07-30-2012, 08:10 PM
Raze was being a moron and, once again, getting random ideas for future (likely far future) characters. One of these was a maned wolf, which introduces a few problems about realism I need help solving!
First of all, I know that maned wolves are not luperci-compatible species.
I just wanted to play a Creature that was Canidae, so it'd make for interesting interaction. And I wanted to be difficult, which is why I haven't chosen like... a fox.
While I feel that a maned wolf as a thinking creature would be similar enough to the Canis species here, as in being able to grasp concepts about as well as any non-luperci, and so there shouldn't be terrrible social issues, I do recognize that there will be others: namely, how and why the hell one would travel from South America to Nova Scotia, and how they would deal with the climate change. :|
For the climate bit, I suppose silly scarves and blankets are in order, but I didn't know if there was a very realistic way to go about this other than piling on the clothing!
The world travel is the bigger issue. I've looked at the RP Guide, but it only addresses travel from Central America, which involves some walking and sailing north like usual. I would like my maned wolf to come from Paraguay, which is south of Bolivia and Brazil, but I didn't know if she should march to the nearest realistic port or what. I do know that I'm giving her plenty of interaction with luperci (Catholic dog missionary types, yaay), so she would have more reason than an isolated member of her species to check out the north.
Aaand, one other thing I just remembered -- diet. Maned wolves nom on flesh, no prob, but a large part of their diet seems to be made up of fruit! This article goes into their diet a bit and suggests substitutions for captive maned wolves, which include stuff like "avocado, pineapple, peeled orange, caqui, banana, and cerrado fruits." I'm not sure, but I kind of doubt that such things would be readily available in the 'Souslverse since a ton of it is imported? This one goes a bit more into maned wolf nutrition (like, science what I skimmed this) but talks about dog food and rice and stuff in addition to unspecific kinds of fruits. :| So... If I want to be realistic, I'm talking a very malnourished maned wolf with kidney stones if she doesn't get the "weird" half of her diet (which, hey, that's an idea for how to kill her off).
OH! And I close this with random fact of the day: Did you know that maned wolf urine apparently smells like marijuana?
First of all, I know that maned wolves are not luperci-compatible species.
I just wanted to play a Creature that was Canidae, so it'd make for interesting interaction. And I wanted to be difficult, which is why I haven't chosen like... a fox.While I feel that a maned wolf as a thinking creature would be similar enough to the Canis species here, as in being able to grasp concepts about as well as any non-luperci, and so there shouldn't be terrrible social issues, I do recognize that there will be others: namely, how and why the hell one would travel from South America to Nova Scotia, and how they would deal with the climate change. :|
For the climate bit, I suppose silly scarves and blankets are in order, but I didn't know if there was a very realistic way to go about this other than piling on the clothing!
The world travel is the bigger issue. I've looked at the RP Guide, but it only addresses travel from Central America, which involves some walking and sailing north like usual. I would like my maned wolf to come from Paraguay, which is south of Bolivia and Brazil, but I didn't know if she should march to the nearest realistic port or what. I do know that I'm giving her plenty of interaction with luperci (Catholic dog missionary types, yaay), so she would have more reason than an isolated member of her species to check out the north.
Aaand, one other thing I just remembered -- diet. Maned wolves nom on flesh, no prob, but a large part of their diet seems to be made up of fruit! This article goes into their diet a bit and suggests substitutions for captive maned wolves, which include stuff like "avocado, pineapple, peeled orange, caqui, banana, and cerrado fruits." I'm not sure, but I kind of doubt that such things would be readily available in the 'Souslverse since a ton of it is imported? This one goes a bit more into maned wolf nutrition (like, science what I skimmed this) but talks about dog food and rice and stuff in addition to unspecific kinds of fruits. :| So... If I want to be realistic, I'm talking a very malnourished maned wolf with kidney stones if she doesn't get the "weird" half of her diet (which, hey, that's an idea for how to kill her off).
OH! And I close this with random fact of the day: Did you know that maned wolf urine apparently smells like marijuana?