professor-dandelion

[professor-dandelion]

How do we know some shiny Pokémon colorations aren’t just abnormal colorations? For Pokémon like Eevee who have a lot of documented shinies, we can tell the shiny color isn’t just an instance of one Eevee being colored strangely since the shiny Eevee all have the same color. But is it possible for less documented shiny Pokémon to actually turn out to be an abnormal coloration later because there was only one documented instance at the time? (Ex. Pokémon like Sigilyph or Slugma which are pretty rare as Shinies, I think I’ve only seen one of each and it wasn’t even in person.)

The squeal I let out upon reading this was almost inhuman. Anon, I don’t know if you know this, but I love talking about Pokémon variations (in fact, I actually minored in Pokémon genetics with a focus on non-regional variations when I was in university). I apologize if this gets rambly, I’ll try to simplify it as much as I can for anyone who doesn’t want a whole lesson on genetics, but I can make no promises. Let’s get into it!

So, the reason we know that Shininess is separate from other alternative colourations is because, well, they’re separate. Shininess is tied to one gene, while the, for lack of a better word, base colouration of a Pokémon is tied to another.

It is completely possible for people to mistake a Pokémon that simply has an alternative colouration for a Shiny (and vice-versa), especially if, like you mentioned, the species’ Shiny form is less documented or the alternative colouration they have appears similar to their Shiny form, but there are tests that can be run on Pokémon in order to determine if they’re Shiny, or just alternatively coloured.

It’s also worth noting that alternative colouration and Shininess are not mutually exclusive. You can have an alternatively coloured Pokémon that is also a Shiny but, without genetic testing, you likely wouldn’t know since Shininess essentially masks alternative colouration (as do similar genes like the ones tied to albinism and melanism)

Okay, I’m going to stop there before this turns into a full-blown lecture. I hope I answered your question, Anon and, as always, feel free to send in another ask if you have any follow-up queries!

#pokemon headcanons #pokemon genetics #yeah i think i remember learning about this in my genetics of pokemon class! neat!

[professor-dandelion]

PSA for all trainers!

Remember, pokeballs are for more than just catching Pokemon!

If you need a quick way to transport a Pokemon that’s too slow or too heavy to carry, use a pokeball! 

If you need to pull them out of a fight, use a pokeball!

If they’re trying to eat something they shouldn’t, use a pokeball!

#indeed! #please remember that pokeballs are a thing and that you can return your pokemon at any time <3

[professor-dandelion]

I just found out a gengar and it's family live down the road from my place, so you're getting some facts on how the gengar line interacts with the environment!! It's going to be below the cut though, because I don't want to clog up anyone's dash

1) The gengar line is amazing at getting rid of invasive pokemon species. They're omnivorous, and they don't like when things that "don't belong here" invade on their territory

2) they're omnivorous (and opportunists) gets it's whole own point! A lot of people think that gengar, haunter, and ghastly eat souls, but they don't! (I think that would be a difficult task, anyway...) They largely subsist on a diet of small pokemon, pokemon that intrude on their territory, plants and berries, and uh... Whatever else they find, in the wild. Usually they won't go after anything that may pose a threat to their lives, and they really don't want to eat people, so you don't have to worry about that!

3) Gengar is one of few species that isn't really invasive anywhere, with the exception of very few regions. They seem to have popped up wherever living pokemon have, which is why scientists thought they were actually ghosts for so long!

4) Haunter and gengar love to keep their spaces tidy. Ghastly isn't quite as good at doing so, thanks to a lack of hands

5) Many baby pokemon are left in the care of this line when the parents go looking for food! They're very trustworthy, and tend to refuse to eat babies. That's a very strong moral compass for a pokemon who's favorite pastime is playing pranks!

#ghastly #haunter #gengar #pokemon #pokemon headcanon #happy halloween season

[professor-dandelion]

If you're another Pokeblog, could you reblog this? I wanna spread out a bit more and follow some new folks!

#((im not super active but im working on it

[professor-dandelion]

Ugh magical girl animes where the main character's partner is an Eevee that evolves during the transformation and devolves when the girl reverts back are so overdone and cliche but they're still so good

#pokemon headcanon #magical girl #pokemon #eevee #ill stand by this until i die #((i think it would absolutely be overdone in verse but i ALSO think it would be amazing every single time

[professor-dandelion]

“One of the rare cases of Pokémon de-evolving” Is there other cases of Pokémon de-evolving other than the Slowpoke line then? Is that even possible?

I mean, few and far between sure, but it’s noted in the community. Grey has been hunting a devolve orb for a while now, they’re highly questionable, lots of intrigue behind their functionality, but near impossible to find any research or information on. Drives him nuts not knowing about it.

The one true example I can say happens a lot but is widely overlooked, and is actually technically de-evolving, is exeggutor. If it loses one of its coconut like heads, that can root briefly, and grow to be an exeggcute. They will simply search out a pod of others with a missing egg, and create a full set ready for evolution back to exeggutor. Weirdly they retain their memories and such, so in a way, that species is pretty limitless with regards to its lifespan. Perhaps it’s that dormant or dominant (depending on the variant) dragon gene in them. They got some seriously old ass genes too, like dating back billions of years in some cases. Kind of really neat Pokemon. Clusters of exeggcute will prefer a wandering member of their species who has grown from an exeggutor head, and can often select them to replace a less effective member of their full set. They do this because they know the wandering Pokemon has greater knowledge and experience than those born of an egg.

I suppose I must also mention grass Pokemon cuttings. You can take these from a mature Pokemon (safely) and grow babies from them. They do not retain memories but technically have the same genetic makeup, identically to the original Pokemon. It could be classed as cloning, but you have in some cases also devolved the original Pokemon, if those are indeed perfect copies.

The slowbro/poke/king set are one of few though. It’s not hugely common.

#this is cool #i feel like the people following me would also think its interesting #exeggutor and exeggcute are such cool pokemon and some of those exeggcute are absolutely ancient

[professor-dandelion]

Her first question was if I'm dating anyone. At that exact moment my boyfriend walked into the living room, said "sup babe who's this" and then proceeded to exit the house without listening for an answer.

Met up with my childhood rival for the first time in years and legends I've missed this girl

#he did come back btw he was still waking up so he didnt remember that he said anything at all lol #and those two hit it off so well it was terrifying #beefs milotic and rivals gengar hit it off really well too and ill be real i was terrified of the potential property damage #lucky aggy was there to keep them in line ^^;

[professor-dandelion]

Met up with my childhood rival for the first time in years and legends I've missed this girl

[professor-dandelion]

Apparently the egg hatched and he took the baby outside......... Who in the Legendaries names left a Shaymin egg on my doorstep?? Also I don't know how to take care of this....... Send help

Togekiss where the fuck have you gone

#this will be wild for my research tho! #what am i going to do with this #i cant- why me #yes i wanted to meet a legendary no i did not want to raise a mythical #aaaaaaaaa

[professor-dandelion]

Togekiss where the fuck have you gone

#togekiss is missing now?? egg is gone too #fuck fuck fuckkk

[professor-dandelion]

This is completely correct. However, plant pokemon prosthetics such as leaves that photosynthesize do exist! There's actually a huge variety of pokemon prosthetics, and they're often used by conservationists to help wild pokemon who've been injured. One notable case that I've seen was a Butterfree with a prosthetic wing that someone brought to me, asking if it was sick.

You cannot graft Plant Pokemon together like you would real plants. So called “spliced” Pokemon often appear in science fiction, but are wildly unrealistic. 

#sorry op for hijacking your post! (especially if this isnt your headcanon) #pokemon headcanons #pokemon ecology #pokemon conservation

[professor-dandelion]

Just accidentally walked in on a pansage, pansear, and panpour cooking? Just out in the woods? They offered me some but I had to turn them down because I think I saw a bug or two in... Whatever they were cooking. It was quite possibly one of the weirdest experiences I've ever had

#pokemon #pansage #pansear #panpour #cooking #pokemon adventures

[professor-dandelion]

The egg has begun to move, I repeat, the egg has begun to move!

#egg update

[professor-dandelion]

Just found a mimikyu out in the forest. Poor thing must've been abandoned, because mimikyu don't naturally live in this climate (or even this region), but I think a levanny must've found it before I did because it was wearing a sewaddle blanket, which is adorable. I took the mimikyu in so it doesn't get hurt, if anyone wants to adopt it feel free to let me know

#mimikyu #levanny #sewaddle #pokemon #pokemon ecology

[professor-dandelion]

Egg update:

The egg is still doing egg things (aka sitting there), Togekiss still refuses to move, and Arceus help me because jack keeps dropping my plates

#the egg #pokemon #egg update

[professor-dandelion]

A big metal tank that really enjoys forest stewardship

Explain your partner pokemon to be badly

I’ll go first: my partner is a 152 cm/5’ belly dancer who won’t hesitate to smack someone

#aggy the aggron my beloved #sweet sweet girl she is

[professor-dandelion]

"Clefairy is soooo cute and magical and sweet" yeah okay have you ever seen a wild Clefairy eat? Oh, you think it's ~ magic ~ and doesn't need to eat? Watch one of those terrifying little carnivores take down and eat an entire gyarados and then tell me they're cute again. They eat so much that it's a good thing they're not very common, too, because if they were there wouldn't be any prey species left for the other predators, there might not even be any predators left. Only Clefairy

#clefairy #clefairy are terrifying #scary little critters #could go hand to hand with arceus and come out on top