Myst Online: URU Live Forums

Slideshows updated

Ainia — Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:46 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 6:46 pm

Shorah fellow animal enthusiasts,

This is just a quick notification that I've updated a couple of the slideshows to include more information and so slow down their frame rates. So now there is more to read about the Panuhdoy and the Sandscrit feeding cycle. Be warned, I am presenting my recent theory posted on the Payiferen rocks thread as my current assumption and belief about the Sandscrit.

Enjoy!

The elusive Cavern Tredfish has been spotted!

Ainia — Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:18 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:18 pm

Shorah fellow explorers,

As many of you may be aware, I've been very busy lately with the Heritage Documents project, which has kept me away from my zoological and glyph studies. In the course of gathering photographs for that project, I managed to stumble across one of several elusive Cavern creatures, the Tredfish. Although the D'ni Zoological Society has no photos of either the Tredfish or the Senomar (the two documented denizens of the Cavern lake), there fortunately exists an enhanced photo of the Senomar, which allowed me to eliminate this animal as the subject of my recent unplanned photo safari. So enjoy! (Perhaps I will have time to post a couple of other impromptu animal safaris before the end of the weekend.)

Senomar photo (found on Chiso):

My accidental zoological encounter began here at the Bevin lakeside:

I had to watch the murky waters in the near distance carefully in order to spot him:

He cruises through the area slowly:

The waters are much quieter here in Bevin than in the Ae'gura harbor, so perhaps he prefers that:

He seems shy of the brighter waters near the Bevin dockside:

I used my zoom to get a closer image:

He actually is quite large, though it is difficult to tell so here:

As he continues circling by, he finally crosses into the brighter waters:

But this is short-lived as he soon fades out of sight:

Bonus zoological study in the works: the Cavern pests! This will likely be posted to a separate thread once my research is done. Stay tuned! [[Done!]]

Re: From the Age Zoologist

Capella — Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:47 pm

Author: Capella

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 2012 11:47 pm

The pir bird's cranial structure reminds me of ceratopsian dinosaurs from the Age of Earth. They, too, had large bony crests which significantly increased the size of their head. Their head structures were also often hollow-boned and had large gaps, even though when flesh covered it it presumably would have looked like a single crest. While we cannot know the exact purpose of the structures, given that the animals are long-since extinct, suggestions have ranged from anchors for additional musculature, display structures for mating or differentiation purposes, heat radiators to help regulate the animal's body temperature, defensive structures, etc.

Perhaps on the pir bird, the skull is intended primarily as a display, either intra-species (I have good genes pick me pick me!) or inter-species (I am brightly colored and warning you to not eat me!). I wonder if it being hollow and possibly holed means that it is very light and thus the animal's head does not weigh more than the rest of its body. Even if it's light, though, I imagine it must be unwieldy to move. I thought briefly that maybe the black eye-like spots weren't actually the real eyes and were markings to attracts attention (and their real eyes would be hidden in a less vulnerable place), but sadly there's no evidence for that.

It's hard to know more about their anatomy for sure without finding a skeletonized pir bird, but I'm definitely not killing and cleaning one to get down to the skull! They're too cute, and I'd rather try raising one as a pet.

Piranha Birds etc.

Ainia — Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:23 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:23 pm

Shorah larryf58,

It was fun getting to meet you last night in the 'hood. I will try to stop by now and again to keep in touch face-to-face.

Regarding the Piranha Bird, my comments about its head were solely meant in regard to its disproportionate size. I found it particularly interesting that it could hold its head up at all, considering that it's about twice the size of the rest of the body. I still wonder what adaptive advantage the overall body size/shape of the Piranha Bird offers. Such a small lower body would not need a great quantity of food, I would think.

Ah well, such questions keep my interest piqued in all matters zoological!

Re: From the Age Zoologist

larryf58 — Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:41 pm

Author: larryf58

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:41 pm

Ainia, the head of the Piranha Bird is actually pretty logical if you stop to think about it.

The face is near featherless for the same reason as scavenger birds on Earth; feathers trap rotting flesh and blood, which would be harmful to the animal. The head is long and narrow to fit into various awkward spaces in the decomposing bodies it eats, and the eyes and nostrils are set well back from the teeth to keep them clear of contamination. Since there are no ground predators on the small islands it inhabits, flight is an unnecessary expenditure of energy that it can well do without.

So, when you stop to think about it, the little creature is very well designed for its job of cleaning up dead animals. These days, I imagine that the bird subsists on deceased fish and laki that wash up on the beach, or on other birds that reach the islands and die.

I wish you much success with your study of Bahro petroglyphs. One of my favorites in Eder Kemo is the depiction of Kahlo Kamkenta and rider. It's a real shame that the DRC never released the linking books to Kahlo.

Re: From the Age Zoologist

DLordofTime — Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:45 pm

Author: DLordofTime

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:45 pm

Well, you have alot of glyphs over many ages to look at. Many of which I saw for the first time whilst running about Keemo trying to complete it with my new avvie.

D'ni Zoological Studies Journal, Volume 2

Ainia — Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:29 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:29 pm

Shorah again,

As with other explorers here, I am moving on to another research project and am finishing up my zoological research and records, at least for now. There likely will be the occasional new discovery or theory, which will be added here and to my journal as they occur.

I am following larryf58's architectural documentation project and find it quite interesting. And DLordofTiime's offshoot thread regarding the Payiferen rocks is fascinating.

My background and interest in anthropology is spurring me into my current project, documenting the Yeesha and Bahro structures and glyphs throughout the ages. I am seeing that the distinction between Yeesha and the Bahro continues getting blurrier the more I look into these matters. I have begun a new journal on this and once I have something notable to report, I will post to a new thread here.

Happily, the second zoological studies volume also is of modest size (17.5MB) in spite of the numerous photographs, so should download easily. As before, I suggest viewing it fullscreen in order to see the photos at their best.

Ainia's D'ni Zoological Studies Journal, Volume 2
[[click the link to view in your browser; right-click to save the file to your PC; I recommend the latter so you can view it like a real book]]

Happy exploring everyone!

At long last, the Pirahna Bird

Ainia — Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:07 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:07 pm

Shorah all,

In rounding out my documentation of the animals throughout the D'ni ages, I found myself with some unexpected free time on my hands earlier this week and so took advantage of the opportunity to fill in the gaps. I headed off to The Cleft caldera first to look for Dragonflies (just in case they have linked through from Direbo like the other insects appear to have done). I found none, but decided while I was there to climb up the caldera walls and get some shots of the Wahrk skeleton.

Although it's been here for at least two centuries, the bones remain fully articulated:

The Wahrk skull from the front; the entire skeleton is enormous and I can walk through the gap ahead quite easily:

I decided to head back into the caldera and walk all the way to the bottom-most Eder Tomahn, the location of the linking book leading directly to the Direbo linking bubble for Laki'ahn. In my earlier trips, I'd simply used the nearest Tomahn and walked across the islands to the Laki'ahn linking bubble. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try this other route to my destination.

As I approached the very bottom of the Great Shaft, I happened across a Bahro wandering the hallways:

Upon arriving in Laki'ahn, I was both surprised and gratified to find two Piranha Birds fairly quickly. I find it puzzling that my use of the Eder Tomahn in question seems to have made a difference and am chalking this up to coincidence for now (although I am suspicious of coincidences as a rule).

I observed both birds for a prolonged time and have concluded that my hope of finding a nest or colony is an impossible one. The are highly territorial and anti-social, not only with their own kind but with all other animals as well. It's a puzzlement that they can breed and raise their young, but presumably this does indeed happen...

Watching this fellow from a discreet distance, he ignored me and continued in his odd circling behavior:

The point of perpetually running in circles eludes me; this fellow would have continued his behavior ceaselessly:

However, I approached him more closely and interrupted him. He responded with the typical warning behavior of his species:

The Pirahna Bird reacts first by stopping and staring at the intruder:

He then begins vocalizing a warning call, which sounds like a wheezing croak:

As I stepped nearer, he responded by running to a safe distance and then resuming his warning call:

The Piranha Bird head is disproportionately large compared to the body, and is extremely tall and narrow:

Viewed from the rear, there is a yellow mass of muscle protruding from the back of the skull, which allows the Pirahna Bird to balance its enormous head with its spindly body:

I still find the disproportionate size of this animal's head to its body a mystery. I could find no skeleton to test my hypothesis, but suppose that as with Terran birds, the Piranha Bird bones are hollow, which wold allow for the successful evolution of their oversized heads. Although these birds are now flightless, they quite likely evolved from a flying ancestor.

Overall, to call this bird stupid is to put the matter kindly! Their defensive behavior would be quite useless against any sort of serious predator; and their fondness for running in circles makes them quite vulnerable to a stealthy attack. Though they are quite proficient at avoiding it once they spot an intruder, I imagine a cornered Pirahna Bird would deliver quite a nasty bite (and they do indeed bite, as attested by Rils).

Because there are so few of these birds in Laki'ahn, I am assuming they are endangered or at least a threatened species.

Coming up: the finalized Volume 2 of my zoological journals.

Another Volume 1 fix

Ainia — Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:58 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:58 pm

Shorah all,

Just a quick heads up that I've re-uploaded Volume 1 after fixing a cosmetic glitch. Nothing major (content remains the same), so re-download only if you feel so inclined.

A couple more Bahro

larryf58 — Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:55 pm

Author: larryf58

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:55 pm

I went on another photo safari today, but this time I was working on another project - pictures of architecture in places the DRC would rather you didn't go.

While I was snapping photos of buildings - a much easier job than shooting animals, since the buildings don't try to get away - I had a chance to see a couple of Bahro and caught them on the fly. Literally. So don't expect close-ups. Those guys don't exactly hang around waiting for me to set up my equipment, and they didn't come close to the buildings I was on.

I was up on the roof of Tokotah 1, above the DRC tent, when this one flew by.

I had climbed up the Guild Hall and was on part of the high balcony when I caught this one in a steep dive.

I'll be posting my pictures of the buildings in another topic.

Re: From the Age Zoologist

DLordofTime — Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:28 pm

Author: DLordofTime

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 11:28 pm

Ya.

Journal download

Ainia — Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:43 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 9:43 pm

Shorah DLordofTime,

So glad to hear it worked!

Re: From the Age Zoologist

DLordofTime — Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:15 pm

Author: DLordofTime

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:15 pm

Success! My timing with these things is dreadful.

Try again...

Ainia — Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:20 pm

Author: Ainia

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:20 pm

Shorah DLordofTime,

Try the link again; you may have caught it when the PDF was re-uploading (and thus the PDF was absent at the target location for a while). It takes about 10+ minutes for the document to upload from my location (pathetic internet connection speeds).

Let me know if you continue having troubles.

Myst Online: URU Live Forums

Slideshows updated

More slideshows

The elusive Cavern Tredfish has been spotted!

Re: From the Age Zoologist

Piranha Birds etc.

Re: From the Age Zoologist

Re: From the Age Zoologist

D'ni Zoological Studies Journal, Volume 2

At long last, the Pirahna Bird

Another Volume 1 fix

A couple more Bahro

Re: From the Age Zoologist

Journal download

Re: From the Age Zoologist

Try again...