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carnegiemuseumnaturalhistory · 3 years

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Who is the bigger fool – the fool or the fool that falls for it?

by Stevie Kennedy-Gold

The start of April only means one thing – pranks galore thanks to April Fools Day! Ok, ok, I realize that’s not necessarily true as April also marks that spring has sprung, many small critters are emerging from their hibernations, and we celebrate, among other things, Earth Day and Arbor Day. But we can all agree that April usually starts with a load of laughs, some fibs, and some fools. In the animal kingdom, however, fooling isn’t regulated to one day. In fact, many amphibians and reptiles rely on their ability to fool both predators and prey to survive.

Masters of Disguise

Fig. 1: Because of the large blotches on their backs, people often confuse the nonvenomous gopher snakes with venomous rattlesnakes. Gopher snakes play into this confusion, however, by imitating rattlesnake behaviors.

One of the oldest tricks in the book when it comes to fooling another is to transform to look like someone, or something, else. Although herpetofauna lack access to theatrical wardrobes teeming with makeup and outfits, they evolved behaviors and physical attributes that allow them to imitate other things. The gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer, Fig. 1), for instance, is a totally harmless colubrid species found across the western and middle United States and into Canada. They are beautiful animals, having splotches of gold, reddish-brown, and black along their bodies, and, due to these colorations, are often mistaken for rattlesnakes. What’s more, when spooked, gopher snakes tend to flatten their heads, coil into a strike position, and quickly sway their tails to and fro, a rattlesnake imitation that includes a realistic sound component when it occurs in dry grass. Most snakes are solitary animals and prefer to avoid conflict and avoid expending energy in get-away attempts, so scaring away potential predators through imitation is preferred over fighting and biting. Often times, this imitation works, and potential predators leave the gopher snake alone.

Fig. 2: Smooth horned frog (Proceratophrys boiei) specimens in the collection. Although the points above their eyes have been distorted due to preservation, it is clear to see how these frogs used their coloration, patterning, and morphological features to blend into leaf litter on the forest floor.

Predictably, snakes are not the only masters of disguise. Many frog species have unique morphological features that allow them to resemble other items in nature. The dark brown coloration and the points above the eyes of the smooth horned frog (Proceratophrys boiei) give it the appearance of a leaf (Fig. 2), allowing it to blend seamlessly into the forest floor and enabling it to both evade predators and ambush prey. Similarly, the entirely aquatic Suriname toad (Pipa pipa) looks like a dead leaf in the water due to its brown coloration and flattened body. Unless you’re an omnivore that prefers dead, low-nutrition leaves, the imitation tactics of these frogs improves their chances of survival and fools any prey items not clever enough to see past their disguises.

Deceptive Practices

Not all imitations are meant to help an animal blend in. Sometimes, imitations serve “nefarious” intents. Although not apparent to an outside observer, alligator snapping turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) have a sneaky tactic to lure prey directly into their mouth. The tongues of these turtles evolved a vestigial piece of flesh, called a lingual lure, to protrude from the tip. Alligator snapping turtles will sit on the bottom of lakes and rivers and open their powerful jaws to reveal this pink bit of flesh. They then move the lingual lure around to make it look like a tasty worm, fooling unsuspecting fish right into their giant maws. Spider-tailed horned vipers (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides), a species endemic to Iran, employ a similar tactic, albeit far more noticeably to the casual observer. Admittedly, the common name of this animal gives away the punch line, but, nonetheless, this species of viper evolved to have a unique tail. Much like how a rattlesnakes’ rattle is made of modified scales, the spider-tailed horned viper’s tail scales evolved so that the last few scales bulge out into a small bubble and the scales leading up to that bulge are heavily keeled, or ridged. While keeled scales are common in most species in the Viperidae family, the keeling on these tail scales is extremely exaggerated, making the scales look like long spikes, or even legs. When you combine the long, keeled scales with the large, posterior bulge, the tail of a spider-tailed horned viper actually looks like a spider! With the snakes speckled coloration allowing it to blend into surrounding rocks and a solid tail wiggle performance, the snake’s tail looks like a tasty spider lunch to unsuspecting birds… which then become lunch for the snake. Imitation is the best form of flattery… or maybe a reliable way to fill your belly!

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Whereas some reptiles and amphibians are the masters of disguise, allowing them to hide from predators or to lure unsuspecting prey, other herps use subtler bodily alterations to fool potential prey, predators, and even conspecifics (animals of the same species). Take, for example, color changes. Chameleons often come to mind at any mention of lizard color changes, but it is actually a misconception that chameleons perfectly blend into their surroundings, mimicking every leaf and twig in the background. In truth, chameleons and many other lizard species change colors to improve thermoregulation and to communicate with conspecifics – males signaling to females that they’re ready to mate, or relying on darker colors to demonstrate aggression. There are, however, some species of frogs that do lighten or darken their hue to blend into their surroundings. The gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor) is present across most of the eastern and middle United States and, as its name implies, is an arboreal species. Because it spends its time among green leaves and gray-brown tree trunks and branches, the gray treefrog has evolved the ability to change its body coloration so it can blend in perfectly with the substrate upon which it perches. If it is on a bright green leaf, the frog will shift to a green hue. Upon landing on a mossy rock or a lichen-crusted tree trunk, the frog will change to a more gray, blotched hue instead. One second, you can see the animal perfectly and, in the next, it has completely melted away into its surroundings.

Leaving Something Behind

Other herpetofauna use more exuberant tactics to evade capture. Unlike the camouflage-wielding gray treefrog, many lizard and salamander species will self-autotomize their tails to avoid being eaten. In these instances, the herp has already been seen (or, worse, caught by a herpetologist!) and needs a quick getaway. Running away without a distraction means that the predator will likely give chase and possibly capture the lizard or salamander. However, by self-autotomizing – or breaking off – their tails, these animals increase their chances of escaping. This drastic tactic is effective because the tail continues to wriggle around and move once detached from the animals’ body, making it a tasty and easy to grab meal! Many predators become distracted by the tail, leaving the lizard or salamander free to make its escape. Interestingly, this behavior is not strictly regulated to predator attacks. I witnessed a prolonged aggressive battle between two male western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), where one male lost his tail and, instead of leaving it to writhe on the ground and eventually decompose, the lizard (attempted) to make a hasty, grapple-filled retreat from the other male, all while holding his detached tail in his mouth! Although this seems morbid, it’s actually quite clever – tails require a lot of energy and resources to make, but then the appendage stores energy in the form of meat and fat. This male fence lizard was likely keeping hold of his old tail so that he could later consume it and regain those resources. And, don’t worry, most salamander and lizard species can regrow their autotomized tails (Fig. 3), an ability that many herpetologists take advantage of when we need tissue for genetic studies.

Fig. 3: Example of tail loss and regrowth in a female Anolis carolinensis (green anole). The red arrows points at the old break point, and you can see how the tail color differs in the new growth.

The list of herpetofaunal imitators and imposters, pranksters and fibbers goes on and on. Although these disguises and imitations aren’t meant to make other animals giggle and laugh as our April Fool’s Day pranks often do, these tactics allow these reptiles and animals to live another day, evade unwanted attention, or snag a tasty meal. But, at the end of the day, it really does beg the question… who is the bigger fool – the fool or the fool that falls for it?

Stevie Kennedy-Gold is the collection manager for the Section of Amphibians and Reptiles at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

#Carnegie Museum of Natural History #April Fools #Amphibians #Reptiles #Green anole #Salamander #Lizard #Frog #Snake

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hunted-moth · 2 years

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Masumi Higashi

❁𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨.

𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆

༄ Higashi Masumi | 東真澄

𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆

༄ Higashi 東

𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆

༄ Masumi 真澄

𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆(𝒔)

༄ Umi-chan, Blondie, Dumbass, Goddess(on the tennis court/fans)

𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓

༄ Female

𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒔

༄ She/her

𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

༄ Stright

𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

༄ Japanese

𝒂𝒈𝒆

༄ 16

𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓

༄ Second year

𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍

༄ Inarizaki High

𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

༄ Not in volleyball club, but instead is in the tennis club/team

𝒋𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓

༄ Apart on the tennis team

𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

༄ 5’5

𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

༄ 130lbs

📷

❁𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

༄ Masumi is a kind girl. She tries to treat everyone with respect, and will ofter lecture her older cousin when she is being sarcastic. She does have her moments where she’ll yell and full-on lecture of the person.

𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒔

༄ kind and respectful to others

𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒕𝒔 (𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔)

༄ pushover, too quiet, and sometimes overly cautious

𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔

༄ tennis, the color pink, stuff animals, cute stuff

𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔

༄ mean people, ghost, sour and spicy foods

𝒉𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒚(𝒊𝒆𝒔)

༄ Playing tennis

𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅

༄ Dango

𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏

༄ Her cousin keeps teasing her about how she’s a second-year and still sleeps teddy bear at nights

❁𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐬.

𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 / Tennis

𝑗𝑢𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔: 3/5

𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟: 5/5

𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎: 4/5

𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙: 4/5

𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒: 5/5

𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑: 3/5

𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒔

𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠: 8/10

𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒: 8/10

𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑛: 9/10

𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠: 10/10

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑚𝑎: 9/10

𝑝𝑜𝑝𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦: 10/10

❁𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.

𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓

༄ Blond

𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆

༄ Cut short

𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓

༄ Fair

𝒆𝒚𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒓

༄ Green-gray

𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆

༄ Fit

𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕

༄ 5’5

❁𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬

𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔

༄ Mother- Higashi Tamiko

𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 / cousins

༄ Older brother- Higashi Tadao | Older cousin- Mari Konno

𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔

༄ Sugihara Momoko

𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔

༄ Older cousin- Mari Konno, Iwata Hideo

𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔

༄ Sugihara Momoko(captian), Akamine Ko, Wanda Manami, Konno Mari (manager), Iwata Hideo (manager)

❁𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎

༄ Wares the normal Inarzaki school uniform but with flats instead of loafers

𝒈𝒚𝒎 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆/𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔

༄ Wares the tennis practice clothes

𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍

༄ pink off-the-shoulder shirt, high wasted shorts, and hot pink converse

Sleep ware

༄ oversized gray hoodie with pink shorts

❁𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.

𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚/𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

༄ Masumi found her love for tennis when she would play with her mom. She had a natural talent and quickly became a very popular tennis player in both middle and high school. When she got to high school she accumulated a lot of fans(like Atsumu and Oikawa). In the middle of her first year, her older cousin was sent to live with her family, she was beyond overjoyed to have a cousin living with her. After the time skipped, she becomes a popular tennis player in Japan.

❁𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬.

༄ She is scared of ghosts, these actually an urban legion of ghosts that haunts the second year bathroom, she refuses to go into that bathroom alone

༄ She likes to claim the tree in her back yard when she’s stressed

༄ She has pet frogs and likes to go out and look for toads

༄ She has slightly larger hands than other girls her age

♡𝖗𝖆𝖇𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖓𝖓♡

#oc #haikyuu!!#haikyuu oc #oc bio #haikyuu #oc insert #inarazaki

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queenofcandynsoda · 3 years

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Cherub’s Cove: The Main Orphans

These are the main children from the orphanage, along with Arella, who are a part of Cherub’s Cover. They are the “failed” products of Project C and the carriers of C Cells, another variant of Jenova Cells. The power of the C Cells remains unknown. Due to the experiments that led to their births, some of them suffered from genetic and chromosomal abnormalities. Hojo blames all of these abnormalities to their mothers as he said that they are “X-linked”.

Caleb

Code: A-2-16-24

Age: 5

Sex: Male

85% of Father A’s DNA, 15% of Mother 16’s DNA

Appearance: Caleb is a young boy with black hair and blue eyes. His eyes have a blue-brown glow. He has sectoral heterochromia as his left eye has a brown mark. He has two bangs on each side, similar to Angeal’s. He wears a short-sleeved white shirt with blue openings, brown shorts, and black sneakers. He appears to be part Wutai.

Abilities: Caleb has enhanced sight on his left eye. He stated that he can see things very far, like they are zoomed in, with his left eye. He has enhanced strength, which allows him to partially lift up a pickup truck from the ground. He is known to be very stealthy as he is able to spy on others and steal food from travelling merchants without being noticed. He even managed to steal a materia from one of the Turks. He is able to manifest a white wing on his right side. He also carries a wooden sword.

Personality: Caleb is a mischievous young boy who is very playful. He enjoys harmless pranks on others. He often steals food from rich traveling merchants to give to his siblings and the other children since food sources have been strained due to the addition of the forty orphans. Despite his mischief, he is well-liked by the people of Nibelheim, though Claudia does not want him to steal. He often wonders about joining SOLDIER, thinking what kinds of people they are and if they are willing to do what’s right.

Gideon

Code: G-1-10-17

Age: 6

Sex: Male

55 % of Father G’s DNA, 45% of Mother 10’s DNA

Appearance: Gideon is a young boy with red hair and grey eyes. His eyes have a silver glow. He was born with congenital amputation on his left arm, meaning that he is born without a left hand and a portion of his left arm is missing. He wears a blue sleeveless shirt, brown shorts, and black boots.

Abilities: Despite his congenital amputation, Gideon is able to do almost anything that someone can do with two arms. He has basic swordsmanship despite not having prior knowledge of it. He is very good at climbing and has enhanced strength. Gideon is learning to farm and tend livestock from one of the farmers from Nibelheim. He is able to transfer his cells into small animals, such as mice and it causes them to have red streaks. He is able to manifest a black wing on his left side. He also carries a wooden sword.

Personality: Gideon is a quiet young boy as he doesn’t talk much and only communicates through Claudia and Tifa. He’s shy as he never seems to want to interact with strangers, especially towards those he has a bad feeling about. He is interested in reading as he spends some of his free time reading donated books. There is a huge chance that he remembers his time before being out in the mako tank as he tends to stay away from the

Naomi

Code: G-5-15-85

Age: 2

Sex: Female

35% of Father G’s DNA, 65% of Mother 15’s DNA

Appearance: Naomi has light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her eyes have a light blue glow. Unlike her twin sister, Naomi’s face appears to be “fairy” or “elf-like” with widely-spaced teeth, wide forehead, uneven eyes, and wide mouth. This is all due to her having Williams Syndrome. She wears a purple dress and jacket. She often walks around barefoot due to her discomfort with shoes.

Abilities: Naomi has enhanced immunity against poisons, toxins, alcohol, heat, cold, and sadness. She has telepathy, which she only uses to communicate with Nicole. While this isn’t confirmed, Naomi may induce happiness onto others. However, this might be because of her friendly personality and not her actual ability. However, she has cardiovascular and gastrointestinal issues. She is able to manifest a black wing on her left side.

Personality: Naomi is overly friendly, highly empathic, and very sensitive due to the high levels of oxytocin in her brain. She is loving to all living things, even to scary looking things. She’s very outdoorsy as she loves to play outside with her siblings and the Nibelheim and enjoy the trees, flowers, and birds. She has learning and development delays but it is unclear if it is because of spending her life in a tank until recently or from Williams Syndrome. Because of her friendly nature, Naomi is unable to recognize danger and can’t be afraid of strangers. This causes Claudia to teach her how to know what is dangerous and Stranger Danger.

Nicole

Code: G-5-15-84

Age: 2

Sex: Female

40% of Father G’s DNA, 60% of Mother 15’s DNA

Appearance: Nicole has golden blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Her eyes have a sea blue glow. Her hair is put into two pigtails. She wears a pink shirt and a pair of blue denim overalls. Like her twin sister, Naomi, she often walks around barefoot.

Abilities: Nicole is able to form an “animal bond” whenever her blood gets absorbed into a small animal or insect. It allows her to control the animals and morph them into a monastery. She has telepathy, which she only uses to communicate with Naomi. She is able to manifest a black wing on her left side.

Personality: Nicole is a friendly and empathetic little girl. She loves playing with animals whenever she’s outside, including stray cats, wolf puppies, baby chocobros, insects, and frogs. She recently has taken a few frogs as pets. Strangely, over time, they have gotten pink spots on their hands and feet. She loves to carry around her stuffed Moogle.

Yazoo

Code: S-2-03-25

Age: 5

Sex: Male

85% of Father S’s DNA, 15% of Mother 03’s DNA

Appearance: Yazoo has long silver hair and green eyes with cat-like pupils. Because of the mako, his eyes glow green. He is the tallest out of all of his triplet brothers. He wears a gray short-sleeved polo shirt, navy shorts, and black shoes.

Abilities: Yazoo has enhanced marksmanship as he uses a slingshot, which was given to him by one of the boys from Nibelheim to shoot projectiles from both short and long distance. He is very fast and agile to dodge attacks. He is able to manifest a black wing on his right side. He has abnormal intelligence and, like most of the children, is able to absorb information in a relatively short amount of time.

Personality: Yazoo is rather aloof and stoic. He rarely emotes and rarely interacts with anyone, even to his own siblings. As Claudia helps him to be social, he starts to talk more often, even to children from Nibelheim. He has moments that people would describe to be “creepy”.

Loz

Code: S-2-03-26

Age: 5

Sex: Male

35% of Father S’s DNA, 65% of Mother 03’s DNA

Appearance: Loz has short and spiky silver hair and green eyes with cat-like pupils. Because of the mako, his eyes glow green. He has a large, jagged scar on the right side of his head. He wears a sleeveless gray shirt, navy shorts, and black shoes.

Abilities: Loz has abnormal speed and strength for a child his age. He is able to lift up a pickup truck easily with very little strain. He is able to use the lighting materia despite never using it before. He is able to manifest a black wing on his right side.

Personality: Loz is a simpleton young boy. He is very outgoing and friendly to others. He has a tendency to make sound effects whenever he sees something that interests him. Despite this, he has severe anxiety whenever he gets reminded of “sick times”, such as seeing syringes, scalpels, and other medical supplies. It’s implied that he may have repressed memories.

Kadaj

Code: S-2-03-27

Age: 5

Sex: Male

60% of Father S’s DNA, 40% of Mother 03’s DNA

Appearance: Kadaj has neck-length silver hair and green eyes with cat-like pupils. Because of the mako, his eyes glow green. He wears a short-sleeved gray t-shirt, navy shorts, and black shoes.

Abilities: Kadaj is shown to have enhanced swordsmanship despite using a wooden sword. He also appears to have a healing ability as he heals bruises away. His skin seems to be immune from firearms as reported from his file. He is able to manifest a black wing on his right side.

Personality: Kadaj has a carefree and lively personality. He is very adventurous as he wants to travel the whole world. He enjoys playing with his siblings and the other children of Nibelheim. He reminds Claudia of Cloud because of their fascination with Sephiroth and is inspired to be stronger to become a part of SOLDIER.

#final fantasy vii #crisis core au #crisis core #cherub's cove #caleb #gideon #naomi #nicole #yazoo #loz #kadaj #remnants #final fantasy vii au

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myth-lord · 5 years

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Mythika’s creatures from Polynesian and Australian myths.

**THE CREATURES FROM POLYNESIAN MYTHS**

Demons in every sense of the word, these chaotic eating machines use their many arms for swift locomotion, grabbing victims along the way and eating while moving. Kurita are created by the Sinlord of Sloth so they can work fast for her, but most of them escaped and just spend their time eating or rolling around in the Abyss, torturing lesser demons.

@rt = https://www.artstation.com/artwork/g5Eqe

Abaia (Polynesian) – Beast (Fish / Summoner) - Giant water and weather-controlling eels which view all other fish as their children.

Adaro (Polynesian) – Humanoid (Beastman / Fish / Centauric) * - Merfolk with features of sharks and marlin, they use other creatures as living weapons.

Anggitay (Philippine) – Fae (Beastman / Elf / Centauric / Unicorn) - Female fae centaurs with crystal-like horns and a sickly lust for gemstones and crystals.

Askafroa, Batibat (Philippine) – Demon (Nymph / Cursed / Mara) - Possessed Dryads who became very ugly and bloated.

Aswang (Philippine) – Demon (Vampire / Human / Cursed) - Much like the demons from the Evil Dead movies.

Aswang, Manananggal (Philippine) – Demon (Vampire / Human / Cursed) - Female, more powerful variants of Aswang, they can separate from their lower body and their heads.

Babi Ngepet (Indonesian) – Demon (Cursed / Summoner) - Demonic boars and demons of greed, their skin is magnetic and treasures of all types stick to it.

Berberoka (Philippine) – Plant - A kelp-like monster which can spit water at great force at their prey.

Bonguru (Polynesian) – Fae (Summoner) * - These bizarre boars are hosts for swarms of hornets live in their bodies, and fungus/parasitic plants grow upon their backs.

Cindaku (Indonesian) – Humanoid (Beastman) * - Cat-folk, males look like humanoid tigers, females like humanoid black panthers.

Con Rit (Polynesian) – Beast (Vermin / Parasite) - Large rag worms which live inside other giant sea creatures, they often appear after you slay other sea monsters.

Dokkalfar, Dalaketnon (Philippine) – Fae (Elf / Summoner / Psychic) - More magical and powerful dark-skinned Dokkalfar, they can create magical duplicates of themselves.

Hantu Batu (Indonesian) – Elemental (Spirit) * - Stone and rock Elementals which appear like stalagmites and stalactites.

Hantu Longgok (Indonesian) – Construct (Spirit / Tsukumogami / Cursed) - Animated waste, garbage and disposal.

Jenglot (Indonesian) – Construct (Spirit / Tsukumogami / Cursed) - Animated voodoo dolls, hurting them will also hurt yourself.

Kaiaimunu (Polynesian) – Beast (Reptilian) - Much like an even more awesome Therizinosaurus.

Kongamato, Ropen (Polynesian) – Beast (Reptilian / Drake) - Larger variants of the Kongamato, with bioluminescence.

Kurita (Philippine) – Demon - Bizarre demons with many arms which roll around using their arms for swift locomotion.

Kusa Kap (Polynesian) – Beast (Avian) - Giant carnivorous hornbill birds.

Mambabarang (Philippine) – Fae (Hag / Vermin / Summoner / Mounted) - Insect hags which control all types of vermin.

Mandarangkal (Philippine) – Demon (Vermin) - Demonic mantis insects which mostly feed on male creatures.

Marcupo (Philippine) – Demon (Reptilian / Drake) - Demonic serpents with red crests and human faces, spit poison at incredible accuracy.

Nuno (Philippine) – Fae (Shifter / Gnome / Vermin / Summoner) - Gnomes of curses and insects, mostly ants, ants form their fake-beards and cover their entire bodies.

Polong (Indonesian) – Elemental (Ooze / Spirit / Vampire / Parasite) - Blood Elementals created from the blood of criminals.

Pua Tu Tahi (Polynesian) – Aberration - Large clam/shellfish monsters.

Puaka (Polynesian) – Beast - Much like an Entelodon Pig, these prehistoric boars have very sharp tongues.

Sigbin (Philippine) – Demon - Bizarre hopping demons which feed on shadows.

Siyokoy (Philippine) – Humanoid (Beastman / Fish / Centauric) * - Eel Merfolk of the deeps, females are always sea witches.

Tiburon (Philippine) – Beast (Fish) - Flying hammerhead-like sharks.

Tikbalang (Philippine) – Fae (Beastman / Bogey / Cursed) - Horse-headed humanoid fae which loves to confuse their prey and make them lose their ways.

Tiyanak (Philippine) – Undead (Vampire / Human / Cursed / Summoner) - Undead babies which are actually very intelligent killers.

Xiao, Ahool (Indonesian) – Beast (Chimerae) - These larger flying monkeys combine bats with baboons.

============================

**THE CREATURES FROM AUSTRALIAN MYTHS**

Mooldabbie are starfish-like demons which hang around the dark waters of the Styx. Their touch and bites destroy memories and cause forgetfulness much like the waters of the Styx. Many other demons think the flesh of Mooldabbie is a delicacy, so it’s a good thing only they are immune to the Styx waters and no other demons can follow them there.

@rt = D&D Echinoloth

Aije, Tiddalik (Australian) – Beast (Amphibian / Summoner) - Giant frogs, the adult variant of the Aije, they carry their tadpoles on their backs.

Bunyip (Australian) – Beast (Chimerae) - Much like an aquatic Gorgonopsid.

Burrunjor (Australian) – Beast (Reptilian) - Like a more monstrous Allosaurus combined with a Deinonychus.

Dheeyabery (Australian) – Aberration (Ooze / Human / Cursed) - Flesh absorbing oozes which form humanoid bodies to lure in prey.

Irrinja (Australian) – Beast - Thylacines which live in the deserts and which burry themselves in the sand to stalk prey.

Julana (Australian) – Humanoid (Human / Cursed) - Humanoid creeps which swim in sand and ambush prey from there.

Marakihau (Australian) – Aberration - Much like the prehistoric Opabinia combined with a humanoid.

Mooldabbie (Australian) – Demon - Giant demonic starfish horrors, that live near the river Styx.

Nadubi (Australian) – Demon (Bogey) - Demons which limbs end in vile impaling pikes.

Nargun (Australian) – Fae (Troll) - Rock Trolls which skin reflects back any magical or ranged attack made against it.

Nargun, Porotai (Australian) – Fae (Troll) - Two-headed variants of the Nargun.

Papinijuwari (Australian) – Aberration (Giant / Alien) - Evil Cyclopean alien giants which can fly through the air like a falling star and which collect diseases.

Wulgaru (Australian) – Construct (Troll / Spirit) * - Wood and Totem-like golems.

Yara-Ma-Yha-Who (Australian) – Aberration (Amphibian / Vampire) - Red, tree-dwelling amphibian-like vampires which turn victims into new Yara’s by swallowing them.

Yowie (Australian) – Humanoid (Beastman) * - Red-haired feral Sasquatch monsters which carry their violent children in their kangaroo-like pouch.

============================

**THE CREATURES FROM LEFTOVERS ARE FINE WITH ME**

There it goes, tearing apart yet another poor dragon which found the wrong forest to call it’s home. The Bandersnatch never gives up the hunt, the only way to stop it from hunting you is to kill it first, a deed only the most powerful of heroes can succeed in.

@rt: https://michelegiorgiillustrator.com/character-design/

A Bao A Qu (Hoax) – Aberration (Ooze / Shifter / Drake) - Ooze creatures which feed on victims charisma.

Astromyxin (Hoax) – Aberration (Ooze / Alien / Parasite / Swarm) * - The blob in Mythika.

Cecaelia (Hoax) – Aberration (Centauric / Cursed) - Half humanoid and half octopus.

Drop Bear (Hoax) – Beast - Cruel koala-like creatures which increase their own weight and fall from trees.

Gray (Hoax) – Aberration (Alien / Summoner / Psychic) - Very intelligent Aliens which love to create new life forms.

Gulon, Bandersnatch (Literature) – Fae (Tulpa) - Very colorful Gulon variants with six legs, they love the thrill of the hunt.

Mothman (Hoax) – Aberration (Beastman / Vermin / Alien) - Like a moth is drawn to flame, these bizarre aliens are drawn to catastrophes and disasters.

Peryton (Hoax) – Beast (Avian / Chimerae / Cursed) - Winged, carnivorous stags with bird features, an appetite for hearts and casting the shadows of their latest victims.

Rat King (Hoax) – Beast (Swarm) - Swarms of plagued rats bound by the tail.

Sandwalker (Hoax) – Demon (Vermin) - Giant demonic scorpions with four pincers and two scorpion tails.

Tuyango, Jub-Jub Bird (Literature) – Fae (Avian / Tulpa) - Fae variants of the Tuyango, with large cassowary-like helmets.

Wolpertinger (Hoax) – Beast (Avian / Chimerae) * - Antlers like a stag, bodies of a hare, wings like a bird and the attitude of a wolf.

#Mythology #Fantasy #Cryptid #Folklore #Monster

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homenum-revelio-hq · 5 years

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Welcome (again) to the Order of the Phoenix, Bee!

You have been accepted for the role of ISLA SELWYN-MACMILLAN, with the requested faceclaim change to Adelaide Kane! We particularly enjoyed the discussion of Isla’s reasoning to join the Order, as well as the conflict with people not trusting her because of who she is. We think she’ll be an excellent addition to the cast!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Bee

AGE: 21

TIMEZONE: EST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: I’m a college student, so my activity tends to revolve around my schedule, though I tend to be online at some point every day (unless there’s a big paper to write or a project or a test or something the next day, in which case maybe not… but still probably because I am a disaster). If I had to give it a number? 7.5, 8.

ANYTHING ELSE: OOPS HI LOVELY ADMINS

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Isla Evelyn Selwyn-MacMillan

AGE: 25

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis Female, She/Her, Sexuality was a weird thing for Isla- she was never entirely certain as to how to define it, or what made sense to her. Yeah, sure, guys were good, she guessed. Girls were nice too. Either or, both, sure.. But it was never really important. At least, not the sex part- not to her. She could take it or leave it. Sometimes it was nice, but most of the time she could live without. What she couldn’t live without was some sort of emotional connection. She needed someone to care about, and who cared about her- that was always what mattered most to her. In terms of labeling, she’s probably demisexual and gray ace.

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Gryffindor

ANY CHANGES: I’m 100% okay with Ernie being Archie and Isla’s kid. I actually kind of love how complicated it makes their little, odd family’s life. As for faceclaims,would it be okay if I used Adelaide Kane? If not, Melisa Pamuk is perfect <3

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

Isla falls into a sort of gray area when it comes to personality. She is a messy conglomeration of the things that she needed to be for her family as well as the things she wanted to be for herself- therefore, it really depends on which Isla you know. She can be vibrant and exuberant, a free spirit who loves to run wild, who loves to do things that make her happy. She can be wildly fierce, especially when it comes to taking care of people and standing up for what she believes in. She can be a whirlwind of passion and fire. She’s warmhearted, treating friends more like family and strangers like friends.

But there’s also the uncertainty of who she’s supposed to be. The feeling of being lost in who she wants to be and who she’s had to become in order to hold on to the people she cares about, to protect the people she cares about, to protect herself. It’s like living a masquerade every day of her life. Pretending and lying, giving up the things that she was so passionate about, it’s deteriorated her spirit a little bit. But the Order has given her a little bit of that fire back. She has a cause to fight- she fights for the person she once was, the person she’s lost. She fights against the stupid, archaic world that the Death Eaters and Voldemort are creating. It helps her hold onto the scraps of herself that she knew. It’s like looking into a crystal ball and seeing who you were, but not seeing any path as to who you’re supposed to be now that the chips are down and you’ve found yourself in your current situation.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY:

Isla has never really known where she fit in with her family. There’s a family portrait that hangs in her family home’s parlor that was done when she was about four. Her mother and father looked like the regal couple they’d always been, standing behind their four children, elegantly dressed, her mother dazzling with the diamond necklace that twinkled upon her neck, her father with a stern sort of half smile underneath his mustache. Her older sister, Maeve, sat on a fainting couch with herself and their little brother, Grant, just in front of them. All three of them in pristine, mint condition. Long, dark curls on Isla and Maeve, half tied up in white bows. Little Grant in a suit, his hair slicked back with what had to be gallons of Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion. Every single detail of the five of them was perfect, to a t. She was sure that somewhere, in the back of her parent’s minds, that’s how they’d hoped their children would stay. Perfect little angels who knew their place, who had cherubic smiles on their faces and soft giggles. As an adult, Isla would find herself staring at the middle child, squirming ever so slightly in her little white dress, her eyes glinting with just a hint of mischief, and want to tell her to run away and never look back.

But then, really, would Isla be Isla?

Isla was a ball of energy that was almost impossible to tame. Of course, she knew when not to overstep her parent’s wishes, but oh Merlin, was it fun to toe just a hair over the line. As a little girl, she wasn’t given much opportunity. She would run wild around the nursery, declaring herself a dragon on any given Tuesday, or the Quidditch World Champion for a weekend. She jumped off beds, had notebooks full of doodles, sang at the top of her lungs- she was absolutely her own person. Willful, too. From about the age of three, there was no getting Isla to do anything that Isla didn’t want to do. She would sit, stubborn as an ox, in the same spot for hours on end. It drove her mother and father absolutely mad- but her aunt had always laughed and remarked that as long as there were Selwyns, there would be willful, headstrong witches in the world.

Hogwarts was the time for freedom that Isla really needed. It was freedom, at least to a point, to explore and experience and learn what she liked, to do what she wanted. Of course, she was never encouraged to do certain things. It was almost an unspoken thing- of course her parents wanted her socializing with students from pureblood families, of course they wanted her in the Frog Choir, of course they wanted her in the Slug Club- these were things that they could brag about to their friends, things that would make their daughter sound like the creme of the crop. It was easy with Isla’s older sister- Maeve had always been the golden girl. But Isla liked to subvert expectations and do what she wanted to do. She loved flying. Soaring above the world in the red and gold of the Gryffindor House Team, a very unladylike beater’s bat in one hand, she felt freer than free. Like she never wanted to touch the ground again. She loved Care of Magical Creatures, her gentler side emerging from the usual ferocity of her spirit. She could speak to the creatures for hours. She’d watch flobberworms, and somehow, not get bored. She hid a niffler in the Gryffindor Girl’s Dormitory for a month because it had hurt itself and she wanted to heal him up (his name was Gregory, and yes, she got found out by McGonagall… Gregory got taken away, and in a rare sighting, Isla cried for hours). She’d make friends with anyone and everyone from any house, even though there were certain friends that she had to tiptoe around, lest naive Grant slip up and tell their parents. Hell, she even snogged a few guys, a few girls, a few neither, and a few both. She had a relationship or two, though nothing romantic ever really lasted. All of this was okay because it fell within the realm of education. It wasn’t the real world- not yet. Her parents didn’t care what she did, so long as she brought no irredeemable shame to them.

Soon after graduation, her mother first used the most dreaded word in all of English: marriage. And thus began Isla’s great attempt to avoid ever talking about getting married. She quickly found a quidditch team that would sign her on, and thankfully her parents indulged her ‘whim’. For five years after Hogwarts, five glorious, beautiful, amazing years, she flew professionally. Isla knew it wasn’t exactly what her parents wanted- she knew the remarks regarding their younger daughter’s occupation that ran in their little circle of pureblood friends. But Isla didn’t care. Until she had to care. Until her parents told her she couldn’t fly anymore, even though she was so close to landing a spot in the big leagues. No. That word came back to haunt her. Marriage. Isla had to get married to some nice pureblooded boy that they approved of- preferably another old name- and have little pureblood babies. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t in love with anyone, it didn’t matter that she didn’t want to get married- it was marry or be cut off. This was the only place that her parent’s held the power, where the line was drawn in flames rather than chalk. They threatened her with stories of Andromeda Tonks, who ran off with a muggleborn and had a kid, who was cut off from the family, burned off the family tree, shunned from all of society. And while Isla didn’t care about the rest of society, she did care about being cut off from her family.

Enter Archie.

Archibald Macmillan, one of Isla’s closest friends in the world, was in a similar conundrum: his parents were demanding a marriage to a nice pureblooded young lady- the catch in his particular situation was that young ladies weren’t exactly his type. Thus, the world’s most perfect plan was hatched: Archibald Macmillan would marry Isla Selwyn. They would be married for the sake of marrying- to placate their parents and the demands for traditional pureblood values and a path for an eventual heir- but have the freedom to be themselves within their own relationship. Freedom within the constraints their families had placed upon them. Thankfully, Archie hadn’t fussed when she asked… or really demanded… she keep her surname as well as take his. She was Isla Selwyn after all. Now she was just a Macmillan too.

It wasn’t until after the wedding that Isla found out why her parents had been so demanding and had threatened to cut her clean off if she hadn’t married. The reason was referred to as You-Know-Who and other darling pseudonyms. He wanted a pureblood society, full of traditional pureblood values. If you defied him and his followers, you often ended up dead. It had been her family’s way of protecting her without really explaining why. That knowledge made her blood boil. She had been so angry with her family, but so afraid that they would cut her off just like Andromeda Tonks had been burned off the Black Family Tree that she caved. But it was this… this slimy, foul, miserable wretch of a wizard who wanted a perfect world for himself to rule over. What You-Know-Who didn’t know was that he had made an enemy on her wedding day, whilst she was saying her ‘I do’s to a man she loved but wasn’t in love with, while her family sat, painted smiles on their face. He had made her choose to clip her wings. And for that, he would pay.

OCCUPATION:

Once upon a time, Isla was going to fly for the rest of her life. She was going to live on her broomstick and make it big one day. Maybe she’d even fly for the Holyhead Harpies. She’d already planned it all out. Unfortunately, Voldemort and, because of their fear of their daughter being hurt or worse, her parents, had more traditional plans for her. So Isla Selwyn MacFusty is a wife. It isn’t an occupation she wanted by any stretch of the imagination- but at least it’s a marriage to Archie, and not one of the arrogant ministry goons her mum would have picked out for her. She supposes that the Order is more of an occupation in the traditional sense- it doesn’t pay (but she doesn’t need money, what with the Selwyn and Macmillan money floating around), but it gives her something to do. She’s also taken on a new occupation- one that she wasn’t certain that she’d ever wanted. Being the mother of Ernie Macmillan was the best job she’s ever had. She’d do anything for her little boy, anything in the world.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDERS:

Isla’s fairly certain that most of the Order does not like her because of her last name… or last names. Sometimes it makes her feel like she’s sticking out like a sore thumb- the pureblood girl with the perfect pureblood life, what’s she doing fighting with the underdogs? Isla wishes that there were some way for her to reassure the Order that she’d do just about anything to help, because she doesn’t agree with anything that Voldemort says… the slimey old git. The past is the past, and it should stay there. Archaic and old, let it mold away. Fighting this fight lets her at least try to banish the past way of thinking. Plus, she believes that every good secret organization needs a few good men (or women) who have insight and connections to the enemy. Fortunately, Isla believes herself to be the exact girl for the job, She’s high enough up in pureblood society that people don’t suspect her. While most people in high society know of Isla’s fiery disposition, they believe her to be ‘tamed’ by married life, settling in as a graceful and elegant lady of the house. She can work her family’s circles to pick up intel and feed it back to the Order. Hopefully good information helps turn the tides on the war.

SURVIVAL:

Once upon a time, Isla thought she was invincible. Nothing bad would happen to her- the Death Eaters, while winning, were too dumb in her mind to think that one of the Selwyn girls was working against them. She was certain that they’d think no sweet, demure, little housewife and mother would ever be involved with an organization actively trying to take down Voldemort. Especially not with a surname like Selwyn Macmillan. But the events of October 31st 1981 have rattled the optimistic perspective of Isla. People got hurt. Really hurt. Before the Masquerade, she was fighting by sneaking around, bringing in information that could only be provided by someone in upper crust pureblood society. But the evening of the masquerade was the first time that she could actually die. Be it getting caught in the crossfire trying to save someone, or being caught working for the Order, or simply being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. And if she died, that left Archie and Ernie alone- the two people she’d do anything in the world for. If she got caught, or if she died, that put both of them at risk. Or worse, she got caught, and something happened to them- she’s not so sure if she could handle even thinking about something like that happening.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Archie Macmillan: She loves her husband to the moon and back- just not as one would normally love their husband. Marrying Archie was a no-brainer once the ultimatums began to be thrown around by her parents. He’d always been a close friend, he was someone her parents undoubtedly approved of, and he needed a safe marriage where he could be himself without sneaking around. She thinks the world of him, and she would do anything for him. Of course, the Order has put a bit of a strain on things, but she appreciates him being right by her side. It makes her feel less alone in things.

Andromeda Tonks: Isla can never decide whether or not to be jealous of Andromeda. She was free to live the life that she wanted with whom she wanted, but at the cost of losing her family. Isla is certain that she maintains a large amount of respect for the woman. She might have been the horror story her parents plagued her with, being left without a family or a home, but at least Andromeda didn’t give in to her parents. There’s a piece of Isla that eats at her every day for not fighting for just one more second of her freedom.

James Potter: Isla really cannot stand James Potter, and it’s not even his fault… or it is… it isn’t but it is. James has never had to worry about losing his family for dating who he wanted, for marrying or not marrying- he’s completely free. And even worse, he’s pitied for being in a relationship simply because Lily is a muggleborn. As if Lily Evans wasn’t smarter than ten purebloods combined… at least, in her humble opinion. All of these thoughts have given Isla a sort of prickly disposition whenever she’s around James. She doesn’t hate him, but she doesn’t like what he gets away with all because he’s James Potter and because he’s a bloke.

Emma Vanity: Emma Vanity is like looking into a mirror. A slightly more innocent, naive, little lamb of a mirror, but a mirror. She’s from a pureblood family, one that had wanted her to get married to a nice pureblood boy. And god, the girl almost did get married, and Isla still isn’t sure that that’s what the girl had wanted. She was freed from her betrothal by the untimely death of Mulciber, but Isla knows that that sort of freedom only lasts so long, especially nowadays. Hopefully, with a little bit of her help, Isla can get Emma to truly decide what she wants, and then help the girl with whatever comes next. Merlin knows Isla wishes that she had had someone who would have done that for her.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: Isla x chemistry. A warning that she will never do anything that would put Archie or her son at risk, any extramarital relationships will likely be secretive.

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Isla has led the glamorous life- she hasn’t had to worry about much of anything, ever. She never had to worry about being bullied or tormented about where she came from, let alone any other reason. Up until her time at Hogwarts, she hadn’t really met a muggleborn, let alone really understand what the muggle world was like- it wasn’t like she didn’t know that muggleborns existed, but they weren’t in the social circles that her parents ran in. So when she got to Hogwarts, she was a little bit too eager to find out things like how they got around or how they got rid of the boggarts in the attic or how they ever got their mail. There were times she was surprised how good at magic a muggleborn friend was, and as she got older, she’d kick herself for ever thinking like that. Having magic, she learned, didn’t mean you had to be good at it. For example, she was awful at transfiguration, whereas other students- muggleborn, halfblood, and pureblood alike- succeeded and even thrived at the art of changing one thing into another.

The only thing in the world she has working against her is Voldemort’s need for his rather archaic pureblood society and it’s ‘traditional’ values. Traditional in the sense that it was her job to be a delicate flower doing household magic and being demure and lovely as opposed to zooming through the air on a broomstick and feeling free. That freedom to be who she wanted to be has given her the tiniest sliver of a glimpse into a world she knows she could never dare to imagine. Ernie, she’s decided, will be raised to respect every wixen of every background. Her son will be better. She won’t let him be another pureblood thinking that he is the center of the universe, and all should bow before him.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? I have never loved a group more, I swear to god. I am here for all the angst and in depth character writing.

PLOT DROP IDEAS: LITERALLY ANYTHING. Y’all have come up with better plot drops than I could ever imagine. But I’d love something that lets Isla really do some recon and bring back whatever information she can to the Order.

ANYTHING ELSE? AAAAAAAAAAH I LOVE YOU ALL

#hp roleplay #hp rp #hp rpg #harry potter rp #harry potter roleplay #homenumaccepted

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ainawgsd · 6 years

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Sciurus carolinensis, common name eastern gray squirrel or grey squirrel depending on region, is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus. It is native to eastern North America, where it is the most prodigious and ecologically essential natural forest regenerator. The eastern grey squirrel in Europe is regarded as an invasive species.

The eastern gray squirrel has predominantly gray fur, but it can have a brownish color. It has a usual white underside as compared to the typical brownish-orange underside of the fox squirrel. It has a large bushy tail. Particularly in urban situations where the risk of predation is reduced, both white – and black-colored individuals are quite often found. The melanistic form, which is almost entirely black, is predominant in certain populations and in certain geographic areas, such as in large parts of southeastern Canada. Melanistic squirrels appear to exhibit a higher cold tolerance than the common grey morph; when exposed to 14 °F, black squirrels showed an 18% reduction in heat loss, a 20% reduction in basal metabolic rate, and an 11% increase to non-shivering thermogenesis capacity when compared to the common gray morph. Genetic variations within these include individuals with black tails and black-colored squirrels with white tails.

Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the eastern gray squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for later recovery. Some caches are quite temporary, especially those made near the site of a sudden abundance of food which can be retrieved within hours or days for reburial in a more secure site. Others are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. Each squirrel is estimated to make several thousand caches each season.

Squirrels sometimes use deceptive behavior to prevent other animals from retrieving cached food. They will pretend to bury the object if they feel that they are being watched. They do this by preparing the spot as usual, for instance, digging a hole or widening a crack, miming the placement of the food, while actually concealing it in their mouths, and then covering up the "cache" as if they had deposited the object. They also hide behind vegetation while burying food or hide it high up in trees (if their rival is not arboreal). Such a complex repertoire suggests that the behaviors are not innate, and imply theory of mind thinking.

Eastern gray squirrels eat a range of foods, such as tree bark, tree buds, berries, many types of seeds and acorns, walnuts, and other nuts, and some types of fungi found in the forests. The squirrels also raid gardens for tomatoes, corn, strawberries, and other garden crops. On occasion, eastern gray squirrels also prey upon insects, frogs, small rodents including other squirrels, and small birds, their eggs, and young. They also gnaw on bones, antlers, and turtle shells – likely as a source of minerals scarce in their normal diet.

The eastern gray squirrel is found from New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to East Texas and Florida. Breeding eastern gray squirrels are found in Nova Scotia, but whether this population was introduced or came from natural range expansion is not known.

Grey squirrels have been introduced either on purpose or by accident in many places throughout the world. Almost 80% of known grey squirrel introductions worldwide were successful in establishing themselves in the new area. Typically, grey squirrels do not need large numbers to start a new population. From studying all of the known successful introductions of this species, 71.4% used less than 10 individuals. The first reported introduction of grey squirrels in continental Europe was in 1948, and they were taken to Stupinigi, Italy, where there is still a growing population. In Ireland however, Lord Longford was said to have introduced the American squirrels into his estate in 1911. Not all grey squirrel introductions were on purpose. For example, in 1966 two females and one male escaped from a game farm on Vancouver Island.

In South Africa, though exotic, it is not usually considered an invasive species owing to its small range (only found in the extreme southwestern part of the Western Cape, going north as far as the small farming town of Franschhoek). Here, it mostly eats acorns and pine seeds, although it will take indigenous and commercial fruit, as well. Even so, it is unable to use the natural vegetation (fynbos) found in the area, a factor which has helped to limit its spread. It does not come into contact with native squirrels due to geographic isolation and different habitats.

#squirrel #eastern grey squirrel #invasive species #tree rats #fuzzy tail

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fresh-frogs · 3 years

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Hanging out :)

#male and female!!#these two actually mated #they had EGGS #frog blog #frog blogging #frogs #frog #frogposting #amphibian #amphibians #frogblr #tree frog #gray treefrogs #gray treefrog #gray tree frog #gray tree frogs #treefrog

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yoonstudios · 2 years

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the get to know me uncomfortably well thing except i threw some out bc i don't like them lmao

1. What is your middle name? Fhae ((it was inspired by the name of a waitress my mom and dad had on one of their dates at big boys 🙃))

2. How old are you? 16

3. What is your birthday? July 19

4. What is your zodiac sign? Cancer

5. What is your favorite color? pastel yellow or purple

6. What’s your lucky number? i don't have one lmao

7. Do you have any pets? yes, two twin male cats, mo and curly, and a female torbie cat, ryleigh. i also have two purple danio fish that i've had for months and haven't even named yet :')

8. Where are you from? cornfield land (ohio)

9. How tall are you? it's been a minute since i got my height measured but last time, i was a little under 5' 4" !!

10. What shoe size are you? bro idk like size 7 in womens or smth

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own? i have a pair of tennis shoes and have two pairs of boots but i'm planning to get some gray converse highs this christmas.

12. What was your last dream about? going on a long and absolutely gorgeous road trip with jin in a vintage camper van :))

13. What talents do you have? being completely honest, i don't have any,, i'm not good at a lot of things actually and i beat myself up for it really really badly lol but i'm trying to find something i'm really good at !!

14. Are you psychic in any way? um no, but i'm pretty good at predicting things, or that's what i've been told by my intj father lol august of this year, we were at a metropark and my mom parked her suv in the parking lot and be aware that we're basically in the middle of a forest. we're chilling at a small playground with a bunch of kids and all i can think is how many trees are bent over, and the fact that no one else is noticing is confusing the fuck out of me. i told my mom that some trees are probably gonna fall on someone's car or one of the facility buildings but she just tells me to calm down, and that nothing will happen and that everything's fine. not even 5 minutes goes by, and a 30 foot branch falls and literally destroys like 40% of my mom's suv🙃🙃🙃

15. Favorite song? a hard question, but i'll have to pick yoongi's "so far away" :)

16. Favorite movie? the princess and thE FROG DON'T JUDGE ME OKAY LMAO

17. Who would be your ideal partner? uhh, i just want a decent dude who can handle my regularly scheduled daily existential crisis and can respect boundaries ((lol jk if you're not yoongi or any of the other 6 dorks, then there's a good chance that i won't marry you /hj))

18. Do you want children? even in the previous question, relationships are probably on the very bottom of my priority list, and it isn't really something i'm too worried about right now. i wanna get my life together and have some emotional stability before i even think about dating. so no, i don't want any children, even if i do get married, but that might change idk

19. Do you want a church wedding? nah, i want one of those super pretty weddings in the middle of the woods lmao if that's a thing???

20. Are you religious? lol yeah i'm a christian <3

21. Have you ever been to the hospital? yep, when i was born :)) but seriously no, i haven't hurt myself that bad to the point where i need to go to the hospital~

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law? nope!

23. Have you ever met any celebrities? i don't think so..

24. Baths or showers? showers

25. What color socks are you wearing? they're different patterns lol my right sock is a navy blue and my left is just blue with thin white stripes lmao

26. Have you ever been famous? if you count being in the newspaper bc you won being the "christmas princess" in 1st grade and being interviewed by abc news bc you were in a bus crash in 2nd grade FAMOUS? then, yes, i have been famous before lol

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity? maybe??? i like the idea of it but i don't think i'd be able to handle all the attention and fame-

28. What type of music do you like? in k-pop, only listen to bts and that's literally it, lo-fi, and some gospel sprinkled in there ((yes, i'm just THAT lame))

30. How many pillows do you sleep with? i have one pillow under my head, another pillow right in front of me, and sometimes i sleep with a giant squishmallow bunny lol

31. What position do you usually sleep in? 65% of the time, i sleep like yoongi and the other 35% is me sleeping in a fetal position on the side hugging a giant stuffed animal

32. How big is your house? we only have one main floor, a really creepy crawl space under our house, and an attic. the only way to the attic is through the garage. and no one is allowed up there bc the flooring is so weak, that if anyone walks on it, there is a very high chance that the entire roof will fall through the house :')

33. What do you typically have for breakfast? just cereal. sometimes generic brand oatmeal from walmart or some waffles.

35. Have you ever tried archery? yes, and i was actually pretty good at it, but that many years ago.

36. Favorite clean word? supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

37. Favorite swear word? fuck.

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? i think like, about 22 hours...? i was in 3rd grade or 4th grade btw i really don't know how i did it lmao

39. Do you have any scars? no, surprisingly.

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer? no lol

41. Are you a good liar? i am, actually!

42. Are you a good judge of character? yeah, i'd say so.

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own? nope i'm pretty bad at them

44. Do you have a strong accent? no..? i don't think so

45. What is your favorite accent? australian

46. What is your personality type? i'm 80% sure it's intj

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing? i don't have a damn clue lmFAOO

48. Can you curl your tongue? yep

50. Left or right handed? right handed

51. Are you scared of spiders? the complete opposite for me! i'm the person in the house that people come to, to catch/kill the spiders. the funny thing is, i usually trap them in a cup and sit them on my desk for a solid hour and proceed to research whatever the hell kinda spider it is. then i have to throw it back out into the wild because my mom doesn't like spiders still inside the house. i actually have very little to no fear when it comes to nature or wildlife and that's probably not a good thing lmao

52. Favorite food? steak!

53. Favorite foreign food? tiramisu ((ik it's a dessert but still))

54. Are you a clean or messy person? uh, my room is the definition of organized chaos lmao but crave to plan for just about everything.

55. Most used phrase? i say "that's what she said" whenever i have the opportunity :')

56. Most used word? "what"

57. How long does it take for you to get ready? excluding breakfast, like 10 minutes.

58. Do you have much of an ego? usually no..?

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops? suck, then bite.

60. Do you talk to yourself? being 100% honest, i think the time i've talked to myself is more than the time i've talked to other people irl 🙃

61. Do you sing to yourself? yeah

62. Are you a good singer? with certain songs. i'm either really good, or literally awful, no in between.

63. Biggest Fear? not having enough information/knowledge; failure; the unknown

4. Are you a gossiper? sweet dear jesus NO

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen? i haven't seen any really dramatic movies, or none that i can remember..

66. Do you like long or short hair? long hair 215% but my hair takes a painfully long to time to grow lmao

67. Can you name all 50 states of America? just writing them on a piece of paper, no. but if you gave me a blank map of america with the states outlined, i'd probably be able to fill in the state names.

68. Favorite school subject? Science, more specifically, biology.

69. Extrovert or Introvert? Very much an introvert.

70. Have you ever been scuba diving? no

71. What makes you nervous? being screamed at, riding on airplanes, needles, darkness, riding across very long bridges over water and loads more :'))

72. Are you scared of the dark? oh my god yES

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes? for the most part, yes.

74. Are you ticklish? yes, very, and i'm not telling you where -_- literally everywhere

75. Have you ever started a rumor? no, and i don't have the guts to, either.

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority? not that i can remember..

77. Have you ever drank underage? lmao no

78. Have you ever done drugs? nope

79. Who was your first real crush? none other than ✨min yoongi✨

80. How many piercings do you have? two, one on each ear lobe.

81. Can you roll your Rs? i didn't know what this meant at first so i searched it up and no i don't think i can roll the R's lol ((ik i can learn but it's 12:03 a.m. and i'm not gonna do it rn lmao))

82. How fast can you type? about 50 wpm

83. How fast can you run? fast enough :) but seriously idk how fast, i'd say about how fast a normal person can run lol

84. What color is your hair? brown, but when in the sunlight, i have a lot of red with some blond, but i say brown bc that's mostly what it is lmao

85. What color is your eyes? brown

86. What are you allergic to? amoxicillin. that's literally it.

87. Do you keep a journal? no, i used to tho until my brother kept finding it, so tumblr is my new journal now :)))

88. What do your parents do? my mom works as a server at cracker barrel and my dad works at a car wash ((we don't make a lot of money as you can tell lmao))

89. Do you like your age? yeah a little bit

90. What makes you angry? hate speech, when me or another person is being illogical, when i'm ignored or talked over

91. Do you like your own name? yep, mostly because i have the nickname "maddie"

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they? not really, but i decided that if i have triplet girls, that i will name them April, May, and June lmaoo

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child? i don't really mind, but having a couple sons sounds nice-

94. What are your strengths? i'm polite for the most part~ i'm pretty good at multitasking and organizing. i'm also decently creative too.

95. What are your weaknesses? i can get impatient really quickly when people don't understand or aren't as efficient as me. i can also be quite pessimistic.

96. How did you get your name? my parents liked the meaning of madison (gift from God) and they thought the nickname that came with it (maddie) was cute.

97. Were your ancestors royalty? no, they just were a bunch of unstable murderous psychopaths on both sides of my family lmao

98. Do you have any scars? surprisingly no?????? i'm very clumsy so idk how i haven't gotten any scars yet-

99. Color of your bedspread? pale blue

100. Color of your room? just plain white

#YES I'M PROCRASTINATING BUT NOW Y'ALL HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT ME THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR SO THERE'S THAT :)))#it's literally 12:25 a.m. rn ily so much God bless <3 #((also since it's so damn late i'm sorry if some stuff didn't make sense lmao))

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mrenvs3000 · 3 years

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Looking for the little things

Some of my most memorable and interesting moments in nature, were things I found by chance. I spend a lot of my time outdoors, both for leisure and for work, and I am constantly amazed by the things I discover. For this blog post I decided to show pictures and videos from times that nature snuck up on me and gave me a surprise. I want to show you the little gifts that nature has to offer if you decide to look.

Working as a groundskeeper in a cemetery, people assume my days are sad and dreary, but in reality, they are full of life! Working outside from spring to early fall I am constantly exposed to the new species that come with different weather, as well as watch animals behave and grow up. The cemetery provides plenty of opportunities for bird watching, with red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures being frequent flyers in the area, but it also allowed for the intimate observation of geese, ducks, and robins. One of my favourite activities to do when I have a few spare moments, is to look inside the birdhouse we have. This birdhouse has been so great because it has a latch to look inside. Due to this latch, I was able to see the chickadees that call it home lay eggs, hatch into babies, and eventually fly away. Even after the birds have left, I still find surprises in their newly vacant home, now I get to watch as caterpillars congregate, molt, and turn into moths. I have looked for a similar bird house for myself ever since, because of the amazing observations you can make through it.

The upper three photos are the three stages I was able to observe of the chickadees over the season. Photos are all taken by me.

This is either a duck or goose egg I found buried in the parking lot gardens at the cemetery. Photo taken by me

The cemetery also allowed me to see tree frogs for the first time. They loved to hang out in the cool water barrels used for watering peoples flowers at the graves. I loved driving through the cemetery and seeing their little grey and green faces peeking out at me. These tree frogs are often found near areas with permanent water sources, and although there are two ponds on the land, I believe they use these water barrels as their go to water source. If you look hard enough up a tree or between the branches of a juniper bush, you may spot some of our sticky friends. Not only were these frogs my “friends” (I like to believe) but I also had a lovely bird that followed me all day to swoop down and snatch the bugs I disturbed from the grass.

These are two frogs I have named “Damsel and Danger”, the blue surrounding them is the barrels we often found them in. Photo is taken by me.

This is my bird friend that would follow me around the cemetery. Photo taken by me.

Something I have always felt honoured to find is a praying mantis. To me praying mantids are like the beast of the insect world, savage and hardcore. I was so happy to have one land in front of me while mowing at the cemetery as well as to find a female eating the deceased male she had just mated with. Female mantids conduct something called “Sexual cannibalism”, in which after mating the female will eat the head or body parts of the male. This does not occur 100% of the time, but rather less the 28% of the time. This means that this particular mantis I found was either hungry or in a bad mood. The benefit of a female doing this is in the nutrients that the female acquires and give to her eggs when it’s time to lay.

Here you can see the living female praying mantis and a headless male that she is chowing down on. Photo taken by me.

Another cemetery discovery was a honeybee swarm I discovered at the back of the property. Many people assume any insect with a stinger is dangerous (especially my boss who was terrified to hear about my discovery) but honey bees are actually quite mild. Honeybee swarms are a natural process for a colony, as one colony grows too large some must diverge and form a second colony. These swarms can end up in so many places, an attic, a barbeque, or a hollow tree. A hollow tree is where I found this swarms, and had branches poking at my face as I kept in close for a peak.

This is the honeybee swarm I discovered! Photo taken by me.

The cemetery I work at is so dangerous for a girl like me. There are so many microecosystems and animals. One of my go to places to creep around is the pond. The pond has so many aquatic insects, from backswimmers to giant water bugs. One of my favourite things to discover are the dragon fly nymphs. Dragonflies can spend up to four years in their nymph stage, during which they are wreaking havoc amongst the pond community. By this I mean they are eating everything with their quick extending lower jaws that snap out and grab their prey, ranging from other insects to frogs and fish.

Here you can see an adult dragonfly drying its wings after molting from its nymph stage. Photo taken by me.

I could go on about my outdoor treasure for ever and ever, while compiling photos for this post I ended up with nearly two hundred photos I wanted to share. I hope that this post has made you realize how many things you can find on a typical day, you just need to keep an open mind!

I would love for people to share their discoveries or memorable moments of things they found when out and about outdoors!

This photo is a challenge for the readers! Are you able to find the tree frog in this image? Photo taken by me.

(If you would like to read up on any of the animals I mentioned, feel free to check out these sources!)

Fullingim, Photograph by Sharon. “It's Praying Mantis Mating Season: Here's What You Need To Know.” National Geographic, National Geographic, 7 Sept. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/09/praying-mantis-mating-cannibalism-birds-bite-facts-news/.

“Gray Treefrog: Reptiles & Amphibians in Ontario.” Ontario Nature, Ontario Nature, 7 Feb. 2020, ontarionature.org/programs/citizen-science/reptile-amphibian-atlas/gray-treefrog/.

Lewis Donald Lewis Professor, Donald. “Honey Bee Swarms Are Common but Not Dangerous.” Honey Bee Swarms Are Common but Not Dangerous | Horticulture and Home Pest News, Iowa State University, 9 June 2017, hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/2012/5-16/swarms.html.

“Life Cycle of a Dragonfly.” Sciencing, Leaf Green Media, 2 Mar. 2019, sciencing.com/life-cycle-dragonfly-5398237.html.

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galacticbugman · 5 years

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My favorite Birds

Somewhere along my crazy life I became a birder long before I became really interested in insects. It was back in the year 2015 when I had to have surgery on my kidneys due to a thing I have had since birth. Anyway while I was recovering my late grandmother bought me a camera to use. That Camera was a Nikon Coolpix L830. It was the camera that would lead me down this new path as a naturalist. While I was recovering I found myself using it more and more. I would often spend time out in nature and I found myself studying birds around my home town. My aunt taught out in a small area and next to their school they had a filed and an old farm stock tank. I would spend a lot of time photographing the birds and that is how my love for birds grew. I became a birder and have been all over Texas and Arkansas and even in parts of Oklahoma looking for birds of any kind. Even after I got into the Texas Master Naturalist program and now I am still a birder and have found many cool species in just a matter of four short years. I over 170 birds species on my life list but I am going to share just a fraction of those since that would be a lot of ground to cover. So here we go with my favorite birds from 2015-2019. Here we go with... *Dramatic Voice* NUMBER ONE!

One of Texas’ most iconic birds; these little guys are not a parrot but they are related to the Northern Cardinal. Meet the Painted Bunting. This is a male that I got out at a place called the Southwest Nature Preserve. It is the place I got my start before I became a Texas Master Naturalist. These guys are so pretty with a head of royal blue, tow toned green feathers, a bright red breast they are a birder’s gateway bird. This one is one I had been searching for all my life. I finally saw my first one in 2015. It was at my feeder but I didn’t have my camera ready but this one I got in 2016 totally made up for it. These guys have one of the prettiest songs and for their tireless singing they are illegally caught in Mexico and sold as cage birds. They are a Near Threatened species unfortunately due to them being sold and put in captivity. The males are the most colorful of the two sexes. The female is an electric green color for camouflage when it is time to raise a family. She nests in a tickets of green brier which is a spiny vine that grows in most forests. They feed on a grass known as cup grass which is a Texas native grass. Some times they will feed at a feeder like the first one I ever spotted. It was one day after school and I was not having any luck with the birds so I went inside and after a while I went out to look out my den window and a male Painted Bunting eating out of my feeder that I had put mixed seed in. He ate and ate and ate. He would fly off and then come back. That was a truly special moment of my life. Now during most summers I get to see about two or three a year. Still one I am not sick of seeing. They are one that should always be on any birders watch list. They are such a striking and lovely bird.

Now on to bird *Dramatic Voice* NUMBER TWO

Next up is the endangered Loggerhead Shrike. I have been going to Tarrant County College for a while now and I get up there pretty early to go to school during the Fall and Summer. This is one that I see pretty often while arriving by the Football Stadium across the street. These guys are colored very much like the Mockingbird but they have a darker and much bolder mask, hooked beak, and a more stouter build. They are a song bird but they have a raptor like way of life. Remember that hooked beak remark? Well that is how they rip and shred their prey. However they have a slight problem; their feet are much more like a songbird than a bird-of-prey so they have a solution to dealing with this issue. They will skewer their prey on a barb or a spine on a tree, bush, or barbed wire fence. These guys will then pull apart their prey. The more they have in their tree or where they store prey the more female shrikes will consider them to be more fit to be father’s to their chicks. They are one of my favorite birds and I have even noticed some of our trees have been used as their food trees. They are a really neat bird and one that is found in open areas. They are often seen on power lines and even in trees. They will eat a lot of things such mice, snakes, bugs and frogs. They are one of the coolest birds to learn about and one of the most interesting having the best of both worlds being one half song bird and one half raptor which is only seen in one other bird which is the Northern Shrike which we do not get in Texas.

Bird NUMBER THREE!

Now why is this Coyote in the photo well because the bird coming up is the Coyotes’ greatest nemesis. Well... okay... maybe not in real life but it is in the Looney Tunes skits. Lets meet the Roadrunner.

The Greater Roadrunner is not really on the menu for the Coyote as most of Looney Tunes fans would like to think. In fact they get a long pretty well for the Roadrunner is fast and in actuality the Coyote wants stuff he can catch. The Roadrunner is a fast bird but instead of sticking out his tongue and making a *Blup* *Blup* *Blup* *MEEP! MEEP!* Sound followed by a loud ricochet sound; these guys actually sound much like a dove. Their calls can be a triple bill clap followed by a single whoop which is an alert to stay back which I have experienced first hand. They also have a sound that is a dove call that is loud by then gets softer and lower in tone but it is more of a gruff tone. I have only been able to photograph these birds three times this one here was my most recent one. This one was at a place near my school called Stella Rowan Prairie. We had just parked and my dad told me to look up and we saw it and I was able to get out and get this shot of the bird before he went into the under brush and disappeared. These are one of my favorite birds. Let me tell you they are fast but don’t believe everything you see in Hollywood productions. I love the roadrunner for many reasons one they are fast and two they are one of the funniest looking birds we have in North America. They are known to eat reptiles but are no strangers to raiding the dog dish. They will also eat insects. They are one of the fastest animals I have ever seen in the wild. You have to be very quiet to sneak up on one of these or they will quickly flee from you. They are sometimes a pain to photograph but once you do it is an experience you are not ever going to forget.

The next one is one of my favorite ducks; this is my favorite of the North American Ducks. Meet the beautiful North American Wood Duck. This is a male; just look at his beautiful plumage of green, white, and chestnut, mixed with some cream color on the side where his wings are. What a beauty! These are my favorites for the male’s calls just make my heart melt. The males when calling make a squeaky DEZEET DEZEET DEZEET! Sound. It is high and a pleasant sound. The photos don’t do these guys justice; you have to look for them and experience them in the wild. I took all of my Wood Duck photos in Fort Worth Texas. This one was taken in Fort Worth at a nice little duck pond that is not too far from the Trinity River. These guys are so beautiful and the funny thing is they don’t look real. The female of this species is nearly all gray with some white. They nest in hollows of old trees in little cavities about seventy five foot up so predators don’t get to their nests. When time to hatch the female goes to the water as her babies hatch they will fluff up and then she will start to call and they have to drop seventy-five feet down to get to her. It is kind of daunting but they have a nice cousin to land in. They are one of the most common of our ducks but in my experience I have seen very few in my life time but they are real treat to see in the wild.

One of my favorite birds of Prey will have to be the American Kestrel. I was lucky enough to be out at the exercise track out at TCC South when I saw this guy sitting on a power line. This guy would take off and it was one of the very first birds I got in flight for the first time. They are the smallest bird of prey in North America and are the smallest of our falcons. They are specialists mainly insects and other small things. They are very pretty with colors of reddish brown, a grayish blue color, black spots on the face with black spots on the wings. They are so pretty and you will almost miss them. They are very cute and they don’t really look like a bird of prey but they are and they often fall prey to other birds of prey if they are not careful. These are often found in Texas in the winter time more times than in the spring and summer.

One of most recent birds I got on my recent trip out to the Texas coast. This is the funnest bird you can ever look for down here. They look like something you will see in a Zoo and truth be told you can but like most things it is more rewarding to seek these guys out in their natural habitat. Meet the Roseate Spoonbill. These birds are naturally born white but due to the algae and the shrimps they eat they turn pink. These guys are always out in the early morning in feeding groups like the one here. I took this at a place called Indian Point Park near where we were staying. This was one of my favorite shots even though it was not that close. Any closer and they would have fled. There was a lot of stuff feeding that morning. I got a lot birds on the trip when this was took. I love birding it is very fun and rewarding. It is one of my favorite past times even though I often get side tracked and look for other things. Let is just put it this way I love to just watch wildlife and explore its beauty. Whether watching the birds of the skies, or the bugs that crawl around, the fish that swim, the plants that are so fragrant and green, the fungus that looks like it comes from another planet, the mammals that are everyone’s favorite, or the reptiles that are lesser appreciated. I love nature and all that is in it. Nature like I have said has some neat stuff to look at. It is the best thing we have; without it we could not survive. It is the life force that keeps us afloat and we must protect it for it is in danger from what we are doing to it. We must do our part and do what we can to prevent more harm to the environment. So get out an explore and make that connection. Lose yourself and discover a world of wonder.

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snickerdoodl3 · 7 years

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i'm punishing you for not loggin on in so long: 1-50

Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiit okay let’s do this

1. What’s your favorite candle scent? I like musky candle smells, usually with names pertaining to trees or the woods. They remind me of business men shaving their beards on a crisp fall morning. 2. What female celebrity do you wish was your sister? This is weird to answer bc my fav celebs are all so much older than me so to have them as siblings would be...odd... but I’ll say Jennifer Aniston. 3. What male celebrity do you wish was your brother? Normally I’d say my one true love Eminem, but since Jennifer Aniston is now my sister, that means Jason Bateman has to be my brother. They’re my fav together. Em can be daddy ;)4. How old do you think you’ll be when you get married? Shit idk probably like 25 5. Do you know a hoarder? NOpe6. Can you do a split? Thanks to 15 years of being a dancer, I can 7. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? Honestly like 14 or 15. I’ve rode a bike maybe 5 times. My parents never taught me. 8. How many oceans have you swam in? 2 for sure (Pacific and Mediterranean) and possibly the Atlantic when i was really little but idk9. How many countries have you been to? Excluding the one I live in I’ve been to 8. (England, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Italy, Germany and Greece.)10. Is anyone in your family in the army? No11. What would you name your daughter if you had one? Shaye because it’s my sisters middle name and she’ll name her daughter, if she has one, my middle name. :)12. What would you name your son if you had one? Tyler, Max, Alex or Jayce. Those have probably always been my fav guys names. 13. What’s the worst grade you got on a test? 0% for straight up not taking a test but for actually trying, probably like 13%14. What was your favorite TV show when you were a child? This is a tough one. I loved everything. Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Cow and Chicken, CatDog, Courage, all those cartoons on cartoon network. 15. What did you dress up as on Halloween when you were eight? Literally have no clue. Either a Teletubby, and Angel, or Scooby Doo. 16. Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series? Nope, Nope, Nope, not interested. 17. Would you rather have an American accent or a British accent? I’ll stick with my American accent. 18. Did your mother go to college? Yup, she went to ASU. 19. Are your grandparents still married? No20. Have you ever taken karate lessons? Yeah, I think i got up to purple belt. 21. Do you know who Kermit the frog is? Ofc. Who doesn’t? 22. What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to? Walt Disney World in FL. 23. What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in? Sign language, Spanish, and Italian. 24. Do you spell the color as grey or gray? Idk I think I use them both equally without reason. Whatever I’m feeling that time I guess lol25. Is your father bald? No he’s got nice thick hair. 26. Do you know triplets? Noooope27. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook? LMAO I’VE NEVER SEEN EITHER ONE IF THAT DOESN’T TELL YOU HOW OUT OF THE MEDIA LOOP I AM THEN IDK WHAT WILL. 28. Have you ever had Indian food? No but I’d like to try it. 29. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? Subway. Idc if u think it’s not a restaurant subway will forever have my heart. 30. Have you ever been to Olive Garden? Yes and honestly the food is so over priced and their breadsticks aren’t even that good. Like they’re usually hard and dry. I can get $3 pizza hut breadsticks that taste better and I don’t even like pizza hut. Nothing against Olive Garden tho, I like to eat there. The fried lasagna is bomb af. It’s an appetizer but I get it as my meal. 31. Do you belong to any warehouse stores (Costco, BJ’s, etc.)? No but my mom has a Sams Club membership so that’s where we go if we’re going to any of them. 32. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? Tray or Joshua 33. If you have a nickname, what is it? Nik, snick, Nik Nak, snickerdoodle (hence my url) 34. Who’s your favorite person in the world? My sister. She’s my best friend and I couldn’t live without her. 35. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? Suberbs hands down. I need business, night life, chaos, and constant noise. 36. Can you whistle? Yes?37. Do you sleep with a nightlight? No but I wish I could sleep with one because sometimes I’m afraid of the dark. 38. Do you eat breakfast every morning? It’s rare that I eat breakfast type foods and it’s more rare that I eat in the morning. So no. 39. Do you take any pills or medication daily? No. I probably should be on some type of adhd medication though. 40. What medical conditions do you have? Your common, anxiety, depression and adhd and your not so common anisocoria and dermatographia. The only one that I haven’t been officially diagnosed with is dermatograpia but that’s only because I haven’t been to the dr since I discovered it. 41. How many times have you been to the hospital? 5 I think

42. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo? Yes

43. Where do you buy your jeans? Walmart usually 44. What’s the last compliment you got? My boyfriend told me I was cute a couple hours ago while I was playing league. 45. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? If I sleep long enough to have a dream, yes. 46. What flavor tea do you enjoy? All of them. But I really love mint. 47. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? Like 15 probably48. What religion will you raise your children to practice? I’ll raise them in a Christian church but it will be up to them what they believe in and decide to practice. 49. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real? Pretty young. Idr exact age. 50. Why do you have a youtube? Because I like to troll and start shit in the comments. Also because I used to make videos and it was really fun for me and a good release.

#ty #ask #yay.#dw ill get u back #>:-]#a-dying-star

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tyronedancer-blog · 7 years

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Organism of the week 23

Red foxes live around the world in many diverse habitats including forests, grasslands, mountains, and deserts. They also adapt well to human environments such as farms, suburban areas, and even large communities. The red fox's resourcefulness has earned it a legendary reputation for intelligence and cunning. Red foxes are solitary hunters who feed on rodents, rabbits, birds, and other small game—but their diet can be as flexible as their home habitat. Foxes will eat fruit and vegetables, fish, frogs, and even worms. If living among humans, foxes will opportunistically dine on garbage and pet food. Like a cat's, the fox's thick tail aids its balance, but it has other uses as well. A fox uses its tail (or “brush”) as a warm cover in cold weather and as a signal flag to communicate with other foxes. Foxes also signal each other by making scent posts—urinating on trees or rocks to announce their presence. trees or rocks to announce their presence. Breeding In winter, foxes meet to mate. The vixen (female) typically gives birth to a litter of 2 to 12 pups. At birth, red foxes are actually brown or gray. A new red coat usually grows in by the end of the first month, but some red foxes are golden, reddish-brown, silver, or even black. Both parents care for their young through the summer before they are able to strike out on their own in the fall. Red foxes are hunted for sport, though not extensively, and are sometimes killed as destructive pests or frequent carriers of rabies. COMMON NAME: Red Fox SCIENTIFIC NAME: Vulpes vulpes TYPE: Mammals DIET: Omnivores AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD: 2 to 4 years SIZE: Head and body, 18 to 33.75 in; tail, 12 to 21.75 in WEIGHT: 6.5 to 24 lbs Kingdom:Animalia Phylum:Chordata Class:Mammalia Order:Carnivora Suborder:Caniformia Family:Canidae Genus:Vulpes The red fox, largest of the true foxes, has the greatest geographic range of all members of the Carnivora family, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, North America and Eurasia. Fun Fact The average sleep time of a captive red fox is 9.8 hours per day

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hunterkreglow-blog · 7 years

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Ohio Animals: Past and Present

We had the pleasure of having Ms. Debby Barger come into our class and talk to us about wetland animals that live in our area and all around Ohio. This was probably one of the best presentations I have ever sat through because she was so active with us and she had some very intriguing information and I learned a lot of new things. Since I learned so much I felt like I should share some of it with you.

She first talked about how we used to have mountain lions, wolves, and even timber rattle snakes but they have either been driven out or killed and since they have been gone the coyote population has shot through the roof. Coyotes live in all 88 counties in Ohio. You wouldn’t think this but coyotes hunt during the day in rural areas but at night in cities. The size of their litters depends on how many other coyotes are around, if there are a lot they will only have 2-3 pups but if there aren’t many other around they will have up to 13-14 pups in one litter.

Then they she talked about fox. A baby fox is called a kit. In Ohio, we have gray and red fox. To tell the difference, if the tip of the tail is white it is a red fox and if the tip is black it is a gray fox. They usually eat berries and smaller animals to get their meat. An interesting fact is that they bury their scat to hit it from other animals so they do not know they were ever they were in that area.

She followed up by talking about minks, minks usually burrow underground close to water because that is where their prey lives. Their favorite food is a muskrat which a lot of people would not know, but they usually eat frogs because they are plentiful, they are considered predators. They pur like a cat whenever they are around their young.

Raccoons are omnivores, nocturnal, and originally from the east coast. They are extremely overpopulated in Ohio. When people see them during the day they think they are sick but they are just looking for food. If you have one as a pet and let it go, it will always come back because it is all they know. But wild racoons that live-in dens always poop 40 feet from there den on top of a rock or stump.

Black bears are found around west and southeastern Ohio. They usually just cross through Ohio not a lot stay. They need a lot of area to themselves and that about 150 acres of land. There was one actually spotted in Quincy, Ohio and that is about a half a mile away from where I live. They eat berries, grubs, mice, fish, and they usually eat plants and even graze. These animals live in the woods and they are very territorial to any animals and if two bears do cross they fight and the bigger one wins. If you ever encounter one slowly back out of the area and never turn and run because they will chase you. A male is about 300 pounds so they are not small and the females are smaller but not by much. Before they hibernate, they eat their hair and other fibrous things to create a plug so they do not poop while in hibernation.

White-tailed deer are overpopulated but they weren’t always. We had to reintroduce them at one point because we had killed them all. But overpopulation isn’t always a good thing because when you have overpopulation, you have disease and if one deer gets the wasting disease you must destroy an entire herd. The wasting disease attacks the brain and make the brain swell and it causes the deer to be stupid and that leads to deer getting hit and making other dumb decisions. A mother has only one offspring in their first time having babies but after that they usually have twins or triplets. When they have the babies the mother eats all night and feeds their young in the morning.

The Virginia Possum is the only marsupial in Ohio. Their babies are born but have to crawl up the fur and get into the pouch to survive. Possums are always on the move, they never stay the night in the same place twice and that is a good tactic to keep predators away because they never know where they are. They are nocturnal omnivores and many farmers believe that possums kill their chickens but they do not kill the chickens they just eat what left over from other animals killing them. Something cool about them is that the tips of their ears are round due to frost bite.

Squirrels are everywhere in Ohio. There is the red, gray, black, and fox squirrel. They usually live one squirrel per tree. Their teeth grow forever and an orange tooth means a strong tooth. They eat nuts and even bird eggs.

There are not a lot of porcupines in Ohio but we have some. They are very slow moving. The reason they are slow moving is because they mainly eat bark. They flap their tails whenever they are in distress and if hit with the spikes if left in they will inflate and grow deep into your skin and cause great amounts of pain.

Rabbits usually have three litters a year and 2-8 babies per litter. They leave all day long to eat and feed their babies at night. They have a loose skin that allows them to bend and if approached by a predator they freeze and if they must run they run side to side because their predators cannot run like that. They live in thickets and under pine trees.

Brown bats live in hollowed out trees and there are two different kinds, the little and big brown bat and by the name you can tell the difference. Then there is the red bat and the males live in trees 10 feet or lower while the females live 30 feet up. Bats are very helpful to crops and controlling the bug population. But the white nosed fungus is killing a lot of them. This fungus causes the bat to wake up during hibernation and go out and fly and waste their energy and they cannot find food because it is the winter and since they waste their energy and there is no food they usually die by spring.

Ground hogs are very clean animals but they very annoying if you have them in your yard or around your gardens. But in there dens they have separate rooms for pooping, having babies, and sleeping which is interesting.

Lastly, the Great Horned Owl and they are the only animal known to eat a skunk because they cannot smell. Typically, if you smell a skunk it is actually a Great Horned Owl that got sprayed and is just flying by. Skunks can spray up to 15 feet and if you are sprayed in the eyes it will temporarily blind you.

This was a great presentation and I wish you were there to witness it because you would have also learned a lot and if you ever get a chance to meet with Ms. Debbie Barger I would sit down and talk to her because she is very enjoyable and you will learn a lot in the short amount of time talking to her.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ohio+animals&biw=1301&bih=592&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjY0LHujv3RAhVi7YMKHVVKAUkQ_AUIBigB&dpr=1.05#imgrc=6X05ObNrniX8CM:

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