#not the super aggressive ones for no reason

[predalien]

I got you covered. 👍 (I almost didn’t catch this as it came from my main blog—so, just a reminder, please send yautja related asks over here.)

I got a little carried away with this one, especially the pup part. So sorry! 😩

Thicc s/o version

Yautja with a leaner/petite S/O headcanons

Now, this is how you impress a yautja. I mean, let’s face it, no matter how big of a human you are, a yautja will always be stronger, and most definitely bigger than you. So a leaner or more petite S/O will most likely catch a yautja’s attention under the circumstances of you being able to fight off larger enemies and protecting yourself.

They won’t necessarily try to fight or spar with you as much, but they’ll probably throw you around and manhandle you a little bit. I’m sorry, lol. You’re just so light, to them at least. How could they not play a game of football with you as the ball? Of course they won’t be super aggressive with you, they’re aware you’re smaller and therefore you could possibly break easier. But it’s still find to them to throw you up in the air and watch you yell in annoyance at them. 🤷‍♀️

If you’re a solider, hunter, or warrior of some type already, they’ll send you into the small spaces and crevices they couldn’t reach. Just because they couldn’t catch that that tiny alien warthog that burrowed itself in the small crevices of a cave doesn’t mean that you can’t catch it, right? That’s right ooman, just chase it out and I’ll spear it! (They’re missing a tooth to add to their necklace.)

If you’re more on the petite and smaller side, the amount time you may be referred to as ‘pup’ or a ‘juvenile’ by older and large yautja, especially matriarchs, will start to get annoying. Even though you’re a fully grown human adult. It’s especially prevalent if you’re the mate or associate yourself with younger yautja. To them, you’re just an inexperienced juvenile who still needs to grow… BUT! This is where you can prove them wrong, and really get that respect that you deserve. 👀

Just imagine the shocked faces and flared mandibles you’ll receive when one of your mate’s teammates tried to poke and mess with you a little more than you’d like—only to get rabid badgered in the face by a, example, tiny little ooman with a pension for violence. Well, I warned you, didn’t pick them for no reason. That’s just what your mate is thinking, lol.

Now, if you’re more on the lean muscle, athletic, etc. kind of side? You’ll probably be treated similarly to your larger bodied counterparts, especially if you have visible lean muscle as compared to bulk muscle. It’s a clear sign of strength to them for the most part, even if you aren’t really a warrior or hunter of some sort. And to yautja? Strength and honor are some of the most valuable things you can possess, regardless of species. If you’re (a) worthy (opponent), then you’re (a) worthy (opponent).

You’re a pup playground, by the way. If you’ve been assigned to care and watch for the pups in the clan, you best believe those pups will drag you down with them. Whether you like it or not. You’re like, basically their size, right? Even though you could probably drop kick one with a hard enough kick?… You’ll get head-butted and pounced on from all angles, for sure. You may find it annoying as hell at first, but by time everyone is worn out and you’re in the center of the cuddle pile surrounded by actual purring pups and juveniles, you’ll start to think it’s not as bad as you thought. It’s kind of cute, really. Until they wake up again… Oh boy, at least their mothers are finally here. 😂

#predator #predator x reader #predator x human #yautja #yautja x reader #yautja x human #yautja pups #my work #my posts

[campbyler]

the ppl that complain abt updates are actually so bewildering to me bc im literally 2k words into my fic and it has taken SO LONG 😞 not to mention the fact that no matter how long i wait for your updates, i truly never get bored because i js come on your tumblr everyday to see what you guys have been posting on here and it 100% makes up for the long awaited updates (not that you have anything to make up for anyway) you guys are truly SO incredible for what you do bc i could NEVER 😭 i literally talked to my friend abt ur fic and how the waits are usually long (wasn’t complaining abt it) and she was like “oh my god i could never wait that long for a fic” and i immediately came to your defense and was like “yeah but it’s okay bc the long ass chapters always make up for it and the fact that they post on tumblr almost daily”

prefacing my accidental ramble by saying that if we ever seem disproportionately annoyed at something someone said then it’s definitely because it is not disproportionate to Us!! little comments and things like that add up over time, so it’s rarely about just that one thing someone says and absolutely more of an overarching pattern that gets tiring really fast. and not to dredge everything back up again bc it’s rare that we get someone being super weird and rude outright about longer or delayed update times but we get soooo so many asks or comments etc like the one thea answered earlier which just include little remarks that come off as just passive aggressive and just kind of kill the vibe of getting a really nice message?? very much like “oh i miss when we only had to wait a couple weeks for updates but your fic is so good!” or “this was so good but don’t know how im going to wait months for the next chapter :(“ and just stuff like that which gets pretty frustrating over time, especially when they’re coming from people who blew through a 30k update in like 45 minutes lol. we see so much of this over on twt especially, maybe because we’re not as active there and people are not saying it To Us so they think we don’t see it but there’s also a lot of likeeeeee “i want to start acswy but im Traumatized by authors abandoning their fics so im just waiting until they’re done” or “i want to catch up but the update intervals are so long😭” and that sort of thing which is also just kind of frustrating to see come up over and over again, esp bc sometimes people have actually said that to us? like in our inbox??? for some entirely unknown reason??? like why are you telling us on this blog that you don’t want to read our fic until it’s done. good luck getting through 500k in one sitting then idk what to tell you 🤷🏽‍♀️

anyways all that to say thank you so much for your message of support it’s very much appreciated! sometimes the demands (even if they’re said as a joke) and little side comments that are slipped into really nice messages can def make us feel like our readers see as us people who are putting out a product and not people who are just trying to share a passion project with our little corner of the internet, but we also know that most of you are not like that and especially the people who regularly interact w this blog and send in asks and comments are so lovely! thank you for coming to our defense 🫡

#like if you don’t want to wait so long for an update then maybe try to read a little slower idk #not our fault we spent 2 months writing a chapter you devoured in 45 mins and are now already in our inbox begging for more #like damn girl. sit with it for a moment idk what to tell you #anyways #me: i’ll answer some asks on my lunch break #me: spends 25 minutes answering this ask #asks

[cabbagestrand]

I saw you had questions open so I wanted to ask

Who is your favorite lwa charecter and why?

+hope you have a great day!!!

its diana of course! i have a sweet spot for soft tsunderes see tags for reference lmao. rating diana personality the most interesting one would be the movie diana shes more tsun and in denial than the other versions. thank you hope you have a great day as well :D

#asks #diana cavendish/lwa #saijou claudine/revstar #yanagi koharu/revstar (tho shes more of a kuudere but shes my ultimate fave so she gets a mention. stan seiran) #haibara ai/ detective conan (bruh my first one i love her) #i cant remember others but i do tend to stay on one fixatio for long #that type of tsundere lmao #not the super aggressive ones for no reason #also i love anime diana #shes more mature i love that for her #more potential for angst >: D

[mars-ipan]

GODDD.

#marzivents #to preface. i am SLIGHTLY buzzed. as in i have had a single mimosa almost an hour ago #today there has been a… weird??? energy with the family?? #my mom and dad are on two different frequencies today but like they’re managing so whatever #my brother and i have been normal i suppose #but we’ve been all together for a little bit to celebrate the new uear and such #clock hits 12. we celebrate. everybody has One mimosa. not a lot at all #that buzz hits me and i’m hanging out. i’m feeling good! #my brother says something or other and we start the motions of one of our go-to sibling disagreements you know the type #and my mother cuts me off says like ‘let’s all relax’ or whatever. i didn’t feel that angry but like?? sure? fine whatever #we stop and i move on. once again not a huge deal to me #then my dad does smth or other. my mom’s been razzing him all day so i decide alright i will also razz him. a little lighthearted teasing #it is NOTHING different from what i normally do. just slightly more frequent #and my dad goes ‘i can’t have an opinion on anything huh?’ and i- committed to the bit- go ‘no <3’ with a smile on my face #like i am simply wanting to fuck around!! the way you do with friends! that is all i am doing! #i get in some other thing with my brother for like .2 seconds before my mom tells us to ‘stop fighting’ again. alright cool #this sort of thing continues. and the air in the room becomes super tense for some goddamn reason??? #eventually my dad heads to the garage and my brother follows. while they’re gone my mom tells me i need to cool it and i’m being aggressive #i???? huh???? what??? #i was gonna turn to HER and crack a joke like ‘how do you get them to understand that loud doesn’t mean angry?’ #because that’s an issue SHE has all the damn time! i was gonna turn to her and bond! but she says that before i can even start to #so my attempt to ease the remaining tension in the room is dead on arrival. in fact the room is even TENSER #maybe it was the champagne or smth but it just fucking got to me. i shut up and turn away and start trying to collect myself #i’m realizing two things. 1- my emotions are less in my control right now and i cannot collect myself here. 2- I Need To Fucking Scream #so i silently pack up and head to my room. my mom knows better and asks no questions #as i was typing this post my brother walks in. i shoo him out without words but he tries to ask questions so i just repeat until he gets it #i feel fucking insane. what the fuck did i DO???? i literally was just fucking razzing. i do that all the time #and sure. i was louder. and yeah it was probably slightly more razzing than i normally would. but i DO NOT FUCKING GET how those two things #would cause as MUCH of a reaction as they did!!! like. i . hello??? #the rest is in the replies bc i am out of tags but i am not out of feelings

[batwynn]

Please help my autistic ass figure this situation out please I am so tired of this kind of thing happening. 😭

I called the cancel our scheduled mow times after our first and only apt with a lawn care company because the 100° days were over and we probably won’t get heat stroke using the push mower now and they said ok all good but we’ll call to check in for the fall clean up and I was like: cool. (Probably won’t need that since we like to keep a lot of it ‘wild’ for critters but ok.) I also said I was ready to pay for the previous mow they did but he said it wasn’t in the system yet and they’ll send it to me. So, yesterday they showed up and… mowed the lawn? I was not up for talking to people face to face so I tried calling the office and no one picked up because it looks like it’s maybe just those two guys. 🥲

The question is: What is more likely, they misunderstood me even though it seemed super clear and I need to call and confirm it’s canceled? They’re pulling one of those scam things where they keep showing up to do the thing so they can demand payment? They thought I meant after this week’s mow? Or they thought they were being nice and doing the one last mow before leaving us alone with our grass but now I have to pay them $160??

#help me #I don’t know how to handle this #should I be firm and sound gruff about this #or like oopsie I didn’t want that please don’t CHARGE ME #I only ask because I’ve literally had every version of this happen at one point or another #had to involve the police with one #had $500 taken from me for another #had super aggressive men call me shit while in my house because they couldn’t smell the smell from the furnace and then charge me $$$ #turns out it was a real thing surprise! #anyway I’m exhausted and I can’t figure out what is the most likely reason they showed up yesterday #someone who can understand humans tell me

[prismatica-the-strange]

Nope, I'm still crying

#i wish literally anybody from school remembered me #literally only 2 people i was friends with hace talked to me in the past four years #i had the realization tonight that i was never given the choice to nurture most of my friendships #everytime i tried outside of school hours including trying to join clubs my mom would make me leave halfway through then lecture me #that she didn't have time to drive to town and get me #but as soon as my brother wanted to join junior air force she suddenly had all the time and energy in the world to devote to that #so what I'm getting here is that my friendships and interests weren't important enough or worth her time #i wasn't interested in Junior air force 1 cause it wasn't offered to me and 2 I'm not a boit licker #no #i was interested in the video game and board game clubs cause my friends were in them and they WANTED me to join #but after not getting to stay for more than one full session after a month i left the board game club cause it wasn't fair to the others #and i only went to the video game clu once and i don't remember much of it cause i was too anxious that she was gonna flip on me #i kept waiting for her text but instead she showed up at the classroom and made me leave #so when the same teacher that ran the board game club asked if i wanted to join the chess club cause he knew i liked chess #i told him i couldn't cause i was too busy because i didn't want to deal with begging my mom to let me join #she would have said yes but would have continued not letting me stay and being super passive aggressive #I'm not even in the year book for the year my friends graduated #the one thing she did let me do was drama and i hated every second of it. it was genuinely a bad experience for me #yeah i had friends in drama but it's not the same as hanging with my nerdy guy friends playing a star wars ttrpg #the worst part is she gets so defensive when i bring it up and won't give me a reason outside of 'I guess I'm just the worst parent' #it's in those moments i really remember she's the youngest in her family #OH!! it gets worse! she told me when i was younger that she had to be an honorary cheer leader cause HER MOM absolutely refused to #let her join cheer and she's alsways been bitter about it but then she turns around and did basically the same thing to me ffs #at least she was allowed to hang out with people after-school i wasn't allowed to do that either #no. instead i spent the hours after shcool alone most days and my weekends home alone in my room. and she wonders why my social skills are #maybe if I'd been allowed to work on my relationships outside of a classroom i wouldn't have felt so abandoned when everyone i knew #graduated without me. maybe if i didn't have to start back at square one socially again and had people to text and hang with after class #i wouldn't have dropped out. and i think only atlas knows i dropped out. idk how to text these people without spunding like I'm looking for #sympathy when they ask what I'm up to. like yeah I'm stuck at home with an anxiety disorder and unemployed trying to get on disability #prisma vents

[deathdxnces]

❛ just sit there and look pretty and let me handle this. ❜

» — IF YOU SEND ME ASKS I PROMISE TO REPLY. ONE DAY.

— @vulpesse

Irelia doesn't like Bilgewater.

The dancer had decided as much the moment the port city came into view clearly enough to be more than a vague shape on the horizon. She did not mind the journey itself, though, after days on the ship, she had started to grow restless, the confinement to such a restricted area getting on her nerves. Or maybe it was the increasing distance from home; Irelia never left Ionia for long, much less traveling so far. The one exception had been to fight back the Ruined King's forces... and back then she had been too concerned with trying to save her home to allow herself to dwell on how much she missed it.

The first impression only further settles when they disembark. Looking up, it's clear how the city sprawls itself among cliffs and wooden bridges; out of need, however, or at least a desperate attempt to climb higher and avoid the sea's wrath. But it isn't done naturally, following the paths of stone and adapting to its shape, or even influencing it to give way and serve as foundation for the buildings. It is crowded and graceless, a pile of buildings one atop the other, naught of natural or even practical to be found in their designs.

The port was worse, with the remains of slain sea monsters and the smell they left behind; the tavern they spent the night at a small but blessed improvement, nevertheless. The next day, Irelia finds herself lacking enough rest, unable to reach a state of peaceful slumber the night before; she is eager to get to work, however, and soon enough they do — first pursuing information about the dangerous cargo Ahri had caught word of, a necessary precaution, to ensure the matter would be dealt with in its root.

The vastaya is a natural at it, the dancer thinks, after Ahri easily charms the third or fourth person they encounter in their little investigation. No magic is needed for her to lure them in, nor for them to spill needed information until, droplet by droplet, a solid lead takes them to a higher part of the city.

The tavern they were told to find is nicer than the one they had been lodged in; more crowded, as well, serving as some sort of middle ground between the different levels of Bilgewater, in the physical sense as much as in what concerned status. Irelia doesn't mind it; with so many people around, others are less likely to pay attention to them — or so she thinks, until she catches one of the pirates stealing glances at them.

Ahri sits opposite her, demeanor utterly at ease, or so most would seem. The dancer can see more beneath, eyes shining with the gleam of the predator Irelia knows the vulpine woman to be. They do not hunt for blood, not yet; but it is a hunt, nevertheless, and Ahri seems quite invested in tracking down those who might be able to finally give them more concrete responses about the operation that has Ionia as its final target.

No warning is needed for the she-fox to notice the glances, much like Irelia had. Ahri seems to glean more than the dancer had, nonetheless; realization subtly softens the edge of the huntress, only to return a heartbeat later, as her eyes notice the piece of jewelry that marks them as the one the Ionian duo had been looking for.

❛ just sit there and look pretty and let me handle this. ❜, @vulpesse says, mirthful enough Irelia could almost be annoyed at her for it, were she not peeved by being relegated to sitting there and looking pretty. There may be something else in Ahri's gaze, as well, something Irelia can't quite name; something she does not bother with naming, reaching for the vastaya's hand to prevent her from leaving.

"If someone needs to stay and look pretty, I'd say you're the better choice," Pretty is too simple a word to describe her; Irelia's point still stands, however. One would need to be blind to not consider the vulpine woman the more beautiful of the duo. Despite the protest, she knows Ahri is probably right in that she should do the talking. The dancer isn't simply unfamiliar with the place and its people; she has made little to no effort to approach them at all. Out of her element in every way — but still, she would rather they go together than be left behind. "If you would have me wait here, I'd at least know why before you go."

#vulpesse #» in character — ⌜the blade dancer.⌟ #bunnie......... i was thinking........... #what if we start in bilgewater and move on to other places......... #what if they end up going to more than one place........... #anyway. if you do want to continue this as the thread we were planning that's super ok for me aksjdnfdfn #as to why ahri would tell her to sit there and look pretty while she does things #idk. it could be anything from getting bad vibes from whoever it is they need to talk to and wanting to keep irelia away #or bc she expects /irelia/ would end up being aggressive towards them for whatever reason #(maybe..... former noxian......) #or even bc she's counting on using the person being distracted sighing longingly bc irelia is so pretty to get them to talk #(scenario that would work if i was the person) #ASDFUSDFHA do whatever you want. go wild. if anything about ahri in what i wrote feels not right #tell me how it should be and i'll just edit it 💖 #mwah

[coockie8]

so do u actually like tbbt?

Oh god no lol I like maybe 4 characters, but by and large the show just pisses me off.

From an aspiring actress not knowing who Adam West is, to a supposed genius comparing having to go to an event to literal slavery, to the fact I think there's like maybe 10 scenes of Raj in total where they aren't being wildly racist to him, the show is just all in all kinda terrible.

But my family likes it, and it's in my YouTube algorithm at this point, so I watch it on occasion. Stewing in ill-concealed rage the whole time, but I watch it.

#the characters I like/don't mind as much btw are Amy Penny Raj and Leonard #Stewart's okay but they went off the rails *hard* with his character out of nowhere towards the end for some reason #all the other characters I don't mind are like one-offs or side characters we rarely see so they don't have time to get super grating #and this is not even addressing the rampant aggressive misogyny throughout the show #like sorry but I know more girls and queers into geeky shit than cis straight men lol

[unawakening-float07]

had the choice between this hairy alternative bear or this ripped beefy jock tonight and i chose the jock which turned out to be a mistake :( he was so hot because he had much more of a belly than his pics showed and he smelled like cigarettes and musk so i was in heaven for like 15 minutes but then he got like uncomfortably aggressive and kept going soft when i told him i wasn’t a bottom despite me telling him this multiple times prior to meeting. pretty sure he was drunk but he didn’t smell of alcohol so maybe high? he was very dazed and kept slurring his words.

#not my best night despite getting a daddy bear off earlier #and that ALSO wasn’t good #but for other reasons #this jock dude was soooo hot #he was telling me his ex and him are on a break thing and he’s sort of trying to see if there’s someone out there he can have feelings for #so i feel for him #he’d be perfect for me because of his beer belly which again his pics didn’t have so that must be new #but yeah #super aggressive and at one point i was sure we broke his glasses because he kept #smashing our faces together to kiss me

[whorenerdking]

boy oh boy do I love immediately getting shit on the second she gets home :)

#here’s my nightly update on the mental abuse #literally like one of the first things she said to me when she got home #all super snarky like ‘god what did you even do all day?’ #and then she starts complaining about the neighbors and going on and on about it #and when I try to remind here that hey we can’t do anything about them #and she also told me to tell her when she was obsessing over it so she could stop #so when I do she just sneers at me like ‘what I can’t complain about anything now?’ #like bitch you literally told me to call you out on that #AND THEN #because this shit always comes in threes #she asks me why I’m in the laundry room #and I quote #‘you’d only be in the laundry room to do something you forgot to do’ #like I wouldn’t just go in there for literally any reason #and then she’s like ‘hey sorry I was being a bitch’ #and if I don’t say ‘oh it’s fine’ she gets passive aggressive with me for the rest of the night #I don’t know if this is just a thing that’s happening more frequently #or if I’m just finally starting to realizing how I’m treated

[kaijutegu]

Alligator Body Language and You, or: How To Know When An Alligator On Social Media is Being Stressed for Views

Alligators are wild animals. Despite the idiotic claims of animal abusers like Jay Brewer, they cannot be domesticated, which means they are always going to react on the same natural instincts they've had for millions of years. Habituated, yes. Tamed, yes. Trained, definitely. Crocodilians can form bonds with people- they're social and quite intelligent. They can solve problems, use tools, and they're actually quite playful. Alligators are also really good at communicating how they're feeling, but to somebody who doesn't spend much time around them, their body language can be a bit mystifying. And it doesn't help when social media influencers are saying shit like this:

That is not what a happy gator looks like.

That's a terrified, furious gator who isn't attacking because the ogre handling her has her in a chokehold. She's doing everything she can to express her displeasure, and he's lying about it because he knows his audience doesn't even know how to think critically about what he's doing. He knows that because his audience doesn't know anything about these animals, he can get away with it. This I think is why I hate him so much- he deliberately miseducates his audience. He knows what he's doing is factually inaccurate, he just doesn't care because attention means more to him than anything else in the world.

Let's change that! Here are two really important lessons for understanding alligator body language on social media.

Lesson 1: Alligators Don't Smile (in fact, most animals don't)

So what's going on in this video? Jay Brewer is aggressively choking his white alligator Coconut while scrubbing algae off of her with a toothbrush. And make no mistake, he is digging into the creature's throat while she is visibly distressed. He claims she's happy- but she's not. He is willfully misrepresenting what this animal is feeling. That's a problem, because people... well, we actually kind of suck at reading other species' body language. The reason for this is that we tend to overlay our own responses on their physical cues, and that's a problem. For example, let's look at an animal with a really similar face to ours, the chimpanzee. Check out Ama's toothy grin!

Wait, no. That's not a happy smile. That's a threat display. When a chimpanzee "smiles," it's either terrified and doing a fear grimace, or it's showing you its teeth because it intends on using them in your face.

How about a dog? Look at my smiling, happy puppy!

Oh wait no, this is a picture of Ryder when he was super overwhelmed by noise and people during a holiday party. He'd hopped up in my sister's lap to get away from stuff that was happening on the floor and was panting quite heavily. See the tension in the corners of his mouth and his eyes? A lot of the time when a dog "smiles," the smile isn't happy. It's stress! Why Animals Do The Thing has a nice writeup about that, but the point is, our body language is not the same as other species. And for reptiles, body language is wildly different.

For instance, look at these two alligators. Pretty cute, right? Look at 'em, they're posing for a Christmas card or something! How do you think they're feeling?

Well, I'll tell you how the normal one is feeling. He's annoyed! Why is he annoyed? Because the albino just rolled up, pushed another gator off the platform, and is trying to push this guy, too. I know this because I actually saw it happen. It was pretty funny, not gonna lie. He's not gaping all the way, but he was hissing- you can actually see him getting annoyed in the sequence I took right before this shot. Look at him in this first shot here- he's just relaxing, and you can see he isn't gaping even a little bit.

By the end, he's expressing displeasure, but not enough to actually do anything about it. He's annoyed, but he's comfy and that's where one of the best basking areas is, so he'll put up with it.

Reptiles open their mouths wide for a lot of reasons, but never because they are actively enjoying a sensation. Unless they're eating. No reptile smiles- they can't. They don't even have moveable lips. If a reptile is gaping, it's doing so because:

It is doing a threat display.

It is making certain vocalizations, all of which are threats. Alligators are one of the rare reptiles that do regularly vocalize, but most of their calls aren't made with a wide open mouth.

It is about to bite something delicious or somebody stupid. Check out this video- virtually all of the gaping here is anticipatory because these trained gators know darn well that the bowl is full of delicious snacks. (I have some issues with Florida's Wildest, but the man knows how to train a gator AND he is honest about explaining what they're doing and why, and all of his animals are healthy and well-cared for, and he doesn't put the public or his staff at risk- just himself.)

It's too hot and it has opened its mouth to vent some of that heat and thermoregulate. This is the main reason why alligators will often have their mouths part of the way open, but sometimes they'll open all the way for thermoregulation. This is what a thermoregulatory gape looks like- usually it's not all the way open, kinda more like < rather than V, but you can't say that 100% of the time. Additionally, a thermoregulatory gape... typically happens when it's hot out. If they're inside, maybe they've been under their basking light for too long. Heat's the dominant factor, is what I'm getting at.

There is another reason that a captive crocodilian might be gaping, and that's because it's doing so on command. Some places have their gators trained to gape on cue, like St. Augustine Alligator Farm and other good zoos. They have the animals do this in presentations that are genuinely educational. They ask the animals to open their mouths so that they can show off their teeth and demonstrate how their tongues seal off the back of their mouth. They'll also do it as part of routine healthcare, because looking at their teeth is important.

In this case, the animals aren't gaping because they're stressed, they're gaping because they know they're gonna get a piece of chicken or fish if they do it. And what's more, they're doing it on cue. They have a specific command or signal that tells them to open wide. It's not an instinctive response to a situation. It's trained. If the animal provides the behavior after a cue, the situation is much less likely to be negatively impactful.

It's also important to remember that there's a difference between a partially open mouth and a gape! As discussed above, alligators will often have their mouths a little bit open just to maintain temperature homeostasis. It helps them stay comfy, temperature-wise. These guys are all doing thermoregulatory open-mouthed behavior- that slight open and relaxed body posture is a dead giveaway. (That and it's the hottest spot in the enclosure.)

Lesson 2: A Happy Gator Is A Chill Gator

So if alligators don't smile or have facial expressions other than the :V that typically signifies distress, how else can you tell how they're feeling? One way is stillness. See, alligators subscribe to the philosophy of if it sucks... hit da bricks.

Basically, if they hate it, they'll leave. Unless, y'know, somebody has their meaty claws digging into their throat or is otherwise restraining them. (Restraint isn't always bad, btw. Sometimes the animal is going through a medical thing or needs to be restrained for their safety- which a responsible educator will explain.)

Let's look at a very similar scenario, in which a captive alligator is getting his back scrubbed.

As you can see, it's quite different. First, he's not being restrained at all. Second, look at how relaxed he is! He's just chilling there vibing! He could simply get up and leave if he wanted to, because he's not being held. Towards the end of the video, as he lifts his head, you can see that his respiratory rate is very even as his throat flutters a bit. I'm not sure what this facility is, so I can't comment on care/general ethics, but like. In this specific case, this is an alligator enjoying being scrubbed! And you can tell because he's not doing anything. A happy gator is content to be doing what they're doing.

Why Should I Listen To You?

Now, you should ask yourself, why should you listen to me? Why should you trust me, who does not own an alligator, versus Jay Brewer, who owns several?

Well, first off, there's no profit for me in telling you that what you're seeing on social media is in fact not what you're being told you're seeing. I'm not getting paid to do this. That's the thing with people who make social media content. The big names aren't doing it just for fun. They're doing it for money. Whether that's profit through partnerships or sponsorships, or getting more people to visit their facilities, or ad revenue, you can't ignore the factor of money. And this is NOT a bad thing, because it allows educators to do what they're passionate about! People deserve to be paid for the work that they do!

But the problem starts when you chase the algorithm instead of actually educating. A "smiling" alligator gets the views, and if people don't know enough to know better, it keeps getting the views. People love unconventional animal stories and they want those animals to be happy- but the inability to even know where to start with critically evaluating these posts really hinders the ability to spread real information. Like, this post will probably get a couple hundred notes, but that video of Coconut being scrubbed had almost 400,000 likes when I took that screenshot. Think about how many eyeballs that's reached by now. What I'm saying here is that it's just... really important to think critically about who you're getting your information from. What do dissenters say in the comments? What do other professionals say? You won't find a single herpetologist that has anything good to say about Prehistoric Pets, I can tell you that right now.

Another reason you can trust me is that my sources are not "just trust me bro," or "years of experience pretending my pet shop where animals come to die is a real zoo." Instead, here are my primary sources for my information on alligator behavior:

Dragon Songs: Love and Adventure among Crocodiles, Alligators, and Other Dinosaur Relations- Vladimir Dinets

The Secret Social Lives of Reptiles- J. Sean Doody, Vladimir Dinets, Gordon M. Burghardt

Social Behavior Deficiencies in Captive American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)- Z Walsh, H Olson, M Clendening, A Rycyk

Social Displays of the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)- Kent Vliet

Social Signals and Behaviors of Adult Alligators and Crocodiles- Leslie Garrick, Jeffery Lang

Never smile at a crocodile: Gaping behaviour in the Nile crocodile at Ndumo Game Reserve, South Africa- Cormac Price, Mohamed Ezat, Céline Hanzen, Colleen Downs (this one's Nile crocs, not American alligators, but it's really useful for modeling an understanding of gape behaviors and proximity)

Thermoregulatory Behavior of Captive American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)- Cheryl S. Asa, Gary D. London, Ronald R. Goellner, Norman Haskell, Glenn Roberts, Crispen Wilson

Unprovoked Mouth Gaping Behavior in Extant Crocodylia- Noah J. Carl, Heather A. Stewart, Jenny S. Paul

Thank you for reading! Here's a very happy wild alligator from Sanibel for your trouble.

#reptiblr #alligator #crocodile #Youtube

[friend-dispenser]

Just realized I wrote these tags in their own post not in a reblog of the post I was trying to add them to!!!!!! Ugh!!!!!

AND I LOST THE POST!!!!!

It basically went like "I'm sick of hearing about taylor swift. Tag the most obscure band you listen to." If anyone comes across it please let me know cause I wanted to look through the notes again in a week or two! And also share my tags!

#Aki Akane (Japanese utaite rock singer who has crazy texture control) #Hillsburn (Folk Rock with violins and powerful harmonies and sad mad bittersweet lyrics #got synthier and a lot sadder with their third album. It's a great album in its own right but I prefer the first two) #Courage My Love (imagine Paramore but with a million layers of vocals and guitars and sometimes strings and pianos too #Becoming was my all-time favourite album for several years. Only reason it's not now is that it reminds me too much of my junior high years #Uncanny (slightly Prog-y Hard Rock band I went to see on a whim when I lived in Montreal for a month. Only have a few songs unfortunately #They're great though really good balance of intense and catchy and they were even better live) #Eat Lead Tracy is a super fun garage rock aggressive-but-a-little-tongue-in-cheek-about-it band #Kids Losing Sleep (Pop Punk with some The 1975-esque glitter and grime. Their EP called Loves is by far my favourite thing from them) #The Maes (aka The Mae Trio. I only know one song by them and it's Parallel Park but I love that song. #three part harmonies guitar mandolin and violin folk singer-songwriter cute and soft but not too cute and soft y'know) #Mother Falcon (someone else mentioned them. Folk Punk Orchestra what else do I need to say) #Orla Gartland (idk exactly how obscure she is but incredible rock singer songwriter. like if Boygenius was way less sad) #oh and Backpackparty!! (like Owl City + early Lorde + that youtuber you really liked when you were 11) #(their drummer/keyboardist was a youtuber I really liked when I was 11. Still listen to their EP Possibly pretty regularly though)

[dizzybevvie]

forever fighting the people who watched wkm for the first time, identified that Damien looked a lot like Dark, and instantly concluded he was "pretending to be good"

#LIKE NO!!!!! >:[[[ #Damien my beloved. he just wanted his friends to be happy :((((( #ik we dont get a whole bunch of time with him but like he never witholds information or is aggressive or ANYTHING #the most upset we see damien get is when he has an argument with William over how much he WANTS him to CARE that his friend died! #And hes totally right! yes william has super valid reasons but we and damien dont KNOW that #Like Damien Will and The Actor have been bffs for years and suddenly one of them drops dead and the other doesnt even seem to CARE??? #I LOVE DAMIEN SO MUCH HE DID NOTHING WRONG !!!! #if we're gonna call Dark amoral also which. we dont really know if he is? then its. its Celine BFNSVSJSVS #Celine has very questionable morals in wkm. very relatable morals! but not exactly righteous #Shes just tryna take care of her brother and i get that but she fucks people over in the process #she walks in the house and immediately has control of the situation. she tells people what they wanna hear and then singles you out #and then chastises Damien for wanting to help her #I love celine btw i think shes so interesting but like. damien is a good person and Celine is a moral debate #when in “DAMIEN” Celine's pocket dimension is cracking the mirror she tells him that if he goes through with the first choice hes- #ever made (life IS ours to choose) that he will be changed forever but Damien is OKAY with that #Damien is OKAY with being a bad person from now on if it means Celine gets to rest #I LOVE DAMIEN WKM !!!!!! #Is Celine still asleep? #if White Suit Dark is a DIFFERENT universe Dark could he possibly be Celine piloting the body??? I DONT KNOW #the fact that mark has never tried to give us Celine-Dark makes me so rabid like PLEASE #although #Dark's whole thing is being cryptic as shit and i think Celine-Dark would just Have A Gun #wkm #this is a nothing post. sorry BFKSVDKSDB #beverly says stuff #who killed markiplier #damien wkm #celine wkm

[sassyhazelowl]

Sometimes, on the quail groups, I wonder what exact people do with their quail to get such poor results. Coturnix are not that hard to hatch and raise. They are literally the easiest bird I have on my property. If you have a decent incubator and take basic steps to ensure you have good eggs and good brooder practices, you shouldn't have low hatch rats/high chick mortality. 85-100% hatch rates are fairly easy to obtain with mature hens, good breeding ratios and proper nutrition for the breeders (aka not chicken feed). You shouldn't be having issues with DIS or failure to thrive or wryneck or clubfoot/splayed leg or crossbeak if you put any effort at all into picking and maintaining your breeders well. You shouldn't have to do a lot of hard culling after a few generations let alone 3/4ths of your hatches. Your hatch rates shouldn't be 25-30% from your own eggs.

This is not survival of the fittest - this is negligence and poor husbandry.

#look #sometimes it IS genetics and poor original breeding stock #especially in terms of aggression #but most of the time its the human #you are the problem #you're cutting corners of feed and/or hygiene #you're keeping roosters that are pretty but weak or mean #you don't understand spiral/clan breeding but also don't bother to crossbreed in new blood so your inbreeding levels are too high #your stock is too young or too old #frankly I'd bet the primary reason people have shit hatches is they feed chicken feed #which is too low on protein and too high on calcium and doesn't have the right % of amino acids #like with canaries it is super easy to get poor breeding stock with no immune system and bad genetics #they're bred to be pretty #quail should be hardy #and be bred for function #no one wants to eat or pamper sickly livestock

[batboyblog]

I wish I'd made it clearer when I make this post but shit like that is super common.

Every Jew has had someone "joke"/threaten/say they were gonna sneak pork into our food. Every single Jewish person, who keeps Kosher or not has had someone say something about giving us bacon or whatever without us knowing

I've had people passive aggressively ask if I wanted any bacon or ham and literally wave it at me while speaking.

I can't count the number of times that the first question out of someone's mouth when they learn I am Jewish is "but do you eat bacon" "have you ever tried bacon?" "what about ham?" "do you want to try bacon?(as in right now this very minute 30 seconds into knowing me)"

Countless Jews have spoken to the person in charge of an event, weeks or even months in advance about their Kosher needs, been assured up down and sideways that those needs will be met to show up and find no Kosher option.

and finally SO! many Jews do indeed have a story of being tricked into eating something not Kosher, and most commonly something pork related.

like this is one of the most common antisemitic micro (and not so micro) aggressions Jews face and is one of the reasons lots of Jews don't keep Kosher, they can't trust even (so-called) friends to have even baseline respect or to learn anything about Kosher.

#Jews #Jewish #judaism #Kosher #Jumblr #antisemitism #pork #bacon

[queenerdloser]

i started miss sc*rlet and the duke bc i enjoy period mysteries but uh the third ep might have ruined me for it. i mean, even leaving aside the annoying plotline of having the antagonist of the week be a militant feminist activist (yeah we’ve never seen THAT before wow so original) i’m finding it really really hard to continue liking their male lead after he laughs and agrees with and smirks at every sexist comment made by every single goddamn man in this entire episode. (what the fuck!!!!!) especially since there’s just like. what feels like very little response from our female lead about his behavior???? 

and we come through the plot about women’s rights to find eliza... backing down on making a stand for the respect she deserves??? on every suffragette being portrayed as crazy or stuffy??????? on the sympathetic male lead telling our female lead over and over she’s naive and shouldn’t be a detective and literally taking control of who she talks to because he “knows better” than her. i’m losing it. i cringe’d my way through the entire thing bc i was sure there HAD to be a moment where they would turn it around and plow their way out of the microaggressions and blatant sexism taken at face value with little more than like... a perfunctory clapback, when the show’s entire premise is about breaking boundaries with a female detective and yet!!!! and yet!!!!!! they never did!!!!! what the fuck!!!!!

#i've been leery of it bc honestly i dont know how i feel about eliza - her character feels wishy-washy 2 me #bc i dont know if the showrunners want her to be a badass or meek and naive???? #and it's honestly more frustrating than not to have to run everything 2 duke #and maybe that improves since it's still early season 1???? but yikes idk if i can like duke after that one #one guys says something like haha glad we shut down the feminists cant have women getting ideas!!! and he smirks and laughs????? #like he didnt have to be no 1 women supporter but i feel like they didnt have to make him super sexist either wtf????? #sorry i was just going to mildly complain and then i got more and more annoyed lmao #im hoping it's an early season problem and maybe it will turn itself around for me???? #so far the only really delightful part is moses which is another reason i didnt like this ep lmao #like the weird aggression and controlling aspect of that confrontation scene (and like... underlying racism????) was Bad #anyway all this to say is im going to keep watching but its on thin fucking ice lmao #maybe i expect too much from period mysteries after miss fischer huh