#also the whole feathered t-rex

[elijah-loyal]

i think the craziest thing about getting back into dinosaurs after close to 10 years is the fact that science has helped us predict more accurately what they looked like, and they are SO DIFFERENT from when i was a kid

like when i was a kid, compsognathus was my favorite because it was a fast little fucker, and it looked like this:

standard old dino design, right?

but now, one of the most common depictions of compsognathus is THIS:

like ur kidding! my favorite guy turns out to probably have looked like a little lemur?!!!?!! thats insane and so cool!!

[heartburstings]

do u ever see comments on posts and artwork full of effort and thought and passion etc and like. think about that post that talks about how people have the darndest time interacting with art without trying to crack a joke about it. is it really so boring to take someone's art seriously? is it necessary to demean someone's efforts, however unintended, for a 'joke' that consists of you being like "ooOOoOh how weird lol!!" like i don't want or mean to be a killjoy. but i think about that post a lot. like y do u need to add a punchline to something that doesn't need one. who asked u. why does it need to be funny. and u don't even have the decency to acknowledge its merit ;/

[eighthdoctor]

everyone is aware that fossils don't just give us the skeleton of an animal, right? like even from a fossilized bone you can conclude all kinds of interesting things like how much muscle the animal carried there and whether they were likely to be a sprinter or endurance runner. from teeth you can get sooooo much. from skin impressions you obviously get feathers vs scales vs fur, but you can also do some genuinely insane shit with feather color analysis???

footprints and nests tell us about social groups. pathologies on the bones tell us about injuries, disease, and predation. preserved stomach contents are amazing when we get them, and fossils of multiple animals joined together (as in the Fighting Dinosaurs) are literally invaluable.

and that's just sticking within paleontology!

paleoecology plays with ethology, ecology, and evobio to reconstruct ecosystems and behaviors. rules of behavior, of energy transfer (eg, via eating!), and of evolution (eg, sexual selection vs natural selection) remain in play 65 million years ago or 500 million years ago or yesterday.

we either know so many, many more things about prehistoric animals than just "this is what their skeleton looked like" or we can make very accurate inferences based on modern animals.

for example: both birds (basically the whole clade) and crocodilians put on noisy, energetically expensive displays for mate selection. there's a range of ways in which this appears, but it is the simplest possible answer to conclude that most if not all nonavian dinosaurs engaged in some degree of dramatic yelling & posturing at individuals in order to influence their sexual choices.

(this is not a requirement! off the top of my head tigers do not do this. humans do it, a lot of other mammals do it, and birds do it at 5 am outside my window every morning.)

for example: large herbivores living in ecosystems with predators who are big enough to kill BABIES but not ADULTS tend to run in social groups where the adults form a protective circle around the babies (bison, elephants). again it is reasonable to conclude that sauropods would have done similar. (if predators are big enough to kill adults, flight is a much better option for everyone.)

like. every time i see that fucking "there's no reason to think t rex didn't look like a giant fuzzy sparrow" post i lose my mind. people have invested decades of their lives to conclude with pretty substantial evidence that t rex absolutely did not look like that.

quit writing off knowledge because you hate the shrinkwrapped dinos from the 90s. don't worry, everyone else hates them too! we have moved on to bigger and better reconstructions. t rex still looks like a goddamn predator though. and acts like one too.

[letteredlettered]

@popqorn asked me what I know about dinosaurs.

Scientists no longer debate that birds evolved from a dinosaur. Almost all of them agree on this; they just debate about which dinosaur. (Most scientists agree that birds only have one common ancestor, so it's not the case that different dinosaurs evolved into birds. It's just one.)

Almost all scientists agree that birds evolved from a therapod. They just debate about which therapod. Therapods stand on two feet, have shortened forearms, and are carnivorous. T. Rex, Deinonychus, and Velociraptor are all therapods. Scientists don't think any of those evolved into birds.

If you don't know Deinonychus--you probably do, actually. The "Velociraptors" in Jurassic Park are actually Deinonychus. Velociraptors were about the size of chickens.

Do not tell children that the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park are not Velociraptors. They will think you don't know your shit and lose all trust in you as a dino expert. And if you convince them they have been fooled for their entire tiny lives, you will break their hearts and their trust in the world. Some people do not think this is a dinosaur fact, but it is perhaps the most important one of all.

Archaeopteryx is important for two reasons: 1) it has sometimes been classified as a bird, sometimes a dinosaur. Now most scientists agree it is a dinosaur. 2) For a while, it was considered the ancestor of all birds, but now many scientists think that Archaeopteryx is only a cousin to the ancestor of birds (sort of like Lucy [the australopithecus afarensis, the fossil that was once the oldest, most complete, biped hominid] is considered the cousin to the "missing link" in human evolution)

A big reason that scientists think birds evolved from dinosaurs is that fossil evidence shows that many dinosaurs had feathers.

Feathers are very similar to scales, and fossil evidence shows scales that are more feather-like and feathers that are more scale-like. Dinosaurs had scales, but birds have them too! Bird legs/feet have scales.

Speaking of bird feet, therapods and birds have similar feet--three toes in front and one big toe in back for balance. If you've seen Jurassic Park, the big "Velociraptor" claw that Dr. Alan Grant draws across the young boy's chest at the very beginning of the movie is the back claw of a Deinonychus.

Birds have hollow bones. Some dinosaurs have hollow bones.

Some birds swallow rocks to help them digest. Fossil evidence suggests some therapods swallowed rocks. These fossils are aptly called gastroliths. Disappointingly, they just look like rocks.

For a long time, scientists had no idea what color dinosaurs were, but in the last decade or so, they have been able to find fossil evidence of pigment. Pigment (such as melanin) is a molecular structure, which is why this took scientists so long to find--you need a pretty powerful microscope to find this data. That said, even when they have found evidence of a certain pigment, it's not clear that they've found all the pigment for a given dinosaur, meaning they still don't know what color the whole dinosaur was. But the first pigment they found evidence for was a reddish brown.

Scientists also don't know what shape dinosaurs were. We know what the skeleton looks like, but some animals can look extremely different than the shape their skeleton suggests. A great example is a whale. A lot of the shape of whales is actually due to their blubber; looking at a whale skeleton, you would probably never guess what some whales look like.

Dinosaurs lived during the Mesozoic Era, which is comprised of three periods: Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.

There are a lot of different ideas about how and why the dinosaurs disappeared. A famous idea is the asteroid that hit Earth at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Evidence for this impact include a huge crater in the Yucatan Peninsula and a layer in the strata of the Earth. Almost anywhere you dig on Earth, you will come to a very thin layer that contains a bunch of iridium. Iridium, you may have learned from movies, is rare on Earth but common in meteorites. If a huge asteroid containing iridium were to hit Earth, the asteroid would vaporize on contact, and eventually the iridium would settle back onto the ground all around the globe. This layer in the Earth's soil is known as the K-T boundary, aka the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The time of this boundary in the Earth's strata marks a huge extinction event.

That's about all I remember about dinosaurs.

[demolition-lesbians]

Rolling Stone #1119 December 9, 2010 - The Playlist Issue

(click for better quality) Here's the playlist if you want to take a listen! Transcript:

Gerard Way: Glam Rock

My Chemical Romance's frontman grew up a metalhead, but when he heard Iron Maiden's lead singer, Bruce Dickinson, cover Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes," he discovered a whole other world, "I knew I had to find out more," Way says, "To some people, glam is just about makeup. To me, it's a very magical thing almost like witchcraft."

1: "Ziggy Stardust" David Bowie, 1972

This song defines glam. It was also the first thing in rock that really challenged people's notions of sexual orientation. Bowie actually sings about a man's ass! 2: "Children of the Revolution" T. Rex, 1972

You always knew Bowie would make it out alive and turn into another character; with Marc Bolan you didn't know that. He came across as very vulnerable. 3: "All the Young Dudes" Mott the Hoople, 1972

This is kind of a cheat because David Bowie wrote it for them, but I always preferred the Mott the Hoople version. By this point, Bowie was talking about the actual glam movement, which is why it's about kids stealing makeup and breaking into unlocked cars. Glam became about the kid in the room, the poster on the wall, putting on a women's short fur coat and eyeliner, with no shirt on, just listening to this music. 4: "Ballroom Blitz" Sweet, 1973

They completely break the fourth wall when the song opens up and they're calling each other by name. We emulated that on our song "Vampire Money." It literally starts out just like "Ballroom Blitz" does. 5: "Cum On Feel the Noize" Slade, 1973

Obviously, everybody knows this for the Quiet Riot version, but when you hear the original you realize just how bold it is. The soundscape they created is probably one of the best out of all the glam-rock bands. 6: "Love Is the Drug" Roxy Music, 1975

Roxy Music took the glam thing and then modified it. Bryan Ferry looks nothing like a glam artist, and that's what I love about him. He's wearing this great suit and he's got short hair and he's so romantic. Maybe some people wouldn't consider Roxy Music a glam band, but I do, for a lot of reasons. A major one is that they used to have Brian Eno behind the keyboard wearing feathers on his shoulders and eye shadow.

7: "Needles in the Camel's Eye" Brian Eno, 1974

Speaking of Eno, this is the first track on his first solo album. It's the glammiest track on the record. As soon as he finishes that song, he's almost over it, and he's moved on to something else. Besides Bowie, Eno is still the most important artist to me of the glam scene. When you heard his first album, you knew it was gonna be his last glam record. He just needed to do it once and he was done. 8: "Clones (We're All)" Alice Cooper, 1980

With "Clones," Alice Cooper was moving into the glam of the future, like this kind of Blade Runner replicant version of glam. Alice Cooper doesn't get enough credit for being a glam artist. A lot of people just say, "Oh, he's shock rock," but I think he's way more Rocky Horror than he is shock rock. 9: "48 Crash" Suzi Quatro, 1973

She's the most unsung glam rocker. She's also the prototype for the Runaways. "48 Crash" is one of her more aggressive songs. She looks amazing on the cover, wearing this black cat suit. Everything about the song is magic. 10: "Personality Crisis" New York Dolls, 1973

They were a lot more punk, but I will always consider the New York Dolls glam by the nature of how they looked and their attitude. They took glam to America and really challenged the sexuality of it. They also had Johnny Thunders, who's basically like the American Mick Ronson.

[evangelifloss]

Please tell me about the great emu war of 1932 :3

"Haha Australia lost a war to emus twice"

NO BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!

Here's why:

First, I don't believe foreigners know how BIG emus are, and how much of their stocky main body is just layers and layers of feathers

This is Peck. He doesn't actually Peck but he LOVES the LADIES and for reference, that's me as he's uh... trying to woo me. I'm 4'11 / 149cm tall and in that photo he's not standing at full height either because he's preparing to get lower and ahem, grind. He is also a juvenile.

Emus are typically 5.7 feet/1.75 meters tall, but they have been recorded to get up to 6.2 feet/1.9 meters.

So imagine you've got this big ass dinosaur bird with the most t-rex looking feet perfectly designed for running. Yeeting. Skeeting. Killing you maybe. And now take into account these flightless fucks can run up to 62 Kilometers per hour. THATS 39 MILES PER HOUR TOP SPEED.

Now add 20,000 emus.

So 20,000 emus against poverty-stricken farmers with failing crops, farmers WHO WERE MOSTLY WW1 VETERANS BY THE WAY. Yeah nah.

Here's a visual to help y'all understand how insanely large emu groups get.

Onto why the hell were there so many emus on the farmlands (even tho... yknow... the emus and the local indigenous were there first but we won't get into that.)

Basically a big drought made the horde of emus move away from their usual dwindling territory, onto the sprawling Australian "farm lands" and remember I mentioned their feet before? BIG STOMPY. Whatever crops that had somehow managed to survive the severely vitamin-deficient soil and grow, did not in fact, survive the dinosaur feet as the emus strolled through, pecking and foraging the ground along the way.

The plight of the veteran farmers didn't fall on deaf ears, but the Australian government severely underestimated the power of 20,000 emus by a LONG shot. Plus they weren't all that interested either, until at least it was reported that the emus were destroying the Rabbit Proof Fence. What legends.

For the first "war" the government sent 3 men.

Yep. You heard me. Three guys. Major Meredith, Sargeant McMurray and a soldier by the name of O'Halloran.

They had one truck with a machine gun, and probably other guns, but between them roughly 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

So off they went. To wage war against the progressive emus breaking the symbol of "White Australia" AKA the Fence. Oh and also I guess the starving vets.

This is it. This is what they had.

Locals from all around joined in the fight and tried to herd the roaming groups of emus into the murder range but the emus had a tactic. One that us Aussies use at bush doofs when you hear police sirens- and that is to SCATTER.

They only killed "a dozen birds" from a group estimated to be around 1000. It didn't help that the machine gun jammed during this organised ambush.

And by then, the Emus clicked onto what was happening. They split up into smaller groups, observed to be led by the largest sized male who kept an eye out for the enemy. Never again did they risk coming together as seen before.

The war was lost. Only a few more attempts were made that had little success and Ornithologist Dom Serventy concisely summarised the whole operation.

I want to remind you all that this is a recorded statement, kept on file in legal military documentation

"The Emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic. A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month."

Let's move onto Emu War Part Two: Unsuccessful Boogaloo

Heads up by the way, TW below.

Emus were still, y'know, Emu-ing about and the drought didn't let up either. People were still dying of starvation, becoming homeless and committing suicide. It took the Premier of Western Australia, and a Base Commander in the military penning letters and using media pressure to finally convince the government to give it another go.

Major Meridith returns to the War and having learnt from practically everyone's past assumptions of the highly intelligent sonic-speed bird, brought success. And by that I mean, more success than the previous war.

Ultimately only 5% of the 20k Emu Army were ever killed, and even that is debated since it is more than likely they inflated numbers of kills to lessen the damage of being completely inferior to the superb qualities of the Emu.

A Federal parliamentarian (like a senator) when asked about whether there should be a medal made for the conflict, he replied with:

"Any medals should go to the emus who had won every round so far."

And of course in true Aussie fashion, the Defence Minister who supported and approved for the Emu War 1 and 2, was given the title by the Australian public, and international conservationists of ‘Minister for the Emu War’.

Ouch, but also, Not Every Problem Has To Be Solved With Guns.

Ironically what worked far better was the implementation of fences to keep the Emus OUT and unfortunately, a bounty system that saw many locals and professional hunters alike have FAR more success than an entire military operation. 57,000 bounties were claimed in a six month period after it being introduced in 1934.

Thus concludes the Great Emu War of 1932.

If you're asking why I know this, I studied it when I was 16, and made an entire poster to which I gave it to my Japanese Teacher. For context: I was living in Japan. Going to a Japanese School. And teaching my poor English teacher about this Emu War that he only believed once he looked it up. As a parting gift I gave him a poster. Shout out to Kawamura-Sensei you tried so hard not to laugh at the poster but I won that war.

Here it is. All the quotes on there are real too!

[spacedoutman]

This is why the elder is the best kiss album.

The “elder” not only brought us a progressive plot line, but details in every sentence and breath that have not yet seen the glory they’re due for. Let’s take a deep dive real’ quick and discuss why the elder is better than Animalize, Creatures of the night and Destroyer.

I. Doesn’t that just stick out to you like a sore thumb? What a wonderful and inspired title to catch our attention immediately. Then we have “the oath”, which has some of the most intense lyrics I’ve ever heard.

“Your glory, I swear I ride for thee

Your power, I trust it rides with me

Your servant, I am and ever shall I be”

The power in these lyrics changed my life, as well as the intense moral dilemma we’re faced with. My heart raced. The performance of this song was absolutely superb, so much so I fell out of my chair.

Gene and Paul’s faces while performing this song are packed to the brim with emotion. Eric looks down the whole time thinking of the fallen heroes from the story while Ace finishes with his back turned.

You can see the effort that was put into this album. Gene’s opera voice adds a layer to this song that puts the chipmunks to shame. Maybe, if the chipmunks had covered the album, it would’ve went platinum.

The elder was not career suicide.

“Lost in the mist

I have been there a hundred times or more

Pounding my fists”

The lyrics made my head spin with emotion, making me feel like I was lost in the mist, pounding my fists. I could feel the tears in my eyes listening to this. It’s so powerful.

It’s like the roar of a t-Rex or the ropes of the net. I’m sure many dinosaurs and hell, protozoans, even, could relate to these beautiful, awe inspiring lyrics. They had to face these complex inner issues.

The rest of Kiss’ songs are just ‘sex money feelings die’ while this opens a window to a historical period, purely composed of survival, that we have never yet seen in this sort of light.

These lyrics really open the perspective on what it was like for cave men to survive. The fight for them must’ve been more than anyone could’ve imagined. They too, were in the mist. But this also develops the narrative for animals like wolves.

Now we know the wolves’ thoughts when they howl to the moon, solely composed of the elder. Ages of evolution have been unwrapped, bringing us back to the Big Bang itself.

This was such an experience for me I developed lycanthropy. This is confirmation of what we all may have known. The dinosaurs are not ever portrayed scientifically accurate and it irks me every time.

Like a lot of them most likely had feathers as T-Rex’s sounded like microwaves no roaring. I was very surprised to find this out. There was a period when dinosaurs rules the planet then mammals that ruled over humans.

Not only that, but “I”? That’s all the caveman thought about when trying to make the world their own.

We as a species rose up. We as a species hunted and foraged to build the society we live in today. So why don’t we all just go back to leopard skins and spears like the elder intended? Does this mean Kiss are all secret geniuses?

Bravo, Vince. You did it again.

[aleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

The Firsts + Cloud each get a singular dinosaur as a pet, what do they get and what do they do with it? (I’m sorry this needs to come out into the light after seeing that one poll)

I definitely haven't been waiting for this my whole life as a future paleontologist hahaha...

(I will add images because there's a lot of UNCULTURED people who don't know anything about dinosaurs and the pictures from Jurassic world are NOT what they actually looked like./lh)

Genesis: he would like sauropods, but not the ones that are as big as a damn mountain, he would like the tiny ones(which are like 1,50 meters long and 6 meters tall). I would give him the tiniest one known until now, Europasaurus.

I feel like he would give it a big ass garden with trees and fruit and everything it needs, it's like his third most precious possession after his loveless copy and himself/hj

Sephiroth: he's uhh.... Weird. I would give him a Spinosaurus. Not only because of the vibes, but also because paleontologist have no fucking clue about most things about them. There's a big discussion happening in the paleontologist fandom™(/j) about whether the spinosaurus lived in water or earth. At first it was earth, yet a random Canadian decided they actually lived on water thanks to their similarities to cocodriles and reptiles similar to them, besides also having a long tail that could've been a fin. In my opinion, I believe on what some people say about spinosaurus actually living on both. There's also something cool that the big spine on their back was supposed to change colors depending on the Spinosaurus' body temperature, and they needed to get into the water to cool down.

Also, they eat fish. And fish = cats. And cats = Sephiroth

I feel like he would just... Stare at it. I don't know. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what to do with it either.

Angeal: I'm sorry I don't know much about him. I feel like he would have a Triceratops just because of the vibes. Another alternative is a Pachycephalosauria, they have a hard head and are very silly, I feel like he would find them amusing (as well as also similar to Zack).

No matter what option is, he would take proper care of them as if he was the one to give birth to the dinosaur.

Zack: As a child I feel like Zack would've had T-Rex's as his favorite dinosaurs because he saw them in movies and toys and thought they were really cool. Yet, after watching the documentary/movie "Walking with dinosaurs" his favorite is the Pachyrhinosaurus. And I would give him that one.

He would probably do his best to take care of it without ending with his house completely destroyed and would buy matching hats/sweaters for them to wear. Also he would ride it as if it was a chocobo.

Cloud: at first I was thinking a Stegosaurus simply because of vibes, yet I'm going more with a Parasaurolophus. They're just chill chunky guys and I feel like Cloud wouldn't want to have any more problems added to his life.

Yet, they're too big... So another option I thought for Cloud are Velociraptors. And no, they look nothing like the ones in movies. They are AT BEST 0,5 meters tall(50cm), and they also have feathers. It would be like having a little Chocobo who wouldn't hesitate a second to eat you as soon as you're unconscious... But let's pretend this one is actually friendly and sees Cloud as family. Okay? Okay.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Me: I had a dinosaur fixation for 2 years in middle school. The little info I do remember is probably outdated. Oh god, I barely focused on types of dinosaurs, and more on the whole evolution side of things. All I remember is that dinosaur=feathers and cladograms are hard with dinosaurs. Let me follow so I can learn about dinosaurs!

*Follows account and learns that birds ARE dinosaurs. Not descendants from dinosaurs, but straight up dinosaurs... we live WITH dinosaurs... right now!!!!*

*Also learning so much about pets and biases in such a short time, like seriously these convos in the asks have literally gotten me to rethink the way I think about pets. Like, I always hated how people didn't care about animals that are cat/dog, but I didn't realize that I had cat biases or how hard it is for other pet owners because of these biases*

I used to be very into science, and then dropped it to focus on music. But lately, I've been trying to recapture that, and your account has already done that for me!!! I normally vibe check before following, but I saw battle-of-the-birds endorse you, so I just followed. Idk what I'm trying to convey. Following you was NOT what I excepted, but I'm very glad I did!

^_^ happy to provide

Birds being straight up, no holds barred dinosaurs is the best thing. Like, I don't know why people resist it so much. A) when you look at birds for longer than five seconds it becomes obvious - not just really big birds, any bird; as a kid I saw an american robin running along the ground and it looks like a t. rex; B) even if it wasn't obvious, isn't it great they're still around???? why is anyone fighting this????

But I'm very glad you're enjoying my silliness and I hope you stick around! ^_^

[helldustedstories]

I haven't talked about it a whole bunch, but I interpret and write Stolas as autistic!

There are tons of examples in the show that I use to support this, but here are just a few:

He clearly has special interests: plants, books / words, the stars (even though this is part of his job, it's also something he's been interested in on his own)

T-rex hands as comfortable resting position (this one is mostly silly, but it's commonly viewed as an autistic thing)

Good at some communication styles but very bad at others.

Misses a lot of social cues, and he has to be explicitly told how people are feeling, at times. Once he knows that, he's usually pretty good about taking them into account (and doing what he can to support them).

Would infodump if he was allowed.

He's very clearly masking a large portion of the time, doing his best to appear as "normal" in front of others.

I could definitely go more into depth on a lot of these, and it's possible I might, but I wanted to list a few things that I'd noticed in the show itself that make me think Stolas is on the spectrum.

Additionally, here are some of Stolas' stims:

bouncing on his feet when he's excited

little applause

flapping his hands (usually also when happy or excited)

lacing his fingers together and squeezing

twisting his fingers

wringing his hands

squeezing his hat

pulling at his feathers (which does sometimes lead to pulling them out, which is one of his more harmful behaviours)

hugging himself as tightly as he can

tapping his foot

[arikot27]

a line of dark-type bird pokemons from my very very VERY wip fakemon region. They are nest parasites and just general menace to everything alive that shares a habitat with them

more info under the cut 

1st stage - Moltrik they hatch from eggs their parents put in other pokemons nests. In this stage they are unable to fly so they need to rely on their hosts care. Moltriks are usually much bigger than their nestmates and grow very quickly, allowing them to evolve pretty early their thick feather coat protects them from getting hurt if they fall from their nest. Any trainer planing to use one needs to remember that moltriks need constant attention. They hate being ignored and will let their trainer know that with loud screeching and occasional nibbles

2nd stage - Molstrike these pokemon aren't as fast or agile in the air as other bird mons. Instead they rely on their natural thick feathery armor to protect them while they attack by charging at their opponent with their whole body Molstrikes are very aggresive, not affraid to attack any other creature in their size range and will rarly back off knowing their opponent wont be able to break their defence. They're known for stealing prey from other pokemon. Moltrikes do not raise their young, instead they will put their eggs in other pokemons nests. If the hoast rejects their egg however they will come back to that nest and destroy it

3rd stage - Molotitan As they grow up, Molotitans switch from chasing and flying after their pray to hunting bigger but slower mons. Despite what one may think, molotitans are still capable of flight, they are not the best at it tho They use their massive beaks made of iron to attack. If they can pick up something with it, they will most likely also be able to crush it between their jaws. Caught molotitans will often break their toys like this while playing with them

INSPIRATIONS the entire line is based mainly on cowbirds, specificaly male brown-head cowbirds. I wanted to make a pokemon based on brood parasite birds and picked those. You can clearly see the inspo in their coloring and their shiny, almost metalic looking beaks

another thing about cow-birds that influanced these designs was so called "mafia hypothesis" suggesting that the reason host birds dont get rid of parasite eggs is due to a fear of attack from parasitic parents. I tried to make their coat resemble a suit with bowtie to allude to look of stereotypical mafia boss

other inspos were rough-crested malkoha (a cuckoo molstrike and molotitan took their red crests from) and giant cowbird. Molotitan is also obviously based on terror birds - a family of extinct predatory flightless birds known for their massive sizes and powerfull beaks

another concept behind the line was t-rex and more specificaly their life cicle. As it matured t-rex went from fast pursuit predator to more bulky beast using its bite force to kill their prey.

the names come from cow-birds genus name (Molothrus) and words trick, strike and titan

thats it for now, if you have some questions about these mons feel free to ask ^^ I might also post later their shinies or even their stat blocks and learnsets if i get to make them lmao

[lollipencil]

Nightmare, or Warning?

Literally thought of this when writing the scene for the Jurassic Park 1 crossover. Thought it was neat. This would have been with the Jurassic Park 3 prompt if it had won.

At this rate, I might as well do a similar thing for Fallen Kingdom.

Enjoy and be gentle ---

Something felt off to Alan as he stirred. His eyes creaked open to the brim of his hat, which was expected. It being pulled up to show no one at the controls was not. Suddenly more awake, he began to look around for the pilot (or anyone else).

Only to look into the eyes of his worst nightmare.

A velociraptor. Its front claws braced on the seat in front of it as if waiting for the plane to land. Turning its head, it snarls. Alan pushes himself back hard. Apparently hard enough that the plane suddenly buckles. With a horrific screach of raptor and metal, Alan flies backwards though an inprompto door in the fuselage.

In suprisingly little time at all, his freefall is broken by trees and then the ground itself. The sky had been drained almost every trace of light when he opened his eyes. Only the cold light of the full moon remained.

As soon as he could gather himself mentally, Alan was on his feet. But there was no sign of the plane. But before he could finish registering this fact, the ground shook.

At once, his body locked up. Between each booming footstep, came the haunting call of raptors. But he still dared not move.

What finally emerged from the tall trees was a very different creature than expected. Much larger than the T-Rex, this Spinosaurus had failed to completely shake off the shroud of death. Bones visibly jutted out of gaps between linen bandages, like it had been treated for an ancient egyptian burial, weaving a recreation of its sail with the neural spines. Its skull was striped of flesh and linen, leaving the bare bone to the open air.

As it strode into the moonlight, three raptors followed. All pale scaled with each bearing feathers along the backs of their necks. And yet, rather than fighting with the larger predator, they acted like it was their leader, fanning out to cover the area in front of Alan. All of their eyes glowed with the same moonlight that shone down on them. "Alan Grant," boomed the spinosuarus, "Do not land on Isle Sorna. Leave the Resurrected to their peace. The innocent will be retrieved by other means."

The raptors chirped in seeming agreement. And began walking forward.

Alan's feet finally get the hint to move backwards. They kept approaching, chirping the whole time. Each step back covers no distance. The closer they get, Alan can finally see one difference between them. Their feathers are, from right to left, were white, grey, and black. Suddenly, the calls fade to words. "Alan," they call, the same voice but different pitches and accents. And somehow familar.

Suddenly the grey-feathered one pauses: "Dr Grant-?"

---

Alan's eyes snap open with a gasp. For a moment, he could still see that raptor, then it cleared. "Dr Grant?" one of the men the Kirbys had hired also, Marc if he remembered correctly, soothed, "We're here." Alan nodded in thanks, unsure of his voice. Marc nodded back, patted his seat, and adjusts his grey scarf on his way to the cockpit.

[thedragonlover95]

Name: DeathWing Species: Cyborg Beast Gender: Male Age: 16 Sexuality: Pansexual Personality: Calm, Patient, Strong Headed, Gentle Giant, Protective, Strong Willed Powers: Berserk Mode, Fire, Ice, Electric, Poison, Nuclear Beams and wings, Sturdy Body, Regenerator, Flight, Titanium Claws, Steel Blades, Scan, Resistant to Fire, Ice, Water, Poison, Upgrade Form Appearance: Giant raptor with sturdy feathers that can become spikes, mechanical parts and flexible wings. Height: 12.5 Weight: 1500 Likes: Listening to music, Dancing, Relaxing, Traveling, Sight Seeing, Trying new things, Spending time with others, Playing Piano and Keyboard, Video Games, Reading, Helping out friends, Quiet places. Dislikes: Being seen or called a monster, Seeing innocent people hurt, being used as a tool or means to bring destruction, feeling or being isolated. Bio: Was created within a bio lab that studied ways to help improve people and natures lives, with the use of special crystals that have mystical powers as well as elemental attacks. Originally he was called Project D(Defender Rex) and was made with the DNA of different creatures, such as Raptor, T-Rex, Gigasaur, R.R.A.D Dragon, Horse, Shark, Frog and Tiger. He was designed to be a defender of the innocent and his creator made sure that his code also had a spirit as well as the free will. The mechanical body was built to withstand the toughest of pressures, but was given the crystals and act as the main power source inside the body. As well as adding a grinder within the throat area to help sources go down easier, while some parts were added that would aid in uses, which included swapping wings and tools. The flesh, blood and other parts give a more realistic look and to hide the metal bulk. However one day there was an alarm, set by a strange creature, and some of the computers were acting up, DeathWing had suddenly fell under a strange glitch, which caused him to go into his battle faze, and was out of control. Thankfully the creator with fast thinking, was able to shut him down. Feeling that this experiment was a failure and abandoned the place due to a strange chemical that turned the area in a place of darkness. Strangest thing is that it did not effect the bio weapon, as he was in a long sleep mode, once he awoken, he was in a whole new world, and thanks to his other animal scenes as well as intelligence, was able to survive. He was given the name due to the wings being able to be the real threat whenever they glow in one of the five abilities. While dangerous does not mean he acts like one, rather he can be described as a teddy bear, in fact he means no harm to those who don't pose a threat. He is described as the Ultrazilla of all beasts that were made.

[sciencestyled]

BioArt: When Your Petri Dish Becomes Picasso

Alright, my wildly brilliant and undoubtedly perplexed peeps, buckle up because we're about to dive into a world where your high school biology class meets an avant-garde art gallery. It's like if Bob Ross had a lab coat and a petri dish instead of his happy little trees. Yes, we’re talking about BioArt—an art form so epically weird that it makes modern art look like a finger painting on a rainy day.

So, what is this bizarre, borderline Frankensteinian fusion of science and art? Picture this: a bunch of lab-coated artists, armed with pipettes and petri dishes, are out here creating art with living organisms. Yep, that’s right—these artists are using cells, tissues, and all kinds of squishy, wiggly things as their medium. If Da Vinci had a microscope, this is probably what he’d be up to, and let me tell you, it’s as gloriously odd as it sounds.

Let’s kick things off by time-traveling (no DeLorean required) back to the origins of BioArt. This whole shindig didn’t just pop out of nowhere; it’s got history, baby! Way back when, before anyone was trying to grow ears on the backs of mice (oh, we’ll get to that, don’t you worry), there were curious minds playing with life like it was some kind of organic Play-Doh. Early experiments in BioArt were less about "art for art's sake" and more about "what happens if we poke this cell with that gene?"—basically the kind of thinking that also leads to viral TikTok challenges involving rubber bands and watermelons. These pioneers were the original mad scientists of the art world, pushing boundaries before it was cool.

Fast forward to now, and BioArt has swaggered into the gallery scene like it owns the place. We’ve got artists using living organisms as their canvas—literally. Imagine a painting that’s alive, constantly evolving like your Spotify playlist, but without all the ads. These "living canvases" are the BioArt equivalent of the Mona Lisa, except she’s smiling because she just saw a funny cat video. The art can grow, mutate, and sometimes even die, depending on how well the artist keeps up with their Frankensteinian gardening. It's like taking care of a houseplant, but instead of leaves, you’ve got glowing bacteria spelling out the lyrics to “Old Town Road.” Epic, right?

But hold on to your lab goggles because we need to talk about the ethics of this whole thing. I know, I know, ethics is that section of your philosophy course that you sleep through, but trust me, this is juicier than the latest celebrity breakup. When you start creating art with life itself, you’re bound to ruffle some feathers. BioArt’s got more ethical dilemmas than a reality show has plot twists. For starters, is it cool to manipulate life forms for the sake of art? It’s like asking if it’s okay to binge-watch an entire season of a show in one night—sure, you can, but should you? And let’s not forget the potential for unintended consequences. You don’t want your art project turning into the next Jurassic Park, with a petri dish-turned-T-rex smashing up the place.

Speaking of the future, let’s get all sci-fi for a second. With the way biotech is advancing, the possibilities for BioArt are crazier than a Marvel multiverse. Imagine a world where artists are using CRISPR like it’s Photoshop, editing genes to create living masterpieces. Want a self-portrait made entirely of your own DNA? No problem! Feel like decorating your living room with a wall of bioluminescent algae that glows whenever you play “Despacito”? You got it! The future of BioArt is a mad scientist’s dream—an explosion of creativity and weirdness that’ll make traditional art seem as outdated as a MySpace profile.

So, what does all this say about the relationship between life and aesthetics? BioArt is challenging everything we thought we knew about art. It’s not just about what looks good hanging above your fireplace; it’s about the living, breathing (sometimes literally) connection between science and art. This genre is the ultimate crossover episode—one where your biology teacher teams up with your art teacher to blow your mind in the most unexpected ways. And, of course, it’s the perfect subject for those science videos that’ll either inspire you or make you question every life choice you’ve ever made.

To wrap things up (and because we’re probably overdue for a snack break), BioArt is more than just a quirky trend—it’s a whole new way of looking at the world. It’s the ultimate mash-up, where science meets art, biology becomes a brushstroke, and petri dishes are the new canvases. Sure, it’s a little wacky, a tad wild, and maybe even borderline bonkers, but that’s what makes it so epically cool. Whether you’re an art aficionado, a science nerd, or just someone who thinks the idea of a living painting is kind of awesome, BioArt is here to make you rethink what art can be. So, next time you’re in a gallery and see a glowing blob in a jar labeled "art," don’t panic—it’s just BioArt doing its thing, challenging your brain and giving your eyeballs something to ponder.

[paleobird]

Been wondering though. How are chickens 'related' to T rex when a chicken is an avian while a t-rex is a reptile.

Where is this the confusion of dinos having feathers but still be reptiles. But if that's the case then shouldn't dinosaurs be avians rather than reptiles and not the other way around. Which is it ava. Reptiles or Avians.

"Well, that's the thing: the terms 'reptile' and 'avian' are just words we made up to try and make sense of the world around us. But, if we want to go by what is generally understood--birds are reptiles, full stop. We just use the term 'avian' to refer to them sometimes.

It's the same way humans are apes and also monkeys. Birds are just one group of the whole reptile clade, and apes are just a type of monkey. See what I mean?"

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

A remake of the original Spider-Man and Moon Girl interaction I made. Which I posted before this. But this time with a recommendation from a friend of mine that I should’ve put Casey in this. Along with other little edits. I question if I’ll use this again. The original copied text is from a draft from July 10th, 2023. Unedited and raw.

“So, you know what’s the one question that is really on my mind? Why doesn’t Devil have feathers?” Spider-Man asked what was on his mind when looking at the T-Rex below them. Who also looked confused when hearing that.

“I mean...dinosaurs are more related to birds, right? Unless there was some genuine truth in those Jurassic Park films? Or maybe he’s a different from of T-Rex and considering with what we’ve been learning about the species...why am I even asking this?” Spider-Man rambled on.

“You know what? You actually have a good point.” Moon Girl laughed after she said that. She never considered it till now. And as she laughed, Casey joined in the laughter as well. They soon stopped to catch their breath as Devil rested on the ground after a long day of helping Moon Girl. As the three set there, with Spider-Man in the middle of them as they sat on the ledge. They just looked over the L.E.S. as the sun was going down.

“And...something popped in my mind...you’re 13?” Spider-Man asked as he looked towards Moon Girl.

“Yep!” Moon Girl proudly exclaimed.

“Yep! Me as well.” Casey said as well. But after that, there was a few seconds of silence before another question was asked.

“Do you two...go to the same school together?” Spider-Man asked them.

The two looked at him and wondered if they should answer him.

“I mean...I’m not disclosing that.” Casey responded.

“You know, that’s the second time you asked us. Why do you seem concerned about our age?” Moon Girl asked him.

“Because...you’re so young. Listen, I’m not trying to sound overbearing. But it just really boggles my mind thinking about it. You're a superhero at such a young age, you’re not an adult yet. You have fought supervillains and your friend is here runs a social media account for you. Isn’t that stressful? But also, all that responsibility for someone so young?” Spider-Man asked them.

“You act like we can’t handle it. Me, D and Casey have been stopping villains without other heroes for a while now. Do you think we can’t take care of ourselves? Because trust me, we can.” Moon Girl responded back to him.

“I’m not talking about it like that. It’s the fact that...you’re still a kid. You have your whole life ahead of you. You’re...putting yourself in these situations and...it bothers me thinking about it.” Spider-Man answered back.

“Man, you’re sounding like if you were my parents.” Moon Girl said.

“Do...do they know you’re a superhero?” He asked her.

“They...don’t know. Wait, why do you care? You’re Spider-Man. You don’t have to worry about that. Besides, didn’t you call Iron Man “Shell Head” one time on live television because you didn’t want to work with him or the Avengers. So why are you getting on my case about it?” Moon Girl responded back.

She sounded bothered by a hero she liked seemed to be treating her like a child. Casey wondered what to say next. But was hesitant after what Lunella had said. As that was going on, Spider-Man just looked at Moon Girl who looked at him with an annoyed expression. After that, Lunella just looked away to the sunset.

“You seem perfect. You have everything under control. You don’t know nothing about me...and I’d thought you would be more supportive of what we’ve been doing.” Moon Girl said.

Casey looked at her friend with a saddened look. She still wondered what she should say next. And then she noticed Spider-Man looking at the sunset as well. There was silence for a good 20 seconds. Spider-Man took a deep breath, it was a big one.

“I’ve been Spider-Man since I was 14 years old.” Spider-Man said.

This reveal got the attention of the two girls. Lunella’s goggles emotions widened as he finally spoke. She was stunned to hear those words, and even Casey too.

“What?” Moon Girl asked.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a kid...a year older than where you are now. I assume you were three...I was bitten randomly by some spider at a demonstration. I got powers but...” He paused. It sounded like he didn’t want to say more. But then he continued on.

“Instead of helping people. I used my powers to make some money. I was on television star, did some wrestling. I wonder if those old showings of me can still be watched. But yeah...I was being selfish...if you knew how I was years back. I think you two openly hate me. Hell, I would hate me too.” Spider-Man started to put his hands together as the girls kept staring at him, intrigued by what he was talking about.

“Then one day, some thief ran by me. I let him go...I let him run by me. He escaped and the officer chasing him got angry at me. And one of the things I told him is that it’s not my problem.” He kept holding his hands together. But now they were tighter. Casey noticed this the grip his hands had on each other were really strong. If she was correct, he seemed angry...angry at himself.

“Not my problem...not my problem I said. I...said that.” The tone Spider-Man spoke in felt more...sad. He breathed again. “Then one day, I learned that same guy I let go.” He stopped again and took another breath. It seemed like he didn’t want to talk about it more. Even under that mask, there was this emotion Casey could sense. While Lunella was surprised to hear all of this. And she needed to know what came next.

He took a deep breath again. “The same guy killed someone close to me...all because I didn’t do anything...when I could’ve.” Spider-Man finally let it out.

Lunella and Casey’s jaws dropped when they heard the answer. They both had the same form of shock when hearing it. Even though both might’ve had different feelings when hearing the answer.

“Oh my gosh.” Casey said as she put her right hand over her mouth.

Spider-Man put his right hand over his eyes as he began to slouch. Lunella's face turned sour as she learned this information. She was stunned to hear this information from Spider-Man of all people. And what both girls heard sounded like sniffing. Almost as if he started to cry. He continued breathing, and his breath skipped a beat.

Lunella didn't know what to do. What could she do? But then she noticed Casey reaching out to comfort him with her right hand on Spider-Man’s left shoulder. When Spider-Man felt that, he took his right hand off of his eyes to look at Casey.

“You don’t need to do that.”

“Well...I want to do that.” Casey told him as she was rubbing his shoulder. He had no response to that. After looking at Casey for a few seconds, he looked back at the sunset and continued speaking.

“I didn’t want to tell you that. I’d...rather not trauma dump on a bunch of a kids. Because that isn’t right. But...” He took another deep breath. “I've done things I'm not proud of. I regret things I've done. And trying to be Spider-Man can be...hard at times. It was hard in school, college...even daily normal stuff. I get tired...I get angry a lot. I...sometimes hate being Spider-Man that I want to quit...but I don't. And the worse thing I think about...is...did I have to suffer to be a better person? Would I be the person I am today if I stopped that guy? Or would I be the same jerk that was?”

He took a deep breath again. “I just wanted to tell you this because I may have been in the same spot as you two but...without all that harder stuff. And I've learned recently that...I don't have to be alone in this. I've sacrificed so much, pushing people away. Being scared to lose someone again.” He then put both of his hands back on the ledges. Spider-Man then started to speak again.

“I'm sorry...I'm not a father or a brother. I'm a grown man. But seeing you kids made me really think about what I've been through. It...made me examine how tough it was for me growing up and the choice I made. And I...don't want anyone going through the same mistakes as me. Because being Spider-Man is...scary. I've been Spider-Man for 10 years and only recently some years ago. I feel like I've moved on from that guilt because I'm lucky to have some people know who I am. That I'm not alone.”

They could still hear the sniffling under his mask. Lunella kept staring as she was heartbroken hearing all of that. And Casey again, said something back to him.

“Hey, it’s okay. Let it out.”

“You became a superhero because you wanted to help the L.E.S. because no one else would? Is that correct?” Spider-Man looked towards Moon Girl.

“Yeah...that’s correct.” Lunella answered him.

“Well, you’re already a better person than who I was years back. At least you didn’t need a wakeup call.” Spider-Man said.

“Hey...it’s okay. You’ve done so much good. You don’t need to say that.” Casey told him.

“I know...I know.” Hearing that warmed his heart, but his thought process still continued on, thinking about what he had just told Moon Girl. “But it still hurts...you two and Devil are all lucky to have each other.”