#primarily primates

[gemstarstarlight]

This is Rogue whenever my roommate or I set foot in our kitchen

[silentwalrus1]

Thinking about Kamino cloning primarily as a major planetary economic driver and thus extremely A Business and how that would interact with the clones’ existence as a product and more specifically with the whole thing about Quality Control. The enforcement of interchangeability has significant value in the same way the invention of the assembly line and mass produced components have value to industry, i.e. if one part of a large & complex system stops working, you don’t have to rebuild the entire damn thing, you just replace the part.

In a biologically engineered army, that interchangeability can most advantageously manifest in:

Size (smaller range of equipment, armor, housing etc necessary)

medical compatibility (you only have to stock one blood type, organ and tissue donation availability skyrockets etc)

capability (the more you can crosstrain Jeff A to do Jeff Z’s job, the easier it is to replace Jeff Z if he bites it)

So clones that look different but are otherwise to spec in the prioritized categories would probably be fine, because getting rid of them is a loss of product and thus loss of profit.

Of course, as businesspeople, the Kaminoans want their product to seem more high-end than it actually is. So you don’t want to scrap perfectly good stock, but you DO want to make sure those fucking primates don’t act up and pop the hood on their own shitty dye job while the warranty’s still active.

Cue the Kaminoans issuing hair dye, makeup, shitty 2-dollar cosplay contact lenses etc and a bunch of random mercenaries disinterestedly instructing auditoriums of 400 cadets at a time in how to haphazardly cover up your Manufacturing Defects. Half the Mandos are like “if you want an armor painting seminar i have a fucking PhD but i haven’t taken off my helmet in front of another living person in 20 years, for this we’re pulling up the first fucking makeup tutorial that falls out of Space YouTube”.

It turns out it is much, much easier and more efficient to give clones access to Space Youtube than it is to teach them things yourself.

Cue 5 years later the Jedi roll up for pickup and not only is every single clone perfectly identical, they have achieved this via having every face BEAT, hair COIFFED, skin (tone corrected & colormatched ofc) GLOWING, contoured to the GODS,

[alphynix]

Spectember/Spectober 2024 #08: Saberatel

Roy ( @roygattero ) requested "ratel becoming the new african big predator":

Perforictis royi is the latest in the long and venerable tradition of various synapsid lineages discovering the ecological niche of "big stabby saber-teeth".

A descendant of the modern ratel/honey badger, it stands around 80cm tall at the shoulder (~2'8"), and convergently resembles the feline-like build of some of its more ancient relatives. Inhabiting the tropical forests of the rifted-off island continent of East Africa, it's an ambush predator specializing in tackling larger prey – primarily ungulates and primates, but also occasionally giant rodents and hyraxes.

Usually cooperatively hunting in mated pairs, these mustelids stalk close to their targets before attacking, with one individual focusing on toppling and immobilizing their target while the other positions itself to deliver a swift precision killing bite to the throat with its saber-teeth and powerful neck musculature.

Perforictis scent marks its territory using extremely pungent secretions from its anal pouch rubbed onto vegatation, along with making loud scream-like vocalizations.

[ranticore]

I gave up on editing and did this instead check it out. I had a rough time with the zeta because they kept getting too anthro dog-ish and I wanted them to read as primates. The one pictured there is a crew member on a whaling vessel (chef and lookout).

Image description and transcript of text below the cut:

[Figure 1 description: Front and side views of a zeta's face with the skull and external anatomy overlaid and separate. The skull is similar to a baboon's with massive broad fangs and a huge saggital crest on top for muscle attachment. Figure 2 description: a bar of colours ranging from dark brown, to reddish, to pale cream, to violet, to blue, to dark blue. Beneath it are several blue markings resembling a stylised 'A' or an arrow. Figure 3 description: a pair of zeta standing together. They are blue, brown, and cream in colour and wearing fancy black collars with dark tassels, and knuckle-guards to protect their feet. They have stocky muscular bodies and ape-like heads. One is propped up on their elbows over the back of the other, looking in a different direction.]

Text reads:

Terrestrial Zeta of Siren: Overview

Zeta are large quadrupedal mammals primarily found in the Eastern continent, the only area of significant continuous land. They are specialists at hunting and killing the local wildlife, most of which have strong chitinous shells and can be thought of as similar to millipedes or isopods. Zeta maxillary canines (1c) are the largest on Siren, laterally flattened and lacking sharp points, instead used to crush and split open the shells of their main prey, and they have huge saggital crests to support their jaw muscles. Zeta were formerly aquatic and still retain tail flukes and dense bones from that evolutionary era (3). They have a plantigrade, knuckle-walking locomotion and lack tongues. Zeta are marsupial and unisex.

Fig. 2 shows the coat colour variation. It is divided into red phase and blue phase shades. While most individuals have both phases, some are solely red or solely blue. Zeta are the only people on Siren who have naturally occurring blue pigments in their skin and hair, and blue eyes. The settlers who genetically engineered zeta also programmed in the logo of their megacorporation, which was a stylised blue letter 'A', which would appear like a tattoo from birth on the skin of zeta, formed of their own pigments. Over subsequent milennia, the logo has become indistinct and abstract, and the blue pigment is no longer limited to this particular marking, but found all over.

Kattakati

During the development of zeta, the genetic engineers wanted to produce a creature which would never have solidarity with a member of its own kind. They tampered with the brains of their creations, thinking that they had produced a creature with no sense of community, empathy, solidarity, or sympathy. In the intervening years zeta have developed a novel way to regain those traits, for their own survival. Early aquatic and terrestrial zeta developed a form of eusociality, viewing members of their pack as themselves, as limbs of one being, and over time this developed into the Dry Bowl practice of Kattakati pairing. This consists of a pair of zeta who have entered a binding agreement to consider one another a single being (3). Legally, socially, and culturally, a kattakati is one person. It has a single name and will not allow others to distinguish between its component bodies in any meaningful way, as they are supposed to be taken as a complete whole, together. It is frowned upon to consider the pair anything other than one guy. The two halves of a kattakati do not necessarily agree on all things, but this is not a contradiction; a person often thinks contradicting thoughts, and feels contradicting things. The nature of the bond is not platonic, romantic, or sexual, and a kattakati might make friends and date other people (you can't date just one half - you need to date the whole guy).

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Why do Humans Like to Drink Alcohol?

Primates have been eating fruit for at least 24 million years.

Most primates, including chimpanzees, orangutans, and gibbons, are primarily frugivorous—fruit is the mainstay of their diet.

The ripest fruits, which are greatly preferred, contain high amounts of two ingredients: sugar and ethanol.

The “ethanol plumes” emitted by fruit might provide cues to its ripeness.

Primates, including humans, have been consuming low levels of ethanol for millions of years through ripe fruit.

Modern humans, however, live in a world that is far removed from this low level of ethanol consumption.

The ethanol levels in fruit are typically only 0.6 percent (Dudley, 2002).

Based on a reasonable set of assumptions, eating ripe fruit might yield a blood ethanol level of only 0.01 percent, far lower than the typical legal definition of drunk, which is typically 0.08 percent.

Our distant ancestors did not have the kegs of beer, bottles of wine, or flasks of whiskey that currently contain high concentrations of alcohol.

According to the frugivory by-product hypothesis, the human penchant for drinking alcohol is not an adaptation but rather is a by-product of adaptive fondness for ripe fruit (Dudley, 2002; Singh, 1985).

Alcohol not only has a distinct taste but it also has a unique odor and is often associated with the color and fragrance of ripe fruits. . . . Utilizing the odor and taste of alcohol enables the animal to predict the caloric value of a food. (Singh, 1985, p. 273)

That is, all humans have adaptations that favor the consumption of ripe fruit, but these can go awry in the modern world of artificial drinks with high alcohol content.

Indeed, alcoholism in the modern world is likely a maladaptive by-product of the overindulgence of these frugivorous adaptations.

The next time you reach for a drink, perhaps you will think of your primate ancestors having their version of a party—sitting around a tree eating ripe fruit.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Cocktails ⚜ Wine-tasting Writing Resources PDFs

[dear-ao3]

omg wait you study bones??? i'm a biological anthropology major and i'm very into skeletal anatomy (primarily of primates, but honestly mammalian bone structure is all very similar)...

what's your favorite bone or bone feature? :D

i'm personally very partial to the zygoma, and i'm a big fan of processes (olecranon process my beloved)

ok okay correction to everyone. i dont like study bones as a career. im a fool in an anatomy class. and by a fool i mean i have three separate liberal arts bachelors degrees and have decided to take a stem class. and well. its going about as well as one can expect.

though!!! on the way to said class i have to walk up a staircase with a handrail that looks like the olecranon process/trochlear notch area of the arm and it makes me giggle

[gynandromorph]

god this shit took forever to sketch. another NofNA emulation comic. it reminds me of the midterms in secretary, for obvious reasons, but Legend is sort of an inverse secretary situation, where she is exceptional at fighting, but wants to write.

let me see what i can remember...

PS, the blue-eyed black lemur, has been friends with Legend since their mutual first season at college, as mentioned above her reference sketch... they probably became more friendly after being paired up to peer edit each others' work. PS has since graduated from college and works as a markscraft. Legend frequently commissions PS to scribe for her, not only because they are friends, but because PS is one of the few markscrafts in the area who isn't a rodent. many primates go into law or medicine. mainly Legend commissions notetaking in classes -- she is too insecure to share her stories. PS has a more relaxed, informal personality, and i tried to get that across -- i think it's relevant to why she decided to become a markscraft instead of pursuing more intense study. still, i also tried to get across that they are good friends, not just scribe and customer, particularly with the amount of touching that PS does. the impulse to touch and groom is probably innate for her as a primate. there isn't as much information about her species, but in ring-tailed lemurs, lemurs usually only groom based on the strongest bonds, rather than more communal aggregate grooming as a sort of social currency. i honestly don't know what PS would need to note during finals, but i think Legend just Wanted her there anyway.

the bird, DL, fighting the squirrel, GG, is a grey shrike. i imagine him as an average student in the middle of his education, but i think he is in the class for combat purposes, because pressure point manipulation can be incredibly powerful, more so if from a less expected species like a bird.

mr. deciding is a much more serious, no-nonsense teacher, possibly due to his specialty. when you're teaching students how to explode a kidney with a handshake, you probably just play it safe and try to put the fear of god into them before any kidneys get exploded. i wanted this class to have a much heavier emphasis on safety of the participants than the class in secretary, with a more focused goal than "who can beat the shit out of each other better." i think the goal of fighting to show off knowledge here is still Fucking Insane, but it's just. their culture, i guess. you can technically "move" your pressure points, so being able to defend yourself by utilizing this knowledge can also show off what you've retained. the mouse next to him is a proctor, who is an extra teacher brought in to judge and often write for another teacher, but primarily as a peacekeeper and bouncer. in classes where a student can theoretically totally disable a teacher by just touching them once, the precaution is seen as necessary. the mouse is probably a combat-oriented point invocation instructor.

the mandrill, MK, is a first-season or first-year student -- i assume that one class, from midterms to finals, is a season, as secretary seems to start near autumn. midterms have snow, and finals are during early spring. anyway, that's tangential. i think he's very new to the educational system. i pictured him as a medical student. in his fighting style, i made him more defensive; he doesn't really know nearly as much about attacking an opponent in a fight. he does think at least about his opponent's most immediate reactions, but doesn't have enough experience with fighting to think ahead to the degree that Legend does. you can see him make the same mistake that Legend did against Machinations, which disables his non-dominant hand. needless to say, he will probably always be aware of headbutt proximity now. he attempts to use two factures in the fight within a style meant to evoke debilitating vertigo by manipulating the connection between the occular, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. it's obvious that he created the style from his medical classes. it is fairly empty as far as styles go. interrupted facture: nystagmus, which causes the world to spin around the opponent by involuntarily twitching the eyes back and forth. second facture: strabismus, which misaligns the pupils, primarily impeding aim. denied by Legend because a honey badger does not rely on vision or a vestibular system as much as a primate does -- not something he really considered when making the style. factures that never ended up being used: pursuit, which forces the target to follow a spinning image of themselves instead of looking where they should; and mask's lasting, which forcibly initiates saccadic masking, suppressing the intake of new visual information altogether.

the large bird is a bateleur. the mouse is just a regular house mouse. the lizard is an ornate sandveld lizard. the opponent of the lizard is a common mole-rat, also called an african mole-rat (even though most species of mole-rats live in africa). the monkey god i'm not super sure but i believe it's just a vervet monkey. the other mouse is also a common house mouse.

GG is a second-year student, which is the last year for a rodent. i think she's been kind of aimless -- she thinks incredibly fast as a squirrel, and finds solving problems in the moment to be a much more successful endeavor than trying to plan ahead. she doesn't worry about the future and doesn't ruminate on the past much. she's aware that she isn't the best ever and doesn't apply herself as much as others, but it also doesn't particularly bother her. kind of ironic, given the aesop she slops onto Legend after the fight. i imagine that she will eventually choose the name Serendipity. i tried to write her lack of foresight, but compensatory quick thinking in both fights. like the shrike, GG is a combat-oriented student. the style she briefly introduces at the beginning is called fanciful flower's delightful blight. it is based on the deadly nightshade flower and its berries -- which are toxic, obviously, and a hallucinogenic. squirrels flick their tails for many reasons, and the most common reason is simply a default flicking to attract predators. their tails are designed to "deglove" easily; if a predator lunges for their tail, which is the moving part of them, the skin and fur will tear off, and the squirrel can escape. delightful blight utilizes the attention-grabbing flicking of the squirrel's tail as a nightshade plant to induce a trance-like state. the berries represent temptations so much more pleasing than what you ought to focus on. a nice berry and a flower to smell are so much nicer than struggling in a fight. even when you resist them, they linger in your mind, and "plant seeds" when the berry falls as self-restraint is worn down over repeated abstinence from the temptation. factures induce hallucinations and nausea. she primarily uses the base rodent style to fight Legend here, but also uses base squirrel style twists, which include more acrobatics, backflipping, and contortions.

the two things that really catch Legend off-guard use limbs that she doesn't have, and most opponents don't have -- elbows long enough to use defensively, and a long, rope-like tail. she is otherwise supposed to be fairly adept at analyzing what an opponent will do, usually a few steps ahead, related to her ability to fabricate narratives quickly. you can see her also come up with a lie for kicking GG fairly quickly... she was going to say the impulse was in her legs because she was trying to move away from GG's strike.

anyway if any part of this fight is like... unfathomable i can probably explain. i've already been typing for way too long, lmfao

[themotherofrevelation]

In women’s brains there are unique neural links between the forebrain and the cerebellum, which allow sensations of physical pleasure to be directly integrated into the neocortex, or high brain center. This explains why some women experience orgasm so intense that they enter ‘religious’ trance, or altered states of consciousness. And this ecstatic female orgasmic experience, in which the physical and the spiritual are fused and realized as one, is at the core of all mystical experience. This is why, in the original religion of the Great Mother, body and mind and spirit are always integrated. Because human male brains do not seem to have these neurological connections (just as human male sexuality has not evolved radically beyond primate sexuality, while human females, through the shift from estrus to menstrual cycles, have evolved a nonreproductive sexual capacity that functions primarily for affectional bonding), the researchers conclude that it is women who must take the lead in further human evolution—‘toward the integration of the conscious and the unconscious mind and to a more profound understanding of the spiritual nature of the species.’

Monica Sjöö and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth

[serpentface]

What happened to all the apes if I may ask?

Nothing particularly special. Part of the conceit of this setting is it has a very similar evolutionary history to irl earth but certain things are Different (in a way that has at least SOME internal logic but is mostly so I can be like "wouldn't it be fun if [xyz] animal was Alive/in a different niche").

Part of the deal is that the contemporary setting is on a tail end of several extinction events, resulting primarily from the spreading of sophonts, a warming climate (over a longer scale than anthropogenic climate change but a short time, geologically speaking) and a recent (geologically speaking) merger of continents, resulting in an interchange of fauna and mass extinction as animals in similar niches outcompete each other.

So in the case of primates, it's basically a reversal of irl earth where lemurs massively diversified and dominate the majority of monkey-like niches, and actual monkeys are confined to geographically isolated locations (only coexisting with lemuroids in some semiaquatic otterlike niches). Humans and most great apes speciated in parts of this world that have experienced complete desertification, some of which are now severe enough to be basically uninhabitable by large animals.

Human adaptability allowed a wide spread and survival to the contemporary, though they are actually among the Least numerous and widespread sophonts. Most other great apes slowly died out from habitat loss due to climate change, and those who spread to wider ranges and new habitats were largely lost due to intercontinental fauna exchange. The last nonhuman great apes likely died out between 15,000-1,000 years BP and are only present in cultural memory

Other major changes off the top of my head:

-Cetaceans do not exist, their niches have been mostly filled by marine reptiles

-Pinnipeds don't exist, their niches have been filled by (very similar) caniforms and also some pterosauroids

-The domestication of dogs occurred much earlier and there is a much greater spread of 'wild' dogs, which have effectively replaced all true wolves.

-Pterosauroids survived very close to the present day, but were outcompeted by birds in most small niches, and megafaunal pterosaurs died largely as a result of climate change and continental interchange. (The only exception being flightless aquatic niches, where they functionally replace penguins, and caelin and delkhin)

-Anatomically modern horses do not exist, with the horse family existing primarily as small three toed grazers and browsers.

-Big cats used to exist, but have largely been outcompeted by other feliforms (also called cats in this setting, just to make things confusing) after the continental interchange

-camelids are more widespread and most successful in temperate-polar regions (which they used to exist in irl)

-a lot of other misc families of animals that are extinct irl survived to the present here, mostly stuff from the pleistocene but some purely bullshit choices on my part, like ceratopsians

[thechaoticdruid]

|This Bites| (9)

Astarion x Chubby! F!MC

Plot: Something crazy happens when Winnie and Astarion try to set up an arrangement for Astarion's dietary needs.

Content/Warnings: Sexual humor

Chapter 8: Woot woot!

Chapter 9: Right here!

Chapter 10: Hopefully sooner this time ;-;

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

“Oh so you're the one Becca mentioned? Come in then, and be quick. I don't want anyone catching on to my business.” The blonde haired boy quickly ushered them inside. Becca and Winnie followed him in. The inside of his house was absolutely covered from head to toe in extravagant gothic decor. He even had what looked like a stone gargoyle head above his fireplace. The curtains were long and thick, keeping any trace of sunlight out. In front of the fireplace was an elegant looking armchair along with a coffee table that a light grey laptop sat upon. Off to the side on another  table sat against the wall, decorated with several jars of green liquid and an assortment of strange creature-like objects (Winnie was pretty sure one was a cat skull). Jimmy was a short and petite young man who appeared to be about 25 years old. He spoke with a slight lisp, likely caused by the false fangs he wore in his mouth. 

“So…about the blood…It's uh for this vampire bat I've been taking care of.” Winnie began.

“And you need human blood for your bat?” Jimmy raised an eyebrow. 

“He's uh..very…….” Winnie stuttered a bit, getting nervous as she scrambled to come up with a story.

“Her bat is a very rare breed. One that primarily feeds on the blood of primates. But because there are no chimpanzees running around the neighborhood you can see our issue.” Becca stepped in, quickly trying to save Winnie from any kind of suspicion.

“I can't just give out handouts. If I'm going to let you take some of my supply I'll need payment.” Jimmy went on to sit on the couch as he spoke. 

“Not only do I go through great lengths to secure this blood, but it is vital that I keep some on my person at all times. Otherwise it could lead to dire consequences.” 

Winnie was about to speak when she felt something crawl down her back.

“Dire consequences you say?”Astarion's mocking tone chimed in from behind them.  “Well, we best be careful how much we take then.” 

“Wait, who are you and where did you come from?” Jimmy's blue eyes widened in surprise as a tall curly haired man appeared.

“Oh I've been behind Winnie this entire time! I'm surprised you didn't notice me sooner.” Astarion chuckled, giving the blonde a forced grin.

“Star!-” Winnie gasped in surprise as she noticed Astarion had hopped out of her coat and shifted behind her. Jimmy gave her a questioning look.

 “Star is his name.” Winnie quickly continued.

“I am Winnie's lover.” Astarion added with smugness.

“He's my boyfriend. My annoying and eccentric boyfriend…” Winnie huffed and gave the elf a slight side eye.

"Rude!" Astarion scoffed and crossed his arms.

All she wanted to do was get in, get the blood and go home but no he had to make a scene like he always does.

“Anyway I really need some blood. How much do you want for it?” The brunette haired continued, trying to divert attention away from Astarion.

“200 dollars a pint.” Jimmy crossed his arms. 

“You can't be serious! I need much more than that.” Winnie snapped.

“This stuff isn't easy to come by!” The blonde hissed almost literally as he barred the very clearly fake fangs in his mouth.  Astarion rolled his eyes with a look of disgust as he stood behind Winnie. The vampire seemed to mutter something under his breath as he gazed over at the strange young man.

“Come on Jimmy Winnie really needs this. And 200 dollars for a glass of blood is insane.” Becca insisted, taking a step towards the short male before suddenly a door opened. 

“Jimmy, what’s going on in here?” A tall dark haired male walked in. His eyes were an icy blue and his skin was like ivory pearls. In Winnie’s mind he was almost as pretty as Astarion. Almost. The dark haired male had a softer, more slim physique. 

“Just some business to take care of Val.”Jimmy said, trying to shoot the other male away.

“Valentin!” Becca spoke up as the two of them locked eyes. “Maybe you can talk some sense into Jim. He's trying to charge my friend 200 bucks for a pint of his stash.”

“Seriously Jimmy. You don't even need this crap.” The dark haired male rolled his eyes.

“I DO! If I don't I'll lose control!” Jimmy argued.

“I'll only need about maybe a few liters a month.” Winnie insisted before suddenly Astarion stepped in front of her.

“Now darling, clearly our friend here needs the blood far more than we do. We'll just have to go and get some from the hospital. Maybe let them know to send extra blood his way to help with his little condition.” Astarion looked over at Winnie and then at Jimmy with a sly smirk.

“You're going to talk to them?! Wait! We can work something out!” Jimmy began to sputter. “I'll give y'all half a gallon a month. For 50-” 

“Jimmy…” Valentin growled at him.

“Fine 30 dollars. Deal?” 

“That sounds good to me.” Winnie nodded with a smile before taking out her wallet and pulling out the amount of cash she needed. Jimmy then begrudgingly went to fetch the half gallon he owed them while Val sat on the couch with his laptop and began to start a game, apologizing for Jimmy's behavior in between starting his laptop.

“Oh right.” Becca suddenly looked at Winnie. 

“Wyn, this is Valentin. He's Jimmy's roommate. The three of us went to school together.” The red head explained with a sweet smile.  “Val, this is Winnie. She's my coworker.” 

“A pleasure.” Valentin gives Winnie a ghost of a smile, his icy blue eyes sending chills down her spine. Astarion gives Winnie a slight smirk before placing his hand on the small of her back. 

“Ah….g-good to meet you.” Winnie replied shyly with a small wave before she gazed over at Valentin’s laptop. Winnie’s eyes widened as she noticed the black haired male was playing BG3.

Valentin hummed quietly as he clicked through his mod list.  One of the files immediately caught Winnie’s attention. It was a familiar looking cheat mod. 

“Where did you get that mod?” She asked, her body shaking in fear. If that mod was what she thought it was they might end up having a hell of a time dealing with whatever comes out of it.

“Oh this? I found it on Nexus a while back. Haven't had time to play since then because my work schedule is hell.” Valentin said as he clicked on the button to continue his save.  His computer began to blink suddenly before suddenly turning off. Then a spark of electricity shot out of the laptop through the charge cable and into the wall before suddenly the lights flickered on and off. 

“Hells…” Astarion gasped slightly before looking towards the front door and sniffing. “It can't be…”

“Star, is everything okay?” Winnie asked with a face full of concern before suddenly the vampire began to leave the house, bolting out the door.

“Hey!” Winnie called after him before glancing back at Becca. 

“You go after him. I'll make sure everything here is taken care of.” Becca stated. 

“Sorry.” Winnie said before running out the door. Luckily for Astarion the sun had set on their way to Jimmy's house.  It took a few minutes for Winnie to catch up to him and by the time she did she was panting hard.

“Ast-Astarion, what the h-hell?” She panted out as she looked over at the white haired elf. Astarion glanced back at Winnie.

“Winnie, be careful. I'm not sure what's going on, but I think I-” A beam of electricity zipped through the power lines before bursting out into a ball of light and ricocheted off a nearby building.  Eventually it stopped right above the two of them and began to form a swirling vortex. Before Winnie could even think something came hurtling out of the vortex and landed right on top of her, crushing her against the dirt below.  Something large and squishy was pressing down on her face, making it a bit hard to breathe.   Whatever had fallen on her was really warm. A couple beads of sweat had even begun to drip down her face.

“GET OFF OF HER YOU OAF!” Astarion snarled out, fangs barred as he shoved whatever had fallen on Winnie off. The young woman was dazed. It took her a few moments to realize she'd just been sat on before she then got to her feet with a bright red face

'Well…. I'm pretty sure I just lived through someone's wet dream…'

Astarion quickly moved closer to Winnie, his hands hovering over her shoulders. 

“Ah fuck. Sorry bout that.” A familiar female voice spoke as Winnie regained her composure. Standing in front of the two of them was a nearly seven foot tall tiefling they both knew rather well. Karlach Cliffgate.  The tiefling barbarian companion from Baldur's Gate and one of Astarion's friends.

“You better be sorry! You could have killed my Winnie!” Astarion hissed, showing  his fangs like a guard dog.

“Astarion, it's fine.” Winnie grasped one of his hands gently, receiving a gentle but firm squeeze in return. 

“The hells it is! She could have crushed your skull!” Astarion placed a hand on Winnie’s head, gently moving a lock of hair out of her face before cupping her cheek. 

“I'm fine Astarion.” Winnie said a little more sternly as she looked him in the eyes. Astarion pouted slightly with a frustrated sigh. “Besides, it's Karlach! Your friend! She's actually here!” 

“Fangs! You're here! Gods am I glad to see you! Everyone has gone missing and…Ah shit where in the hells are we?” The tall mountain of a woman looked around in confusion.

“We have a lot to explain, but right now it's probably best if we get you somewhere…” Winnie trailed off as she noticed her friend catching up to them.

“Wyn, everything is set up with Jimmy. Val even agreed to deliver the blood-” Becca stopped in her tracks as she suddenly spotted their new companion. The redhead clutched the container of blood she was holding tightly as the world around her seemed to slow down. 

“B-Big….W-Woman….” Becca stuttered out as her face flushed dark red, heart pounding at ninety miles per hour. Her eyes were glued to Karlach as soon as she came into view. 

“Uh….Is she okay?” Karlach asked with a dumbfounded expression. 

“Yeah she's just a bit surprised I think.” Winnie replied, rubbing her neck nervously. 

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Sorry for the wait! Honestly my mental health lately has been meh... And inspiration just hasn't been coming to me as much as it did last year. I Will continue This Bites since I actually know how I want it to end but updates may be shorter or more spread out. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! Hopefully I'll get another project out before Christmas 🤞🤞

~Druid

@seradyn , @plimsim , @astarioffsimpmain , @marcynomercy , @iamsexytrash , @gaymistakeboi , @divineknightmare , @tinyfreakgirl , @misscrissfemmefatal, @gianchan-de @jaksfanficsaver , @the-disaster-in-waiting , @hp-art-studio , @im-just-a-simp-le-whore , @dajeong , @iamnotokei , @the-pale-elfs-love , @geminipridekitty , @just-a-refrigerator , @vixstarria , @ellaprime7, @beewilko

[weirdnaturalscience]

When discussing the question "did early human women hunt" a lot of articles focus on archeological evidence that they did.

But I'm also sitting here like.... look at our two closest primate relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, with whom our ancestors interbred heavily. Female bonobos and female chimpanzees hunt both alone and in groups! They cannot and do not rely on males to give them food (and the idea that they would is ridiculous if you've read about them). Food sharing exists, but every adult primarily feeds themselves.

So of course archeological evidence is important (duh) but it seems like the burden of proof should rest on the "women never hunted" goofs, because their hypothesis rests on the preposterous notion that for our female hominid ancestors, who had to feed infants, losing these hunting adaptions was somehow advantageous. And that's bonkers folks

Why do human women, members of a species widely acknowledged to have evolved remarkable endurance in order to hunt game, possess the ability to burn fat for energy better than men at the distance of the ultra-marathon? 🤔 I wonder.

It's crazy how much bad evolutionary biology boils down to not considering ways in which female animals are also, gasp, evolved, just like the males.

Female chimps hunt with sticks! Like hello.... in fact they have been seen doing so more than male chimps.

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Wolf's Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus wolfi)

Habitat & Distribution

Resides only in tropical rainforests and dense swamps

Found in central Africa, mainly between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda

Physical Description

Weight: An average of 4.5 kilograms (10 lb) for males and 2.5 kilograms (5.5 lb) for females

Height: 44.5 to 51.1 cm (17.5 to 20.1 in)

Adults have a dark grey fur, with a large red patch in the center of the back; the sides are lined with long, gold fur and the underbelly is white

They have a long, prehensile tail which is generally used for climbing

Behaviour

Wolf's mona monkeys live in social groups consisting of several females and one dominant male; within the group there are no strict heirarchies

They may sometimes for temporary mixed groups with other monkey species

The diet consists primarily of fruit, supplemented by young leaves, seeds and insects

Primary predators are birds of prey, and to a lesser extent leopards and larger primates

Key Advantages

The Wolf's mona monkey is an agile climber and traverses easily through dense canopy

Although frugivorous, they have long canines which can inflict a serious bite

Photo by the Sacramento Zoo

[smorgasvoid]

Wyverns Pt. 1: Saurian Wyverns

Saurian Wyverns (Clade Vernosauria) are a clade of winged sauropodomorph dinosaurs (as in they share a common ancestor with sauropods) previously mentioned a few days ago. They are divided into two groups, the bipedal Euvernosauria and the quadrupedal Parasauroptera.

A. Quicksilver wyvern (Argentivernios longipes), a species of Verniid Euvernosaur native to deserts and plains. Despite being smaller than most species in their family, they are faster on land and more adaptable than their relatives. They feed primarily on amphibians, lizards, eggs, carrion and small mammals, though they won't hesitate to hunt down a small ungulate if given the chance. They are capable of flight, albeit limited.

Element: Metal

B. The Cave taurex (Minotauregalis spelaeus) is a species of large Ferocipterygid Parasauropteran. It is named such due to its bull-like horns. It is an apex predator that will hunt mid to large-sized animals such as ungulates, marsupials, ornithischians and other wyvern species. When it does eats smaller animals, it feeds on crocodylomorphs, fowl and primates. Most specimens prefer to avoid human settlements so fatalities are rare. With the exceptions of mothers and hatchlings, taurexes are solitary and territorial.

Element: Dark

C. The desert nagatorn or ghost nagatorn (Nagatornis phantasmicus) is a species of Ophiopterygid Parasauropteran that was thought to be a type of legged serpent until 1820 where it was revealed to be a true saurian wyvern. The desert nagatorn is an adept flier that feeds almost exclusively on desert fruits, contrary to its serpentine appearance. Its droppings contain seeds which are dispersed throughout the desert, making it an important keystone species. It appears that this species mimics a type of cobra found in the same environment.

Element: Spirit

D. The snow bjird (Parvoboreoptera nix) is a small-bodied Batrachodraconid Euvernosaur native to tundras. The males sports two ribbon-like feathery structures (if they count as true feathers), which are used in display. It is a weak flier, preferring to walk on land whilst feeding on insects. When threatened, it hides in a burrow.

Element: Ice

E. The emperor wyvern (Orionopteryx imperator) is a species of large Orionopterygid Euvernosaur that inhabits forests. These large bodied carnivores are a symbol of courage and teamwork in many Chortisian cultures. While they are usually solitary, packs of 2-4 have been observed taking down particularly colossal megafauna.

Element: Fire

Bonus: The Dingrag (Megalacerta seismodeus) is a highly dangerous Megalacertid Parasauropteran that inhabits deserts. It is also the heaviest Saurian Wyvern. The dingrag is believed to be the last member of an ancient lineage of flightless Parasauropterans. It has been given monikers such as "The Desert's Stomach" and "The Ogre That Stalks the Sun".

Element: Metal/Earth/Fire

It's most noticeable feature is its muscular neck/hump, giving it the strength to toss prey around, which usually kills the unfortunate animal when it hits the floor.

The meat from the neck region is said to be the most tough kind out there. It has a strong flavor that can be off-putting to some.

Its skin has semi-mineralized serrated denticle-like scales, most noticeable on its arms, which is a good reason not to rub your skin on it (going near it would result in death anyways).

An angry dingrag will become red and hot to the touch.

The most common cause of death in humans is being pummeled to death by its forelimbs, though being crushed by its weight, tossed around, decapitated, eaten, and blood loss.

While magic lessens its need for calories, it is still a glutton that hunts megafauna and humans. Larger specimens exist, though these are typically rare, they are either very old dingrags that lived a long life or infertile hypertrophic specimens that don't live very long due to heart complications.

The dingrag is behind me, isn't it?

Wait don't leave without me! NONoNoNOnono OH SHI-

[script-a-world]

I have a question regarding half-animal people's anatomy.

If an animal person has plantigrade, paw-like feet, something like dog or cat paws, would it make more sense to extend the metacarpal pad down to the heel or keep the common paw structure near the front of the foot and add a carpal pad on the heel? Assume that they evolved from a previously digitigrade animal that walked on its toes and evolved to walk more plantigrade. I've seen it done both ways but I've never seen the former done in the context of mammals with paws

Synth: Here on Earth the plantigrades were first, and digitigrade and unguligrade came later. Which certainly does not mean nothing ever evolved the other way, but as of now we don’t know about any. So where can we look for some ideas? Well, humans aren’t the only plantigrade mammals. Bears, rats and mice, raccoons and several other mustelids, and many primates are all plantigrade. Here are photos of some of their hind feet:

Bear:

(Source: https://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/a-brown-bear-paw/)

Baboon:

(Source: https://www.dreamstime.com/foot-baboon-fingerprints-behind-glass-foot-baboon-fingerprints-behind-glassin-zoo-image144277356)

Raccoon:

(Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mm_Fu%C3%9F.jpg)

Rat:

(Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/8071753@N07/2283200060/in/album-72157601058889946/) 

Would a creature that started out as digitigrade and gradually shifted to plantigrade eventually have all of its separate paw pads fuse into one large one? Perhaps. Or maybe the pads expand to cover the entire underside of the foot but just cozy up beside each other instead of becoming a single large pad. Or they don’t change too much aside from the addition of a pad at the heel. Ultimately it will come down to how you want to play it for your particular world, based either on which option you think is more likely to occur, or which one you find more aesthetically pleasing to use.

Wootzel: I think what will make the most difference is how they walk. 

Most animals I can think of that walk plantigrade are primarily quadrupedal, and the heel touches the ground but doesn’t take much impact. Humans are very weird for how we walk, with the heel usually striking the ground and taking most of the weight before the front of the foot. From a bit of poking around on zoo videos on the internet, it looks like lesser apes and monkeys usually walk with either the toes hitting the ground first, or the whole foot kinda hits the ground at about the same time, and then the heel area will bear the most weight during the stride. Chimpanzees walk more like us when they’re walking bipedally, with their heel hitting the ground first.

This matters because the point of a thick, padded heel in humans and chimps is shock absorption. Those species that walk toes-first need to have a surface at the rear of the foot that can bear weight comfortably enough, but it doesn’t need to have nearly as much reinforcement and padding as a species that walks heel-first. Check out this photo of a chimpanzee’s foot, and compare it to the baboon foot above: 

(Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/62425933@N04/45894783645 )

As to whether your animal has one long pad down the foot or one at the heel separate from the metacarpal pad, I agree that that’s more aesthetic than anything concrete. I think the way they walk would definitely impact the size and prominence of the rear pad (or the rear part of the singular pad), and perhaps that’ll inform your decision!

[haggishlyhagging]

Anthropologist Peggy Reeves Sanday made a study of 150 tribal societies in an effort to understand the origins of male domination. In her resulting book Female Power and Male Dominance, she theorizes: “The evidence suggests that men and women respond differently to stress. Men almost always respond to stress with aggression, though not necessarily with dominance. Men seek to preserve a threatened identity by retaliating by force and engaging in competition for status with other men.” (Full quote here.)

She goes on to talk about how women respond to male aggression; the strategy is almost always a conciliatory one. When threatened with survival, men as a group dial up the violence, and women as a group dial it down. A few women may fight back; but the group of women as a whole will back all the way down, and even regress to a subordinate position, especially when men start killing women.

Men identify inwardly, with their own status in the group being a primary consideration. Women outwardly, with the survival of the group as a whole being most important.

Sjöö and Mor in The Great Cosmic Mother talk about the evolution of humans and how it has been primarily (if not in totality) driven by women. In fact, they argue, without the evolution of early women from estrus to menstruation, we would never have become what we are. The females of the species moved us from primate to fully human, and men, with their fear of loss of identity and ensuing aggressive dominance have done almost nothing except hold us back: “The only thing blocking or neutralizing this patriarchal-primate urge toward dominance-control of the human species is the more advanced capacity for human creative communal process via social-sexual bonding evolved by the women of our species.” (Full quote here.)

Women have tried for millennia to drag men into a more evolved form of organism. But the slightest hint of stress challenges their fragile sense of identity and this drives them back into primate behavior. It does not matter that, as a result, they lash out at their own creators; it doesn’t matter that they are practicing self-annihilation on a global scale. They don’t have the capacity to understand why this is bad. Men will make a great fuss about evolutionary drives and chasing after fertile women and desperate survival of their own genes—but their actions prove otherwise. They will kill their pregnant partners, their children, and themselves when their ego is threatened. There are countless examples of this. Countless. If men as a class cared about the survival of their own genes or the species in general, they would seek to change their behavior and the behavior of the men around them. But they don’t, and so they don’t. They can’t, and so they can’t. They understand only their own needs and desires, moment by moment.

Evolution requires outward thinking. The capacity to think, conceive, plan, strategize, empathize, outside of oneself. Outside of time and outside of the moment. Women live and breathe this. Men can merely mimic it. They can ape women’s long-range thinking, their capacity for parallel lines of thought, but they can never master it. They are excellent at mimicry. But the only thing they can ever truly master is self-pleasure and, ultimately, death.

My point, if I indeed have one, is that it’s pointless to try and save men. We are experiencing a rapid increase in environmental stressors. Climate change, resource depletion, species extinction, etc. We are watching moment by moment as males respond by increasing aggression and clamping down on female liberty. It’s only going to get worse from here. At what point do women respond in a different way? That’s what I want to know.

This is no longer about isolated tribes. This is global. We are rapidly approaching the point where we all either evolve together or die together. The half of the species that has always led the way in evolution is women. What will they do? How will they respond to the mother of all male temper tantrums, the one that threatens to once and for all end the species for good?

I believe that my desire to observe the answer to that question is the only reason I’m still here. That is my reason for being. What will women do? Will they evolve? Or will they die? Which will it be? Any guesses?

[pleistocene-pride]

The lar gibbon also known as the white handed gibbon is an endangered primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae which is native throughout Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, China, Myanmar, Burma, Thailand, and Northern Sumatra. They sport the largest contiguous range of any gibbon species and typically inhabit lowland and submontane rainforest, mixed deciduous bamboo forest, and seasonal evergreen forest.They are a diurnal, arboreal, and social species which lives in familial groups comprised of a mated pair or polyandrous group and there young offspring which often communicate via there loud & distinctive calls. The diet is comprised mostly of fruit, leaves, flowers, vines, insects, and eggs. Lar gibbons are themselves eaten by tigers, clouded leopards, marbled cats, crested serpent eagles, and reticulated pythons. Both sexes reach around 16 – 24in (41 -61cms) in head to body length and 8-17lbs (3.6 -7.7kg) in weight. As gibbons they are true brachiators, propelling themselves through the forest by swinging under the branches using their arms. Reflecting this mode of locomotion, the lar gibbon has curved fingers, elongated hands, extremely long arms and relatively short legs. The fur of this animal can vary from dark brown to ginger, tan, or cream in coloration. Its face is black, with a distinct white ring of hair around it. Its hands and feet are also white. Mating may occur year round but typically peaks during the dry season around March, after a 6-7 month pregnancy a mother lar gibbon will give birth to a single baby. For the first 4 to 6 months of its life, the infant is nursed and carried around by its mother. She then carries it around less and less, and it begins eating solid food, before becoming fully weaned by 2 years old. After weaning it is primarily cared for by its older siblings, and after 3 years it in turn starts caring for its younger siblings as well. Lar gibbons reach sexual maturity between 6 to 9 years of age at which point they leave there familial group in search of mates. Under ideal conditions a lar gibbon may live upwards of 25 years.