Hypnotizer Waxface: Difference between revisions

Jump to navigation Jump to search
Content added Content deleted
m (→‎top: converting old habitat and taxonomy parameters)
m (clean up)
 
Line 37: Line 37:
Lacking fingers or even a typical trunk, it manipulates objects using the back of its "neck" (actually a proboscis), the underside of its head, its mouth, mouth-ridges (similar to the beak-ridges of a goose) and tusk-jaws, a thumb-like spur on its back, and its toes. Changes to various parts of its body make manipulating objects somewhat easier than for its ancestor, if still awkward.
Lacking fingers or even a typical trunk, it manipulates objects using the back of its "neck" (actually a proboscis), the underside of its head, its mouth, mouth-ridges (similar to the beak-ridges of a goose) and tusk-jaws, a thumb-like spur on its back, and its toes. Changes to various parts of its body make manipulating objects somewhat easier than for its ancestor, if still awkward.


The back of its neck, or neck-palm, is bare and rough, and is used as a sort of crude arm when holding large tools. It is used roughly equivalently to a human carrying a stick by curling in an arm towards the chest. The young's neck-palms sport more feathers, but the feathers there are loose, and easily fall off as they handle large tools. The underside of its head, or "chin-palm", is sensitive. It something like a human palm, though much less sensitive. A Hypnotizer Waxface uses the sensory information from the underside of the head to adjust its grip when holding staffs, since its jaws themselves aren’t very sensitive.
The back of its neck, or neck-palm, is bare and rough, and is used as a sort of crude arm when holding large tools. It is used roughly equivalently to a human carrying a stick by curling in an arm towards the chest. The young's neck-palms sport more feathers, but the feathers there are loose, and easily fall off as they handle large tools. The underside of its head, or "chin-palm", is sensitive. It something like a human palm, though much less sensitive. A Hypnotizer Waxface uses the sensory information from the underside of the head to adjust its grip when holding staffs, since its jaws themselves aren't very sensitive.


For small objects, it simply sucks up small tools into its mouth, holding them by a combination of its mouth ridges and tusk-jaws. A lifetime of handling tools this way rounds down the points of its mouth ridges, but it is no threat to survival due to its use of various tools for killing prey and slicing apart meat.
For small objects, it simply sucks up small tools into its mouth, holding them by a combination of its mouth ridges and tusk-jaws. A lifetime of handling tools this way rounds down the points of its mouth ridges, but it is no threat to survival due to its use of various tools for killing prey and slicing apart meat.
Line 47: Line 47:
==Behavior Between Mated Pairs==
==Behavior Between Mated Pairs==


When a female is carrying offspring, her mate is likely to pick up and carry her tools. More intelligent females will proactively, unwittingly use their mates as “pack animals” by loading tools on his back while she’s carrying offspring. However, they are not quite so intelligent they easily adapt to this unusual behavior: they have no language to convey the necessity of one of the pair carrying tools while the other carries the offspring. Usually, the female of a mated pair must add tools onto her mate's back surreptitiously so he doesn’t shake off the extra weight. Similar stealthiness may be used when filching spars of wood from Shrogs, when abandoned Shrog nests are unavailable.
When a female is carrying offspring, her mate is likely to pick up and carry her tools. More intelligent females will proactively, unwittingly use their mates as "pack animals" by loading tools on his back while she's carrying offspring. However, they are not quite so intelligent they easily adapt to this unusual behavior: they have no language to convey the necessity of one of the pair carrying tools while the other carries the offspring. Usually, the female of a mated pair must add tools onto her mate's back surreptitiously so he doesn't shake off the extra weight. Similar stealthiness may be used when filching spars of wood from Shrogs, when abandoned Shrog nests are unavailable.


Their mating ritual involves prolonged observation, or "staring" (via echolocation, as they have no eyes) and “holding chins”, where they brush the undersides of the jaws together. Mated pairs periodically "stare" at each other and hold chins as a bonding ritual. They can select a new mate each year, although they commonly stay with the same one.
Their mating ritual involves prolonged observation, or "staring" (via echolocation, as they have no eyes) and "holding chins", where they brush the undersides of the jaws together. Mated pairs periodically "stare" at each other and hold chins as a bonding ritual. They can select a new mate each year, although they commonly stay with the same one.


==Relationship with Gentonnas==
==Relationship with Gentonnas==
Line 59: Line 59:
When food is scarce (usually during winter), it lures a Gentonna away from the herd, sometimes with [[Mangot]] fruit-leaves, beyond the ability of other Gentonnas to see it, such as behind a rock. It slaughters the selected prey with a large spar (or spear filched from a Shrog) to the underbelly, usually after knocking it over first. It preferentially picks late-born juveniles or runts; they are easier to knock over, kill, and dismember.
When food is scarce (usually during winter), it lures a Gentonna away from the herd, sometimes with [[Mangot]] fruit-leaves, beyond the ability of other Gentonnas to see it, such as behind a rock. It slaughters the selected prey with a large spar (or spear filched from a Shrog) to the underbelly, usually after knocking it over first. It preferentially picks late-born juveniles or runts; they are easier to knock over, kill, and dismember.


It is more effective at luring away just one Gentonna from the herd and preventing the herd from noticing when another Hypnotizer Waxface is distracting the herd by repeatedly adjusting its neck shape on a staff in a rapid, conspicuous way. This “dance”, called “the hypnosis dance” or more humorously “the distraction dance” , varies among individuals, and even among individual occasions. For mated pairs, one may do a “group choreography” with several of its offspring (half-grown or more) all distracting the Gentonnas at the same time. Lacking a language or much ability to communicate, the sequence of pulling out and killing a Gentonna while another distracts it is often fumbled in some way.
It is more effective at luring away just one Gentonna from the herd and preventing the herd from noticing when another Hypnotizer Waxface is distracting the herd by repeatedly adjusting its neck shape on a staff in a rapid, conspicuous way. This "dance", called "the hypnosis dance" or more humorously "the distraction dance" , varies among individuals, and even among individual occasions. For mated pairs, one may do a "group choreography" with several of its offspring (half-grown or more) all distracting the Gentonnas at the same time. Lacking a language or much ability to communicate, the sequence of pulling out and killing a Gentonna while another distracts it is often fumbled in some way.


It will attack any predator that gets too close to its Gentonnas, but especially Shrogs: their intelligence, use of spears, and good swimming ability make them the biggest threat to their "favorite foods". Populations that more frequently encounter Shrogs almost universally carry long, spear-like tools, which may be filched from the Shrogs themselves.
It will attack any predator that gets too close to its Gentonnas, but especially Shrogs: their intelligence, use of spears, and good swimming ability make them the biggest threat to their "favorite foods". Populations that more frequently encounter Shrogs almost universally carry long, spear-like tools, which may be filched from the Shrogs themselves.
Retrieved from "https://alpha.sagan4.org/wiki/Hypnotizer_Waxface"