#emu chicks

[nightmaresyrup]

Emu chicks rolling around learning to walk are soooo cute! I forget they have vestigial wings, thus look like wiggly pears with legs! I'd like to Imagine moa birds did the same as chicks.

They grow up to look uhh, intimidating but still cute.

[the-golden-ghost]

[ CC: Delighted peeping noises that sound like laughter; loud bird feet sounds on tile floor. /end cc ]

[scpwiki-official]

rights (chick)

[corvidaemnit]

let’s talk about the kiwi!!

(an info-dump about one of the weirdest, most scientifically interesting birds we know of today!)

so, we’ve all heard about ratites, right?

well, maybe you don’t know them by name, but you’ve most certainly either heard about them or seen them at some point.

some commonly known members of the ratite group are species like ostriches, emus, and cassowaries— as shown below:

ratites are all flightless birds within the infraclass palaeognathae— the infraclass that none other than the (now extinct) moa and elephant bird belong to!

now, these birds all share very similar characteristics; they’re large, long-necked, and long-legged with big clawed feet. all of these birds are also diurnal— which means they’re primarily active during the day time, just like us!

however, there is one species in this infraclass that is not quite like the others..

the kiwi.

not only are kiwi significantly smaller than their fellow ratites, but they also happen to be nocturnal.

and despite being small, their eggs are incredibly large, taking up to around 20% of the kiwi’s body weight, which has caused a lot of rigorous debate between scientists on exactly why.

one outdated theory suggested that perhaps the kiwi had shrunk over time from previously being very large like its ratite relatives, while its egg remained big…. but this has been debunked in recent years.

the current consensus, while still a theory, is that the egg size has to do more with precocity than anything else;

kiwis are born precocial, which makes them pretty much immediately independent upon hatching, with the ability to run and feed themselves without the help of their parents.

modern DNA analysis suggests that the size of kiwi eggs is not just a left-over trait from ‘incomplete’ evolution, but instead the exact opposite— an evolved adaptation to ensure better chances of survival.

due to their sheer size, kiwi eggs house more yolk than average, which ends up keeping newly hatched kiwis nice and fed until they learn to forage food for themselves.

when mammals began to spread in new zealand, kiwis had way more predators to worry about, and it’s theorized that they were previously unequipped to deal with this startling introduction of land-predators, such as stoats and rats, that started feeding on their eggs.

this could explain why kiwi eggs have developed to be so large over time— they give the chicks plentiful nutrients and thicker shells to ensure a better chance of survival against predation.

so… yeah. kiwis produce monster eggs and no one fully knows why just yet. neat, huh?

and that’s not even where the weirdness ends, my friends!

on top of all of this, it’s been a running joke in the bird world that kiwis are ‘honorary mammals,’ not only because of their weirdly mammalian appearance, but also because of some of their atypical biological traits.

for instance, kiwis have an average body temperature of around 38 degrees celsius .. aka, 100 degrees fahrenheit.

while this is not typical at all for birds, this is very typical for mammals, which has stumped a lot of researchers over the years.

similarly, kiwis are also the only bird in the world with exposed nostrils at the end of their beak, which can help them detect prey by using scent instead of their vision, which is very poor.

so… yeah. kiwis are the nocturnal, freakish little cousins of some of the biggest, most dangerous birds on the planet, and scientists are, quite frankly, still a little weirded out by them.

[paracosmic-gt]

My Gender is Their Gender

People forget the true definition of xenogender, which is a gender that cannot be described or experienced or fully explained by humans. And while this often leads to hoards, as people try to capture their understanding of their own gender. But for me, it’s been slimming down instead of gaining, turning to one point.

My gender encompasses the gender experience of animals, most specifically, the animals I am as a nonhuman. Parts of my gender are obvious, I wear brown feathers like the mallard, I avoid the mane when I can. But underneath there is this iceberg. The xeno part of my gender that I can only describe as the gender an animal experiences. A gender I in a human body will never fully quantify.

Lets for example, take the bird. Humans like to make it simple, applying their gender norms to them, female takes the eggs, male fucks off. And yet male emus are the most devoted fathers, female cuckoos abandon their clutches for other hens. Okay then, maybe males are big and flashy, and females are brown. And yet, a large majority of bird species are not sexually dimorphic. Femininity and masculinity encompass and share so many aspects that they don’t exist. And the “social construct” aspect of gender is exposed, and the rules break. Human gender means nothing to an animal.

The lioness who hunts for the pack grows a mane, the mallard who cares for the chicks grows in their iridescent colours.

And that, in some way, is me. Femininity, nullness, neutrality, transness, binary. All of it, in all its wonder, and all of it that i cannot handle to think of, is mine. I’m a female animal and that basically just means nothing and I love it. It fulfills everything neutrois and nonbinary is meant to be. I feel so gendered, it’s just in a way that humans don’t understand.

I’m brown like the mallard. It makes me female and yet it just doesn’t. and I have nipples on my belly like a lion and a lioness. None of it means anything and all of it is everything. It makes me want to chirp loudly with joy.

[emmabirb8]

@whimsycore

❤️

(via)

[polyshodivorce]

Emu really likes hanging out with these little chick plushies

[chococricket]

Soft Garten #1

Actually, it was not "fluff" it was "soft". I forgot.

This was the very first bits of the AU. I think it all came from the idea - what if the Opila bird is so aggressive because of an underlying medical issue? Those bloodshot eyes? So, in the true medically dubious fashion, the Janitor decides to employ eyedrops. And what do you know! Opila is much calmer now. She is sort of a mix between a parrot and an emu in terms of behaviour. On another page, I have a doodle of her speaking to the Janitor for the first time and scaring the sh^t out of him.

After showing that he is not a threat to Opila, Tarta and their babies, using treats, medical help and patience, the Janitor is put somewhere "protector" and "unusually large chick".

Jumbo Josh reminds me a bit of a gorilla, but still going with a "they were supposed to take care of CHILDREN" premise, he just needs enrichment to lessen his aggression. Every time he sees a new person he just wants to play with them so much, that he forgets his own strength! After some play and a good scrubbing, he is nothing more than an oversized plush toy, perfect for naps and getting into high places.

Banbaleena wants to be a good and proper teacher. How was she supposed to know that human children do not learn advanced math in kindergarten? She woke up and just... knew those types of things! Additionally, wanting to be liked and needing to be an impartial party is a hard line to straddle. Especially if all you know about school comes from those 2000s High School movies! At least she is eager to learn about teaching.

Slow Seline is not my favourite character. But everyone has to pull their weight, so she is a P.E. teacher, who knows that being slow is not always a bad thing. Her slime is organic and perhaps maybe antibacterial? Anyhow, she is a big hit with kids who like finding bugs more then petting dogs.

[afniel]

You know, I kind of hate the chocobo chicks in FFVII Rebirth. Like that is not what a chick looks like. That's like if birds had mammalian development. They don't. A chocobo chick shouldn't look like a bobble-headed, big-eyed little chocobo. It should look like an unfledged, naked little monster with a huge beak and breastbone and feet, and not much else to its name. Or, if they do develop more like ostriches or emus or any of that sort of large ground-nesting bird, which is reasonable to assume is possible, they still shouldn't look like a whole other goddamn species.

Like, that's cute. They don't look horrifying or anything. They just look like little fluffy adults with babie legs and necks.

This however can die in a goddamn fire. That's not a chocobo. It's a blasphemy with a bad case of human infant skull. (Also why do they have plant butts? I don't think this is even explained?)

Like I'm loving watching my partner go through this game but there are some visual decisions that I'm like, who did this. Turn on your location. I just want to talk.

ALSO whoever decided that chocobos should sound like someone doing a bad peacock impersonation, please. Eat a fork sideways. They have gotten more and more annoying to listen to in every game where they're voiced and I hate it. Can we go back to their cute little 'prreep?' noise in FFVI or the couple of nice sounds they made in original FFVII? Those were fine. Whatever is happening now makes my ears want to perish.

I do really like that different colors have different general plumage, that's cool. I used to draw them that way, waaaaay back in high school. But the chocobo chicks are almost as bad as the toddler/koala hybrid moogles with human teeth but in a squirrel configuration...like I know they eat kupo nuts but that's just terrifying to actually see.

[hedge-rambles]

The second one is what I call the "emu dad" due to the way that male emus don't just raise their own chicks but tend to hoover up whatever chicks they come across.

[branchflowerphoto]

scenes from a moving car: daddy emu and his chicks

I see more emus on my road than cars

(C) @branchflowerphoto 2024

[outofangband]

Birds of Maglor’s Gap and Lothlann

This completes my series on birds of the Fëanorian realms pre Amon Ereb!!

March of Maedhros, Himlad, Thargelion, Estolad

Flora, Fauna, geography and environment of Arda Masterlist

Maglor’s Gap was the widest break in the mountains and cliffs dividing Beleriand and the lands to the north. It lay between the blue mountains to the east and the March of Maedhros to the west. Lothlann was a wide expanse of plains to the north of the Gap. The rivers greater and little Gelion ran around the western and eastern borders.

Steppes and plains: Daurian, see see partridge, yellowhammer, black grouse, grey necked bunting, great rosefinch, imperial Eagle, steppe eagle, golden eagle, Mongolian ground jay (rare), greater short toed lark, upland buzzard, Pallas’s sandgrouse, laughing dove, great bustard, bush quail, gray, black and painted francolin, snowcock, little bustard, merlin, cheer pheasant, crested lark, painted sandgrouse, scrubfowl, common quail, brown accentor, ring necked pheasant, grey partridge, black bellied sandgrouse, common buzzard, black kite

By greater and little Gelion (stream/river): black faced bunting, Pallas’s bunting, pin tailed sandgrouse (summer only), white throated dipper, brown dipper, common kingfisher, hobby, swamphen

World building notes

--Laughing doves appear on the sigil of some of Maglor’s host who are particularly skilled in the use of song in battle

-Many of Maglor’s cavalry hunt or fight with birds including golden, steppe and imperial eagles.

-Game birds of the prairie steppes such as partridge make up much of the meat that the cavalry and scouts eat, along with hares.

-Most of the cavalry have horse hair plumes but some of the lieutenants and generals have feathers from pheasants or eagles.

-Emu are actually domesticated in some parts of the world and I love the idea of them being kept in both the Gap and Himlad as well as by peoples East of the Ered Luin. They have a huge variety of uses including leather, oil, eggs and meat. And the chicks are very cute ���

-I am a huge proponent of prehistoric and extinct animals living throughout Arda, as per Tolkien’s comments about “all creatures which walk or have walked the earth”. I really like the idea of small brush moas living near the mountain borders of the Gap

[little-pup-pip]

Just curious, what requests do you have in your queue/to do currently? If you're ok with saying it that is :]

Oh boy, that's a bigger question than last time someone asked! I have over 200 waiting requests at this point!! Because of that this got very very long, so I put the rest under the cut! Like last time, this is in order of how recently I received the request, and doesn't mean I'm too busy to take new requests!!

Ibara saegusa (enstars)

Monochrome oranges cats and angels

Gloomy bear

Another rockruff (maybe)

Cult of the lamb (specifically the lamb)

Llewellyn Watts (Murdoch Mysteries)

Jake (trailer park warlock)

Cult of the lamb (pet dreaming themed)

Bear therian

Selkie

Ice bear (we bare bears)

Tubbo (maybe)

Snow leopard

Pink

Australian shepherd (pupre)

Cassie (fnaf: ruin)

Draik (neopets)

The rainbow fish

Black kitten + space

Pumpkin head (maybe, needs more research)

Alice in wonderland

Sheep

Someone's OC Avery & siblings

Gothic

Star catcher (MLP)

Masc version of my druid board

Scrooge CG (2009 film)

Beetlejuice

Superstar daycare (fnaf)

1950s + ocean

Pandas + light purple and black

Dandelions

Willy wonka CG (recent movie)

Maki Harukawa (Danganronpa)

Kidcore Halloween + pumpkin puppy Webkinz

Fruit bat

Mermaid

Pastel purple + pandas

Robocar Poli

Brown, lime green and forest green puppy

Weird Barbie CG

Shiny Vaporeon

Where the wild things are

Squid

Dylan (the magic roundabout)

Conner CG (Detroit become human)

Mitsuri kanroji (demon slayer)

Minecraft mooshrooms

Sharks or wolves (haven't decided)

Hot Wheels

Miffy

Fox

Sharks

Zombies

Vincent (dead plate)

Vintage kitty dreaming

Deadpool

Shane CG (stardew valley)

Wolf pup

Celestia and Luna (MLP)

Soft blue and yellow

Pascal (animal crossing)

Pastel blue and pink

Batman CG

Ram

Osamu dazai (bungo stray dogs)

Dylan (the quarry)

Rain/nature + white rabbits

Ox

Penguin + dinosaur

Noah (total drama island)

Vision CG (marvel)

Light blue

Bumble bees + lavender

Yellow + ducks

Bearded vulture

Barn owl

Queen barb (trolls world tour)

Oliver (vocaloid)

Light green light brown and beige

Mind (Chonny Jash/CCCC)

Cinnamoroll + emu otori (project sekai)

Yellow+ chicks and puppy stuffies

Seam CG (deltarune)

Plants vs zombies

Viktor (arcane)

Queen of trash CG (Elmo goes to grouch land)

John Constantine (Justice League Dark)

Aziraphale (good omens)

Scenecore

Musa (winx club)

Leap frog

Hyper feminine puppy

Crow + black cat

Totodile + bodies of water

Bees

Sackboy (Little Big Planet) and or My Melody

Baby crocodile

Animal crossing

Pastel kitten

Doki doki literature club

Keralis (Hermitcraft, maybe)

90s grunge

Tula tones (novi stars)

Eevee + dragons

Kitten + stars

Ratchet (rescue bot academy)

Pastel shark

Mikan Tsumiki (Danganronpa)

Mushrooms

Grey + Ross federman youtooz

Sparkly dragon

Blue and purple + puppies

Ducks + alt/Gothic lean

Cinnamoroll

Shadow (sonic)

Jellyfish

Boyfriend.xml (Friday night funkin')

Puppet (fnaf)

Golden retriever + yellow and blue

Bernese mountain dog

Strawberries

Genshin impact

Len or Miku

Toothless (httyd)

Eddworld

Donnie (rise of the tmnt)

The princess and the grilled cheese sandwich

Pastel goth princess

SpongeBob

Karako Pierot (hiveswap)

Young Michael Afton

Soft fox

Great pyrenees + farm

Ike eveland

Invader Zim + neon green

Julius Caesar (Octavian, night at the museum, waiting until March for this one)

Scorpion

Vampire squid

Golden retriever (again, lol)

Cats + playing outside

Border Collie

Tiger

Argos CG (World of Mr. Plant) 

Pochacco

Mortal Kombat

marble cross fox/forest/fantasy (I'm figuring this one out still)

Puppy + SpongeBob

characters from Project Sekai, Hoshino Ichika, Mochizuki Honami, Akiyama Mizuki and Kusanagi Nene.

Baby vulture

Frog with more fem themes

Rain world/slugcat

Dark academia/cottagecore

Border Collie

Modded smash hit rooms

Crying child (fnaf)

Agent Smith CG (the matrix)

Katamari

Enjolras (les miserable)

Rolfe DeWolfe CG (Rockafire Explosion)

Bugbo

Slime rancher

Puppet (fnaf)

CosMc's

Parado (Kamen Rider)

Tally hall

Gordon (all engines go)

Spinel (Steven universe)

Cater diamond (twisted wonderland)

Rockabilly (probably)

Felix Lee

Jing yuan CG (Hsr)

Charles Xavier CG (X-Men)

Toki wartooth (metalocalypse)

Naoto Shirogane (persona 4)

Kitoto (I don't know what he's from)

17th century dutch

Sirena von boo (monster high)

Jake (miss peregrines home for peculiar children)

Minecraft

Sees behind trees

Allay (Minecraft, I think)

Spinosaurus screenshots or products

Tecchou (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Barbara (genshin impact)

Tasmanian devil

Spamton CG (deltarune)

Spinosaurus

Grunge + lop eared bunnies

Yume-Nikki

Daxter (jak and daxter)

Madness combat for puppies

James Sunderland (silent Hill)

Shirokuma (Danganronpa)

Leo (IDW comic)

[crimson-amarone]

Chapter 16: Blue Baby Emus

Chapter Summary:

After Vash ousted Lois and Jimmy as Earthlings, they make plans to head to Ripmela and then December. The next day, Vash shows Lois and Jimmy around Kasted while they come up with a plan to get to Ripmela. Jimmy finds his happy place playing with lil baby Thomas chicks. Lois kicks Wolfwood’s ass playing poker. Eriks says farewell to Lina and Granny one last time.

Start reading chapter 16

Chapters: 16/28+

Fandom: Trigun Stampede (Anime 2023), Trigun (Anime & Manga 1995-2008), My Adventures with Superman (Cartoon), Superman - All Media Types 

Rating: Mature (Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Language, Adult Themes)

Pairings: Clark Kent/Lois Lane, Meryl Stryfe/Vash the Stampede, Meryl Stryfe/Vash the Stampede/Nicholas D. Wolfwood 

Characters: Clark Kent, Vash the Stampede, Meryl Stryfe,  Lois Lane & Jimmy Olsen, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Milly Thompson, League of Lois Lanes

Story Summary:

Two years after Lost July, an interdimensional rift becomes dangerously unstable, opening a portal between universes—the worlds of No Man’s Land and Earth-12.

Outlaw Vash the Stampede is still MIA, although rumors abound. Despite not knowing if Vash is truly alive, both Meryl Stryfe and Wolfwood catch a lead pointing them to a remote town iles away.

Elsewhere, young Clark Kent’s life is turned upside down when he’s dragged to an unfamiliar planet to help as Superman. Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen follow his trail with some unlikely assistance.

Two heroes must make new allies to fight ruthless villains in a three-way conflict. All while trying to find where they both belong, face their inner demons, and make a better future for their worlds.

Start reading from the beginning

Start reading chapter 16

[drhoz]

#2581 - Apteryx mantelli - North Island Brown Kiwi

One of Aotearoa's iconic flightless birds - in fact the human inhabitants of the island are frequently referred to as Kiwis. 'Apteryx' means 'without wings'. Generally the case with the humans, too.

The picture above is the photo the Hokitika Kiwi Centre gives you if you go in to see their resident birds - Kiwi are nocturnal and do NOT react well to flash photography, or bright light in general. The US zoo that was running Kiwi encounters in daylight caused an international incident when New Zealand found out. You probably could have heard the collective howl of outrage from across the Pacific.

Apteryx mantelli is part of the Brown Kiwi species complex - three species that were all considered Apteryx australis until genetic evidence proved otherwise. There's two other Kiwi species as well.

Females stand about 40 cm (16 in) in height and weigh a little over two and a half kilos.

Not, in fact, closely related to Aotearoa's enormous but equally flightless Moa - their closest known relatives are Madagascar's extinct Elephant Birds, and fossils from the St Bathams Fauna suggest the Kiwi's ancestors flew there well after the moa were already flightless. Their closest living relatives are the emu and cassowary of Australia.

Once they arrived, they promptly occupied one of the ecological niches that eslewhere are occupied by mammals. Kiwi are omnivores, and use their long beaks to probe for worms and other invertebrates in the leaf litter and soil. They have an extraordinarily good sense of smell for a bird. They've also been seen fishing for crayfish.

Kiwi as extremely vunerable to dog attack, which is just one reason all the species are considered Vulnerable to Critically Endangered. Stoats are another serious threat to younger birds, which is why eggs are taken from nests and reared in captivity until they're big enough to kick a stoat to death. Quite territorial - the captive birds patrolled the edges of their pens very intensely when the other bird was visible.

During the day, and when nesting, they live in burrows. They're also infamous for the size of their eggs, up to a quarter of the size of the hen. Unsurprisingly, after laying up to seven of those in a season, the hens want nothing to do with actually incubating the eggs. Chicks are precocious, entirely capable of walking and foraging within days of hatching.

Hokitika, Aotearoa New Zealand.

[the-crafty-unicorn]

So according to google, "Gently tapping the air end of an emu egg will give a duller sound when the chick is filling the air space. Eggs that make a sound like china being tapped could be infertile or bad"

Maybe you could try that, the air pocket should be on the bottom of the egg

"Ohh...!! Could you maybe help me since uhm... a plush tapping it might not do much?"