#savannahs

Pokémon #0084 - Doduo

Say Hi to the Spotted Hyena

The spotted hyena is also known, perhaps most famously, as the laughing hyena (Crocuta crocuta). This species once ranged throughout Eurasia, but following the end of the Ice Age was restricted to sub-Saharan Africa. Today they can be found in many types of dry, open habitat, including savannah, semi-desert, and mountain forests. At times, the spotted hyena may also enter urban areas in search of food.

Unlike other hyenas, Crocuta crotuta is a predator, not a scavenger. They most commonly prey on wildebeast, but they may also hunt zebra, gazelles, Cape buffalo, and warthog. In addition, desperate times may cause packs to hunt on more dangerous prey such as young hippopotamus, giraffe, and rhinoceros. Spotted hyenas have incredible endurance, reaching speeds of 60 km/hr (37 mph); a single chase can last over 24 km (14 miles). When live prey is scarce, the laughing hyena can also turn to carrion, as well as snakes and ostrich eggs. In turn, this species may be killed by lions, though this may be motivated more by competition than prey drive.

Spotted hyena females are typically larger than males, weighing 44.5–67.6 kg (98–149 lb) to the males' 40.5–69.2 kg (89.3–153 lb). The height range for both sexes lies between 70–91.5 cm (27.6–36.0 in). In addition, female laughing hyena are somewhat famous for their masculinated genetalia; the clitoris is enlarged, resembling a penis, and is accompanied by sacs filled with fibrous tissue that resemble a scrotum. As the name implies, the coat is light brown with darker spots over most of the body. Because the species has such a wide diet, it has was is considered to be the strongest in relation to size of any mammal. The bite force is stronger than that of a brown bear, and can exert a force of 4,500 newtons-- enough to crush bone.

The laughing hyena is a highly social animal, and individuals live in communities up to 80 strong; size largely depends on prey availability and whether or not the group migrates. A clan territory can be anywhere from 40 km (24 mi) to 1000 (621mi) squared. Females dominate the males, and a pack is usually led by a matriarch. Hierarchies are strictly enforced, and positions are primarily inherited through birth and transferred through death. In addition, one's rank is maintained and recognized through social alliances and their contributions to the clan rather than size or dominance displays. The entirety of the clan comes together most often when defending a territory, gathering at the communal den, or at a kill; however, these kills are more commonly produced from smaller offshoots of the clan.

Crocuta crotuta can breed year-round, though mating is at its peak during the wet season from April to June. Members of both sexes pair indiscriminately with multiple mates, both within their clan and without. To offer himself, the male performs a mating ritual in which he lowers himself to the ground before the female, and retreats if any aggression is shown. Once impregnated, the female carries for about 110 days before giving birth to two cubs-- three is fairly rare. Weaning takes another 14 to 18 months, during which time cubs learn to hunt and defend the clan, as well as establish their place in the social hierarchy. Sootted hyenas reach maturity at about 3 years old, and can live an average of 12 years in the wild, though individuals as old as 25 have been recorded.

Conservation status: The spotted hyena has been determined Least Concern by the IUCN. However, outside protected areas the population is declining due to deforestation and hunting as a nuisance species.

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Photos

Augusto Bila

Elise Pianegonda

Evie Davidian

OLIVE BABOON!

Origin: Africa

Inhabit savannahs, steppes, forrists

Has a cheek pouch to store food

Female dominance is hereditary

Centaur Lore as requested! ty for asking @ernikerr​ (also I prommy I haven’t been ignoring your message I just didn’t get the chance to put this post together until now. I’m just going to give a broad overview of some of my inspirations and motivations in this post, I’ll dive more into it in other posts because this is already going to be long lmaooo

This lore was originally for a player driven ttrpg that @nolandspy​ was dm’ing, but as is the tendency I got up to my neck in ideas and couldn’t stop spinning about horses and also cultural anthropology so here we are

This is the character I played! Her name is An-tessalonika, or just Tessa for short. Her having just a real world ass name was mostly played for laughs, I chose the name very deliberately. I’ve decided the centaur naming system goes like this:

[honorific]-[given name][surname]

So her given name is Tessa, she’s of the herd Lonika, and her honorific is An. I’ll get more into the honorific system when I’ve actually figured out how I want to do it in a later post.

There are 4 herds (Lonika, Trakehn, Abarda, and Marwai; again, more info to come) and each hail from a different part of the highlands. As this isn’t part of any specific world I don’t really have a map to point to where each herd is geographically, but think Asian steppe. A lot a lot a LOT of the visual design is based on western asian cultures (think like Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Southern Siberia that whole area)

I think the anatomy of centaurs alone sort of lets you infer a lot about what their culture would be like. They aren’t going to be able to live in cities, or at least not any that a humanoid would recognize. Just from playing as a centaur, even though most of the campaign was being out on adventures, my character had a really hard time dungeon crawling, walking up stairs, getting supplies from shops etc. With that in mind, I reasoned that centaurs probably live away from other other humanoids just because of differing needs for physical infrastructure. So it made sense to make them nomadic, (which is also why western Asian cultures were such a big influence- the Mongols were known for their horsemanship, and live in a place that horses are specifically adapted to)

I had an idea early on that one of the most notable features of centaur culture was their headwear. This is a take that developed after seeing how gorgeous some of the traditional garments of this area are, and before I realized that they’d also likely cover their hair because they don’t want it whipping around in their face as they run. I also borrowed the idea from many cultures around the world about the sanctity of growing out your hair, and only cutting it symbolically. This way I could sort of incorporate all of these ideas in one, and have an excuse to draw and research beautiful scarves and head pieces.

(Left to right, Armenian, Buryat, and Russian ? I did some quick internet detective work but and google translate tells me that it’s from a collection of photos taken at (what I’m pretty sure is) a Russian ren fair essentially. Link to the original blog post about the fair HERE if anyone can read russian)

All of these ladies are from very different cultures but are all generally from places (geographically) where centaurs would be good at living, which is the main principle guiding me in building out centaur culture

The story on the savannah, and how the savannah trees evolved and survive. The story also makes it clear that savannah trees rely on fires, but any thought that we can fix our wildfire problems with savannah trees and forests are quickly dismissed. The savannah trees required eons to adapt to what they are today, not decades.

Excerpt from this story from BBC -  Earth:

With the exception of wildlife film makers, arboriculturalists and a few scientists, most of us don't spend much time in the leafy upper reaches of tree canopies. But in the underground forests beneath the savannahs of southern Africa and South America, it's an experience open to all.

With most of their branches safely underground and just their leaves and perhaps some twigs poking up above the surface, these subterranean versions of their above ground ancestors are close to indestructible. Some can live for more than 10,000 years.

Recent research into when and why these underground trees first evolved is starting to shed light on how the savannahs in which they live came into being.

Savannahs are ecosystems in which trees are widely spaced enough for plenty of light to penetrate, allowing grasses to dominate at ground level. They cover around 20% of the vegetated surface of the Earth.

While they may look relatively impoverished, during the wet season they can produce more vegetation than forests and a large proportion of this is digestible by animals. Savannahs house the last of the great mammal communities: the elephants, rhinoceros and big cats that have been driven to extinction elsewhere.

Prehistoric humans often made their home on them, and in the past researchers even suggested their spread played a key role in humans evolving to walk on two legs. Today they are home to approximately a billion people.

VIOLATEOUS TURACO Muscophaga violacea ©Laura Quick

These are unmistakable birds, but shy and often inconspicuous in the treetops. They are larger birds approximately 48 cm (19 in) long, including a long tail.  Their plumage is glossy violet, except for the yellow forehead, chestnut crown and white ear coverts; the bill is thick and red. In flight, the violet turaco's crimson primary flight feathers contrast with the violet plumage. The red color in the wings is typical of turacos.

This cooperative breeder is a resident in West Africa, and has an extremely large range from Senegal through to the Nigeria, with an isolated population in Chad and Central African Republic. It occurs in tropical savannas, wetlands, woodlands and forests.

Diet consists of fruit, and they are quite partial to figs, but they will also eat leaves, buds, flowers, insects, snails and slugs.

Other posts you might like:

Blue Coua

Violet Turaco