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Dani liked both versions of the "antlers", so she agreed with my preference for those on the stag in Lew's size comparison illustration. We both liked the fallow-deer face, so we kept that idea. She also pointed out that Synthetoceras came later in the Miocene than Ratha's kind, so we'd be drawing its ancestor.
The protoceratids had a lot of very strange horn variations; one even sprouted six of 'em - they barely fit on his head! So we would have a lot of leeway.
I suggested that this ancestral form should have the fictional species name Priasynthetoceras, since Protosynthetoceras" was already taken. "Priasynth" for short.
I suggested that this ancestral form should have the fictional species name Priasynthetoceras, since Protosynthetoceras" was already taken. "Priasynth" for short.
Dani then took up the creative baton by illustrating a Priasynth doe with her male fawn. She based this on Lew's size comparison drawing stag and her own tracingof a greater kudu antelope display she photographed at a Utah wildlife museum. She added nice touches such as the little spike-horns on the youngster. Now we were really getting somewhere.
Playing Pin-the-Horns-on-the-Priasynth
Then another question popped up. In Dani's words: "Whoops! After I uploaded this, I read some scenes from Clan Ground and Ratha and Thistlechaser, and realized that the [female threehorns] do have full nose forks. (As a kid I *hated* it when I realized the cover artist hadn't read the book carefully... )"
She set the stage to resolving the Priasynth doe's antler and nose-horn question in her next upload; an attempt to show a variety of head-horns and nose-horns. She also included a completely hornless head for Photoshop play and ease in doing additions or modifications in red ("redlining" in graphic-speak).
I loved her threehorn mix-and-match kit and couldn't resist playing with it. Using an HP Touchsmart TX2 since my Gateway NV52 workhorse was down with a virus, I used the kit-bits and the tablet's drawing program to create my version of the stag. The scribbled side-view was to clarify which way the various "antler" branches pointed.
To determine whether the does had nose-horns and antlers, Dani and I turned first to the books.
Clan Ground mentions nose-horns in the scene where Orange-Eyes saves Bundi-cub from an angry threehorn doe. The book also suggests doe head-horns, when the incident is mentioned again during the debate to admit Orange-Eyes to the clan.
We then tried to find evidence of horns on female Synthetoceras skulls, but we couldn't find any fossils labeled as female. Protoceras females, though, did have a small pair on the back of the head.
Dani added the fact that many female pronghorns and caribou have horns/antlers.
Biology and embryology also provided grounds for a dive into creative rationalization, so I took the plunge.
Priasynths could have had horned females to defend young, as bovids and giraffids do. Priasynths may also have evolved female displays and even some degree of female selection of mates, or female dominance.
Protoceratid female liberation!
Embryological development in mammals first creates an essentially female fetus. When male genes kick in, the resulting hormones masculinize the embryo, changing existing female organs to male. In order for this to work, female embryos must have structures that can potentially develop as either sex.
Given this inherent flexibility, female protoceratids must at least had the genetic potential for making the head and nose ornaments, since the males had them. So in the fictional Priasynth females, the potential is realized, and they do have head and nose-horns.
Here's my version of the doe:
I made a small compromise by giving this Priasynth doe small, slightly lyre-shaped cow-like horns, to suggest the female. The little forward-facing spikes also suggest the American pronghorn antelope. Dani liked this doe portrait, and agreed that it did remind her of a pronghorn. She also played a bit with the front-facing doe in a cartoon. One version had antilocaprid (antelope-goat family, in this case, pronghorn) features, while the other is primarily cervid (modern deer).
I love the way that both Tod and Dani use cartoons to visualize ideas. They're fun, too.
[I intended to post this portion much sooner, but an unexpected (but much welcomed) opportunity for a trip to France with my 81-year-old Dad arose, and I jumped at it. Also we live on a ranch, and the results of the California drought have been getting upfront and personal. We've managed to adapt, but this has taken time and effort. More about both of these items later.]
Here's my version of the doe:
I made a small compromise by giving this Priasynth doe small, slightly lyre-shaped cow-like horns, to suggest the female. The little forward-facing spikes also suggest the American pronghorn antelope. Dani liked this doe portrait, and agreed that it did remind her of a pronghorn. She also played a bit with the front-facing doe in a cartoon. One version had antilocaprid (antelope-goat family, in this case, pronghorn) features, while the other is primarily cervid (modern deer).
I love the way that both Tod and Dani use cartoons to visualize ideas. They're fun, too.
We made a brief diversion into our threehorn's closest existing relatives, giraffids. I posted reference pictures of a remarkably flex-tongued female okapi with short ossicone spikes and a bumpy-headed giraffe with longer ones. Thinking that we might later add some giraffid features to our beast, we went with what we already
had, which was the creature's head. Now we needed the body.
Next: Building a Cervid (Deer) from Protoceratid Parts
Next: Building a Cervid (Deer) from Protoceratid Parts
[I intended to post this portion much sooner, but an unexpected (but much welcomed) opportunity for a trip to France with my 81-year-old Dad arose, and I jumped at it. Also we live on a ranch, and the results of the California drought have been getting upfront and personal. We've managed to adapt, but this has taken time and effort. More about both of these items later.]
Paxton Smith on women's reproductive rights (6/21)
Smith’s valedictory address: As we leave high school we need to make our voices heard. I was going to get up here and talk to you about TV and content and media because those are things that are very important to me. However, in light of recent events, it feels wrong to talk about anything but what is currently affecting me and millions of other women in this state. Recently the heartbeat bill was passed in Texas. Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions that take place after 6 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. 6 weeks. Most women don’t even realize they’re pregnant by then. And so, before they have the time to decide if they are emotionally, physically, and financially stable enough to carry out a full-term pregnancy, before they have the chance to decide if they can take on the responsibility of bringing another human into the world, the decision has been made for them by a stranger. A decision that
How Ratha's Island Originated
Beginning on March 14, 2009, a new experiment in Y/A fantasy fiction appeared on Twitter. “Ratha's Island”, a novelette designed specifically for the micro-blogging service's 140 character format, ran twice daily in blocks of 6-10 sequential “tweets” or short posts (Twitter's logo is a little bluebird, so it's messages are called “tweets”). Twitter's designers imposed the 140 character limit to enable cellphones and other wireless devices to receive the messages.) Ratha's Island ran faithfully every day, with the exception of a one-weekend break, and drew over 1000 followers to my @rathacat Twitter stream. Ratha Attacking the Condor-Eagle, art and photo 2009 by Clare Bell The main intent was to entertain people on Twitter, get them interested in the Ratha series, publicize the the new short story, "Bonechewer's Legacy" in Firebirds Soaring anthology, edited by Sharyn November, and to celebrate the newest novel, Ratha's Courage, published by Sheila Ruth of Imaginator
Ratha's Island (#4)
8/16/09 From close above Ratha came a terrific crack. She wondered dimly if a chunk of the cliff had come loose and would fall on her. Something or someone hit Ratha, knocking her sideways, spinning her. It grabbed her hindquarters, making a sling around her lower belly, halting her descent. Jaws grabbed her nape, pulling her up and away from the frothing, steaming sea. She heard flapping, hard and heavy. A second set of wing-beats joined the first; slower, but stronger. Another set of jaws tried to take Click from her, but her own teeth were clenched on the cub and wouldn't loosen. The pull ceased. Ratha then felt a gentle tongue licking her forehead. A trilling purr sounded in her ear. The scent around Ratha, although dulled by smoke and her own draining awareness, was exotic, but cat-like, and female. A slight tinge of milkiness in the odor told her that her rescuer was a nursing mother. No, not just any nursing female of this flying creature's species. Click's
Ratha's Island (#3)
The water and rock blobs warmed steadily until the water boiled and heat shimmer rose from them. Had one of those rocks...moved? Her fur prickled. She stared at another. Yes, they were moving. Very slowly. Not rolling. Oozing forward like huge slugs. A hot wind made Ratha's eyes water and drifting steam stung her nose. Every hair bristling, Ratha retreated, showing her teeth. This was too much. Extra-legged animals and oozing red-cored rocks. She spun around, heading downslope, seeking a place to hide. She was overwhelmed, drowning in strangeness. She had to get away or go mad... 4/13/09 Ratha scrambled over a hillock entwined with roots, spied an opening, thrust her foot in. At last, a cave! She peered in to check for cave inhabitants or other threats. Everything was clear. She dived into the refuge, crawled into the damp darkness and curled up, burying her tail in her nose. Soon her breathing slowed and she fell asleep. Ratha woke, slowly, drowsily. She felt a furry body
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Interesting.