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I suppose this was just inevitable...
Ah well. I wanted to make the Press-toothed Bubbleskin a raptor.

These are very interesting alien chickens. I like the lineart, pose, feathers, and color and patterning.

Since these are "chickens"....I wonder if a Naucean would pluck one of these, say, "Behold! A man!" and everyone would be baffled at it. (Though if they define themselves as "uncovered things with two jaws, two legs and a long tail", the joke would probably still work.)

" '''in'''sects, p'''ter'''osaurs, '''bi'''rds, and b'''at'''s" That sounds oddly like you're trying to avoid tag-based filtering on Tumblr. It's a rather conspicuous and hard-to-read way of pointing out the connection. I recommend using single quotes or italics.

" flyer" Generally, "flier" is used for things that fly, and "flyer" is used for advertising copy, or what were historically called "handbills".

"It has gotten smaller so that it can be lighter for this purpose," That suggests intention, which is incorrect.

"cotton" I know some plents have cottony coverings, but I still recommend you specify "plent cotton" or particular species.

What explains the different coloration? Locally-adapted subspecies, or diet?

This post has been edited by Coolsteph: Mar 31 2021, 04:02 PM

The intense apostrophes in "'''in'''sects, p'''ter'''osaurs, '''bi'''rds, and b'''at'''s" are wiki formatting. On the wiki, it'll appear as "insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats".

I've edited and clarified.

Coolsteph This reads more as an urvogel than a chicken to me.

"It can see over 700 distinct primary, secondary, and tertiary colors using its “eyestrils”" doesn't seem very helpful to me. How many primary colors alone can they see? Do they actually have different cone cells or do they see color more like a cuttlefish?

They can see 9 primary colors if I remember right, most of the rest is mixed colors (real and "made up" like magenta) they can look at and see it's a fundamental different color. I'll edit to clarify.

QUOTE (Cube67 @ Apr 3 2021, 01:31 PM)

Coolsteph This reads more as an urvogel than a chicken to me.

Archaeopteryx has an alternate name? That's interesting. I think I was going to compare it to a Microraptor, which indeed had dark plumage, but I decided not to do so, since it didn't have four wings, or "wings". It also vaguely resembles a prairie chicken in using shades of orangish-yellow, beak shape, wings, and ears.

Yes, Urvogel is the common name of Archaeopteryx in German. Personally I think we should all start using it more.

Also, wow, 9 cone cells? that seems like a lot in comparison to the 2, 3, or 4 seen in most chordates. Do note that the 12 cone cells seen in mantis shrimps is likely due to a poor ability (or even complete inability) to see mixed (secondary, tertiary, etc.) colors.

I wonder if we'll see splits of this that, instead of going for a more diurnal approach of vision-based predators (as I expect), but also for more nocturnal ones that either focus on a combination of sound/vision (like owls, though this niche is technically more dawn/dusk/moonlit nights) or echolocation (like bats).

This post has been edited by Nergali: Apr 4 2021, 05:58 AM