Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: pensive

Ghost Trees

Tags: history, nature, networking, science
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  • 6 comments
fayanora

fayanora

August 1 2014, 11:07:06 UTC 6 years ago

WOW! I've seen those Osange oranges for years around Portland and always wondered WTF they are, what would eat those stinky weird things, and how they manage to survive. Same for those honeylocust things, those are all over Portland too.

Speaking of megafauna, my favorite prehistoric megafauna is the Andrewsarchus:







...whose closest living relatives in the modern world are sheep and goats. I even have Andrewsarchuses in my Lyria storyverse, as creatures called Tiger Wolves. I plan to have a race of fearsome warriors riding Tiger Wolves into battle.

Second favorite is Hyaenadon gigas, which evolved into raccoons:

ysabetwordsmith

Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

August 1 2014, 17:26:04 UTC 6 years ago

>> I've seen those Osange oranges for years around Portland and always wondered WTF they are, what would eat those stinky weird things, and how they manage to survive. <<

Same here, and this is a brilliant explanation. I always figured there must have been some reason for them to be that way.

>>...whose closest living relatives in the modern world are sheep and goats.<<

Oh that just begs to be turned into a science fiction story about genetic engineering that accidentally dumps out the kitchen junk drawer of old genes. Because that is literally a wolf in sheep's clothing.
fayanora

Re: Wow!

fayanora

August 2 2014, 03:26:58 UTC 6 years ago

I wonder if this is, somehow, why Satan is represented by goats? Hey, there's a good fantasy story: Satan chose goats as His animal because He knew what they used to be.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

August 2 2014, 04:02:43 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, you should write that!
siege

Re: Wow!

siege

August 8 2014, 02:14:12 UTC 6 years ago

The usual explanation is that Pan (a goat satyr god of wild nature and music) is an archetypal nature/forest diety representing bestial nature and bestial urges... and of course "Good Christians" couldn't let their bodies have any say in what they wanted. Nevermind the incredibly wild and unregulated underground sex clubs of Victorian times, and the fact that most sexual bondage devices are Victorian adaptations of Medieval torture equipment...
ysabetwordsmith

Wow!

ysabetwordsmith

August 29 2014, 03:58:23 UTC 6 years ago

Those are amazing prehistoric megafauna.