#carcass feed

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I have finally figured out the camera lens and the setting I need to catch clear photos of wolverines! Ugh, I just love them and their incredibly dense fur so much.

These two are Rainier and Ahma at Northwest Trek. They're full siblings, but were born in different litters, in 2009 and 2007 respectively. The easiest way to tell them apart is by their eyes - or, really, their lack thereof. They've both got some congenital eye issues that have resulted in the surgical removal of one/both eyes as they've aged into elderhood. Ahma is now eyeless, and Rainier still has one eye left (although a keeper did mention it may be getting close to that time, again).

As you'll see, though, they still get around spectacularly. When it comes to finding snacks, they do it by smell. I rented a lens specifically to take photos of this special enrichment day: an elk carcass feed. They got an elk spine and pelvis, both sourced from a safely-euthanized member of the herd at the same facility.

Photos containing the carcasses will be below the cut. The carcass chunks are not bloody or gory - they look kind of like something you'd find on a grocery store shelves - so I'd really suggest checking the photos out. Wolverines are super strong, super tough little guys and it was so cool to see these two really get into tearing apart huge hunks of meat.

Beyond here lies MEAT.

[animalphotorefs]

New species added: Wolverines

Yet another new mustelids for the repository wesite!

CW: photos at the bottom of this post, and on the repository page, contain images of a carcass feed. The section containing those images on the site is clearly marked.

FYI, two of these wolverines have missing eyes (healed) and/or cataracts. If the animal in these photos looks eye-less, it is!

Artists creating derivative or transformative works (without AI) have blanket permission to use all photos in the repository as references, including works that will/may be sold.

The Exotic Animal Photo Reference Repository is permanently open-access and funded entirely by donations, please consider contributing if you can!

** Patreon ** -- *Ko-Fi**

[justaz]

i love merlin being so enamored by life and nature and all the beauty of the world around him, but as magic incarnate (a force that is neither good nor evil, it just is) i would love to see morally grey merlin. like ik we kinda get that with him killing people in arthur’s name and forsaking his people for the man he loves, but i mean like sorta dark and unnerving merlin who finds beauty in death and destruction and is fascinated by it. merlin who was conditioned on right and wrong but who still feels a pull to what others would consider wrong. finding wolves gorging on a carcass in the woods and feeling this pull to join them, to revert to a wild thing, to be animalistic and uninhibited. just forest nymph merlin where he’s so natural he’s unnatural.

[bonefall]

is there any death in the rewrite that you consider to be really graphic? where do you draw the line in the violence of a character's death?

Hmmm... Probably Tigerstar honestly! The cats wrote a song about his organs falling out.

I think when it comes to the "line" of a character's death, it's very subjective. Me and every other kid who read WC pogged out when Tigerstar had a really drawn out, horrific death on-screen, but I'm still haunted by Sootfur with his broken leg, falling down towards a badger while Squilf couldn't save him and seeing the aftermath of his "sightless eyes" when the animal moved off him.

One of those was objectively less graphic, but imo a LOT more harrowing. I think emotions are a lot more important in how deaths are received by an audience than the actual blood and guts, which I think gives you a decent idea of what you're gonna get here.

I think Leopardstar's rock concert is the "ceiling" of how intensely I describe deaths. I think that one's pretty graphic, but it's for a reason. The point is that it's a brutal killing that haunts Mistystar, you get me? And I try to write "around" the gore, describing sounds, the rest of the body, etc.

There is also cosmic/body horror with the Ancestor Rats, and more importantly, BB!Cats do food processing. They skin dead animals and separate the organs and such. When I get around to doing an entry on animal fat, I would also like to show WHERE in the body the fat is stored on certain animals. It's a lot more important to nutrition than you think it is.

BUT whenever I feel like I'm "around" Leopardstar's Boulder Appointment or an Ancestor Rat, I always always tag that. Less "violent" things like the song about the organs (Tiger's In A Heap) and more gentle food processing (like an offhanded mention of removing entrails or skinning) isn't tagged.

If I ever end up including a "diagram" of where fat is stored in the body or "how to properly skin a small rodent" It will be tagged as gore and I'd try to stay tasteful to begin with, I would ABSOLUTELY never drop something like that on anyone untagged and unwarned.

[sea-lanterns]

Angey straight up throwing a whole deer carcass into the piranha tank on Halloween it ain’t feedin time this is gonna be a FEAST

A feast indeed. It is not often that I feed my fishies entire fics (they usually get semi-daily thirsts and drabbles) but October is the month to splurge, so I’ve prepared a five course meal for all my fishies to enjoy 😌

I hope you enjoy what I’ve cooked up, you all deserve it for being such good fishies :)

[losingchipmunk]

I drew Shinobu for my swap au :D I think she's pretty!

[pop-punklouis]

if sharks have 1 defender, it’s me. if they have zero defenders, i’m dead

[princehendir]

Anyways my issues aside it was a really good day to be me at the Oregon zoo today.

[hauntingblue]

"If you're going to behave like children, then I will be your daddey" what a delivery.... excellent... chefs kiss

[therat-k1ng]

I’m crying help-

[wingedarrows]

Wakes up in a cold sweat

Plants on the Boiling Isles are decomposer species

[lunacysuggestion]

hey can you let me out of the basement now pretty pretty please

I don't like begging (kicks you down the stairs

[bonefall]

Idk if I’m wrong or not but if I remember correctly doesn’t Clear Sky once slash Quick Water for daring to question him? I very vividly remember her confronting him about something and him getting pissed and slashing her over it.

I remember it being Falling Feather, but can't check the book atm (fighting a sea lion rn, yes i have my harpoon dw)

But yes he does lose his shit on one of the two, it's in The First Battle after Thunder comes back to SkyClan for (iirc) a negotiation purpose. She says goodbye to Thunder too nicely and Clear Sky reprimands her about it.

Afterwards, he jumps in front of the whole Clan and says that everyone is allowed to abuse her however they'd like until she's learned her lesson. He compares her to a snake in the dirt. They're allowed to bully her, steal her prey, and command her however they'd like.

But like, he was just sad about his wives, so it's ok actually.

[tamaharu]

kdj still resides in my heart locket so i am more than ready for the valentines/kdj birthday double whammy

[fazcinatingblog]

I saw a sign at the train station saying to not feed the birds because if they're fed, they'll be more likely to be hit by a train

And I just.... I mean....

[unrealfigmentofyourimagination]

@frizzy-frizz-frizz

It’s always been odd to me that there are not any ocean scavengers equipped to take optimal advantage of large carcasses. Like…. in prehistoric times, the oceans were full of huge animals… was this a problem back then too?