drew a reference for what I look like! my broken tusk and scars (especially the tail, forehead, and flipper ones) are very important.

My responses will get cleaned up and thrown in the reblogs for ease of reading. this was a good thought experiment- and I even enjoyed the discussion with OP and a few of the other folks I ended up chatting with too. Too bad im blocked to high heaven now but hey! life goes on xD

And then, I got blocked!

I had this in the chamber though:

marking 'beleif' as the problem universally while ignoring the content, affect, and context of those beleifs is just a far too flat take on something as huge and complicated as the concept of beleif. saying you do not have any, or have reduced beleifs because of your trauma is fine- but that isnt the state of a well-adjusted person. having absolutely no beleifs prevents you from being wrong, sure. but it also prevents you from being an individual with a functioning analytical brain. beleifs arent always all-or-nothing either. most beleifs sit comfortably in the 'well, this is probably true!' range until theyre inevitably corrected by new information. beleifs, culture, and the objective+subjective truths we learn about the world as we grow and change is a cornerstone of human development, the basis of learning. being wrong is part of being right, eventually- and removing the ability to beleive (not blindly, but reasonably + with evidence) or talk about our beleifs as core parts of who we are strips us of a huge chunk of the human experience. de-centralizing *beleifs* in favour of *experience* doesnt actually fix the problem either, because your experiences are also fully subjective. if you interpret your mental shifts as nonhuman, at all, you're really not that much different than someone who thinks they can physically change. You've got the same amount of proof as they do: which is Zilch.

Besides- how is it that you able to interpret your own nonhumanity with any level of accuracy, while the rest of us stupid schulbs are apparently just coasting by on 'well i think so, so it must be true!' You clearly beleive that on some level youre a telepathic pheonix-wolf. how is that *not* in the realm of subjective truth? What is more emperical/objective about being a phoenix on a a mental level, than being a dog on a spiritual one? genuinely? id love to know where that line gets drawn and why and where some therians are emperically sound and others aren't. as far as I knew, all we actually have is our own interpretations/beleifs/experiences/cultures. I genuinely would love to know what makes OP so sure that their 'mental shifts' to a more quiet, pictures-only, reducded-beleif thought process is "emperical" therianthropy and evidence of their wolfishness, and not just a trauma response from being raised in a situation where having ones own beleifs was punished. Its not up to me to decide that, but it does go to show the hypocrisy on display.

i think for baumarius to also state it was “actually just me sharing my personal philosophy” is untrue when, in a response to aestherians they stated they went in an changed the coined definition of xenogender to their own on a fandom wiki, then a few breaths later state they were not "well versed" with the trans community. fandom wiki is not the end all be all of information of course, and the definition has since been changed back to the original, but i think my point still stands.

easy way to make yourself look more reputable: block all dissenting voices.

I was much harsher in my rebuke of baumarius than others were. I honestly flip-flop on whether it was warrented or productive, though given others attempts to be more productive it seems it would not have mattered and I do not think I was incorrect or withdraw in anything I said.

I though agree with hearthwolf that the insistance about it being personal philosophy seems more of a shield to criticism rather than a genuine view. I have had posts misinterpreted in wildly different directions by others so I can sympathise if that is what occured. Even then though I struggle to believe that is the actual case. It was presented as a serious arguement, titled in a way that is associated to serious work "On [subjectmatter]", suggesting that this is a responsability to each other and necessary to prevent cult-behaviour within the community, and legitimising it through interaction with outside researchers and attempting to get a grant to study this. Even if it is a personal philosophy that does not make it immune from criticism, though if it were not for the attempts to legitimise or publish such work I imagine myself and others would have been much less likely to engage with it - at least for myself, I would have let it by.

(hunter.d.photography via IW)

shouka is a 33 year old icelandic orca who lives at seaworld san diego. she was born to sharkane and kim II at marineland antibes in 1993, becoming the first orca calf to ever be successfully born in france. shouka was sharkane’s first calf, and soon gained three younger siblings: inouk, wikie, and half-brother valentin.

at nine years of age, shouka was transferred to six flags worlds of adventure in ohio. six flags had purchased seaworld ohio just a year before, and many of the same facilities and exhibits were kept, including the killer whale stadium.

in 2004, shouka was moved to six flags discovery kingdom in california. she had no orca companions here, only being housed with two bottlenose dolphins for nearly a decade until the dolphins were moved out due to shouka’s growing aggression. in july 2012 she lifted and threw a trainer out of the pool and onto the back of the stage. the next month, shouka was transferred to seaworld san diego. she bonded quickly with corky II and still lives at seaworld today, known for being able to mimic bottlenose dolphin calls and having upward-curving flukes.

(hunter.d.photography via IW)

and they have a specific relationship with crested caracaras, in which the black vultures assist them by not only preening them after meals but also leading them to food in the first place, while the caracaras assist the black vultures by acting as a warning signal in case of danger

and while this is more typical of black vultures, this is not common at all for any member of the falconidae family— it’s a special bond!

yet another post in favor of vultures everyone , hope you enjoy:) and I implore you to do some more research on these incredible birds !!

EDIT: I meant interspecific allopreening! excuse my typo!

Atlantic spotted dolphin "Stenella" frontalis