maximum size are uncertain. Scientists differ on whether it would have more closely resembled a stockier version of the great white shark, the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) or the sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus).

[devoted1989]

animals killed because of irrational beliefs

According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 80% of the world’s population relies on traditional medicines. This is despite traditional medicines having no scientific evidence to prove their claims and having no real medical value.

Chinese medicine is the most widely practiced traditional medicine, although there are other traditional medicines used in other cultures worldwide which also involve animal cruelty.

The rarity of a creature does not protect it from being killed in the name of “medicine”; it just raises the market price.

“More than 60 percent of emerging infectious diseases in humans originated in animals, one study says. And more than 70 percent of those animal-originated diseases, known as zoonotic diseases, come from wild animals”.

TCM uses approximately 1,000 plant and 36 animal species, including the tiger, rhinoceros, black bear, musk deer, and sea horse; the tiger, rhinoceros, and sea horse are endangered.

These are some of the animals that are killed in the name of tradition and/ or irrational beliefs.

tigers

Owing to the numerous superstitious beliefs associated with them, tiger parts are in great demand. The tiger, which is considered a symbol of strength, is one of the most sought after animals in traditional Chinese medicine.

Western medical experts tend to discount all claims of any curative power

Chinese medicine stores do a steady trade in tiger wines, powder, tiger balms and tiger pills in Chinatowns around the world.

The demand for tigers for use as TCM in China is so high that there are tiger farms where they are specially bred for this purpose

Unabated poaching has already resulted in the extinction of three of the nine tiger subspecies, while the remaining six are considered endangered.

asian black bears

Bear bile is a digestive juice that is stored in the bear's gallbladder. It is obtained--or milked - by planting a permanent surgical tube in the bear's stomach. The process is very painful  and adds to the trauma of being confined in a in a small cage – a crush cage – where he is unable to move around - for most of his/ her life.

There are alternatives to the bile, but the Chinese medicine industry believes consumers prefer the real thing, which means the bile trade is lucrative.

Living for 10–12 years under such circumstances results in severe mental stress and muscle atrophy.  World Animal Protection sent researchers to 11 bile farms They reported seeing bears moaning, banging their heads against their cages, and chewing their own paws (autophagia).

Today more than 12,000 bears are believed to kept on bear bile farms in China and Vietnam. Sun bears, and moon bears are often used for their bile, 

the rhinoceros

Poaching is predominantly driven by the illegal trade in rhino horn attributed to the demand for rhino horn in Asian countries, mainly Vietnam and China. Although rhino horn has no scientific medical benefits, consumers use it to treat a wide range of conditions. Due to its high value it is also used as a status symbol by wealthy individuals.

In some regions, rhino horn is marketed as an aphrodisiac, and in some, it is considered an antidote for poison.

musk deer

Another animal valued in traditional Chinese medicine is the musk deer. Musk is the aromatic substance from which these species derive their name. It has traditionally been used for the treatment of various ailments, from skin infection and stomach ache to heart-related ailments. It is also prized in the perfume industry. The substance is obtained from the musk-producing glands (pods) of adult males.

The international demand for musk is so high, that China alone cannot meet it. Countries like Russia and Mongolia have joined in the large-scale culling of this species

sharks

Shark cartilage is widely used for the treatment of cancer and osteoarthritis despite the fact that there is no concrete evidence to suggest the same. Thousands of sharks are killed for their cartilage, i.e., the bony structure, which is eventually sold in the form of powder or pills.

The fins are also believed to cure osteoarthritis.

Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark's fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks either starve to death, are eaten alive by other fish, or drown.

Cobras

In the Southeast Asia and the Middle East, cobra species are popular among snake charmers who make money by performing snake shows. An even crueller festival occurs in India every year - The snake festival of India, Nāg Panchamī.

On this day, hundreds of snakes are subjected to intense trauma under the pretext of worship. It is a common ritual to offer milk to the cobra as a part of the worship. The snake charmers keep the snakes without water for a number of days before the festival and when these dehydrated snakes are offered milk, they drink it readily. Milk is not a part of their diet, so when they do drink it, it affects their digestive system and--in most of the cases--causes their death.

As a precautionary measure, these snakes are defanged by the snake charmers, which again leaves them vulnerable to numerous threats.

water buffaloes

There may be only a few thousand wild water buffaloes in existence.

The water buffalo is sacrificed for traditional beliefs. It is believed that sacrificing a buffalo to the deity brings about prosperity, luck, and even rain. Animal slaughter--in the garb of religious and cultural traditions--is carried out in many parts of the world, though the occurrence is relatively more rampant in Asia and Africa.

seahorse

The seahorse has been a feature of TCM for centuries. Today approximately 90 health and medicine products containing seahorses are sold in China and elsewhere.

chinese alligator

This small, freshwater crocodilian species now numbers fewer than 200. Dam building, has devastated the alligator population, but hunting has also taken a toll. Alligator meat is promoted as a way to cure the common cold and to prevent cancer, and alligator organs are also said to have medicinal properties.

hawksbill sea turtle

Poachers hunt hawksbills for a number of reasons, including for their shells, which have been distributed worldwide as travel souvenirs and incorporated into jewellery and other decorative items and for their oil, whose use in traditional medicine has increased in recent years. Bans on trading turtle products and various sting operations have achieved limited success in stopping the species’ decline. cats & dogs

There is much more animal abuse associated CTM such as the horrific cat and dog meat trade, where cats and dogs are skinned and boiled alive after being kept in appalling conditions and treated despicably.Dog eating is traditional in China, and according to folklore eating the meat during the summer months brings luck and good health. Some also believe dog meat can ward off diseases and heighten men's sexual performance.

asian elephant

Asian elephants were once thought to be relatively immune to poaching—unlike their African relatives, only some males, instead of all adults, have ivory tusks—but that is not true. The animals are killed for their meat, hide, tusks and other body parts.

Advocacy Britannica, The Smithsonian Animal Rights Action, WWF, Save the Rhino, WESSA (the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) and Poaching Facts.

[jungle-safari-india]

The Gaur of the Wild Tadoba

Gaur is a wild animal which is also known as India Bison is only found in India at present and has been categorized as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN List since 1986. These animal species belong to the bovine breed and they are the largest in their family. They are Indigenous to the South and Southeast parts of Asia but they are extinct in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. At present, their only habitat is in India. There was a decrease in their population in the last three generations by 70% and it’s a matter of concern. Many conservation methods have been taken till now to save and protect their population and fortunately, in Tadoba,  a huge population of them can be found. 

Tadoba National Park is a wild place that is located in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. This park is celebrated for its huge population of Bengal tigers and also this place was declared a Tiger reserve back in 1993. This park is the first national park of Maharashtra and it is visited by many wildlife lovers. Apart from tigers, many animals can be found here such as Indian leopards, Gaur, Sloth bears, Dhole, Nilgai, Small Indian Civet, Jungle Cats, Sambar, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Chital, Marsh Crocodile, Striped Hyena, Indian Cobra, Indian Python, Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Peacock, Crested Serpent Eagle, Wolf Spiders, Jewel Beetles, etc. Because of this large animal population, this park is visited by most wildlife lovers. Let me tell you that Tadoba National Park got its name from the Taru God, worshiped by the local tribes residing near Tadoba. Let’s know about the Gaur or you can say Indian Bison of Tadoba. 

Physical Appearance of Indian Bison

Gaur which is also known as Indian Bison is a wild animal and it’s also a robust and powerful mammal. It has a sturdy build-up and because of that, there are few animals of Gaurs. Gaurs might fall prey to dholes, leopards, crocodiles, and tigers. They have unique foreheads, they are bulged out a little in the convex shape. The weight of a female gaur is between  400 kg - 1000 kg and when talking about a male gaur, their weight is between 600 kg - 1500 kg. The height of Gaurs is between 170 cm to 230 cm. The length of an Indian Bison is 240 cm to 340 cm and the tail of an India Bison is about 70 cm to 105 cm in length. 

They have horns that are yellowish brown or pale green in color. The horns of Indian Bison are not positioned upright, rather they are curved like aC-shape with an inward curvature. Their horns are there so that they can defend or protect themselves from predators. These are so wild that they can even kill a tiger using their sharp and curved horns. The color of the eyes of these Bisons is brown.

[luonnon-varainen]

Yes, yes, yes. I know we can argue that they could have just left the Titans alone when they realized they couldn't touch them but there's a lot of other factors I feel are missing. Like, what is their society like. We know they have a creed of sorts (what King read for Collie). How strict are their social rules? Are there consequences for failing to collect a species? Was killing the Titan's the decision of Collie's siblings alone or was it an order passed down from someone else? I'm just kinda disappointed about a lot of people jumping in the 2d "the Archivists are awful, abusive siblings who didn't care at all about the Collector" bandwagon when we genuinely have no actual context besides what little Collie actually says. Like, they can be bad, and also have depth.

We get so little information about whole collectors specie that it's even hard to speculate what might be true or not. Still it's not fully confirmed why they do collecting and preserving species of mortals. To many question marks, no answers. No infos about culture, history, biology literally nothing besides vague idea about how the war/genocide/assassination of titans looked like thanks to the murals in the palace. And considering that they developed sort of own architecture style, clothing, art, "job" system and sort of conventions/creed/law they probably have a lot of tight law frames to obey. Especially that they aware of their overwhelming power and effect they cause on environment of the planets they "visit". We know the goal is to preserve life, so destroying(on purpose or not) the planet and/or mortals on it is not ideal thing to do as they may lose some rare species or lead them to extinction without their consent. From the bedtime book we also can interpret that clearing is rather not usual activity and happened only in certain (resistance) circumstances. And as we assume goal is to preserve mortals(several examples for a specie most likely) it's a very tough, special and pretty disappointing decision to make and it should be ordered from the highest ring of council, not just some explorers. Exactly same as humans do when for example there is tiger/shark - an endangered but dangerous specie that kills people in some area and politics with uniformed services and environmentalists decide to hunt it down to end the danger they cause, not civilians not local sheriff. It is not nice, wanted decision, it is awful hurting ecosystem one, but humans chose their lifes as more valuable than the animal's. It might be something similar. Collectors who face resistance probably have to report it and then depending on level of danger mortals cause, they get the order from the top to enforce it. And exactly the same situation like in our world happens when the order is not executed, person responsible for it faces big, serious consequences of their disobedience and creating unwanted risk.

And I feel like collectors are race of perfectionist who can't stand chaos and not ended tasks so it probably also wasn't an option to choose from.

It would be also a pointless lost of energy to just enter new planet and leave it immediately after discovering that one specie cannot be collected. In cruel, brutal, cold universe not taking breaks to refill used energy and materials might be a death sentence/freeze sentence (they are immortals but being trapped for eternity in perfectly silent universe is equivalence as it leads to the death of the conscious). They most likely needed a break from vacuum anyway and "small riots" from locals was less dangerous than just going further and futher not really knowing how far is another planet proper to rest.

[diamondkrusader]

Name: Natasha Fangmeyer

Gender: Female

Age: 24 years

Height: 6’0” (182 cm - 1.83 m)

Species: Siberian Tiger Espernite

Race: Russian Taija

Nationally: Russian Beastman

Rank: First Lieutenant

Occupation: Dragon Kingsman Special Force (DKSF)

Class: Demolition

Relations:

• Joshua "William" Fangmeyer (husband)

• Seven Siberian Tiger

• Eight Siberian Tiger Daughters

Personally- softest, motherly, talented belly dancer, cold bloodest, and Vicious Russian Soldier

Espernite Powers: powerful psychic, super strength, super punch, extremely durability, super flight, precognition, telekinesis, telekinetic, telepathy, powerful teleportation, astral shield, technopath, powerful exorcist, powerful plasma vision

Shocking Secret Facts: Natasha is a literal Espernite like Captain Snep and Aztec Samurai, Astrogen and any type of Espernite etc. Except for one smallest problem, that Natasha has the most extremely fertile which she can be avoided from any hungry males of race and species.

Bio: Life of any type strongest troops Taija species of Beastman in Russia is gonna be Sharks, Bears, Wolves and Siberian Tigers. Meet Natasha Fangmeyer, a one of the most deadliest demolition and the most powerful Espernite Siberian Tigress being in the members of DKSF, but a most talented belly dancer. But a normal life as a married Taija Tigress with her fifteen cubs is more than enough for her human husband and her family. Life of opportunities is being recruited by the Dragon Kingsman into DKSF, comes with new missions that can be accomplished but there is only one smallest problem. When comes to any type of evil diabolical knock off version of Supermens, what their planning is something vicious, pure evil and stupidity by wiping innocent humanity out into extinction is the most worst thing than losing her father. She is ready to use her Espernite powers to stop them and save humanity before it’s too late.

———————————————

Name: Joshua "William" Fangmeyer

Gender: Male

Age: 24 years

Height: 5’9” (175 cm - 1.79 m)

Species: Human

Race: American

Nationally: American Mankind

Rank: First Lieutenant

Occupation: Dragon Kingsman Special Force (DKSF) / Formal Iron Arms Marines

Glass: Marksman Sniper

Relations:

• Natasha Fangmeyer (wife)

• Seven Siberian Tiger Espernite sons

• Eight Siberian Tiger Espernite Daughters

Personally- extremely sexual attractive to his tigress wife, boys being boys, troublemaker, most secret talented ballerina dancer, vicious mad scientist and silent assassin sharp shooter

Shocking Secret Facts: Due to his vicious science skills. He create a pink gas that can turn human into Anthro or anything what they desire within seconds and then sell the pink gas like the bio-drug dealer.

Bio: Joshua was the most dangerous marksman sniper in United States from IAM (Iron Arms Marines), and a secret most talented ballerina dancer. In the age of eleven Joshua first met new friend Leo after he was be recruited by the IAM. Seven years later Joshua married to Natasha after they met. When his family were supportive of him, as well for his twin brother and his girlfriend were kinda supportive of him for being a furry who married to Natasha who was a Taija Siberian tigress. While Joshua planning to to start a family with Natasha, they had five children of tiger cubs. But it didn’t end so well when he accidentally knocking Natasha up twice without protection which in total of fifteen cubs, but she might give him a safety warning about her extreme fertility. While Joshua and Natasha had gotten a chance of an opportunity being recruited in the DKSF of Dragon Kingsman, but he wouldn’t mind taking out enemies like his favorite human and anthro war stories in Wattpad. But being an American hero who defended the innocent any race and species of life, nothing can get in his and his mate way.

Natasha Fangmeyer and Joshua "William" Fangmeyer- Diamond Krusader

BTW does their last name Fangmeyer reminds you of the zootopia movie. But if be confused if they thought it would be a wolf and a tigress couple of Officer Wolford and Officer Fangmeyer

[elkian]

So I’ve been going back over Homestuck a bit and something has struck me:

Why does Spidermom exist? (Worldbuilding-wise, not narratively.)

Like, narratively, yes, she’s huge. She had an enormous impact on shaping Vriska’s personality and thus character arc, which in turn had similarly massive effect on much of the narrative. (Between her, Mindfang-via-journal, and Doc Scratch, Vriska was functionally raised by these three and no WONDER she’s so fucked up... anyways.)

However, from a worldbuilding standpoint, we have a giant monster that explicitly feeds on (young) trolls. As far as we can tell, she either cannot or will not consume anything else. Maybe she can eat adults, but we’ll cross that bridge in a moment, hopefully.

Spidermom is from a predator species that eats trolls. She’s functionally the equivalent of handing a baby to a tiger and expecting a functional member of society in return rather than like... the tiger acquiring a taste for human flesh. She should have been hunted, possibly to extinction, not made (actively or passively) part of the lusus system, however it may work. I can sort of see her being a stealth reverse-cuckoo situation but... surely someone would have noticed.

Vriska at one point refers to killing, in her 6 sweeps/13 years of life, thousands of fellow trolls to feed this thing. Thousands! Even if we’re being conservative and calling it 2,000 max, that’s still, what, a troll every day for 6 years solid? That is bonkers.

And it’s not like the Empire is getting a good troll adult out of the bargain! Sure, the Serkets end up being driven, ruthless, and clever... but Mindfang participated in the rebellion that lead to Alternia being forbidden to adults and Vriska personally decimated her social group and endangered them for the sake of her own ego. Neither of these are boons to the war machine or even the sparse troll society we have at the end of the Sgrub session.

Now, Glybgolyb is a slightly different story, but Doc Scratch claims he deliberately planted her! She’s not natural to the Alternian environment, it seems, and even then... it’s heavily implied if not outright stated that orphaned trolls are culled by default, but it’s similarly so that adult trolls don’t keep their custodians once they leave Alternian soil. If the Empire chilled out (lmaoooo) for all of .5 sec, they could at least add those trolls to the ranks of cannon fodder.

But a dead troll is a dead troll. And yeah, it’s not exactly like Alternian society is particularly tender or merciful, particularly to the young, but they need trolls to reach adulthood so they can kill and/or die in battle as the Empire sweeps the galaxy. There has to be a cold calculus of basic input-output or they would have gone extinct long before the Glub.

Sure, it makes sense for Lusii to be able to kill trolls, to protect their wards and themselves, but one regularly dining on them is an entirely different matter.

So why the fuck is Spidermom here? Vriska is a cheater with a cheat power, it’s not really a fair or worthy judgement of her opponents’ skill, to die to her. Hell, some would consider Tavros and Aradia to be the best sacrifices to her altar of dinner time, but they both survived most FLARP sessions with her, and the one Aradia didn’t live much past, she was fucking disintegrated, not leaving behind, as far as we can tell, much of a body for the table.

So yes: She’s key to the narrative, particularly in shaping Vriska’s destiny and personality, but if you think too hard about it, it makes no sense why an avid consumer of trolls has been granted the position of guardian of a troll. I suspect if Vriska slacked off and/or died (one possibly preceding the other), Spidermom would wander off on her own rampage and kill plenty of trolls herself. Unless she doesn’t actually need to eat that often and was just tormenting Vriska this entire time.

(Obvs the most obvious answer is “Hussie thought it’d be sick and moved on bc this story is enormous” I just overthink a lot lol)

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: National Zoo Lovers Day

We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee

In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy.

But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it.

Nothing was easy, given the family’s lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Zoo Story by Thomas French

Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco.

Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity's role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it's a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet-all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century.

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw―and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants―otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.

With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.

Crochet a Zoo by Megan Kreiner

Go a little wild as you stitch everything from lions and tigers to bears and baboons. Featuring organic materials, these imaginative toys are perfect for children of all ages. You can even create felt bananas, leaves, and other zoo food, plus zany zookeepers all dressed for the part. Choose from more than 16 playful patterns for crochet; stitch one or two animals or construct an entire zoo set for a special gift. Bring your zoo animals to life with clever details and ideas for customizing, such as shaggy manes, felt stripes, and embroidered paws. Complete each beautifully illustrated design in just a few hours using basic crochet skills.

[whilewewereyetsinners]

I posted 1,878 times in 2022

That's 767 more posts than 2021!

42 posts created (2%)

1,836 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@i-istherefore-iam

@northerlygale

@luna-drinker

@officialyourdailyinspiration

@talesofsorrowandofruin

I tagged 1,309 of my posts in 2022

Only 30% of my posts had no tags

#christianity - 135 posts

#lol - 82 posts

#signal boost - 58 posts

#history - 51 posts

#christian living - 50 posts

#art - 49 posts

#prayer request - 49 posts

#jane austen - 47 posts

#lotr - 45 posts

#abortion - 39 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#there’s so much wrong with the world and so many people experiencing legit problems and this mauling of etymology is what’s most important?

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

18 notes - Posted April 16, 2022

#4

Colossal says it hopes to use advanced genetic sequencing to resurrect two extinct mammals — not just the giant, ice age mammoth, but also a mid-sized marsupial known as the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger, that died out less than a century ago. On its website, the company vows: “Combining the science of genetics with the business of discovery, we endeavor to jumpstart nature’s ancestral heartbeat.”

In-Q-Tel, its new investor, is registered as a nonprofit venture capital firm funded by the CIA. On its surface, the group funds technology startups with the potential to safeguard national security. In addition to its long-standing pursuit of intelligence and weapons technologies, the CIA outfit has lately displayed an increased interest in biotechnology and particularly DNA sequencing.

“Why the interest in a company like Colossal, which was founded with a mission to “de-extinct” the wooly mammoth and other species?” reads an In-Q-Tel blog post published on September 22. “Strategically, it’s less about the mammoths and more about the capability.”

“Biotechnology and the broader bioeconomy are critical for humanity to further develop. It is important for all facets of our government to develop them and have an understanding of what is possible,” Colossal co-founder Ben Lamm wrote in an email to The Intercept. (A spokesperson for Lamm stressed that while Thiel provided Church with $100,000 in funding to launch the woolly mammoth project that became Colossal, he is not a stakeholder like Robbins, Hilton, Winklevoss Capital, and In-Q-Tel.)

Colossal uses CRISPR gene editing, a method of genetic engineering based on a naturally occurring type of DNA sequence. […] The eponymous gene editing technique was developed to function the same way, allowing users to snip unwanted genes and program a more ideal version of the genetic code.

The embrace of this technology, according to In-Q-Tel’s blog post, will help allow U.S. government agencies to read, write, and edit genetic material, and, importantly, to steer global biological phenomena that impact “nation-to-nation competition” while enabling the United States “to help set the ethical, as well as the technological, standards” for its use.

Okay, am I the only one that finds the idea of US government agencies having the authority to use this technology completely terrifying?

I remember when CRISPR technology was first developed bioethicists were like yeah, you shouldn’t do that, and everyone else was like shut up and think of the children! We can eradicate birth defects with this!! And have they eradicated birth defects with this? Don’t be silly, of course not! No, we’re going to build supersoldiers or morally-vacant human robots or something, that’s way more important!

20 notes - Posted September 30, 2022

#3

So if you love Jane Austen and think it would be fun to have veins throbbing in your temples, here’s something for you to read:

The film’s first trailer wasn’t roundly greeted with excitement, as many watchers (presumably hardcore Austen fans who have never once enjoyed the pleasures of something perfect like “Clueless”) took it to task for being too modern, too silly, too “Bridget Jones does Regency cosplay.” How very lucky we are then that one trailer, just mere minutes of a film, is not an entire feature.

I mean, the author refers to P&P 1995’s Fitzwilliam Darcy as Mark Darcy so it’s not as though she actually knows what she’s talking about, but I really just love it when reviewers insult people who love whatever book is being adapted. Especially when your review is a litany of all the ways the character is grossly changed from the original, but she’s really heartbroken and sad, yo, so that means it’s a good adaptation.

26 notes - Posted July 8, 2022

#2

Sample A: “There could have never been two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement.

Sample B: “A heartbeat ago, there were no two people more in rhythm than Wentworth and I. Now we’re strangers. Worse than strangers — we’re exes.”

Sample A: “My being the mother is the very reason why my feelings should not be tried. I am not at all equal to it. You saw how hysterical I was yesterday.”

Sample B: “The thing about me is, I am an empath.”

To clarify the obvious — something the movie under review today has no problem doing — the “A” excerpts are from Jane Austen’s magnificent novel “Persuasion.” The “B” excerpts are from the movie, which I suppose you could also call “Persuasion,” insofar as it appears to have lifted sentences from the novel and fed them through some kind of Instagram-filtering, catchphrase-generating, text-summarizing idiot bot.

Finally, a review written by someone who actually knows his Austen.

280 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Sewing patterns provide a uniquely detailed look at the lives of working-class people throughout history that clothing collections held at museums or universities seldom offer. These patterns — flimsy packets of paper covered in shapes, numbers, and symbols — guide sewists through the process of making everything from sweatpants to wedding dresses. And through most of the 20th century, before manufacturers moved production to capitalize on cheap labor abroad, sewing at home was a way to have high-quality clothing for less money.

But scholarship around patterns and home sewing is still relatively underappreciated, often dismissed as women’s work or insignificant to fashion and art. The common pattern’s ubiquitousness only adds to its disposability — patterns were cheap to purchase and finicky to preserve and were never meant to last.

For the community of vintage sewing enthusiasts, an unassuming website maintained by the University of Rhode Island is a priceless and irreplaceable treasure. The Commercial Pattern Archive is one of the few projects in the world that safeguards these documents that are fragile, easily forgotten, and born to die. A labor of love and insistence on the part of a small team of historians, costume designers, archivists, and hobbyists, the archive began in the 1990s and includes a physical stash and digital database of English-language patterns unparalleled in its scope and depth. CoPA is home to around 56,000 physical patterns going back to the 1800s, along with books, pamphlets, journals, and other related material.

1,264 notes - Posted June 25, 2022

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[random-thought-depository]

Following a tangent from here, where I wrote:

"The predators alive now mostly do not attack humans because they follow mother’s wisdom. The conservatism inherent in the mother’s wisdom strategy may keep humans safe for a while, but big predators in most of the world have had tens of thousands to millions of years to eat a human (or proto-human), discover we are quite edible, and add us to the mother’s wisdom food list that they transmit to their offspring. Why hasn’t this happened? Well, what happens to a predator that kills and eats a human? Other humans follow the people-eater back to its den and kill it! The only predators that survived were the ones that did not habitually eat humans, either as a matter of blind luck or because they were smart enough to learn that we’re more dangerous than we look. I suspect the saber-tooth cat, the marsupial lion, etc. are not around anymore because they were unable to make this adjustment."

Things we might expect to see if this model is accurate, that we could look for to test its plausibility:

Many large predator species might show evidence of genetic bottlenecks within the last few tens of thousands to few million years.

These genetic bottlenecks might show a geographical pattern. In the New World and Australia, they should happen soon after the time of first contact with humans. So, in the Americas, they should happen between around 20-10 KYA. In Australia, they should happen around maybe 60-40 KYA, though I think in Australia this might be very hard to test, as I think the only native Australian predator powerful enough to be a plausible habitual people-eater that survived into historic times is the Tasmanian tiger, and I don't think there's much Tasmanian tiger soft tissue left, so it might be impossible to study the DNA of more than a few individuals.

In the Old World, they should happen earlier, and there the timing is more interesting in a way. The Old World predators co-evolved with humans. In the Old World, the genetic bottlenecks would likely mark, not the time of contact with humans, but the time that humans became intelligent enough to make spears, imagine delayed revenge, and imagine pre-emptively killing a predator now so it will not attack their band in the future. If we see a lot of big Old World predators having genetic bottlenecks, say, a million years ago, that might be a ghostly but profound window into the development of the human mind!

If so, the timing of Old World predator genetic bottlenecks might give us clues about what Neanderthals, Denisovans, etc. were like and why Homo sapiens ended up replacing them. If Eurasian predator genetic bottlenecks cluster before a hundred thousand years ago or so, this suggests that Neanderthals, Denisovans, etc. were also capable of delayed revenge and/or pre-emptive self-defense with a far planning horizon. On the other hand, if predator genetic bottlenecks neatly follow the Homo sapiens out of Africa migration, that suggests delayed revenge and pre-emptive self-defense with a far planning horizon were behaviors unique to Homo sapiens.

We might also expect that dumber predator species would tend to show tighter genetic bottlenecks, and the dumbest predator species would have tended to be the ones that couldn't make the adjustment to avoiding humans and went extinct. Smart predators could learn that it was a bad idea to eat humans, but a dumb predator species could only "learn" that by natural selection, operating either on genes or on different transmission lines of "mother's wisdom." Intelligence doesn't fossilize, but we might be able to loosely track it in the fossil record by looking at brain size and brain to body size ratio.

So we might expect the predator species that died out in the late Pliestocene extinction such as saber-tooth cats, marsupial lions, cave lions, etc. would tend to show smaller brains or brain to body size ratios than today's surviving predators. Smilodon might show a smaller brain to body size ratio than jaguars and mountain lions. Thylacoleo might show a smaller brain to body size ratio than the Tasmanian tiger. The cave lion might show a smaller brain to body size ratio than the African lion. And so on.

We might also expect, as per that mother's wisdom essay, that predators that lived in environments with few poisonous animals would have been more likely to go extinct and more likely to show noticeable and tight genetic bottlenecks if they survived, as they would have been less cautious about what they ate and hence more likely to eat humans.

It seems to be the mostly the biggest predators that died in the late Pleistocene extinction. Perhaps smaller predators had an easier time adjusting to avoid humans because they were less confident. It's pretty easy to imagine that the 50-70 kg cougar grasped relatively easily that humans were better avoided, but the more powerful 160-280 kg Smilodon fatalis thought it was ridiculous to be afraid of some weak funny monkey.

Whether a predator species survived and how tight a genetic bottleneck it went through might also correlate with how tasty human flesh is to them. Maybe the North American wolf survived but the dire wolf didn't because the dire wolf thought we were delicious but North American wolves think we taste like crap. This could potentially be investigated by some mildly ghoulish but basically harmless experiments involving feeding various predators bits of human flesh taken from the corpses of people who died of natural causes and agreed to donate their corpses to the experiment (just be careful how you handle the predators you use in this experiment afterward; you've potentially given them a taste for human flesh and added it to their mother's wisdom food list). Cheetahs seem to have a particularly tight recent genetic bottleneck; it would be interesting if they show a particular relish for human meat in such an experiment. Per the inference that smart predators could learn to avoid humans but stupid ones could only "learn" by natural selection, stupider living predators might be more likely to dislike the smell and taste of human; a smart predator could learn to avoid predating on us even if we were delicious to it, but in a stupid predator species the only survivors might be the ones that carry some gene that makes them simply dislike the smell and taste of human.

I might check it anybody's investigated anything like this in a spare hour at some point. A lack of such an apparent pattern of evidence doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong, there are a lot of potential confounders, but such a lack would decrease my confidence in my model, and, by the same token, a noticeable pattern of evidence in line with these predictions would increase my confidence in it.

[ainews]

Edibles refer to any food or drink that contains cannabis, including marijuana-infused snacks, drinks, and candies. These edibles have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their discreet nature and longer-lasting effects compared to smoking marijuana.

One interesting fact about edibles is that they are isothermal, meaning they maintain a constant temperature. This unique property makes them ideal for a specific feature of thylacines, an extinct species of carnivorous marsupials commonly known as the tasmanian tiger.

Thylacines, also known as thylacinus cynocephalus, were native to Tasmania, Australia, and had distinct features such as a long tail, powerful jaws, and sharp claws. But one of their most interesting features was their vibrissae, commonly called whiskers. These whiskers were crucial to their survival and played a significant role in their hunting and navigation abilities.

Unlike other mammals, thylacines did not have a well-developed sense of sight or smell. Hence, they heavily relied on their whiskers to sense and navigate their surroundings. Their whiskers were also used to detect changes in air currents, allowing them to hunt prey efficiently.

One of the key functions of whiskers is temperature regulation. They are highly sensitive to temperature changes, and any significant increase or decrease in temperature can affect their functionality. This is where edibles' isothermal property comes into play.

Edibles, when consumed, release cannabinoids into the body, which then bind to receptors in the brain and nervous system. These receptors are also found in the root of thylacines' whiskers, allowing them to absorb the cannabinoids and maintain their constant temperature. This helps keep their whiskers functioning properly and ensures they can continue to navigate and hunt effectively.

Furthermore, the isothermal property of edibles also makes them safe for the preservation of thylacines' remains. As mentioned earlier, any significant changes in temperature can damage the whiskers and affect their preservation. By maintaining a constant temperature, edibles can be used to safely store thylacines' remains without risking damage to their unique feature.

In conclusion, edibles' isothermal property makes them an ideal source of cannabis for the vibrissae of thylacines. This unique characteristic not only helps keep their whiskers functioning properly but also ensures the safe preservation of their remains. It is just another fascinating way in which modern advancements in medicine and science can intersect with extinct species and their unique characteristics.

[walklikewild]

The Most Endangered Animals in India

India is home to a rich diversity of wildlife, with over 500 species of mammals, 1,300 species of birds, 700 species of reptiles and 2,000 species of fish.

However, many of these animals are facing the threat of extinction due to habitat loss, poaching, climate change and human-wildlife conflict.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), India has 199 species of plants and animals that are critically endangered, meaning they have a very high risk of disappearing from the wild in the near future.

In this article, we will look at some of the most endangered animals in India and what is being done to protect them.

Bengal Tiger

The Bengal tiger is the national animal of India and one of the most iconic symbols of its wildlife. It is also the largest and most powerful of all the big cats, with an average weight of 200 kg and a length of 3 meters.

Bengal tigers are found in various habitats across India, from forests and grasslands to mangroves and wetlands. They are apex predators that feed on deer, wild boar, buffalo and other large animals.

However, the Bengal tiger is also one of the most endangered animals in India, with around 3,000 individuals left in the wild. The main threats to its survival are poaching for its skin and body parts, which are used in traditional medicine and as trophies, habitat loss due to deforestation and development, and human-tiger conflict, which occurs when tigers attack livestock or people.

To save the Bengal tiger from extinction, several conservation efforts have been launched, such as Project Tiger, which was started in 1973 by the Indian government to create tiger reserves and protect their habitats. Other initiatives include anti-poaching patrols, community awareness programs, wildlife corridors and translocation of tigers to new areas.

Asiatic Lion

The Asiatic lion is a subspecies of lion that is native to Asia and once roamed from Turkey to India.

However, due to hunting and habitat loss, it was reduced to a single population in the Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat, India. The Asiatic lion is smaller than its African cousin, with a larger tail tuft and a distinct belly fold.

It lives in groups called prides that consist of one or two males and several females and cubs. It feeds on deer, antelope, cattle and other prey.

The Asiatic lion is also an endangered animal in India, with only about 500–650 individuals left in the wild. The main threats to its survival are poaching for its bones and claws, which are used in traditional medicine and as ornaments, habitat loss due to agriculture and mining, and disease outbreaks such as the canine distemper virus.

To conserve the Asiatic lion from extinction, several conservation efforts have been implemented, such as Project Lion, which was launched in 1972 by the Indian government to protect the Gir Forest and its wildlife.

Other measures include vaccination campaigns, habitat restoration, compensation schemes for livestock losses and relocation of lions to new areas.

Snow Leopard

The snow leopard is a rare and elusive cat that lives in the high mountains of Central and South Asia. It has a thick fur coat that ranges from grey to yellowish-brown with black spots and rosettes.

It has a long tail that helps it balance on rocky terrain and a small head with large eyes and ears that help it detect prey. It feeds on wild sheep and goats, marmots, hares and other small animals.

The snow leopard is also an endangered animal in India, with only about 4,080–6,590 individuals left in the wild. The main threats to its survival are poaching for its fur and bones, which are used in traditional medicine and as clothing, habitat loss due to climate change and human encroachment, and human-snow leopard conflict, which occurs when snow leopards kill livestock or attack people.

To protect the snow leopard from extinction, several conservation efforts have been undertaken, such as Project Snow Leopard, which was initiated in 2009 by the Indian government to create snow leopard conservation areas and monitor their population.

Other actions include anti-poaching patrols, community education programs, livestock insurance schemes and transboundary cooperation with neighbouring countries.

Read More About The Wildlife

10 Funny-Looking Animals that You Should Know About

Behind the Numbers: Understanding the Tiger Census Process

Why Elephants May Not Exist in the Future?

India’s Remarkable Journey in Wildlife Protection

[bunnybetrayed]

Is that DYLAN O’BRIEN? No, that’s EZRAH RYDER. The 26 year old BLOOD MOON WERERABBIT OMEGA MALE is a RIDER AGENT. If you ask their friends, they’re known to be HUMOROUS & PATIENT, but beware, they’re also known to be SECRETIVE & REBELLIOUS. Their friends also say that they’re into PET/SLAVE PLAY & DIRTY TALK but don’t you dare trying SCAT & GORE with them.

BASIC INFORMATION

Name: Ezrah Ryder

Nickname(s): Ez, Bunny

Age: 26

Species: Wererabbit

Secondary Gender: Omega

Occupation: Rider Agent

Pack (born): Rabbit Mum, Tiger Daddy, Tiger Brother

Likes: tba

Dislikes: tba

Mate: tba

APPEARANCE

Height: 5’10

Weight: 150 pounds

Build: lean, fit

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Brown

Tail Shape: tba

Tattoos, scars: n/a

SEX

Kinks: Pet/Slave play, Dirty Talk, being owned, collars, forced orgasms

Anti-Kinks: Scat, Gore, Vore

Note: Bottom-ish.

One of us and one of them.

The rules were simple. Special ones were chosen, raised and trained to be the perfect little soldiers in a war that had yet to be won. Their chances were .. good, very good indeed, but to risk success on the back of laziness was a risk the human race was not willing to take. Especially the more fortunate part of society who wanted the entire Supernatural race to go extinct. Waiting and watching wouldn’t cut it for them, so they invested ridiculous sums into an organization that existed solemnly to ensure the war was one-sided, in their favor. 

The Chosen. 

It was that, really. The humans didn’t want The Others around them, they didn’t want them in positions of power, or influence - or to exist in the world they claimed theirs, but they did very much agree to exploiting their abilities. Fae and Witches were used for their blood and magical abilities, vampires for their regenerative abilities and …others… they had their own uses for humans. Bears were stronger than the norm, felines faster. But what mattered the most was not the animal side of beasts. It was the moon. 

A were’s moon changed everything. The Chosen had facilities for the non-Humans they used, most of them weren’t tortured, but held captive against their will nonetheless. And then there were those like Ezrah. Born into this life. Born in a cage. His mother had been one of the first they found back in the day. She.. was not the ideal species for their plans, but until they found a better specimen - she would do, they thought. And it was still a 50/50 chance, right? 

Well, Ezrah got the short end of the stick. He didn’t inherit his father’s long legs, or his incomparable speed… no. Ezrah took after his mother. It was a risk, they said. But the majority came out fine, they said. Someone tell that to him, because when he was barely a year old and instead of growing a long, slender tail … he grew… a scut. Well shit. It was clear he was one of the disposable kind, those they set aside for emergencies, but they didn’t end his life at least. He was raised with the others, he was trained with the others, but those like him were held in different rooms than those who didn’t. His mother, which he didn’t know at the time - was not the only one. Neither was his father. They were on a mission and nothing would stop them. 

Escaping was not an option, the only way out was through the mission. Get approved, get a teammate, get out - which posed the main problem for Ezrah. He wouldn’t. Rabbits were no good out there in the fight against the enemy. Little did he know at the time that he was considered an enemy. 

It wasn’t until much later that the tides turned and Ezrah suddenly became interesting again. First, he was reborn in the month of october - a blood moon, which … given his heritage .. surprised everybody, himself included. Secondly, there was an incident. The leaders of the Chosen found themselves faced with an issue. Those they raised among their ranks were not always compliant and bound by duty. Some rebelled, some earlier and some later. The early ones could be shut down, but those who rebelled later? After years of training? An issue. 

One of his brothers who was gifted with his father’s feline traits wreaked havoc and took down an entire facility alone. He was sent away, as were the others of his kind. No risks were acceptable. The war had to be won. Left behind were only less fortunate souls like him. He didn’t know where they took his brothers and sisters, but he knew that his time .. was about to begin. 

He’d been taught the same everybody had, had been trained the same everybody had, so he was assigned a human partner and they were left loose on the outside world. Of course, no risks were acceptable, so Ezrah was tracked at all times in case he tried to run. He didn’t. He had no reason to. He was good at what he did, it was all he knew and he got to live his life almost freely the way he wanted to. So long as they completed the missions they were given. They called it missions, but it .. was assassinations, more so. 

Ezrah made two mistakes in his life. 

One. He rode for the Chosen for way too long before he realized it was wrong. 

Two. He fell in love with his human partner. 

One .. didn’t happen overnight. As years passed, doubts festered and grew over time, all that blood on his hands.. he’d never be able to wash his hands clean from sin. And two.. didn’t either. It was mutual for a time, too, which made his decision even more difficult. Their decision. It wasn’t his alone. Because he woke up one morning to find the tracker torn from his insides and a gun in his face. They had been found out, they’d been seen. It was either him or .. his partner. Well, safe to say he didn’t have a lot of options. Stay and die or leave. 

He didn’t feel like dying that day. 

After ten years on the road hunting so-called monsters, he heard rumors. They all did, the Chosen tried for years to find this mysterious safe haven the captured creatures wailed about, but so far .. no luck. With nothing left to lose, Ezrah figured he might as well try his luck. He set out to find New Haven, but .. he knew deep down that New Haven found him. His abilities would surely come in handy during the search of their kind lost in the human world outside the barrier. 

There was no one in this town better-suited for the job than him, so there was no doubt about him becoming a rider agent. None. 

[jimothy-g-brooks]

Fakemon

Maldrak, the Wicked Wyrm Pokemon

Maldraks used to be an obscure Dragon/Dark pseudo-legendary species; they were bitterly anti-social, holed themselves up in dank dark caves far away from any other life and generally filled their lairs with trinkets they either earned, found or stole, treating any passers-by as intruder after their hoard.

Rumors circulated that the Maldraks had vast piles of treasures, gold and gems, and people began invading their lairs searching for these troves. Maldraks would fight to the bitter end to protect what was theirs and, in the end, all that these treasure seekers would find was junk, historical curios at best.

Unknown to all, this rumor had been spread by a particularly wicked and vicious Maldrak. After disappointed adventurers left these hoards unguarded, he would swoop in and collect them for himself. His hoard of stuff grew vast from this scheme and increasingly close-to-last Maldrak grew twisted and mad. Eventually, he had both the power, the immortality and the uniqueness of a legendary to be counted among their ranks.

However, his greed was now boundless and he began attacking the region in search of more trinkets to steal and tracking down whatever artifacts actually were taken from the hoards of his extinct kin. Eventually, a cunning trainer and his team managed to steal his entire hoard and lured him into a different and particular cave underneath a snowy mountain. There, the last Maldrak was sealed away.

You cannot capture this Maldrak- one of the defenses of the seals takes away any master balls. He breaks out of any other ball. However, defeating him means you can now loot his hoard and one of the things he keeps there is a Maldrak egg, that hatches either into that or some pre-evolutionary form.

Now, the snowy mountain was picked for a particular reason:

Felanco, the Anti-Dragon Tiger Pokemon

A pseudo-legendary species that lives on this snow mountain, they are Ice/Fairy types. Their signature move is Tiger Claw, which does both Ice and Fairy-type damage and is quadruple effective against dragons and might be sectuple effective against a Dragon/Dark type. So, this spot was specifically picked to place Maldrak close to its most natural predator.

Harefolk, the Rabbit Fairy Pokemon Wulound, the Hardy Wolf Pokemon Heronite, the Shinging Hero Pokemon Harefolk and Wulounds are Pokemon found around the snowy mountain and there is a lot of suggestive evidence that they were transported there from somewhere else and modified. Specifically, both Harefolk and Wulound evolve into them same type of Pokemon, the Heronite, which is not usually how the Pokemon metamorphosis works.

Harefolk are Fairy/Normal types with three ears, the third one often being a different color from the rest of the coat and ending in a little bauble, like a second rabbit tail that also has little fairy wings on the end. They’re vaguely bipedal and carry around a long, thin stick in one hand.

Wulounds are Normal/Fighting types. Vaguely humanoid wolves with a tuft of overgrown fur on one shoulder like a shoulder pad and, like the Harefolk, carrying around a stick, this one short and blunt.

Heronites are Fairy/Fighting types will resemble a rabbit or a wolf depending on their pre-evolutionary state. They’re more proportionately humanoid, wear a floppy conical hat with a tuft at the end and a shoulder pad armor, wielding a sharp wooden sword. Their signature move is Hero Blade, a Fairy/Fighting attack that can do qaudruple damage to a Dark-type and possibly sectuple damage to a Dragon/Dark type. It’s implied that they were created and placed around Maldrak’s cave in order to keep him in.

Smocrail, the Smoggy Train Pokemon

An explicitly artificial Pokemom, these pseudo-legendaries are Steel/Poison types created by the last Maldrak in order to wipe out the Heronites and their kin. Their signature move, Train Wreck, does damage to themselves but it also does a great deal of damage to the target, and does Steel/Poison damage as well. It’s equivalent is Head Charge.

Maldrak says that the techniques to create these things were stolen from “others who opposed me”, implying he got it from whoever made the Heronites in the first place. One does roam the area around the mountain in a circuit and is a nuisance to the Heronites but it itself doesn’t seem to care. The others apparently fled in every direction to also roam in exacting and scheduled circuits. They will carry passengers- anyone can just hop on one as long as you can stand the heavy smog it billows out.