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justablah56 · 24 days ago

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ALSO SPEAKING IF RECENTLY EXTINCT ANIMALS!!!!

THE THYLACINE!! Which you might already know about but i dont care im going to yap anyway!!!!

The thylacine, or tasmanian tiger, was a marsupial that lives on the island of you guessed it! Tasmaina!

We don't know much about them, because much like dodo birds colonizers showed up to there island and killed them all in the matter of a 1-2 decades!

Being marsupials they kept there young in a pouch, everyone knows kangaroos do this but is actually something all marsupials do including koalas, possums, opossums, Tasmanian devils, wallabies, wombats, bandicoots, and shit ton more but those were the first that came to mind!

A lot of people assume they are in the canine family because of there dog like appearance, and being called "Tasmania tigers" also confuses some people but they are actually more closely related to kangaroos the dogs or cats!

They where hunted to extinction in the early 1900s (the last known living one dying in captivity in 1936) because many people believed they were hunting and killing there chickens and sheep, although in more recent years its thought they didn't even hunt that many chickens or sheep. While they definitely did kill and eat a few (as all wild animals will happily do if you let your tasty prey wander free in the home of a predator) the island also had coyotes/dingos/and feral dogs which certainly also killed plenty of livestock. However because the colonizers weren't familiar with thylacines at all they where more likely to blame the unfamiliar animal. One farmer (Harry Burrell) also took photos of a thylacine killing a chicken in his coop

Today some people argue whether these photos were real or staged of even if they used a stuffed carcass. I don't think it matters today, the animal is already extinct and we know a few probably did eat livestock just not to the extent farmers believed they did.

But because farmers where blaming 100% of livestock deaths on this one animal many people started hunting them, and some people even put up bounty's for there bodies.

After just a few years of people going out for the purpose of killing as many thylacines as possible they where critically endangered.

At that point people started getting mad at hunters and farmers for killing the animals and just throwing the bodies away and the government granted the species protection status.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a32613732/rare-extinct-thylacine-footage-found/

They took a video of a thylacine that was recently placed in captivity, which would come to be known the video of the last thylacine. The animal died in captivity, due to the neglect from the staff, it was left in its outside enclosure with no blanket all alone over right and died od hypothermia. If it had a bed or grass or small cave or den to sleep in or other thylacines to cuddle up with it probably would have lived. The video was originally in black and white but many people have make colored version in recent years.

Since then may people have claimed to spot thylacines in the wild, but personally i doubt it. I really wish they were still around but the chances are low to non. As i said before there are also feral dogs, coyotes, and dingos in yhe area and if you only catch a glimpse of one for a second as it runs through the underbrush it can be difficult to tell the four species apart and most if not all the thylacine sightings have probably been one of the other animals. And even if some are still around the genetic bottle neck they went through means at this point any still living ones are inbreeded and have many one more generation before they are too inbreeded to survive anymore.

Anyway! Ignore all that sad shit!

Did you know they stood on there hind legs and when doing so looked kinda like kangaroos??

Cutie patootie!!! They really are kangaroo software running on dog hardware 😭

They also had a yawn gape! They would yawn but when doing so there jaws would open up like SO wide ?????

They didn't do this when hunting, when hunting they opened there mouths a normal amount! And looking at bone structure and where muscles would have been we think there bite might actually have been weaker when there jaws were open all the way vs when they were only open half way before biting! We don't know why they did this, because it had to have been something social and we never got to study a group of them together.

And they were social animals! We believe they would live in pairs of a male and female and raise young together, when there young fully matured they would leave there parents to go find a mate of there own!

Also remember how i said they were marsupials and had pouches for there young? Well they had specifically backwards facing pouches! While most marsupials have a pouch with the opening facing up/to there face some marsupials including the thylacine! Which means there pouch faced down/to there bottom! Which means the females looked reallll weird when they were holding there joeys

Anyway! Im tired good night hope you liked my thylacine facts :]

ABDABNWNCJWNXKD I DO KNOW ABOUT THEM THEYRE LITERALLY MY FAVORITES OF ALL TIME !!!!!!!!! shout out to wild kratts which had an episode on them that I was completely obsessed with <3 BUT YEAH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH !!!!! their ridiculously huge yawns are actually so important to me, they really just go :\_ I didn't know about the ass pouch though lmao- thank you for a new fact about my favorite kangaroo doggies <3

#just blahs #vik !!#you have no idea the way i literally went :D !!!! when i saw the picture at the top of the ask #i love thylacines so much augh ‚‚#fun fact after watching the wild kratts episode when i was like 10 i purposely started opening my mouth as wide as possible when i yawned #because i wanted to be like tasmanian tiger from my shows ‚‚#and so now i just. yawn real wide.#anyways #thank you I love them

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dteamomegaverse · 6 months ago

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Day 3: Animal Features/Hybrids

Welcome back to prompt explainers, where we give you a more literal description of the prompt, as well as inspiration and examples!

You can find the original post with all of the prompts here. Today our topic will be animal features or hybrids.

Animal features and hybrids are not the most popular omegaverse trope, but its pretty interesting! Especially as omegaverse is a take on humans having more animalistic ways of bonding.

Like the graphic says, this prompt highlights the pairing having animal traits, being animal hybrids, or being able to shapeshift into an animal! This could be something limited to just one member of the pairing, or it could be something everyone in the world has! Whether you go small with things such as sensitive senses or the ability to purr, have more physical traits such as wings or tails, or even go full on with the ability to shapeshift like a were-creature, the possibilities are endless!

The specific animals each of the members are is completely limitless. Maybe you go for a simple panda!Sapnap! Clever with alligator!Dream! Or out-of-the-box with jewel beetle!George! Whatever the case is, it's important to keep omegaverse dynamics in mind with your pairing. In fact, you can even choose specific animals that have known relationships to influence your pairing, like mongooses and vipers or coyotes and badgers! You can even use minecraft mobs or mythical creatures like creepers or unicorns for your pairing (especially since one of our sub-prompts for this day is a magic au).

Maybe each secondary gender has a type of animal they'll have traits of! Like alphas could be non-mammals like reptiles or birds, betas could be sea-creatures, and omegas could be mammals. Or only specific features will show depending on your secondary gender. There are way too many ways to taxonomize animals, so how they are categorized can vary.

Animal features and hybrids can have specific stereotypes associated with them in your world. Maybe having predator blood is believed to make you dangerous. Or having furry ears or a scaly tail are a ticket to dehumanization. Maybe shapeshifters have to hide lest they be hunted to extinction. There's so many ways you could take this prompt, the world is your oyster! (and let us all say thank you to stereotypes being such a helpful plot device!)

With the definition out of the way, here are some examples of fic ideas about animal features/hybrids! Some of the prompts will combine the sub-prompts in the idea.

the pairing are both hybrids but naturally ward each other off, like a cat and a creeper

a member of the pairing hides their animal traits from their partner but it turns out their partner loves them for their traits

One of the pairing obsesses over their partner's instincts/traits, like purring or tail wagging

hybrids of animals that hate each other are on different sport teams but fall in love and/or become mates

shrek au, or where one of the members is cursed to become a werecreature, shapeshifting against their will under certain circumstances (such as a full moon, being hit with water, or during their cycle)

Still need some help? We have an inspiration board on Pinterest for each prompt! Find the one for animal features or hybrids here.

We hope this helps you understand the prompt and think of some wonderful ideas! We can't wait to see what you post on October 15th!

#dteamomegaverse24 #prompt explainers #🥛 admin

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dragonthunders01 · 1 year ago

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Spectember D8: Artificial selection

66 million years ago an extraterrestrial object landed on earth… not collided… landed.

It was itself artificial in nature, intelligent, very large and ready to prepare this world for occupants that were never going to come here, this machine was throw by an already extinct civilization that was colonizing the galaxy millions of years ago, leaving these behemoth terraforming drones that readjust the biosphere of a whole planet to be turned into a Arcology structured Ecumenopolis which can let them colonize the new alien planet. The artificial construct is not high intelligent, is more automatic than anything so this would only keep going for what was programmed without the ability to learn anything more of what it needs to maintain the global Arcological cities on the end cretaceous earth, even if it remains millions of years on the same task, following the same protocols and only adapting to an extend.

This has turned the history of earth into a new age, one where a civilization formed without its residents, now affecting the biosphere of the late cretaceous earth and carrying it into a strange new period, this causing a transformation on ways that benefited the survival of no avian dinosaurs and other animals and plants that could have perished if the asteroid collided as this whole system would protect them of the asteroid impact as part of its protocol of preservation. However, the existence of this artificial being would shape that fauna in ways that only could rival to changes made by geological and climate events, the machine would focus its goal on trying to adjust the animals that now live inside the cities to regulate their impact.

On what would be called reserves formed a more fragmentary ecosystems, pockets and islands between cities they are the most natural place on earth, they would see the evolution and extinction of new animals, meanwhile inside cities, there has been two trends: either these animals just adapt to the urbanized the environment remaining almost like their reserve relatives or the machine has modified the animals that tried to pass or live there to accommodate into specific tasks that benefit the infrastructure, indirectly domesticating them by artificial means and indirectly modifying their genes at long term by breeding, though these domesticated fauna sometimes would became extinct for a unexpected catastrophic event or are replaced by another group that the same global machine reshaped into a similar niche. Herbivores that feed on gardens and maintain them clean, predators that hunt animal plagues and balance the population of the other non-domesticated fauna, scavengers that keep streets clean from other animal remains. Although this machine has an army of small drones and systems that self-clean and maintain the cities, it didn’t stop to create its urban ecology to keep everything in check outside of the synthetic drone hands.

With all of this, it was possible that if there was not sentient species going to colonize this new earth, properly a sapient one would evolve inside the cities? Would even the machine would welcome its rise? In sort of way… it happened, but not in the way you could expect.

After 66 million years of constant modifications of these urban ecosystems, and jut since 6 million years ago a unique theropod species evolved, this is the Mockery folk (Scoptosapienoides), derived from a branch of oviraptorosaurs that evolved to hunt down perching animals on the tall building, it lives in these mega cities built and mean to host the long gone alien colonizers, and these theropods are capable of use the shelters with their rooms and beds, and sitting places to rest; these can go away from their specific home to “work” in hunting down the small animals that invaded the gardens of the tall buildings, often taking the transports, they can walk around streets too but they are taking the advantage of these special “elevators” to avoid wasting energy. They work out a whole day on their hunt, in a way this was their whole reward, a good hunt to eat food; they reach up their main homes to rest on the night, they are able to recognize their own houses, marks on them or simply by memory; they normally live solitary unless they establish a monogamous pair with a member of the opposite sex, which can nest and then raise their young in one single shelter until they reach age adult, at that point the monogamous couple separates and lives their lives as before, usually in a span period of more than 5 years; the mockery folk lives accommodated and in the case some of these get sick, old or crippled, these are cared properly if needed by the machine system.

Populations are largely limited to tall building apartments, normally only moving away when population overgrow the shelter amount or if one of the couples of the original family or the children leave and there is no way to properly way to establish a home nearby, normally remains homeless for days or week until they are guided by the machine to a new available building to live.

Their lives are easy, sustained by their hunting an interactive activity outside they can relax and sleep mostly in their shelters, the machine maintains its basic necessities including cleaning of these homes; the machine identifies these as residents of the buildings rather than animals, both collaborating and receiving the actions done, which the machine interprets as sentience acting, but is not, these animals are barely grasping a intelligence higher than a 4 year old human, they are as smart as a parrot and the majority of actions correspond to instinct and beneficial gain, and has been for the last 6 million years without really much advancement except more skill in using the systems of these cities.

The machine itself created them nudging its behavior, a product of mutual improvement and accommodation that produced at the end animals that could fill up a niche other organism couldn't fit, the one of the colonizers, to an extent of course because the machine itself is not capable of uplift these creatures, just to fulfill their needs and the mockery folk corresponds this for their own advantage, but not developed further for the mundane and dull life they obtained.

They became domesticated “people” which took the activities and tasks sapient beings were supposed to do, doing things they were planned to accommodate these unknown creators, though not fully guided by consciousness, they cannot understand why they can live in homes, or how these systems work, they cannot use things above simple color panels which they can touch with their derived finger in order to do an action, they cannot gather information or have a language, or history, they just live and die. There is no way to know if something might help them to evolve of being accommodate being in this artificial world, and the machine is likely not going to push this animal, just to let them live a sort of luxurious life until they all die out like with many other species.

#speculative evolution #spectember #alternative evolution #non kpg #theropoda #oviraptorosauria #Domestication

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intothetlkverse · 4 months ago

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Decided to challenge myself by drawing every single TLK character out there, up until this point in time, and post it here. You can see the finished project on my main account, though I figured to post it on my tumblr just show I could proudly show off my work and a few of my head canons.

Here's all the extra species across TLG/K:

So with every list, there are almost always the outliers. I did try to be good about my sheets, combining species by similar categories like family tree relations(i.e. giraffes and okapis are both giraffids, feliforms, mustelids, etc.) or by general feel such as general size or associations(ex. aardvarks in the non-rodents category). However there was no doubt in my mind that I would end up with some truly hard to justify extras, ones that just couldn't fit, would've fit except for the lengths of the lists, or not enough members to justify their own list, and even some I forgot/chose to ignore until now. I'll give a brief description of them, why they didn't make any previous sheets, and any justifications for any changes I made.

Starting off with the bears, one of the biggest categories and probably could've made a smaller list, though I wasn't sure how to go about that. So Africa technically doesn't have any bears, the extinct Atlas bear aside, however in the Middle East we do have the Syrian brown bear, which is close enough to Africa, which makes it good enough for me. So from panda to polar to grizzly, they're all now Syrian brown bears, and there are five of them; Tangaagim/Taqaddam(reverence/sanctity-Arabic), his wife Female Polar Bear/Pabalelo(protection-Afrikaans), Heng Heng/Henna(a shrub, polite-Arabic), baby panda/Bapana(father-Sudanese) from the T&P Show episode/book "Don't Break the China", along with his parents, and Smolder the bear/Mvutaji(smoker) from various episodes. The first three are all native to the Tree of Life, as some of the few predators aside from the lions and Varya's family, though they mostly keep to themselves and chow down on the local foliage and fish. Bapana and his family live elsewhere in a more jungle setting, a strange trio as panda father's are notable absence typically. Mvutaji is a loner to most and a real pain in the butt and bully if you do get to know him, hence why others tend to avoid him. He's had a couple run-ins with Timon and Pumbaa, and has develop quite the aggression towards them.

Next is our other largest category here, featuring the goats. Technically could've added them to the bovines list, though that already was too long and had to be split. As for the goats, our mountain goats from TLG are now now Arabian tahr; Rama(ram), Cek/Cheik(learned, Arabic), and Baby/Bab(door, Arabic). A small herd, their family has lived for generations in the Tree of Life, enjoying the rocky cliffs surrounding the Oasis, occasionally acting as scouts for the pride.

We also have the Goat/Uboya(wool) from "The White I-don't-know-what", now a Nubian ibex, and Billy the Goat/Mbuzi(goat) from "Serengeti Western", also an ibex. For the former, after an eagle tries to hunt Simba during his mountain scaling trip, Simba struggles and the eagle ends up drops him. He lands in Uboya, and of course he's frightened by the sudden predator landing on his back, but after a brief moment of panic and decomposition, he allows Simba to ride him up the mountain to where the snow is. Meanwhile Mbuzi, along with Gaidi the scrub hare and Mad Dog McGraw/Nadawa(drugs) the wild dog, are part of a group of ruffians that threaten others for resources. Also there is Happy dog/Thabo(happiness-Southern Sotho) from "Let's Serengeti Out of Here". My HC is that Nadawa is an outcast from his pack due to his more sadistic, thieving behaviors and Thabo is his younger brother who thinks the world of his brother, not realizing he's a wanted criminal. Happy dog of course got a massive design rehaul to fit here, though I tried to still keep some semblance like making his eye color his original blue palette, keeping the lighter tip of his tail, and even sneaking in a smiley face in reference to his original tie on his chest. Mad Dog McGraw keeps his original colors, though I used the colors from his shirt, gloves, and hat as the spots/patches. The both of them I didn't know they existed until I really scoured the TLK wiki, otherwise he would've made it onto the canines sheet.

Going back to our hooved animals, we have our bactrian camel, now an Arabian-native dromedary camel; Nundu(hump), Kiril/Kiri(confession), a musk-deer-now-turned-Barbary-stag, and Tenuk/Teneil(cloud-Arabic) the tapir, now a rhino. Technically speaking, deer and antelope are not in the same family, cervidae vs bovidae, and while they may look similar, they are not closely related. Hence why he's here. Also I think I might lowkey ship him and Nundu here based on how they're looking at each other. Kiri and his herd are in the Nightlands in order to recoup their numbers after several tragedies wiped a lot of them out. Nundu is one of the Night Pride's members, serving as a messenger and guide for those seeking refuge at the Tree, directing them there if they see they truly need help, and Kiri was one of the ones Nundu personally guided back. Nundu got a hump removed to be more accurate to the Arabian-native camel species there, though I tried to keep some of the shaggy look. As for Teneil, tapirs are found in Malaysia, Sumatra, and South American countries, so a species swap was in order. Residing in the forest that Mama Civet and her porcupine prickle resided in, since their departure the community has slowly been rebuilding their strength and making it a safe haven for travelers once more, allowing the cultivation and free usage of tuliza for all. I chose rhino for him since that's the closest species they're related too, aside from horses interestingly enough, though looking at those lips I can see the resemblance. It does also amuse me a bit to think of a full-grown rhino being scared witless by a civet and some porcupine, then realizes later 'oh wait, I have a horn and several hundred pounds on these bullies'.

Next large category is primates, just non-monkeys: Kely(little-Malagasy) the golden bamboo lemur and the last of the Nightlanders, Perata(ring-Malagasy) the ring-tailed lemur from "A King-like Hairdo" that Simba saves from a log jam, Tarsier/Truuk(trick-Afrikkans) from "Congo on Like This", and Laini(delicate) the galago/bushbaby. Would've been on the primates list if it were not for the fact that it was so long, even when split up. So my HC is that a couple years ago, a horrible monsoon season hit Madagascar, and unfortunately several animals; Kely, Perata, and Truuk included, got sent to the mainland on fallen trees. Some like Kely and his troop eventually found themselves at the Tree of Life and settled in their, unable to figure out how to return back home. Perata the ring-tailed lemur found themselves in a similar predicament, landing closer to the Pridelands, though after being rescued and then rescuing Simba, the cub got him in touch with a bateleur eagle named Ubawa, who had previously shown great prowess and proficiency in returning animals back to their original homeland, as with Eiso the African penguin. Though locating and flying across the water to an island 250 miles off the coast while carrying a lemur on his back, Ubawa eventually succeeded in returning the little lemur home, then promptly retired from this job, and actually retired on the island. Next the tarsier, now aye-aye, Truuk, of whom I split both his tarsier disguise and jackal self into two different characters, now working together as partners. Though I hate to add further negative connotations to aye-ayes, given their already 'bad omen status', it was the closest thing I could get, since tarsiers are native to Southeast Asia and aye-ayes are from Madagascar, plus look closely to the former. He eventually came into contact with the jackal Barakoa. Using this misguided stereotype of being a harbinger of evil, plus being a generally frightening creature, he was able to negotiate with the jackal for his life; he would help trick and trap animals for Barakoa to kill, then they would split the results. Timon and Pumbaa nearly were the victims of this, though thankfully they had Simba around to chew butt and kick gum.... and.. well Tarsier's eyes kinda have that pink gum look to them, right? Lastly we have Laini the galago, a Pridelands native. Though mostly nocturnal, her and her group seem to be more diurnal, interacting with other animals freely in the day. Though skittish, she is very kind, even acting on occasion as the night patrol for the rulers.

Next up are marsupials, a group of mammals that have pouches in which their babies are nurtured in after birth. They are also mostly native to Australia and opossums are found additionally in both North/South America, though obviously not Africa, unless we go back several ages ago, though I like to stay more modern. First is Boudreaux/Butros(rock-Arabic) the opossum from "Okay Bayou?". Had considered moonrat, though that's a Southeast Asian species, plus not even a real rat. To keep with the grey color/general body shape/long snout, I went with the African giant shrew. Anyways he's one of Timon and Pumbaa's pals, an honest, simple soul. Next is formerly kangaroos, now springhares, mother and son duo; Joey/Jahi(dignified) and Joey's Mother/Jokia(attractive).

Lastly of the land-dweller is King of Pluto/Udo(second son-Afrikaans), given meerkat form. Unlike his daughter which did make it into the meerkat category, this guy didn't have any meerkat disguise or anything. His slug-like appearance would've made it onto the bug sheet, though I decided to just try and invent a meerkat form for him to go with his daughter. Colors like his daughter, blonde hair for his crown, eyebrows and chin meant to reflect his tentacles, and the blue and purple turaco feathers are reminiscent of his crown and cape.

And finally, the last category is warm-blooded sea creatures with Lumba Lumba(dolphin-Sudanese) the Indo-Pacific dolphin and Lester/Balyena(whale-Iloko) the humpback whale. Lester is a female human cursed to be a wish-giving male whale that gets turned back after fulfilling the wishes. I've already decided to do humans in the future for this project, just turned into animals to keep in with the animal-centric theme of this universe, though considering this character was a human that got turned into a whale, I've decided to just leave them as is. Also decided to split the difference, making them both female and a whale. Also I like how their name sounds like 'baleen', which is the name for the mouth filter system in most whales that allows them to strain seawater for food. Lumba Lumba is a Indo-Pacific dolphin. Both Chinese and Amazon river dolphins are known to be pink, though given that Lumba Lumba is clearly an ocean-dwelling type, an that albinism in ocean-dwelling dolphins does result in them becoming a pinkish color, like Angel the bottlenose dolphin, it made sense to make that the reason here, though unfortunately it does mean she's even more at risk for sunburns and the like. Decided to keep her saturated pink look.

#whale #deer #camel #dolphin #wild dog #lionkingchallenge #lion king #art challenge #charcater design #character design #springhare #lemur #tapir #goat #bears

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lavenderfables · 1 year ago

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Thoughts on dragons? >:3

Open ended question, but if you want more specific question then: favorite world building for "types/species" of dragons? Thoughts on Mythical versus More Realistic? Favorite real animal that is kinda dragon-ish (living or extinct)?

Thoughts on dragons

Dragons are my favourite magical creatures. They're just so varied and inventive across folklore, while also maintaining a thread throughout that connects them under the umbrella of dragons. They are be violent. They can be tricksters. They can be wise. They can be symbols. They can be almost human, beyond human, or utterly wild. They vary from culture to culture, even region to region. Dragons too me as a lot like folklore. They're almost the embodiment of folklore itself. Love that for them.

World-building for "types/species" of dragons:

I'm super into nature non-fiction, so my favourite thing to explore when world-building is how existing dragon types (drakes, wyverns, etc) would impact and be impacted by their environments.

How would a hoard of drakes influence local deer? How would the local conditions and resources influence the dragons appearance, behaviors, and food sources?

If said hoard of drakes was situated in a polar environment, they might develop thicker scales or perhaps even develop furred hides. Instead of hunting deer, maybe they would learn to swim in order to hunt seals or fish. Perhaps they would develop a pale like appearance in order to camouflage. Maybe they'd become solitary like polar bears or maybe they'd gather together like penguins for protection against both the cold and other predators (such as larger dragons).

Now, consider: what would a polar drake think of the auroras? What would a polar drake think of their mortality, the brutality and beauty of the ice, the creatures they hunt in order to survive?

...Okay, I got a little deep and intense, but you get what I'm saying right? Dragons have so much possibilities and you've honestly got to have fun with it.

I also highly recommend reading nature non-fiction about animals.

Thoughts on Mythical VS More Realistic:

I honestly think you've got to have a bit of both. If your dragon is entirely mythical, they'll read too flat, especially to modern readers. In the same vein, going to hard into realism will utterly drain them of their mythicalness.

For example, if I kept on in the same vein as I was before with the polar drakes, they'll just start to seem like just a regular creature. They're just a big lizard in a hostile environment. They're not even entirely dragons anymore.

However, if I added these drakes could breathe fire and made their own ice caves, or that these caves were considered so beautiful that kings traveled years to see them in person, or that the flames they breathed were such a searing hot shade of blue and green that the drakes believed the auroras were dragon fire... If I added all that, they become both realistic and mythical.

It's all about balancing the two.

Favourite real animal that is kinda dragon-ish:

I have two answers for them

Chinese Alligator, also known as the muddy dragon! Love these little guys.

2. Tuatara, my best beloveds

Send some asks that are like “thoughts on ______”

#dragons #replies #long post #words from alice #anon #ask meme #magical creatures #fantasy

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nonegenderleftpain · 2 years ago

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I appreciate the response. I've lived in barn cat areas as well, and my focus is definitely more on the ethical perspective of leaving invasive predators to roam than it is keeping a bunch of feral cats alive. We have culling programs for all kinds of wild animals when they cause problems, such as deer, but cats are given the exception because they are domesticated (your statement about it being better PR is exactly right). I find this abhorrent, and I say that as someone whose favorite animal is cats. I grew up with my own cats, and interacting with non-socializable barn cats regularly, and my desire to see them alive does not override the damage they do to the ecosystem.

Not having someone on staff able to handle a terrier as a mouser is absolutely an agricultural priorities issue, and it's one that, in my opinion, needs to be changed. From my experience interacting with small farmers, the issue is very rarely the financing of buying a terrier bred for the job (most of them in my area have hunting dogs as well to put food on the table), it's an unwillingness to change how they do business. I know that isn't universal, and my small backwoods six person town with a bunch of Appalachian farmers is not indicative of how vineyards run their work - but they need to be putting the money into efforts to reduce the damage they do to the ecosystem by investing in terriers and phasing out barn cats. Just like "if you can't afford to pay your workers properly, your business deserves to fail," if you cannot afford to mitigate the mass extinction occurring by using other trusted measures, your business deserves to fail. It really isn't an acceptable excuse in any capacity.

I also want to address the statement of ferals not being able to be socialized. I don't think that you're saying that no feral can be, but many people do say that and I want to correct it for anyone reading. While there are some very few ferals that absolutely cannot be socialized to be around people, the vast majority of feral cats are able to be socialized with proper effort (I say this as someone who has worked in socializing feral cats for local shelters - in the three years I fostered for socialization, I had a single cat who could not be homed and was put down as a more humane option than setting him loose to die in the woods to coyotes). Most cats that are deemed incapable of being homed have been owned by people who do not know how cat socialization works and do not want to or can't put in the effort required.

I will double down on what I said - if you have a business and are looking for rodent control, get a dog bred for the purpose. Do not bring invasive predators into your area, especially if there were none there before. The local wildlife may be considered pests and be slated to be killed as well, but the burrowing snakes or shrews or birds you didn't know were on your property will also die, and the miles beyond your property that cats are known to roam do not deserve to be under attack because of your business. I understand that it's the norm in the field, but that doesn't make it right or sustainable, and the damage it does cannot be undone. I understand that as a business owner, it is a difficult cost - I grew up surrounded by farmers. But costs are part of owning a business, and just because pollution levels are regulated by the EPA and the effect of barn cats are not does not mean that taking the easy solution is an acceptable or appropriate answer to the problem.

(None of this is meant to be aggressive - tone regulation is impossible on the internet, I swear. I really do appreciate you taking the time to answer and talk about the reality of the situation instead of just throwing "but what about barn cats!" as a gotcha. Honestly, I think in this particular conversation, it's an unnecessary diversion from the topic that draws attention away from the point, and to say that working cats and outdoor cats aren't the same, while I understand that the difference is notable to you, isn't the case *in the context of the discussion.* I recognize you said as much in your first sentence, I don't want you to think I wasn't listening. I just wanted to clarify why I pushed back against you in the first place. The discussion of sustainable ways of mousing for small farms and the egregious cost of purebred dogs is a separate discussion than the discussion of outdoor pet cats, and people use it as an excuse to shut down any criticism of their decision to let their pet roam unsupervised. I do not want to muddy the discussion about outdoor pet cats with information people can use to misquote and dodge responsibility for their pets.)

happy earth day. don’t forget that someone else’s outdoor cat is your indoor cat

#catcourse

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chaya-mga2022mi5019 · 2 years ago

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Green Hat : Creativity (Idea 03) | Developing Camouflage Techniques to Protect Endangered Species

I realized that camouflaged bandages do not in fact reduce bacterial visibility because bacterial colonization is primarily driven by chemical signals and environmental cues rather than visual perception. Therefore, I had to look into other topics.

It was quite difficult to come up with an original idea for the Green Hat as we already use camouflaging techniques in a number of fields, ranging from military to outdoor camping. I first had to look at an issue that needs the solution of camouflaging, the reason being protecting itself from danger. All the while, this solution also has to be for a positive reason unlike using camouflaging in security systems which could be used against you in a scary way.

These days, I’ve been seeing a lot of news reports of dead endangered species as a result of hunting.

There are many species around the world that are currently considered endangered, which means they are at serious risk of extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains the Red List, a comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.

It is essential to understand that the hunting of elephants is considered illegal in many countries and is highly regulated in others. The international trade in ivory has been banned since 1989 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international agreement between governments. Despite this, illegal poaching and trade continue to pose a significant threat to elephant populations.

Unfortunately, the high value of rhino horns has led to intense poaching, driving rhinos to the brink of extinction as well. The illegal trade in rhino horn continues to thrive despite international efforts to stop it.

In many parts of the world, hunting of crocodiles is strictly regulated or outright illegal, especially without specific permits, due to the threat of extinction that many crocodile species face.

Bornean Orangutan, found in Borneo, are also critically endangered due to habitat loss from deforestation for palm oil plantations and illegal hunting.

I recognized this as an issue that might need the solution of camouflaging. Here, in this case, the endangered specie could be recognized as the “insect” in my concept, and the hunters could be recognized as the “predator”.

Therefore, my Green Hat could be about how we could use camouflaging to protect endangered species from human activities and help their survival and preservation. The idea would involve equipping animals with a device that analyzes its surroundings and projects a holographic image around the animal, making it blend into its environment.

This could make a herd of elephants look like an extension of a forest or a field. The aim would be to deceive hunters into thinking that there's nothing of interest in that area. By camouflaging these animals nearly invisible to hunters, we could effectively decrease the rate of illegal hunting and poaching.

This system could offer a non-invasive means of protection, unlike other methods such as relocation or captive breeding programs. It allows animals to stay in their natural habitats without human interference.

So far, I’m quite satisfied with this new idea. The only problem is that equipping these animals with devices could cause distress, and also equipping them with a device in the first place could be a pretty challenging task given that these are wild animals. For this, we can use different methods depending on the size and nature of the animal.

The device could be lightweight, comfortable, and made from biocompatible materials to minimize the risk of harm or distress to the animal.

The animal will need to be safely captured to allow the device to be attached. This could involve the use of tranquilizer darts administered by trained professionals, or trapping methods for smaller animals. Tranquilizer darts are tools used by wildlife professionals, veterinarians, or conservation scientists to temporarily sedate or immobilize animals from a distance.

Despite some obstacles, the idea of protecting endangered species using an advanced form of camouflage is still compelling. It is an exciting concept that merges technology with nature, all for the noble cause of wildlife preservation.

There's still a lot to be done as I have to find a way to visually convey this idea. For now, I am happy with the progress I've made.

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poke-biologisthawthorn · 2 years ago

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Water Types are fascinating!

The Water Type is one of the most common and diverse types out there, and this may be because they are excellent at adapting to their environment.

The Water Type is one of my personal favourite types, and for good reason! Water Types are extremely adaptable and are able to live in many different environments.

Many Water Types such as Corsola or Relicanth have the ability to filter salt and dirt out of water, and some can store the salt and dirt and fire them at predators as a defense mechanism. Water Types can also sometimes be found on land, such as the Squirtle line or Vaporeon.

Speaking of Vaporeon, certain specific Pokémon have evolved traits that no other Pokémon have, such as Vaporeon being able to turn into a small body of water. Wailord is another example of this, being the largest non-max Pokémon there is, meaning it has extremely thick skin. This trait is very useful, as it protects Wailord from the immense water pressure of the deep sea.

Another interesting Water Type is Wishiwashi, supposedly the "weakest Pokémon". However, when in danger, Wishiwashi can call upon its school and they can band together to create an incredibly powerful Pokémon, referred to as Wishiwashi's School Form.

Pokémon don't always have to be by themselves or with only others of their own species, though. Let me introduce you to Mantine and Remoraid! Mantine is a Water-Flying type Pokémon native to the Johto region. It isn't all that special, just another Water Type Pokémon, right? Wrong! Mantine is one of very few Pokémon who can work well with different species of Pokémon, in this case Remoraid. Mantine and Remoraid are so dependent on each other, that Mantyke can only evolve into Mantine if there is a Remoraid nearby. Remoraid helps Mantine by assisting it in battle with enemy Pokémon. In return, the Mantine helps Remoraid hunt for food and keeps it clean.

Sadly, due to pollution and global warming, the Water Type is becoming less and less common and many species are sadly endangered, meaning your favourite Water Types may go extinct if we don't do something about it.

In conclusion, the Water Type is an amazingly fascinating type because of its diversity and adaptability. I hope you have learned something new about the Water Type today, and I hope this convinces you to help save the ocean by donating to help stop polluting.

"From the depths of the ocean to the flow of the rivers, the Water Type has become one with the waves and the flow of life itself. Like the tides that rise and fall, they are ever-changing and adaptable, always moving forward in the face of adversity." -Aurora Frost, 1876.

#pokemon rp #pokeblog rp #irl pkmn #rotomblr #pokemon #pokeblogging #pkmn irl

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love-and-rockers · 2 years ago

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1-3 with all four !!

yay for aesthetic!

what colour do you associate with them?

burgundy/blood colour. red but a lot deeper and richer, in fact i think that's the colour that she goes for with everything, lipstick, nails, clothes she always loves this colour. the blood comparison especially fits with how she often thinks about her body/organically and how it relates to who she is. levi's indigo as a bonus colour though :)

what animal do you associate with them?

brown/black bear. for the maternal instincts of protecting those she cares about and being down to bat with anyone who threatens her tribe but also for the absolute carnage that can be caused from her when she's provoked. get out the way of a provoked andy because she'll dig her claws in deep.

i also associate her with crows but i feel like that's a different explanation.

what element do you associate with them?

i assume we're going for the traditional greek elements not the periodic table (she's a halogen btw, axl's an alkali metal, duff's a transition metal and yoko's a chalcogen [izzy's a noble gas]) but fire! pretty obvious considering she is a fire sign but she likes to burn either as a warm candle or a forest blaze. the heat that can keep others safe but also in danger but she mist use up fuel to keep herself sustained

what colour do you associate with them?

rust. almost like the warm/orange tone of andy's colour. of course from the natural colour of his hair, especially when it's damp. but also how metal, a texture that he often associates with, his rings and necklaces as well as his gun collection, rusts down with time. rust will eventually envelope the other metal that once gave the sheen, he grows over time.

what animal do you associate with them?

tiger. a beautiful marvel in the animal kingdom and a top predator in their game fr, very dangerous to be close when they are on the hunt but also amazing to look at in the wild. yet also hunted into near extinction, everyone wanting to take the trophy of the hunt by trapping them.

what element do you associate with them?

fire (and earth). i feel like fire is quite obvious for axl, i think that it suits him to go alongside andy, can easily lead to be a blaze that can take down a whole field but also a calming fireplace in the winter, as well as the explosive tendencies. but i also like earth, a very steady foundation that rarely changes with time or the seasons.

what colour do you associate with them?

dior pink. like the blush colour which is a bright bubblegum pink colour. it's her favourite colour but is also ultra ultra feminine which is something that yoko loves and is a key part of her personality that she loves for herself.

what animal do you associate with them?

fox. a classic japanese animal of course but an animal that has a lot of personality, like yoko. they are both sneaky and cunning but also viewed as majestic and bringing good fortune. very playful but also have a large bite when she's pressured and will attack meeker creatures on her territory.

what element do you associate with them?

air. constantly moving with time and never the same again. but also as communication as well as the breath of life for just about all organisms. yet also fickle and changing with the wind.

what colour do you associate with them?

pale denim blue. a very cool but natural colour for duff i think. i don't really have that much of an explanation for this one, i just think it suits duff's non-aggressive nature. while i think he is extroverted he also isn't as in your face as the others are.

what animal do you associate with them?

raccoons. i have my reasons, they are mesopredators which mean they are generally less aggressive than apex but also fight when threatened and can win. maybe less traditional when they fight, i feel like duff won't be walked all over but he'll also try and not jump to fight but will scrap and win when the opportunity arises.

what element do you associate with them?

earth. very steady in position and unchanging with time yet also very strong and holding up for everyone else's bullshit. a rock and a home for everyone but also solid in his beliefs.

i feel like these explanations were hella long, sorry if you didn't want all that xx

#my biology a level is coming in clutch #google searchs be about apex predators #voicemails 📞#🫀 aa meetings #oc ask game

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captlok · 3 months ago

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I guess TLG just doesn’t have that much of a presence on Tumblr bc this shallow post with 10 Notes was in Top

They clearly explained that the reason the hyenas weren’t welcome is that they hunted to excess, ie killed just for fun or OTT gluttony. They’re literal murderers. They’d stuff themselves with death till they were obese if not held in check. Some episodes like the leopard and okapi one ofc don’t make sense in that context- he was only after 1 animal. But still, as far as I’ve seen, the hyenas never reneged on this through a good chunk of Season 2

and it even parallels what we see in the movie, don’t remember the exact dialog but the herds abandoned the pridelands and that’s probably why.

Notice Fuli and Kion never reduce any prey animals (in words) down to just what they’d be like after they’re dead … they see them as equals- or at least worthy of consideration- and they want to uphold that standard.

And to expand a bit here, note that this isn’t a self-contained bubble of a world- the hyenas could go beyond the Outlands and look for other lush places. It isn’t just there or the main setting and that’s it. The reason they keep returning to the Pridelands is seemingly because it’s well-managed by its overseers. Eh. I mean, maybe in this world it’s common for sapient predators to overhunt either because they’re more easily bored with increased intelligence, OR because they’ve upped their cub’s survival rate by being clearly more intelligent than the average bovid is portrayed as.

Maybe Pride Rock is one of the rare places that limits themselves to only one litter, because they’ve figured out what a “carrying capacity” is, orrr have taken a little evolutionary jaunt just slightly tweaked from the real world and become a type that has leaned way harder into K-selection (for you non-biology nerds out there, as opposed to r-selection of rodents with huge litters or huge clutches of eggs like turtles and gators. We essentially forcibly K-selected domesticated cats and dogs, hence why we have so much disease risk, songbird extinction, over-crowding, and kill shelters.)

Bruh I literally only drew this one because I enjoyed the chaos going down behind the ship. In all honesty I really don’t like The Lion Guard or Rani. Compared to other childrens shows, TLG just doesn’t hold up. The animal ‘facts’ its tried to teach were mostly just plain wrong and the way it treated its naturally carnivore characters (except for the lions and cheetahs) was wrong. So predators just have to starve in a desolate wasteland just because they want to hunt prey?

Eh, its all irrelevant now.

#thelionking #thelionguard #tlg kion #worldbuilding

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acti-veg · 2 years ago

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I read in a post that apparently vegans believe domestication is inherently evil? That doesn't make much sense to me cause humans have been domestication animals since the beginning of time. Sometimes animals even domesticated themselves. Cats for example.

Veganism is a specific stance on a specific issue, which is in opposition to animal exploitation, but there is of course room for nuance and interpretation within that. Some vegans will believe all domestication is wrong, some will be fine with domestication on the grounds of mutually beneficial relationships so long as the animal in question is not being forced into it or exploited.

So you can understand the anti-domestication argument, no one is saying the old lady down the road is wrong to take care of the rescue cat that purrs in her lap. The wider argument is that in general tends to lead to exploitation - it certainly has for all farmed animals, all animals used in experiments, working animals, animals used in entertainment etc.

To use your own examples, cats may have domesticated themselves but we absolutely do exploit them now - we breed expensive breeds for profit, we put them in shows for our amusement, we buy and sell cats like commodities despite tens of thousands of abandoned and feral domestic cats who will never be adopted; a problem that we created and seem to have little interest in addressing.

Moreover, us creating and introducing non-native predators (cats) into native ecosystems has devastated local fauna who have no adaptation to defend against an animal who can hunt indefinitely because they have source of food at home, so is not subject to the usual checks and balances of not being able to sustain themselves if they drive a prey population to extinction.

It is of course not their fault, but the domestication of cats specifically has without doubt had a negative ecological impact, with free roaming outdoor cats recognised by many conservationists as one of the key threats to small mammals and birds. Viewed in that context you can hopefully see why it is a subject of some debate.

#ask #vegan #pets #domestication

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black-mesa-slut-voice · 4 years ago

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YOUR BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CLASSIC HEADCRAB DOMESTICATION

Click below to start reading this comprehensive document!

Note: All of this is written purely for fun by an aspiring zoologist who simply loves genetics and speculative biology! This is only mildly inspired by source material, and isn’t completely indicative of canon. A lot of these things are just speculative or made up for fun!

If you want to use any of this information for your own headcanons, OCs, or fanart, you are 100% welcome to use it, though I would like to be credited!

If you would like to see more things based on these headcanons, ocs, or simply more things or art I’ve done on this subject, check out my #headcrabguide tag on my blog!

HISTORY

In the wake of the 7 hour war and the proceeding Combine invasion, there was a large amount of casualties. However, not all of these casualties were humans. Animals took a lot of hits as well, and in the remaining 20 years before liberation, the resulting environmental tolls as well as continued extermination caused this sixth mass extinction- arguably just as bad or worse than the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs. Nearly 75% of land animals and over 68% of marine animals went extinct in this time frame.

The most notable toll was on human-domesticated animals. Because of the Combine influence, any animal that was reliant on human care was almost immediately wiped out, both purposefully and inadvertently as humans were no longer available to care for them. All livestock species and most pet species were completely eliminated, leaving humans with few, if no animal companions.

Humans, however, are a very social species, and are naturals at befriending things that are arguably dangerous. Wolves, cats, and even less common creatures such as foxes, snakes, and spiders were kept and tamed and bred for companionship and work despite their danger. When the Combine forces were driven off and humans were once again allowed to practice the art of domestication, they were left with very few options. Some birds, a few select felines, insects, and alien species were nearly all they had to work with.

And so, work they did.

Headcrabs, despite their use as a weapon by the Combine, were one of the first alien species to actually be domesticated. It is theorized that this is because a number of factors- first is that the one of the leading rebellion leaders, Dr. Isaac Kleiner, actually possessed one name “Lamarr”, putting the idea in many people’s heads that they could be tamed and kept. The second was their abundance. They were easy to find and acquire, and despite their danger, could easily be captured. Third, they are very easy to selectively breed and mass produce. Lastly, it was quickly discovered that headcrabs are much more intelligent and social than previously anticipated.

In the wild of their home planet, Xen, headcrabs actually had a very complex social system and niche. They formed large groups- called casts- that staked out swathes of territory. The leader of the group was called a gonarch. The gonarch was a large, heavily mutated headcrab that was the sole reproducer, similar to that of queen bees or ants. Though it was large, fast, and capable of defending itself, it lost it’s ability to easily feed itself, as it’s mouth became much smaller to make room for the reproductive sac.

Because of that, the rest of the cast was tasked with hunting and feeding the gonarch in exchange for protection and reproduction. The smaller, albeit still mature headcrabs would go out, and attempt to hunt down anything it could- smaller things were eaten or fed to the gonarch, and larger things that had the right shaped heads could be ‘coupled’ with, fusing the headcrab to it’s host and creating a gonome. Though gonomes were more powerful and capable of hunting larger prey and defending the rest of the cast, in turn, they lost their ability to reproduce. Thus, most casts had one gonarch, several gonomes, and many crabs.

Gonomes could come in any species that was large enough for a headcrab to couple with- and is perhaps why headcrabs were actually so easy to tame. With the right social encouragement, a headcrab can easily recognize humans and other larger creatures as being part of their cast, and regard them in the same way they would a gonome- with social respect and friendliness.

With a few generations of selective breeding, headcrabs quickly became much more docile due to their natural instinct of accepting oddly-shaped creatures as part of their cast.

CARE AND HANDLING

Despite the generations of breeding leading to a much more friendly, domesticated headcrab, care must still be exercised with them in regards to handling. They are very similar to cats in the fact that, despite their domestication, they can still be wild at nature and will often hunt smaller creatures, and are capable of harming someone if provoked.

Also similar to cats are their sense of community. Like mentioned, headcrabs can be trained and raised to see certain people- usually a household- as part of their cast. However, this presents a problem with strangers entering their ‘territory’. If not properly socialized, headcrabs can be quite aggressive to anyone they don’t recognize as part of their cast. This is beneficial for those who don’t expect anyone, or want a ‘guard dog’ type of pet- but can be detrimental to those who have friends or family that may come to visit.

Though headcrabs lack eyes, they are not completely blind. They have subdermal eyes located near the base of their front legs, which can detect lights and shapes. That, combined with their ability to ‘taste’ the air with specialized glands, are how they recognize others and their environment.

If you plan on having someone visit, it may be best to have something that smells like the visitor on hand for a few weeks beforehand, so your headcrab can become used to their scent.

For headcrabs that don’t mind activity, you can also take your headcrabs on walks or trips into public to get them accustomed to having strange scents and people around them, leading them to be less aggressive, even at home. Of course, it is always a good idea to have proper restraint for any flighty, aggressive, or even headcrabs that have never been socialized in public before.

Another good way to prevent injury is physical modification. For headcrabs that simply are rowdy or aggressive- or even just as a precaution for the most well behaved crab- there are several things you can do to prevent injury.

When headcrabs first started being tamed, the most common method of modification was ‘debeaking’. Despite it’s name, it’s actually a misnomer, as headcrabs don’t have beaks, only radial rings and fangs. ‘Debeaking’ was the process of removing all 18 fangs on the underside of the crab surgically, usually when young. This prevents them from growing back and completely eliminates the risk of being bitten.

However, this practice was quickly upturned under the argument of it being inhumane. While the headcrab often doesn’t suffer because of this, as their fangs are only used for gripping prey and not eating it- if done incorrectly, it can be painful in the long run.

One of the slightly more common methods are ‘fang caps’. Similar to claw caps for cats, fang caps are a small, plastic cap that can be fitted over the fangs of a headcrab. With a small amount of specialty glue, they become long-lasting solutions for injury prevention with no physical harm to your crab. Despite the seemingly perfect upsides, there are also precautions you must take. It is possible for a fang cap to become loose or fall off either through being applied incorrectly or simply from wear and tear. Thus, you must always monitor the state of the caps to ensure there are no accidents.

The third option, and the least used, is clipping. Though it does not remove the whole fang, clipping refers to filing down/clipping each fang individually so it’s not sharp. However, this is generally not only difficult, but it’s actually uncomfortable for the crab, and they can grow back fairly quickly.

For headcrabs that are properly either defanged or capped, there is little to no risk of being bitten. If a properly cared for headcrab does attack or try to mount your head, it can simply be pulled off, as there’s nothing allowing it to grip onto it’s ‘prey’.

However, you must still be mindful of the long, sharp front claws. Unlike the fangs, these do not have nerves until very deep in- and thus, can be slightly trimmed and filed with no discomfort on your crab’s end.

FEEDING

Headcrabs- despite their predatory nature- are not only social, but omnivores as well. This fact comes as a surprise to some people who look at them and compare them to things such as spiders.

Indeed, though a headcrab is most definitely a predator, they’re more opportunistic than anything. They will often eat nearly anything they wander across, including small creatures, decaying corpses, fruits, fungi, algaes and lichens, and very occasionally some vegetables and leafy matter.

Most of what they eat is less dependent on taste, and more of their actual physical ability to eat it. Because of their hyper specialized mouthparts, they are unable to chew. Instead, they scrape at the soft parts of whatever is fitted into their mouth with a specialized, rough ring around the inner mouth fitted with a bunch of extremely small ‘teeth’, similar to that of a lamprey. Thus, they can only eat what they can scrape off with that, and cannot chew bones or anything hard or with too much roughage. It’s non uncommon to see a headcrab take something into it’s mouth, such as a small bone or rock covered in lichen- ‘suck’ it clean, and spit it back out.

Thus, headcrabs can be fed nearly anything that they can fit into their mouth. Of course, that is within reason- it’s always good to look up what is or isn’t toxic to your crab, as well as feed them specialty diets to make sure they get all of the proper nutrients they need without over or underfeeding.

The most common way to feed is with commercial ‘crabcakes’- rounded nutrient blocks resembling a large piece of kibble, that comes in several sizes to fit in any crab’s mouth. Once given, a headcrab will take about a few hours to eat it, and don’t need to be fed again for another few days, or up to a week, depending on activity and how many supplemental treats are given in between. Though it’s perfectly fine to feed them only cakes or only prepared food, the most enriching and balanced option is feeding the cakes once a week, with smaller, daily ‘treats’ of different varieties being given.

Some of these treats can include:

Pieces of meat (any type, cooked or raw)

Small, whole prey (commercially prepared mice or chicks)

Whole or sliced fruits (apple, pear, etc)

Tubers (potato, sweet potato, carrot)

Hard vegetables / stalks (chopped celery, broccoli, etc)

Mushrooms (anything edible by humans is edible for your crab)

As a special treat, sometimes you can replace a cake with a large ‘prey’ item that would also take several hours to eat. Some examples are:

Large whole prey (Whole birds, large chunks of meat, antlion grubs, etc)

Large fruits (Melons of any type are a favorite)

Large vegetables (heads of cabbage, heads of broccoli, etc)

Of course, any meat-based items are going to be chosen over non-meat items if offered.

BREEDING

Breeding headcrabs, unlike many other creatures, is generally not something that can be done unless you are a committed hobbyist. Namely because normal headcrabs- even if they are mature- are incapable of breeding whatsoever. The only type of headcrab that can reproduce are the gonarch, the heads of the cast. All headcrabs are biologically ‘male’ until they transform into a gonarch, or lost reproductive organs entirely as a gonome.

Originally a gonarch was produced when there simply wasn’t a gonarch in the group. The largest, strongest individual would then begin to grow and mutate, similar to how many fishes can mutate into a larger or opposite gender if needed.

However, this ability was removed from the headcrab- along with the ability to create proper gonomes- by the combine when they were being used as weapons. Though headcrabs were efficient at taking care of humans, anything larger and more dangerous threated to get out of hand; the combine didn’t want them reproducing out of control and becoming another threat. Incidentally, this is also when their eyes became subdermal as part of a side effect of gene altering.

Because of this, there are only two ways to breed a headcrab. One, and the most common, is to create an artificial gonarch sack. Blueprints were taken from the combine after their defeat that allowed humans to replicate the same technology that allowed them to mass-produce them before.

Artificial gonarch sacs are similar to ‘ghosts hearts’ where they are pseudo-biological, and accept any DNA put into it. Thus, you can insert DNA from any crab to become the ‘gonarch’ or ‘female’ DNA, and either get the smaller male to ‘mount’ the artificial gonarch in a specialized area, or do the male portion artificially as well.

The artificial womb also lets you control how many offspring are produced, as normally a gonarch can produce hundreds of crabs from each successful mating- too many, often, to properly take care of.

Much less common is the artificial transformation of a true gonarch.

Any headcrab can be stimulated to turn into a gonarch with the injection of artificial hormones that trigger the process. It will then take a few weeks to a few months for the crab to transform.

However, this is not recommended for a number of reasons.

First, they are large. They need much more than a house for their territory- they often need several acres, and if it’s deemed unsuitable for a nest, she will refuse to breed and become agitated.

Second, they are very territorial, aggressive, and dominant. If you were a gonome to them before, you still are- which means, in headcrab ranks, she is now above you, socially. Even the most docile crab becomes an aggressive, protective creature who will defend her young and territory with her life. Combine that with their massive size, they are extremely dangerous, even to a professional.

Third, it is very hard to regulate the exact breeding. She will only accept other headcrabs from her cast, and if she deems them unfit, will promptly kill them. And even once they are bred, they can produce several hundred offspring- of which it is very hard to take care of, and even harder to take away from her due to her protective nature.

Lastly, she cannot feed by herself. She requires being fed specialized food through specialized apparatus- and a lot of it.

It’s expensive, costly, and overall dangerous. Thus, artificial gonarch sacs are generally the go-to.

COLORS AND PATTERNS

Just like with previous animals that were domesticated, such as cats, dogs, and goldfish, after a few generations of breeding they began to exhibit unique colors and patterns. After enough time, unique, recognized colors, coats, and even breeds came to be official recognized.

It was made even easier because breeding for exact genes was made simple by means of artificial sacs. Thus, headcrabs come in a vast array of colors and patterns, some even unique to certain subspecies.

The most common colors are pale, albeit warm shades of tans, yellows, and browns. In more rare cases, they can take a more green, purple, or red tint.

Tan, ash, sand, and flaxen were the first recognized distinct colors that were bred onto headcrabs. Chocolate and umber quickly arose from the original tan, with rose following not far behind. When rose was cross-bred back with umber, it resulted in lilac.

Golden arose when sand crabs were bred for vibrancy, and sorrel was the result of a cross of golden and umber.

Flaxen gave way to wheat, and then swamp when bred for the cooler, greenish mutation.

Patterns, too, were something that quickly came about, not long after the first distinct colors began to be recognized.

The first patterns that arose were speckled, striped, and Siamese (named after the similar patterned cat).

Fawned came from a recessive mutation that reversed the pigment cells that caused the spotting pattern on speckled crabs, making them appear lighter instead of darker. Pearled arose when it was cross-bred back with speckled- which usually resulted in speckled, but sometimes in pearled. Because fawned is recessive, the only way to get fawned is to breed with another fawned or a pearled. Breeding a fawned and a speckled results in only speckled or pearled.

Snowshoe, similarly, rose from the same recessive mutation, though this time with Siamese. Similar rules apply; though an ‘in between’ similar to pearled does not exist, as they simply neutral each other out.

Capped rose from Siamese, though it looks similar to bullseye. Bullseye actually came from a very hyper specific mutation of smoked, and is one of the most rare patterns, much moreso than capped or smoked.

Striped crabs are what were bred into both smoke and ticked- with smoke being an increased level of pigment, and ticked being a decreased level.

Marbled is another very rare pattern with dubious origins. Some say it’s a standalone mutation, though others say it originated with smoke, bullseye, and even speckled. However, none of these are confirmed.

Of course, all of the patterns and colors on the charts above are not every single example- there are many more sub-variations of colors and patterns of each type, these are just the main, conformed and recognized ones. They also don’t include any non-recognized crossbreeds or mixes of colors or patterns that aren’t an established record.

UNIQUE BREEDS

Even moreso than recognized colors and patterns are unique breeds of crabs. Though, again, not even breed pictured above are all of them, these are just some of the more noteworthy examples.

Truthfully, nearly all crabs are going to be your standard breed, and not one of the ones pictured. Unless it is either obvious or has had a genetics test, it is safe to assume your crab is a standard.

Two of the most recognized sub-species are the racer and the false poison. These were both bred to be inspired by the combine-created species, the “fast” headcrab and the poison headcrab. Their target audience both began for people who liked them in theory or as an aesthetic, but lacked the funds, ability, or want to deal with the much more dangerous and aggressive ‘true’ versions.

Because they were intended for war, fast headcrabs and poison headcrabs lack almost all social aspects that standards do, are much more aggressive, flighty, wild, and dangerous. Not to mention to potent neurotoxin than poison headcrabs excrete, and the vicious teeth of fast headcrabs. Nowadays theyre both often bred for show or work, but we aren’t focused on them here, simply the standard crab.

Pancakes are some of the harder to recognized subspecies, due to their generally unassuming appearance. They’re named so because they’re typically ‘flatter’ than the normal headcrab, tend to range in the golden-sandy color range, and are described as being ‘soft and sweet’. True to that, that is the original purpose that pancakes were bred for- they’re small, lazy, hyper-friendly headcrabs that almost never attempt to show any signs of aggression unless severely pushed. They’re great for households with kids, or simply people who want a slightly less high-maintenance crab.

They can come in nearly any pattern and color, but again, tend to be in the warm, golden-yellow tone range.

Hunchbacks are a much more narrow breed, since it's recessive, and tend to be not as desirable for no other fact than their appearance. Still, that are amazingly unique. Because of the rarer, recessive nature, they generally only swamp/wheat/greenish colors, and only come in a narrower range of patterns, including speckled, smoked, striped, ticked, and marbled. Though, because of the fact that speckled exist, pearled and fawned theoretically could too- there’s simply yet to be documented evidence of a successful fawned mutation.

Nubbed is another breed caused by a rare mutation that has been successfully bred into a small population. It’s very easy to spot because of it; the mutation clearly causing their front claws to be short, or ‘nubbed’. Nubbed can come in any color or pattern, though they tend to follow the standard/less extreme patterns and colors. This is because it was because of a mutation that actually happened really early in domestication, before a lot of colors or patterns were even bred, and is a recessive mutation making it hard to breed with rarer colors and patterns.

Saddlehorns are an extremly unique and very specialized breed. They’re definitely recognizable by their concave back and the nub near the base of their front claws. They also have a pattern that's unique to only saddlehorns- which is the 'cow spotted' pattern. However, it isn’t just random spots. Though they do have large splotches, they always have a band going around their middle as well. They can come in any pale color, and the markings are usually in the brown to dark, almost black range.

Bunin or “Bubbleheads” are actually a relative of hunchbacks, and not saddlehorns, despite the head similarity. They tend to follow the same rules as hunchbacks, but instead of greenish tones, they come in golds, yellows and warm-orange tones. There has also been confirmed cases of fawned and pearled bubbleheads.

Volkov are a common, albeit specific breed that's bred for it's ferocity, but also it's loyalty. They’re often easy to mistake for a standard, and combined with their relative commonality make them hard to identify to the untrained eye. They appear like standard headcrabs, except they have a slight hunch to them. Their real difference lies in the personality.

As mentioned, they’re loyal and very attentive to the rest of their cast, but have a ferocity and sharp hunting ability that comes with it’s protectiveness. They’re often used as pest control or ‘guard dogs’. This makes them suitable for those jobs, but poor choices for people who live in high population areas or have lots of visitors.

They generally come in browns and blacks, but can truthfully come in any color. They can come in MOST patterns- all but smoked and bullseye.

Batas are another weird breed with a unique patterns, which is the squiggly markings centralized on their rump. They only really come in variations of the color pictured, golds, flaxens, and sandy. Similar to pancakes, they're known for being very complacent with handling, making them good for those with kids or for shows, where the more prominent the markings the better they judge. The difference is the fact that the whole breed itself is prone to many health problems, as it’s very recessive and commonly inbred. Purebreds are pretty expensive.

Silkies or “thinskins” are a breed that came from a mutation that caused their skin to be extremely thin. They're questionable morally to keep, since they're prone to getting wounded very easily, even by their own fangs and claws. Because of this, they have to be debeaked and/or declawed, or must have fang caps at all times and their front claws filed regularly, les they hurt themselves.

They also generally have a myriad of other health problems because of the inbreeding needed to get them, and are prone to several diseases, skin problems, and increased chance of injury.

They generally dont have any patterns, but come in most all colors. However, because of their thin skin, their yellow blood tends to show through, giving any color a yellow tint- and appearing outright yellow on lighter coats.

Munchkins aren’t as much of a breed as they are a mutation, and can come in any color or pattern because of it. There can even be munchkins of other breeds.

Hookclaws are a very newly recognized breed, and still have yet to be fully explored. So far, they can come in pretty much any color, but they never have any patterns aside from a heavy gradient on their back. More research is being done to try and breed patterns onto them.

SUMMARY

Despite their nefarious beginnings, headcrabs quickly arose as a very common, domesticated companion in the post-combine years. Though they aren’t for everybody, they make a fascinating, unique pet for those willing to put in the work and research. Or, even if you aren’t interested in adoption; the history and genetics are a fascinating, competitive, and potentially lucrative field for any young entrepreneur.

So whether you’re looking for a new companion, someone to guard the house while you’re away, or simply a new career in genetics, headcrabs are an amazing species to look into.

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