#pkmn biology

[wren-the-dex]

do dartrix die and become ghost type while evolving please i must know

Not all ghost Pokémon are dead, like Mismagius and Sensu Oricorio and Sableye. They’re just ~spooky~ and such and use their typing as… aesthetic, for lack of another word. If you want my “professional” opinion, I think Dartrix embrace a ghost typing and lose their flying typing in order to hunt more effectively. A sort of hunter in the shadows, you know?

Though this means there’s a good chance Piro is going to turn emo when he evolves, yeesh.

[wren-the-dex]

Could you as a person eat the burger? Then no, your Pokémon is not going to die. In fact, a good amount of Pokémon can eat human food and enjoy it!

just gave my pokemon a burger is that ethical or are they going to die

if i took a shot every single time i read the word "ethical" in my inbox i would run every spinda into the grave

[pokemonshelterstories]

Can the Porygon line run Doom?

from a software perspective? sure. it's simple enough. my sibling has programmed their lab's porygon to be able to run through doom, and it's pretty good at it! porygon programmers have been running doom on them since silph first developed the porygon project

the easiest way to do this is to upload a porygon onto a computer and then run the program with the porygon interfacing it, but you can also run the game natively in the porygon. you'll have to either hook the porygon up to a screen or mod it to visualize whatever program it's running on its eye screens if you want to see what's going on, though.

[quillpokebiology]

Fun Fact: Noibat's favorite food is apples, and they often try to eat the apples off of Applin and Flapple. Once they realize that they cannot be consumed, they'll leave them alone, but it can still get annoying for them

[wyvernity]

wip posting just to get something out there, and it's def a mixed bag!! the only thing more inconsistent than my posting schedule is my art style RIP

[pkmnprofloblolly]

Hello! Trainer from Alola here, big fan of your work. I was wondering; is there any evidence of any legendary pokemon being related to other pokemon? For example, does Rayquaza share any DNA with other dragon pokemon? (I know it would be extremely difficult to get any rayquaza DNA fhshfjd) Or are pokemon like that entirely their own species?

the answer is, as with many things on this blog.. it depends!

"legendary pokemon" aren't really a cohesive category like, say, a type or a taxonomic group. the only common factors are that they tend to be very rare and that they have legends about them. as our examples, let's use two groups of hoenn legendary pokemon: latios and latias, and groudon, kyogre, and rayquaza.

latios and latias (like other pairs such as nidoqueen and nidoking, or volbeat and illumise, latios and latias are sexually dimorphic members of the same species) are indeed related to other pokemon- they're birds! specifically, they're in the auk family, which are a group of generally stout, seafaring birds like guillemots and puffins. this may seem strange- the latis appear to have wings and arms, and no legs, very unlike birds. however, if we take a look at their skeleton, the connection becomes much more obvious:

what we generally interpret as arms are actually the lati's legs, the thighs of which are obscured by flesh and feathers. while they use their wings to steer and for some lift, the latis generally stay aloft with their psychic powers rather than traditional flight, which is why they can hover in place. this has freed up their legs for use in manipulating objects, and they are rarely seen standing on their feet. because they mostly rely on hovering, their legs no longer have the strength to hold their large bodies up for very long.

these pokemon are indeed exceptionally rare, having very low population numbers in only a few regions, and spending most of their time over open ocean. like many pelagic seabirds, they breed on only a few small islands, like alto mare off the johto region and southern island off hoenn's south coast. their populations are on the upswing, though, in large part due to concentrated conservation efforts on those islands. point being, though, they are indeed just animals. rare, powerful animals, but animals nonetheless.

many legendary pokemon fall into this camp. articuno, zapdos, and moltres, lugia and ho-oh, heatran, and various others.

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conversely, the so-called weather trio of hoenn: groudon, kyogre, and rayquaza. these three are even more rarely seen than the latis, only having been sighted in recent times during their clash in hoenn nearly two decades ago. despite the three's resemblance to other living pokemon, as far as we know they are entirely unrelated to any known animals, or even any other life on earth.

this is known because evidence of these pokemon have been found dating back over 3 billion years ago, that is to say over a billion years before multicellular life even existed. gigantic fragments of footprints attributed to groudon have been sighted alongside some of the earliest fossils we know of of early bacteria. modern physical samples from these pokemon- the extremely few that have ever been recovered- have never resulted in any dna evidence, and appear in structure much more similar to inorganic matter.

as it stands, it appears these pokemon arose some time early (relatively speaking) after the earth formed, being (as opposed to natural living organisms) animate representations of the forces of nature themselves. a similar condition is often assumed for some other grandiose legendary pokemon, such as dialga and palkia, though much less tangible evidence exists for their presence in prehistoric time, so this is mostly an assumption based on their infrequent appearances & legends surrounding their origins.

[mariopokemonuniverse]

Everything You Ever Wondered About Pawniard, Bisharp, and Kingambit Head Blades

The first thing you may be asking is how the head blade even originated. Pawniard’s evolutionary line is most closely related to crustacean Pokémon (a topic for another post), so their head blades are likely homologous with a structure that projects from the heads of others like Crawdaunt, known as a rostrum. While the crustacean rostrum is thought to help protect the eyes, it has been modified into an offensive weapon among Pawniard and its evolutions.

A Bisharp’s head blade is also seen as an important indicator of fitness, defined as the ability to both survive and reproduce. Pawniard are too young to breed, and lack the gold pigmentation of their evolutions’ head blades that may be a sign of sexual maturity.

As with all organisms, any traits that are meant to be adaptive are not without costs. A Bisharp having a dent in its head blade is seen as dishonorable, which means that it will be forced into retirement on its own without groups of Pawniard or opportunities to breed with other Bisharp. This commonly happens to older Bisharp that are heavily scarred and whose blades do not stay in good condition. Additionally, Bisharp keep the head blades of some defeated opponents as a sort of trophy, the Leader’s Crest that is.

Bisharp’s rarely achieved second evolution Kingambit has a significantly enlarged head blade, granting it the epithet of Big Blade Pokémon, which appears to have been selected both for show and raw attack power. Kingambit have a reproductive advantage because Bisharp of the opposite gender show a preference to breed with them, and a female Kingambit produces approximately twice as many Pawniard eggs as a female Bisharp.

However, Kingambit are still far from “perfection”. They have lost Bisharp’s mobility at running and jumping, and can only get around by floating on their hair throne. Kingambit have also lost all other functional blades, most notably the retractable pair on the arms of both Pawniard and Bisharp. In addition, Kingambit also have particularly arrogant personality to match their seemingly oversized head blade, so much that they rush into battle alongside armies of their pre-evolutions without planning complex strategies.

In short, head blades in Pawniard’s evolutionary line represent a trade-off between signaling in beneficial and detrimental ways within the same species; as well as attack power versus skill.

Credit for the Pawniard, Bisharp, and Kingambit 3D models goes to @4lex-4nder.

[musiclovingmoth]

called my boyfriend this morning and i could not stop thinking about nudibranch/pyukumuku discord call out of my head all day. they're talking about the tastiest kinds of algae to eat

[pokemonperformersam]

What Pokémon job did you want to do as a kid or did we all want to be marine Pokémon biologists

[professor-amaryllis]

call me a chewtle the way I (how do I finish this please advise)

Bury myself in the mud and hibernate up to 8 months out of the year?

[pokemonbiologyirlthetabletop]

Ho-oh

Ho-oh (#250)

Irisignusdus phoenix

General Information: Ho-oh the Rainbow Pokémon, an elusive creature heard in myths and folktales the world over as the God of Rainbows (or its many variants).

Ho-oh are an average of 12’06 feet (3.8 M) tall with an impressive wingspan, and weigh around 438.7 pounds (199 kg).

Habitat: Ho-ohs can be found anywhere in the world where it is summer or late spring/early autumn. They especially love rainbows, and are most likely to be found flying through the sky after a rainstorm.

Divinity: Demigod, but one with a high divinity ratio. Their divine power is the fact that they are able to raise the newly deceased from the dead, though this is rare. Again, it must be emphasized that it is only for the recently departed, those who haven’t had time to properly decay and could be fixed with a smidgen of resurrection magic.

Note: Ho-oh are able to create an item called Sacred Ash. In this game, this item provides low-level resurrection magic as described above. Only the freshly departed can be resurrected with this, and it is one use per Sacred Ash. You can find this item described in the Legendary Artifacts section. It is up to the Game Master to decide how often an individual Ho-oh is able or willing to create Sacred Ash.

Life Cycles: It’s unclear what all a Ho-ohs life cycle entails, but they are chronologically immortal, killed only by fatal injuries and disease. Still, while the exacts may be unknown to most humans, here’s a run-down of its approximations:

A Ho-oh is born to a single egg to its parents, which are either both Ho-ohs or one is a Mew. These eggs are laid very rarely, so rarely that documented cases are extremely limited, scarce, and hard to come by, and in your game’s timeline, there may not be any living record of a Ho-oh egg. This egg, when there is one, incubates for a long time, even decades. It will be cared for in a remote nest, far away from any would-be predators. When at last it does hatch, which can only occur on the summer solstice after a rain, the baby Ho-oh will be fully precious and follow its parents into the skies. It takes many more years to develop into an adult, and many Ho-ohs will never know another juvenile Ho-oh before it grows up. Once they leave the nest and its parents, the Ho-oh flies off to explore the world.

Behavior: Ho-oh are travelers who seek to explore the world, to see many sights, and meet many Pokémon. They tend to be a bit wary of humans, but more because humans can be unpredictable and they prefer friendly ones.

Diet: Fruit, nuts, and seeds.

Conservation: ??? Data unavailable ???  

Relationship with Humans: Ho-oh have been a beloved sight to humanity since time immemorial. They are seen after storms, bringing with them beautiful rainbows that give hope and joy to those who see them. Some cultures believe that Ho-oh grant wishes, some believe them to be the Bearer of the Rainbow, and others believe Ho-oh to be a messenger of the gods, or even a psychopomp who ferries souls to the afterlife. They are revered as benign beings, who’s presence is a blessing, and who’s aid can be sought… but whether that aid is given, is another matter.

Classification: Ho-oh is in the genus Irisignusdus with the species epithet phoenix. It is both the namesake and ancestral species of the entire genus, and all other members in it are descended from I. phoenix

~~~~~~~~

Hey guess what, if you like my stuff, this is my website where you can find other Pokémon I've written on and more information about the game that I’m slowly making! Check it out! I write books sometimes too.

[pokemonshelterstories]

Can ditto be kneaded? Mine stares at me with its thoughtless little eyes (affectionate) while I make bread and sometimes I have the urge to squish the little purple guy. Just absolutely mush. I haven't tried doing much more than wiggling it, due to not wanting to hurt it

they can be, yeah, though whether or not they enjoy it is going to be partly a matter of personality and partly how much they trust you. the good news is, a ditto that doesn't want to be touched will simply glorp itself away by becoming more liquidy. it's hard to hurt them like that.

personally i'm not a big fan of ditto kneading though, because they kind of envelop your hand and it gets kind of sweaty. plus they smell like if silly putty was meat.

[quillpokebiology]

Soo, in biology class, we learned what Amarouge and Ceruledge look like without their armor, and I think everyone should see this

(//Made by AveBalaBrava on reddit. I dunno if they made this or if they removed something from the model 🤷‍♂️)

[from-ultra-space]

(@porygon-supremacy:) I'm fascinated by your Ultra Beasts. Could you tell me how they differ from our Pokemon?

Yes, of course. There are plenty of ways in which Ultra Beasts and pokemon differ, but I will try to simplify it as best I can. For one, Ultra Beasts are generally much more aggressive than most pokemon. On Terra this is caused in part by their disorientation from wormhole travel, but is still true regardless. Pokemon have had hundreds of years to adjust to humans and become tamer (largely suspected to be caused by the invention of pokeballs) and while wild pokemon are known to jump out at a person, they do not seem to be as aggressive as they were historically (based on my understanding of the history of the pokedex, especially from documents in the Hisui region). On the other hand, Ultra Beasts have not yet evolved in such a way and will often recognize people as a threat or as prey. U.B.s also absorb the energy and life force of those they defeat (an ability we call Beast Boost) which can make them particularly dangerous. Even when they have been captured in a Beastball, these creatures are not easy to manage. Ultra Beasts have also been described as feeling ‘inherently wrong’ by many humans who have encountered them. This feeling is theorized to be caused by an Ultra Beast’s use of beast energy as opposed to Infinity energy, which is utilized by pokemon. The exact differences between these is currently unclear but there does appear to be a negative reaction when the two interact.

There is certainly much more about this subject I could explain (and much more that still has to be researched) but I will start with this. Hopefully this was helpful for you, even if it just satiated your curiosity. Should you need more on the differences between them I could even provide you papers on the matter! I personally found them very interesting.

[galarian-ecologist]

Trying to figure out which topics to post about when it comes to this blog. As galars ecosystem has a lot of interesting quirks about it that make it ecologically unique.

[wren-the-dex]

By that logic, all animal-like Pokémon has the Guts ability. You Bidoof. You fool. You heathen.

Every day I am reminded people genuinely believe Gulpin is just a stomach.