#aggressive herbivores

[kxllerblond]

heading to bed but something, something idk how to poetically word it but the 'protective like a guard dog' aesthetic but with hippos....clark is a hippo....

clark guards his comfort so fucking aggressively and so when people become that comfort..........god rest ur soul if you fuck with it.

or he's even just a hippo in regards to the fact he'll even sometimes just help out people he has no personal attachment to JUST because he's trying to throw hands with the person who happens to be messing with them because they pissed him off. like how these hippo mfers will just save antelopes or whatever because they're just trying to get at the mfing crocs that ended up in their water.

[telekitnetic-art]

what's your favorite monster hunter monster?

honestly sort of a difficult question cause it's difficult to choose just one; but here's a list of some of my faves!!

Tobi Kadachi; his armour in World is one of my first favourites (I especially love the palico armor)

Zinogre is also an obvious favourite, mainly because I'm a BIG fan of it's design and colors (I am not immune to blue-green-teal and yellow/gold-highlighted palettes). It's introduction sequence in Iceborne is also REALLY cool and chilling. Stygian Zinogre is also chilling and terrifying, and it's color palette is (chef kiss)

Namielle is also an easy favorite in terms of elder dragons; again, for it's really, really cool and in-depth design. The way it moves and its colors and tendrils make me think they took inspiration from jellyfish and nudibranches/sea slugs for it's design, and I think they utilized the inspiration really well.

Paolumu and Banbaro are also ones I really like, mainly because a lot of the monsters in the games I've played skew very reptilian in nature so having some that are closer to mammals breaks up the patterns a bit and adds some nice variety!!

And even though I said it'd be hard to choose one monster in particular as my favorite, I won't lie that I have a big soft spot for Odogaron. It encompasses a lot of monster design traits I really like (big and obvious fangs, extendable claws and bone features, fast and lethal moves while still being very strong physically, cool twisty scales). It also influenced the design of my fursona quite a bit. Ebony odogaron is also very neat and has an awesome color palette.

And to finish off the list with an endemic monster: the Wulg. He's just an angry little ouppy who jumps around

[emsleyanbluejay]

i get why the discussion is happening, but i genuinely don’t understand how it could have gotten to the point where it was necessary.

[boba-baby]

bread cheeks

[seven-skies-above]

"waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

wanted to practice drawing scug mouths! as well as try out a more lineless style; i like how it looks but it's kind of tedious to do when i just wanna get ideas out there LMAO

anyways, scug mouths! i think they probably vary greatly amongst members of the species, but mostly have four prominent canines. more aggressive/carnivorous scugs may have additional sharp teeth and larger jaws for mauling and tearing into prey. conversely, herbivorous scugs (saint) may have blunter teeth and do not need a wide gape.

spearmaster. well. is spearmaster. :')

[cupids-chamber]

@. People I would cheat on my boyfriend with.. . ♡ Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Genshin version ## Low quality and low effort slides because finals sucks!

. ROOK HUNT ;

Odd smile or grin, I mean Rook always has this ridiculous oui oui bitch smirk grin on his motherfucking face, but today? It was different. It was more huter-y if that’s even a word. 

The moment you turn away, Rook’s glaring at your pc as you open the slides, as if it’s his mortal enemy.

Bro looks like a fucking hitman with the looks he’s putting out. His facial expression radiates wtf energy.

Aww so sweet, so cute mon cherie..—Now change the fucking slides.

"What's on the next slide my sweet?"

Run bitch run.

Why are you hiding your screen

what is there to hide

you have nothing to hide

what do you even need to hide.

Why hide.

Communication is key :)

. VIL SCHOENHEIT ;

Lowkey glaring at you while you explain the slides, like 'excuse you fuckass am I not good enough for you?'

Will start getting passive aggressive, calm? What is calm? Is there anything truly ‘calm’ in this world?... He’s patiently waiting.. For the slides to load… Standing, posing like your mom outside your door with a sandal core. 

Slowly becoming a nagging housewife as he insults your slow as fuck computer. 

Begins fucking scrolling immediately, legit scoots you over.

Truthfully you're more surprised he didn’t question the picture you choose for the cover but his pacing is lowkey scaring you? You did this on a dare.. And you put a 50 slide gap.. And Vil was going through each slide fast… Hell you even put a compliment on each slide. 

Stroking your little beauty queens ego always worked… except now.. He’s been remarkably quiet.. And that is surprisingly more unnerving and unsettling than anything else VIl could possibly do.. 

Well you’ve done it now.. He’s mumbling.. With gritted teeth, he’s not even glaring.. And frankly you don’t want to see his facial expression. 

And then he starts laughing.. But not laughing in like “LMFAOO LOL SO HILARIOUS”  but more of a lowkey “I’m going to kill you”

“Potato… care to explain a few things?” 

“I- ugh.. um.. have an appointment”

“Not anymore”

. LEONA KINGSCHOLAR ;

Kitty’s got claws, bro finna commit a crime.

Just looks at you and smiles. ‘I control my emotions, my emotions don’t control me’ core 

Was therapy working? Probably not his lazy ass avoids them like the common flu.

You saw his expression soften for a moment and you lean in and give him a hug. Effectively distracting him.. and then you scroll like God’s given you 20 fucking seconds to live and breath.

“WHAT THE FUCK HERBIVORE??” and then the screen fades to Malleus.. 

And then it automatically scrolls to Rook...

"..."

Oh you fucked up.

© cupids-chamber, do not repost, plagiarize, translate, or adapt my work without prior permission and or confirmation.

[anime-grimmy-art]

People always be preaching bout snowleopard or avian Alhaitham, but WHERE is my BULL representation. Kaveh literally calls him bullheaded in so many fanfics Ive read, yet I barely see Alhaitham represent his darshan’s animal. But like, him being an aggressive herbivore that can literally bodycheck you so hard your bones shatter is such a fun concept ngl.

Even though I think giving human characters in genshin animal traits wouldn’t change much about them (I mean, Tighnari also only has like, better senses), I do have some funny headcanons about BullHaitham and LionKaveh.

I think while, as theyre mostly human, they dont often act on instinct, there’s still some things that makes em kick in. 

I hc that Alhaitham and Kaveh’s first meeting was mostly the same, with Kaveh approaching Alhaitham, but instead of just chatting, Kaveh approached him from behind and Alhaitham’s damn tail just looks like the most enticing cat toy and Kaveh couldn’t help but pounce. He got it way more under control now, but it still sometimes happens.

Same with using Alhaitham’s horns as his cat tree. Those damn pointers just scratch the itch perfectly.

Sucks for Alhaitham even more, cos he hates when his horns are jostled, cos they’re one of the bigger sources for his headaches. He does use them sometimes to prod other ppl (mostly kaveh) when he gets impatient.

Despite Alhaitham being really calm, when he’s really relaxed or tired (ie in the morning) his ears and tail often wiggle or flick ever so often. (which, again, sucks for him cos it just makes Kaveh swat at his tail.)

Also, I did call Alhaitham a herbivore, but since he’s more human than animal, he does eat meat too. He finds it amusing how ppl always reacted so shocked when he does so.

I also find the thought funny of them using phrases that are kinda animal specific to them. Like Alhaitham saying “Kaveh, you’re waving the flag” when Kaveh’s pushing things to far, cos, ya know, bull fighting. or like Alhaitham calling Kaveh a housecat to tease him.

Thinking about bullfighting, I’d think he needs his headphones not only cos of his sensitive ears, but because they help him generally block out and ignore stuff, cos if he sees sth flap about too much, it gets him agitated rly fast. (ie, Kaveh’s pacing and flowy clothes bouncing about in his periphery is torture for him)

[merakiui]

Brought to you by my actual college dorm room experience rn I am in hell

it's too fucking hot in ramshackle, especially with no air conditioning. Darling has gotten to the point of wearing nothin but a shirt and panties to bed

Then lo and behold, bedroom visitors

Of course I'm biased towards Floyd stopping by n seeing her in bed... she's sweaty, and it only makes her unique scent that much stronger.

But ofc then there's the typical somno in the yandere twst community, Malleus. And new addition stating in ramshackle while taking classes at NRC, Rollo.

Leona is probably judgy that the lil herbivore can't take the heat, but he ain't complaining

Idia with cameras watching her sleep like that 👁👁

So on and so forth

-Floyd obsessed anon

👀 AAAAAA THAT'S SO BIG BRAIN!!!! Wearing just a shirt and your panties to bed. Maybe it's an oversized shirt or just a regular shirt in your size,,, sitting in front of the fan and just letting the air blow on your face, even though that's still not enough. You can only wonder how refreshing and cool the other dorms with actual air conditioning must be. >_<

Rollo catching you in the hall and insisting you cover up because it's indecent and he's your guest and do you realize how much stress you're putting on him by parading around half-naked!??!! Also he can see your nipples poking through your shirt and and !!!!! T_T don't be so ungrateful, Rollo. >:( it's probably much too hot to have sex, which means he's miserable with a hard-on as he sweats out of his skin. He will not follow your lead and walk around half-naked! Stubborn as ever, but eventually he'll have to lose some layers. His uniform is stuffy and it's absolutely stifling inside Ramshackle. </3

Hehe maybe Malleus fucks you outside when it's late at night and the temperature has cooled off. :) lying you down on soft, dewy grass and rutting into you all while you continue to sleep.

Floyd who is spending the night...... waking up because it's just so hot and he can't sleep, so he decides he'll go into Shrimpy's room. Maybe it'll be cooler in there! But then he sees you sleeping without the blankets, dressed only in a thin shirt and your panties, and you look so soft and cute as you twist and turn in bed. He can't help himself. Even though it's unbearably hot, he just has to smother you in hugs. Cuteness aggression wins.

Leona who isn't even fazed by the heat. This is nothing compared to how hot the Sunset Savanna gets. He'll tease you a little bit, but he's mostly admiring the lovely view you've graced him with. That thin shirt isn't doing much, considering it's so see-through. Definitely a feast for the eyes.

I feel like Idia considers building a high-tech AC unit for you just so you won't have to struggle. But then he'd miss out on glorious sights such as this one. Getting to see the kind of panties you wear and what color they are... the shirts you wear to have just a semblance of cover. Maybe you go entirely nude one night. He sees it all through the cameras and it really does make him think about postponing that AC build. ^^;;;

[dotster001]

Hello, I really enjoy your writing and I hope you have a nice day! Could I request housewardens + Floyd reacting to knowing Yuu/MC who they know as chaotic, problem seeking, lazy, and just overall a terrible student (with a nice heart tho) used to be at the top of their school, and was the teacher's pet? They had a lot of pressure to never have fun because it could ruin their future, but now they don't have a future, or a reputation, and they won't be great at any subjects anyway (since it's not their world and they are magicless) so they just decided to be a force of chaos, they can't be #1? Then why even try?

Sorry if it's long:( if you decide to do it, thank you very much (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

A/N: was this a call out post? Yes. Yes it was. 😂

3k followers Masterlist

Before he finds out about your past, he's just annoyed. So lazy! You need to at least pretend you care about school! You're no better than ADeuce! Be a better example, prefect.

After he finds out…oh God…that's him isn't it! He's always been top of his class! He's always had outside pressure to be the best! He's got a lifetime of repressed emotions whirling inside of him! 

He's having a complete mental breakdown, spiraling a little bit, and, unfortunately, you're going to have to calm him down. Hopefully, you're stable darling! Cause one of you has to be! 

That's one way to go through life. He chooses to nap his life away, but if you wanna be a chaos gremlin, power to ya!

He says that, but he wants you to be less of a chaos gremlin, and more of a body pillow. Chaos gremlin ex gifted children, and depression ex gifted children get on like oil and water. *Sighs* you really make him work, don't you?

That said…he'll recruit Svanannaclaw lackies to your cause. And he'll find your lifestyle. You can cause as much chaos, and be as lazy as you want. All he wants in return is for you to return to his arms when you are done.

And hey, maybe he can be your new purpose- No! He didn't say anything! Sevens, your herbivore ears are so faulty, what is he gonna do with you?

He thinks you're another Floyd at first. The high levels of energy, followed by the drops, he's used to dealing with it.

But once he gets your origin story, he's going to make you an offer. Help him with his restaurants. He'll feed, clothe, and house you. All you have to do is say yes.

You can still be chaotic. You can still have your drops. But at least now you'll have a place to focus your energy. It's not much, but, in his opinion, it's a deal you can't walk away from. Please don't walk away from it. You'll hurt his feelings 😢

You're so cool!!!!! You let him party whenever he wants!!!! And you have so many great ideas, like baking 97 cupcakes at three in the morning!

Maybe Jamil brought it up because he cared, maybe it's because he's tired of having to keep up with two gremlins it's definitely the latter but eventually he brings up that, hey, you seem a bit nihilistic. Explains what that is to Kelim, and now Kalim makes sure to spend double the time with you! Usually doing chaos stuff much to Jamil's chagrin

He won't bring it up with you, but his theory is that if he can become a reason for continuing on, of he can be part of your purpose, maybe things will be okay!

Ah Vil. A high achiever, who, like Riddle, is very distressed that you are clearly wasting your capabilities.

But let's say you have a breakdown. And during that breakdown you spill the tale of your life. He's gonna place his hands on your shoulders. Then aggressively shake you.

Pull yourself together! Do you want him to give you the pressure you had from before? Because he will if he has to! But he knows you don't want that, so snap yourself out of it and act like the Queen he knows you are! You have him, and a whole life ahead of you! He can help you find a purpose for your life! Now stop crying and drink your smoothie!

It might take a while for Idia to notice. Cause, well, he's sort of in the same boat as you. And noticing means he has to notice his own lifestyle choices...and...well...he doesn't want to do that.

So you both will live in innocent bliss as you game together, and nap together, and raid the pantry together at two in the morning, and skip classes together.

Once Ortho bursts the bubble, both of you will probably be placed in therapy. Good luck!

You amuse him to no end. And you speak to him like a normal person. You pull him along on adventures. Honestly? He has no desire to dig into your reasons for it. In fact, deep down he knows you're probably going through something, but he'd rather not know.

Which is why when Lilia tells him to dig into it, he pouts like a kid who was told to clean his room. Might even kick a rock around about it. He really looks like a pouting child.

But once he gets your life story, he'll perk up a bit. You want a purpose? He can give you one! Himself…I mean have you considered working in the libraries of the valley of thorns? It would give you uninhibited access to information about this world. Plus, you would still have the time to be lazy and fuck around if you wanted since he's really the only one who visits the library… oh, which library? His private one. Why do you ask?

Floyd won't help you. He will only enable you. He loves chaotic Shrimpy! He also loves that Shrimpy sometimes just wants to nap! You're perfect! His soulmate!

Nope, nope, nope, shrimpy is just like that, no need to ask questions!

Stop, stop, stop! That's how Shrimpy is! Don't ask about their past! Don't question their motives! Don't "help" them! They're fine!

[stubz]

Kim and Max and the adventures of running an alien child care centre

"Human Max I'd like you to meet Ezshi, they will be joining you soon in the youngling centre."

"Oh hey there buddy, nice to meet you!"

"Now, what do we say Ezshi?"

*croc sounding hissing and snarling*

"Ezshi! You apologize right this instant!!"

"...oh boy"

days later~

"I don't know what to do! The kid won't stop hissing at me everytime they see me! As soon as they spot me they flare up and won't stop hissing at me, they almost bit me when I tried giving them their chocolate milk!! I don't know how I'll survive this year Kim."

"That's rough buddy," she gives sympathy pats to him. "but why don't you try my method? Y'know, the one I used with my siblings and cousins."

"Kim if I did that I would get fired."

"Yes, in an earth school you would without question buuut...here?"

"...here I wouldn't! Kim you genius!"

later....

"Ah, human Kim, I am here to pick up Ezshi early today. May you point me to them?"

"Yeah sure, right over there with Max." she points to a large crowd of children and parents.

"Thank you Human Kim."

"Of course....maybe I should've stalled them for a bit...shoot."

"Ezshi! Where are you? Ah, there you-- oh my."

In the middle of the crowd is Ezshi and Max both hissing and snarling at each other. The young reptilian slowly advancing towards the human, eyes slitted.

"EZSHI! Youngling you will stop this at--!"

"Wait Mx. Ezshi's Bubba! Maxie is okay, look look!"

"Youngling Human please release your tiny hands off me, I must save your 'Maxee'...huh."

Max advances as well but more predatory like, circling around the youngling until their back hits a table. Jumping onto it thinking it'll make them look more intimidating, Ezshi hisses down at the lowly human. No one interferes, especially the other reptilian and predator like species.

"Okay now here it comes Max, remember not too much spit and be aggressive!"

Back straight, toes pointed, chin up, the young man closes the gap between them with a headbutt while releasing a roar. Silence. Until finally, with eyes dilated, Ezshi chirps and bows their little head.

"Aw, its okay buddy. Now go get your stuff, your Bubba is here."

"Thank you caretaker Maxee! Lets do that again!"

"Human Max how did you know how to assert dominance among my people? Was it Tarlak's family? Tigihalaxes and Repilixes do share similar customs..." they muse.

"Oh it was Kim."

"Yep!"

"And how, may I ask, do you know how to assert dominance among my people Human Kim?"

"My siblings and cousins."

"....you were taught by your human kin?"

"Some of them started to roar and hiss while we goofed around and to make sure they still listened to me while we did this I would 'assert dominance' by doing exactly what Max did."

"I thought humans did not have displays of dominance and that everyone is to be treated equally, like a herd."

"Yes thats right."

"But you just said..."

"Oh that was just us playing around. We still do it every now and then, just over the holidays my little sister and me did the equivalent of the gorlazitics display of dominance."

"For fun??? And not to be the new leader? No one was killed?"

"Save for our mother's opinion of us, no."

"Are you sure you two are herbivores?"

"The proper term is vegetarian, which is what I am, Kim is a pescatarian."

"May the fish forgive me for finding them so delicious in sushi form."

[sydscauldron]

I’ve been playing Spore! I made an aggressive herbivore. He mostly wants to be friends but if you disrespect him he will make u extinct.

[tossawary]

One moment in "Dungeon Meshi" that I really liked was the Kelpie (early SPOILERS). Because, yeah, Senshi has spent a lot of time with this creature and had many neutral / non-violent interactions with it, he's even named it and it appears to like him, but it also still tries to kill him the moment he makes himself vulnerable to it because it's still a wild animal! It's a large carnivore! It is not tame and absolutely not domesticated!

It's good policy in most decent zoos that keepers don't EVER have any direct contact with certain animals and are never in the enclosures with them! Because it doesn't matter if the animal was born and raised in captivity, or if the animal has been trained to cooperate with medical check-ups and feeding procedures, it's still a wild animal who might suddenly decide to kill or maim anyone who gets too close one day. Even herbivores can get super territorial and aggressive, angry or scared or startled, no matter how "nice" they seem, and the large ones can also accidentally break every bone in your foot just by standing on it even while being friendly. People have to be super careful with trained DOMESTICATED critters too! Horses, cows, dogs, etc. can all be super dangerous if you don't respect their strength and their personal space!

Senshi being "friendly" with a Kelpie is in many ways no different from someone making "friends" with a tiger or a polar bear. Like, sure, maybe it'll accept scraps and seem playfully curious about you upon your first encounter, and miraculously leave you intact, but, HONEY, THEY EAT PEOPLE. It does not like you like you like it! You look like food to them! It's like asking a housecat not to eat a pet bird! One day, it'll be hungry or bored or grumpy, and you'll stop being lucky! Don't feed it and for the love of your neck, don't TRUST it.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: red-bellied piranha

For today's Wet Beast Wednesday, I'm discussing probably the most slandered of all bony fish: the red-bellied piranha. Be honest, when you hear piranha what comes to mind? I'd be willing to bet you thought of roving hordes of hyper-predatory fish that devour everything they find in minutes. Well that's not how red-bellied piranhas (or any piranhas for that matter) act. You've been lied to by the media about these fascinating fish. I'm here to correct the record.

(Image: a red-bellied piranha. It is a laterally flattened, round fish with a blunt head and prominent lips. It is a dark gray color with silver flecks and a bright red underbelly. End ID)

The red-bellied piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri) is the most well-known of the piranhas and is the species you think of when you think piranha. They are medium fish, growing to an average of 35 cm (14 in) long and 1.8 kg (4 lbs),maxing out at 50 cm (20 in) and 3.9 kg (8.6 lbs). They have round bodies flatted on the sides and gray to black scales with red underbellies and occasional black spots. Famously, they have large, sharp, interlocking teeth set in strong jaws that are usually covered by thick lips. Piranha lose and replace their teeth throughout their lives.Red-bellied piranhas are often confused with other species of piranha or the closely-related red-bellied pacu, whose juveniles have a similar coloration. As pacu and piranha have similar body shapes, an easy way to tell them apart is the teeth. Piranha have sharp teeth while pacu have blunt teeth.

(image: a close-up of a red-bellied piranha showing the teeth, which are large, triangular, and very sharp. End ID)

With teeth like those it's not surprising that piranhas eat meat. What may surprise you is that they also eat plants. In fact, plants, including seeds and fruits, make up a large portion of their diet. When they do eat meat, they prefer to scavenge or go after small animals like small fish, worms and other invertebrates. They will also opportunistically nip off fins or scales from other fish. This isn't unusual for piranhas. All species eat plants and some are exclusively herbivorous. Red-bellies eat so much carrion that they are comparable to vultures. Both animals help control disease, clean their environments, and recycle nutrients. When Piranha do attack large animals, it is usually in times of hunger or because the animal is injured. Red-bellied piranha do not hunt in packs, but they will rarely engage in feeding frenzies that let them take down animals as large as capybaras. Red-bellies shoal not for hunting, but for protection against their own predators, which include caimen, river dolphins, larger fish, and various birds. Shoals can grow to be hundreds strong. During the wet season, when the rainforests flood, piranha will spread out through the floodlands and primarily browse on vegetation. During the dry season, when their range contracts, the reduced amount of food leads to higher rates of carnivory. Piranha communicate with each other through displays of aggression and drumming sounds produced with the swim bladder.

(Image: a small group of red-bellied piranha. End ID)

Red-bellied piranha mate during the wet season, during which time their red bellies will turn gray. Males will dig shallow nests in sandy bottoms where grass grows and attemptp to woo females with swimming displays. When a female selects a male, the two will swim together in a nuptial display. The female then lays her eggs on the grass for the male to fertilize. The parents will then guard the nest until the eggs hatch after a few days. Larvae and juveniles hide amongst plants until they are large enough to join a shoal. In addition, younger piranha tend to feed during the day while older and larger ones shit to feeding mostly in the morning and evening. Piranha can live for over 10 years.

(Image: a juvenile red-bellied piranha. It has the same body shape as the adult, but its coloration is different. Its body is silver all over with black spots and the anal fin is red. End ID)

Red-bellied Piranha have not been classified by the IUCN, but they are considered abundant in their natural range and have been introduced outside of their range, often as a result of people releasing exotic pets. Several places, including the Philippines, restrict their import to avoid them becoming invasive species. Piranha have become popular as exotic pets, though they have some specific care requirements. Piranha are a common food fish in their native range. Piranha attacks on humans are rare and usually happen when the piranha are hungry or the humans are disturbing them. Few fatal attacks have been recorded and even those numbers may be inflated as bodies that piranha have scavenged may have been mistaken for kills. The reputation of piranha as savage predators has been traced to an expedition to the Amazon by former US president Teddy Roosevelt where he reported a story that some native peoples herded a cow into the water and it was devoured in minutes. It was later found that the natives had used nets to capture and starve the piranha in advance to put on a better show. Roosevelt's report of the incident became very popular and has influenced the popular perception of piranha ever since.

(Image: a piranha feeding frenzy. Multiple piranha are eating a pair of fish, which have been stripped to the bone. End ID)

[rjzimmerman]

Frontier myth vilified the California grizzly. Science tells a new story. (Washington Post)

The grizzly, a subspecies of brown bear, has long held a place in mainstream American myth as a dangerous, even bloodthirsty creature. Its scientific name, Ursus arctos horribilis, means “the horrible bear.” But that image is being challenged by a new set of studies that combine modern biochemical analysis, historical research and Indigenous knowledge to bring the story of the California grizzly from fiction to fact.

In January, a team of experts led by University of California at Santa Barbara ecologist Alexis Mychajliw published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B about the diet of the California grizzly bear and how that influenced its extinction. The results challenge virtually every aspect of the bear’s established story.

“Pretty much everything that I thought I knew about these animals turned out to be wrong,” said Peter Alagona, an ecologist and historian at UCSB and co-author of the study.

Much of the grizzly bear’s long-standing narrative comes from stories, artwork and early photographs depicting California grizzlies as huge in size and aggressive in nature. Many of these reports, which found wide readership in newspapers elsewhere in the West and in the cities back East, were written by what Alagona calls the Californian influencers of their time.

“They were trying to get rich and famous by marketing themselves as these icons of the fading frontier,” Alagona said. “A lot of the historical sources that we have about grizzlies are actually not about grizzlies. They’re about this weird Victorian 19th-century celebrity culture.”

The team of ecologists, historians and archivists compared the image of California grizzlies from these frontier reports to harder data in the form of bear bones from museum collections all over the state.

The frontier myth had painted the California bears as larger than grizzlies elsewhere in the country, but the bone analysis revealed that they were the same size and weight, about 6 feet long and 440 pounds for the average adult.

In an even larger blow to the popular story of the vicious grizzly, the bones showed that before 1542, when the first Europeans arrived, the bears were only getting about 10 percent of their diet from preying on land animals. They were primarily herbivores, surviving on a varied diet of acorns, roots, berries, fish and occasionally larger prey such as deer.

As European-style farming and ranching began to dominate the landscape, grizzlies became more like the stories those frontier influencers were telling about them. The percentage of meat in their diet rose to about 25 percent, probably in large part because of the relative ease of catching a fenced-in cow or sheep compared to a wild elk.

Colonialism forced so many changes on the California landscape so quickly, affecting every species that the bears ate and interacted with, that the exact cause of this change will be difficult to ever fully understand.

Still, grizzlies were never as vicious or purely predatory as the stories made them out to be. The narrative of the huge killer bear instead fed a larger settler story of a landscape — and a people — that could not coexist with the settlers themselves. And that story became a disaster for more than just bears.

Although we will never have exact numbers, experts agree that hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people were living in what is now California before White settlers arrived. One frequently cited estimate puts the population at 340,000.

By 1900, that number had been slashed by more than 95 percent to around 16,000 surviving tribal members throughout the state. Eliminating the bear and the vast majority of California’s Indigenous people can be seen as parts of the same concerted effort to replace one landscape — and one set of stories — with another.

“The annihilation of the California grizzly bear was part of a much larger campaign of annihilation,” Alagona said. “I think it’s clear that what happened in California meets the legal definition of a genocide. But in a way, it was even more than that, because these were not just attempts to eliminate groups of people. These were attempts to destroy an entire world.”

[deeper-ever-deeper]

are there any particular rigs or other tools used for something like megafauna hunting? Not necessarily combat/taking out a critter that's a danger to the area like the fighter jet dragons, but like, folks are gearing up to go bag a big critter for food/resources. Or would both of those scenarios be similar enough that there's not really any difference between the tools that would be used?

Megafauna hunting is a pretty important job under the Amber sky. Keeping any settlement or trade route safe will require regular tending by rangers.

Creatures can get quite large and extremely aggressive. Many also feature explosive healing factors that make them highly resistant to small arms and blades. The average modern combat rifle would struggle against Amber skies megafauna. They are not usually hunted for food given the effort involved.

However, oftentimes its not a question of actually killing the creature. These mega-organisms are often a keystone species that keeps herbivore populations in check. Most of the time, hunters just want to scare them away. The death of a mega-organism can risk ecological collapse.

Hunting rigs tend to be extremely light. They need to be quiet. So rather than focus on bulky armor, they go all in on speed and agility. If the turbo hog can crush a tank in one headbutt, why even bother with armor? A mech cant sneak up on anything.

If you actually need to kill a mega organism, hunting tools tend to be tranquilizer rounds and cutting tools that resemble oversized butchery implements. It's not uncommon for a town to retrofit a combine harvester, or a rototiller, into an absolutely fuck-off huge turkey carver.

You hunt in groups. Tire it out, trap it if you can, and cut off it's head before it heals.

[cupids-chamber]

KISSING Azul's beauty marks, leaving light peppermint kisses on Malleus's horns, ruffling Leona's hair, petting him, leaving small kisses on each of his ears, Kissing Silver, to wake him up...

GENDER NEUTRAL READER A/N: Is Silver's part, just me showing my inner Silver simp? Nooo-

Leona was settled on your lap, as you fiddled around with his hair.. it would have bothered Leona, but he let you as you pleased, your touch was rather comforting, and stress relieving. It felt as though all his problems would disappear, when he's with you like this.. The soft praises you whisper makes him all soft and gushy inside, a feeling he wasn't quite familiar with.. he hoped you didn't notice.. Leona disliked looking weak.. especially to you.. He'd be beyond embarrassed if you told him you noticed his little grin, and the way his tail would move in excitement, while you pet him.

It was a rather amusing sight, Leona's tail moving around in excitement and his ears perking up and moved ever so slightly, rhythm in sync with all your movements, touches, and compliments. Your praise was the biggest ego booster for this lion.

Leona closed his eyes for a bit, trying to sleep. The way your hands moved, ruffling his hair, every soft touch lulling him to sleep. Yet his senses overloaded, the moment you leaned down, and pressed two soft kisses on his ears, the feeling lingered, as he felt his ears tingle with heat.. He was flustered.. And if that wasn't enough, his tail started wagging aggressively.. He was sure he could hear you giggling right about now.. "What are you laughing at herbivore!"

You entered the room, Azul was working on some sort of paperwork, as always.. Nothing out of the usual.. but your precious octopus, has been rather busy lately.. you were afraid he was overworking himself, It was at this point that Azul noticed your presence, as he turned to smile at you, flashing you a rather tired grin. You sighed, knowing full well he wasn't planning to rest anytime soon.. "How was your day today love?" Azul asked, his voice was less energetic then usual, "It was good.. I suppose.. How about you?" you asked, as you made your way towards him, carefully sitting on his lap, "Your not overworking yourself, are you?" you asked..

"Of course not!" he said, focusing his attention on you, as he slowly moved his arms around your waist, making sure you were comfortable in the position you were in. "hmm, but you should get some rest, K?" you carefully grabbed his face, pulling it towards you, you watched as his face tinted red ever so slightly, as he hesitated to answer.. He never liked lying to you, nor did he enjoy making false promises to you.. "Fine.." Azul complied with a sigh.

"Do you promise?" you asked, moving a tad bit closure, as your eyes stared straight into his. Causing him to grow slightly nervous. He stuttered ever so slightly, no matter how long the two of you were together, he could never grow completely used to the closeness between you two.. "I-i promise"

You grinned, as he finally complied to your words, you pulled him closer leaning in, and just before your lips touched, you leaned down and kissed his beauty mark. "See you later tonight!" you winked as you left a very flustered and tired octopus in his office.. 'What am I going to do with you' Azul thought, as the door finally closed.

You were settled on Malleus's lap, as he rambled on and on, about his favorite subject.. Gargoyles! You were half mindedly listening, focusing more on fiddling around with his hair, admiring his features.. After all, it's not always you get to have such a close up view of the fae prince.. though if you asked you would be able too..

Malleus, went on to explain some random facts about Gargoyles in, in-depth detail. You hummed at everything he said, making sure he didn't feel ignored, when you had an idea.. "Malleus what's your favorite Gargoyle again?" you asked, the question was rather controversial, you know this conversation wouldn't end any time soon.. but.. you had an idea! "Well I quite really have a Gargoyle I favor.. but —" .. He continued on and on about the subject, when you suddenly started rubbing his horns.

Malleus got a bit flustered, the action was rather unexpected, he tripped over his words ever so slightly, if you looked down, you could see just how red the man was. You proceeded to take things up a notch' by coming a bit closer, and leaving soft lingering kisses on his horns. An action, that is guaranteed to shut your poor lover up..

When you were finished with messing with your prince, you lowered yourself down to his level, and gave him a big hug. "Malleus?" you poked him in the cheek.. The man looked stunned and flustered.. 'I guess he's still processing things..' you thought, as you giggled..

The two of you were in your early stages of a relationship, and needless to say your lover is quite easily flustered by your actions.

Lilia had told you that he couldn't find Silver, the two of you had gotten together a couple months ago, and Lilia suggested that maybe you should go out and find Silver, since you seemed to know his favorite sleeping spots well. Somehow that convinced you to go and look for Silver by yourself.

Walking around the forests of NRC, you found Silver sound asleep, leaning ever so comfortably on the tree. 'He looks so beautiful'.. He looked very comfortable.. You almost forgot why you were here! You were supposed to wake Silver up! Though you could have just simply nudged him and called out for him.. you had other ideas... Comfortably sitting beside Silver, you leaned in.. and for a second you paused with your movements. Taking in his features.. 'He looked lovely' you nudged your head, mumbling under your breath to focus.

You leaned in and gave Silver a kiss, Silver was quite sensitive to movement, that seemed foreign.. especially in his sleep. It didn't take long for him to carefully open his eyes, as he made eye contact with you.. "It's time to wake up love.."

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