"You Can Say That [orangutans] Are Not Dependent On Social Support And Approval, And If You Admire This

"You can say that [orangutans] are not dependent on social support and approval, and if you admire this in them, that an orang is irredeemably his own person, 'the most poetic of the apes', researcher Lynn Miles told me once in an unguarded moments. What she had in mind was the difference between orangs and chimps in the way they carry on their discourse with the world.

Chimps are much admired for their tool use and for their problem-solving relationship with things as they find them...the orang is, let us say, not so replete with enterprise. Give an orangutan the hexagonal peg and the several shapes of hole, and then hide behind the two-way mirror and watch how he engages with the problem.

And watch and watch and watch--because he does not engage with the problem. He uses the peg to scratch his back, has a look-see at his right wrist, makes a half-hearted and soon abandoned attempt to use his fur as a macramé project, stares dreamily out the window if there is one and at nothing in particular if not, and the sun begins to set. (The sun will also set if you are observing a chimp, but the chimp is more amusing, so you are less likely to mark the moment in your notes. An orang observer has plenty of time to be a student of the vanities of sunset.)

You watch, and the orang dreams...when casually and as if thinking of something else, the orang slips the hexagonal peg into the hexagonal hole. And continues staring off dreamily."

Vicki Hearne, "The Case of the Disobedient Orangutans"

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also another cute animal fact of the day!!! my spirit animals :") did you know that orang means person and utan means forest so orangutan means forest person(s)

ENTRY #0008

Credit to Researcher Mochi B. Iscuit for taking this photo of the Theropris.

The Theropris is a species of carnivorous plant who populates just about everywhere in the Cavity aside from the poles, staying ever-alert for animals nearby. Once it senses their vibrations and heat signatures, using it's sensitive roots and organs in it's mouth, it extends it's leaves forth like tentacles, wrapping around it's prey and reeling them into its maw. It can regenerate from any damage taken and can draw itself within the ground if it gets too much damage taken or if it draws too much attention to itself, popping up again literally anywhere else where there's solid ground to pop up from, acting as a quick travel method.

Theroprises also have 7 distinct breeding grounds, where they gather in the hotter months of the Cavity's 108-day-long, 15-month years, spreading pollen that fertilizes them and makes them spit out seeds, where more of these beings grow.

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art creature plants i drew thissss :D larry is a menace compendium of the cavity

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mochibiscuit

3 months ago

my dash is full of that white haired guy from castlevania what's going on!!!

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castlevania journal he's so beautiful though maybe it's a sign i must watch is it scary? also i notice i always really like white haired characters like killua and todoroki (well half of his hair anyway) i wonder if that's why i made biski white furred

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mochibiscuit

1 year ago