#tigers and wolves

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

i'm completely put together and not chewing glass at all

[planariaareneat]

How The Nocturnal Bottleneck and Nipples Make Us Human

Almost every post here considers what humans do have, really. It’s a little tiring; realistically every world has its harsh environments and vicious species and a sophont to match. We probably wouldn’t be unique for our adaptability or our persistence or even adrenaline

But our evolution is fucked up as hell, to put it lightly.

Mammals went through what’s been dubbed the nocturnal bottleneck essentially since the start of the mesozoic right up until the Cretaceous ended the archosaur’s exclusive hold over the daylight. We lost a lot of things from every mammal spending most of its time in either a cramped, suffocating burrow or scrounging around in the faint hours of nighttime. Our blood cells lost their nuclei to hold more oxygen while we spent time deep underground, we lost protections against ultraviolet rays in our skin and eyes, we can’t even repair our own DNA using the light of the sun. Most aliens probably wouldn’t have such traits unless their evolution followed a very similar path to ours. They’d be able to see ultraviolet and wouldn’t have to worry about sunburn and all the wonderful privileges essentially all fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles enjoy as we speak. 

There’s also what we gained from spending so much time in the dark.

Brown fat is only found in mammals, it’s a special type of fat which bear cells with several oil droplets and are utterly jammed with mitochondria. This lets it make heat, a lot of it, fast. We don’t even need to shiver to induce this heat generation from brown adipose tissue - factor in our downright hyperactive mitochondria, and we can warm up quickly. Sure, it doesn’t have too much use in adult humans, but it keeps our infants warm and still provides a little boost the whole run we have in this universe.

Unless aliens also went through a time where their small ancestors had to face cold nights, they’d have to produce heat the old fashioned way when chilled. Aliens might have to shiver the whole time they’re in a cold room while the human watches in confusion, quite literally unshaken, and wonders if the room is a lot colder than the thermostat set to 60 says. The aliens stare at their companion in confusion, it’s just a normal temperature to shiver at after all, how is the human sitting so still?

Our small ancestors spending all their time out foraging at night is also why we have such a good sense of touch, smell, and hearing. They were more important senses than vision (we’re lucky to have even redeveloped basic color vision, frankly) at the time and place and simply ended up continuing to serve us well. Birds and reptiles rarely have acute senses of smell and the latter especially are lucky to have acute hearing, and birds rarely have impeccable hearing themselves either. Our skin is free of scales and honed to sensitivity, and our external ears and complicated ear bones provide an immense range of hearing (from 20 all the way to 17,000 hertz!).

Aliens might not be able to pin down the chirp of a cricket or the light click of a lock being picked. The human might be the only one on board a ship that can pick out the finer sounds of the engine’s constant thrum and know the critical difference between when everything is fine and when something is wrong. The human could probably pick out the sounds of an approaching enemy’s careless footsteps - they’re only as light enough for *them* to stop hearing them, after all - and be the one to see the horrified expression (well, more on that later) on their face when we get the drop on them in spite of their perceived stealth. 

But perhaps the most versatile, convoluted, amazing, and utterly unique trait we have is right on your face this instant. Lips.

Lips in most animals are a simple seal to hold in the mouth’s moisture and protect the teeth, even if they’re supple they’re NEVER muscular except in mammals, and we have only one thing to thank for it; milk and nipples. Lips evolved exclusively to allow babies to suckle, it required a vacuum to be created in the mouth, and with no other animal having anything like a nipple it never happened in other animals. Many animals make milk, to be frank, but no other animal has nipples.

Your cheeks and lips are a marvel among tetrapods, no other animal can suck like mammals can. Aliens wouldn’t have straws or even be able to sip from the edge of a glass, they’d have to have a proboscis or simply tilt the whole thing back. Aliens likely won’t have woodwind instruments or balloons you can blow into. We take so much about our lips for granted. Hell, our muscular faces are vital for expressions, we’re probably absolute facial contortionists among a cast of creatures with mandibles and beaks and expressionless scaly maws. Aliens might find us ridiculously easy to read, if anything, compared to their own kind (all the better to deceive them) - or perhaps they’d find us hard to decipher anyways, with our lack of color-changing skin or erectable crests of bright feathers. Baring teeth might not be seen as a sign of aggression in most of the universe, smiling would be all too distinctly human. 

Perhaps with how infectious we are sometimes, that’s what we’d contribute to the universe; others might have to make do with opening their mouths just enough to show their teeth or splaying their innumerable mouthparts with just the right curve, but perhaps we’d teach the galaxy to smile, one ally at a time. 

Wouldn’t that be amazing?

[sorrow--wolf]

Hey, anyone remember that one Hunter drawing I posted like, months ago when I mentioned something else was supposed to be done that week?

So anyway, it definitely didn't take me several months to get back to this.

I totally started this a week ago, lol. /s

Anyway, I watch reddit reading videos while I'm drawing, and it was so jarring to hear someone mention Hunter while I was coloring this. Also, I may have added a personal addition to Hunter's room for nostalgia reasons. If you know, you know why it's there.

Edited to add: here's an up close crop of just Hunter and flap (I took a screen cap too, but it was actually blurrier than the crop)

[bornfreakdraws]

All of my huevember themed animal illustrations so far (from 2021 to 2022).

[timekilla]

soulmates 🦋

[art-of-tek]

Random OC stuff (plus a Chaocat for my friend)

[darkwood-sleddog]

Can the balanced dog trainers please stop fucking talking about positive reinforcement as if those dogs are not “obedience trained”? A majority of competition obedience dogs I know were trained with R+. Letting your dog wander on the end of a line because you want to do so does not = untrained. It is simply…a choice.

[writing-whump]

Picrew

Found this super cute picrew by @when-jaguars-are-sick and couldn't help but do some of my OCs :D

Like look 👀 at what can be done with the backrounds and the little spirit animals, what parallels you can express ✨️

[the-owl-tree]

Oh god, I didn't even consider the idea of Dovewing dying in Ivypool's SE. And while Dovewing is becoming more loved, I can absolutely see the editors/writing team deciding to kill her off because of the constant hate she got- and she HAS Birchkit who could become the next ShadowClan POV if that happened too. I think the worst possible option is Squirrelflight dying both for manpain with Bramblestar and so Ivypool, being acting deputy struggles with whether or not she wants to be leader, and Dovewing dying just so we feel sorry for her. I think I'd genuinely stop paying attention to ASC if they're killed off for drama lol, unless like Ivypool gets Dovewing killed because of her rash actions and finally has to deal with the consequences of her behavior. THAT at least could be interesting and a good reason for her to doubt her ability to lead when her hot headedness got Dovewing killed, buuuuuuut given that even after she interfered with sending a rescue party for SkyClan the Erins/narrative coddle her and have everyone forgive her and justify her actions? Even if she straight up gets Dovewing killed, I can already see the book bending backwards to defend her and people acting like it's Dovewing's fault. 💀

Tigerheart and Ivypool mean nothing to me without Dovewing, even Shadowsight and Lightleap being her kids is what elevates them for me. She's just That Good. If they kill her off I'm throwing rocks!!!! I feel like they wouldn't but, you know, they have a pretty blatant disregard for their female characters and you can't be sure -_- I especially don't want her to be thrown to the meat grinder for Ivypool's arc of all things, she already has a dead daughter we don't need more mince meat relatives!!!!

AVOS!Ivypool is so frustrating, like the books have always been awful about the code stringent characters that it peddles out. People's reactions to her in Tigerheart's Shadow drove me NUTS she is not being rational, she is being controlling and petty! THAT'S BAD WHY ARE YOU SAYING SHE'S RIGHT. Characters who are controlling and needy and petty are so good....but the narrative has to play into that, it has to acknowledge it to be fun to read. Ivypool clinging onto her sister would be fun if the text didn't want to constantly remind me how noble and loving she really is because of the code or whatever. I know the two technically reconciled but like. come on.

Seeing as how I still have to wade through "Dovewing abandoned her" takes, we must band together and fight for her tooth and nail to protect her.

[palaeosinensis]

Sketch dump. Many feels.

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

the golden hour (stay gold)

[fairweathermyth]

I can't hear our song on the radio without a clear recollection of the touch-and-go. I can't prize my certainty, let bygones fade away for my own sake.

WAXAHATCHEE "The Wolves" (Recorded Live for World Cafe)

[houndfaker]

tiger and wolf yuri !!!!!!!

[thekingofmuses]

Looking forward to City of the Wolves!

[tea-cat-arts]

Decided that for my mdzs creature AU, the Jins are going to be peacocks Phoenix, but I'm still debating whether I want to have Jin Guangyao to be a special little boy and be a Qilin instead or if I'm just gonna have him match the rest of his family

[art-of-tek]

Art FIght 2024 - Day 1