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fandomhigh2018-09-27 07:54 am
puppy_fair) wrote in fandomhigh2018-09-27 07:54 am
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Fur, Feathers, and Scales: The Biology of Domestication, Thursday, Period 2
Today, Zack had, alas, asked the students to meet him in the danger shop. Today's animal demonstration was going to be no less fluffy or cuddly, nah, but there was a bit of a dearth on fully-grown versions of today's particular animal on the island, and so Zack was going to make do with that he had.
And what he had, apparently, was a simulation of a ranch, populated by large, yellow birds.
"Hey, guys," Zack said, grinning and waving to the students from where he had settled, sitting on the edge of the fence with one of those big yellow birds nuzzling its beak into his hair. "The vet at the shelter told me that maybe I should take a class to explain a bit of the difference between domestication and taming, today. And since I don't know many tamed Earth animals, I figured I'd use an example from home. These guys are chocobos."
The one that was nuzzling at him made a loud "kweh" sound, quite happily, right into his ear. He just laughed.
"Back home, we use chocobos instead of horses as mount animals and beasts of burden. When you get them in the wild, they'll pretty much always look like these guys. Big, yellow, happy. They can run around open plains faster than some cars can travel. They're pretty great. They're what you'd call tamed animals- their parents were wild once, they were wild once, but they were conditioned to be used to the presence of humans and can be trained to let people ride around on their backs. But we don't just use tamed chocobos back home, either."
He waved a hand, and a few more birds appeared behind the fence. One was blue, one was green, another one had silky black feathers, and another one, though it was almost hard to tell the difference from the yellow ones at a glance, was most certainly gold.
"Some people have taken to domesticating them, that is, selectively breeding them to bring out traits that they would like to see more of. Some traits that might change in the domestication process are things like increased docility, different coat or plumage colors, and more specific physical adaptations that improve their value as whatever it was they were domesticated for in the first place."
He waved a hand at the four new, differently-colored birds.
"When people started breeding chocobos to make for faster racers or better beasts of burden, some interesting stuff started to happen. They noticed that some of them, ones that were bred into specific plumage colors, would and could go places that their wild and tame counterparts couldn't. Blue chocobos started dabbling around in rivers and lakes, something their yellow friends refused to do outright. Green ones liked traversing mountainous, rougher terrain. Black chocobos liked both, taking to the water and to the mountains with ease. And the gold ones?"
Zack glanced at the almost metallic-looking bird in the enclosure, who gave a loud 'Wark' sound and then launched itself into the air, actually flying over the fence to land nearby.
"... Well, a gold chocobo can go anywhere. They're really, really hard to breed, though, in case you're wondering why people bother taming or trying to raise black or green or blue chocobos in the first place. They're the result of multiple generations of very, very selective breeding. I've never actually seen a gold one in person, myself. There are chocobos of other colors, too, bred mostly just to be pretty, like the ones in pink, red, dark blue, white, and purple," as he spoke, a bird in each color appeared in the pen, too, "yet more examples of domestication at work."
He grinned at the class.
"So," he said, "if you want to come meet the chocobos in person, I promise, they're all tame." A pause. "Or domestic! They'll let you pat them, hug them, feed them some greens, or even get up onto their backs and ride them around if you want to. They have very strong backs, and a black or gold one could handle pretty much any rider with ease, especially here in the danger shop."
Yes, even Sidon.
[OOC: Open!]
And what he had, apparently, was a simulation of a ranch, populated by large, yellow birds.
"Hey, guys," Zack said, grinning and waving to the students from where he had settled, sitting on the edge of the fence with one of those big yellow birds nuzzling its beak into his hair. "The vet at the shelter told me that maybe I should take a class to explain a bit of the difference between domestication and taming, today. And since I don't know many tamed Earth animals, I figured I'd use an example from home. These guys are chocobos."
The one that was nuzzling at him made a loud "kweh" sound, quite happily, right into his ear. He just laughed.
"Back home, we use chocobos instead of horses as mount animals and beasts of burden. When you get them in the wild, they'll pretty much always look like these guys. Big, yellow, happy. They can run around open plains faster than some cars can travel. They're pretty great. They're what you'd call tamed animals- their parents were wild once, they were wild once, but they were conditioned to be used to the presence of humans and can be trained to let people ride around on their backs. But we don't just use tamed chocobos back home, either."
He waved a hand, and a few more birds appeared behind the fence. One was blue, one was green, another one had silky black feathers, and another one, though it was almost hard to tell the difference from the yellow ones at a glance, was most certainly gold.
"Some people have taken to domesticating them, that is, selectively breeding them to bring out traits that they would like to see more of. Some traits that might change in the domestication process are things like increased docility, different coat or plumage colors, and more specific physical adaptations that improve their value as whatever it was they were domesticated for in the first place."
He waved a hand at the four new, differently-colored birds.
"When people started breeding chocobos to make for faster racers or better beasts of burden, some interesting stuff started to happen. They noticed that some of them, ones that were bred into specific plumage colors, would and could go places that their wild and tame counterparts couldn't. Blue chocobos started dabbling around in rivers and lakes, something their yellow friends refused to do outright. Green ones liked traversing mountainous, rougher terrain. Black chocobos liked both, taking to the water and to the mountains with ease. And the gold ones?"
Zack glanced at the almost metallic-looking bird in the enclosure, who gave a loud 'Wark' sound and then launched itself into the air, actually flying over the fence to land nearby.
"... Well, a gold chocobo can go anywhere. They're really, really hard to breed, though, in case you're wondering why people bother taming or trying to raise black or green or blue chocobos in the first place. They're the result of multiple generations of very, very selective breeding. I've never actually seen a gold one in person, myself. There are chocobos of other colors, too, bred mostly just to be pretty, like the ones in pink, red, dark blue, white, and purple," as he spoke, a bird in each color appeared in the pen, too, "yet more examples of domestication at work."
He grinned at the class.
"So," he said, "if you want to come meet the chocobos in person, I promise, they're all tame." A pause. "Or domestic! They'll let you pat them, hug them, feed them some greens, or even get up onto their backs and ride them around if you want to. They have very strong backs, and a black or gold one could handle pretty much any rider with ease, especially here in the danger shop."
Yes, even Sidon.
[OOC: Open!]