>In time, the mice grew their stores of grains beyond what they would ever need. They had forgotten how their forefathers once had to struggle to keep their food plentiful and safe. >And as Nyctea withdrew, so he became nothing more than memory, a tale shared around burrow fires upon the Granting of the First Scythe. >One young mouse called Acomys, many generations the son of Apodemus, had inherited the same fearless curiosity of his forebear. >He lay awake at night and dreamed at what mysteries lay in the dark, that his father and his fathers before him had so feared, and so forbidden. >He wondered why his fellows so frequently vanished into the dark without a trace, when they were so well prepared with tools to master it. >So one day he and his companion Kivumys took up the enclave's finest tools. With protective cloaks and sharp blades of their reaping hooks at the ready, the two mice left the warrens and fields of home. >They traveled in the shadow of clouds that obscured the moonlight, and went north into the broken lands, onto the tumbling rocks and strange scree at the base of the great stone mountain. >It was here the voice came to them, whispering on the wind.
- Increased prevalence of agricultural technology may have reduced and even reversed some resource pressures. The overall effect would have been to increase the population's carrying capacity. - This is consistent with other archaeotaxological records of pre-congrecene Myomorpha societies. As farming increased, so did family sizes, overall enclave sizes, individual lifespans, and to a certain extent, species ranges.
Continued from https://zoo.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=23615 >It was one such day, in the hurried preparations for another winter, that Nyctea came to the enclave. >He cried out to them from a perch on the tallest tree in the valley: >"You mice of the forest floor, why do you scurry so?"
>One mouse, bolder than the rest, came out from the burrow mouth and peered up at the horned silhouette. >"Great Owl, we must prepare for the long cold of winter. Our harvests are thin and the roots and seeds must be made safe."
>Nyctea turned his unblinking eyes down to the mouse and asked, "What is your name, fearless one?" >"I am called Apodemus." >"Then, Apodemus, I will show you the knowledge you and your kin may use to thrive here, even in the deepest of winters, so that you need never cower in the cold and dark again." >So Nyctea enlightened Apodemus and the first enclave. He taught them the use of new tools. With one stone upon another, taken from the base of the great mountain, he showed them how to grind their seeds and their dried fruits, and to mix them with water from the river springs, so that none of the bounty went to waste.
>Now larders overflowed not just in the warm seasons, but in the winter as well. The enclave grew stronger, healthier and yet more numerous, so that they came to master the whole valley, from the river's edge to the climbing scarps of the northern ridge, where the stone mountain sat. >In time Nyctea bestowed more gifts to the first enclave. His feathers he plucked so that the mice might catch the wind, and turn mills to grind their grain. His down he turned into cloaks of such exceptional fineness and warmth that those who wore them could survive even the harshest winter storms. And from his talons he fashioned great clearing scythes, so that a single mouse could do the work of ten in the fields. >But Nyctea's gifts came at a price.
- This is among the first historical records of persistent agriculture, from any mammals. - Subfamily Murinae is also notable for making rapid and significant advances in agricultural technology - from rudimentary slash-and-burn techniques to more industrialized wind-driven milling technology in just a few thousand years. It is thought that this first agricultural revolution allowed rodent clades to quickly support massive population sizes and ranges, which they still enjoy today. - Incident use of avian feathers as tools is disputed; it is more likely that Murinae initially used leaves, grasses and other more readily available materials as mill sails. - Similarly, there is little substantial evidence that any groups within Myomorpha used raptor talons as tools. Their portrayal here is likely mythological embellishment of more rudimentary bronze bladework. With that said, Murinae was no doubt acquainted with talons' potential as sharp piercing or cutting implements. See the next placard for more details on the evolution of new trophic arrangements.
>The Great Owl had demonstrated his unmatched wisdom, and now he demanded that the mice of the valley follow his guidance. >None would share the tools and knowledge that he had granted. The first enclave was blessed with plenty; but to share it was to invite the same challenge that had so threatened it before. >None would follow his shadow, as they had in generations before. None should look upon his passage, for he was a proud creature and jealous of his ways. >And foremost, Nyctea decreed that none would cross the river, or scale the stone mountaintops. The enclave would grow no further, he warned, because there were far worse things than deep winters beyond the boundaries of its paradise home. >These rules he set, like the sun and the moon in the sky. They would govern the first enclave forever.
>The mice of the enclave agreed. >And so it went for generations.
- Based on the simultaneous emergence of raptor accounts across multiple societies within Myomorpha, cultural taxologists believe owls and other large birds quickly established themselves as apex predators within the trophic environment. - Most story traditions and oral histories record a naive set of first encounters with raptors, followed by more dangerous, mysterious or removed sets of later encounters. While the timespan within the narrative often varies, this suggests the relationship caused societal and ultimately evolutionary pressures, as Myomorpha started to recognize raptors as predators to be avoided.
>"Do you not fear the darkness?" the voice asked. >It sounded from before and behind them, as if at once from a great distance and from within. Acomys had never heard such a voice. It made the fear flutter in his chest; but he was proud and confident, and he gripped his scythe tighter in his paws. >"For what should we fear?" He demanded. "Our blades are sharp and our cloaks are warm. Our tools have made us masters of this valley." >"You forget the way of things," the voice told him. "What use is a blade against something you can't see?" >Then a wind rushed down the stone mountain, so ferocious that Acomys cowered in the rocks and hid his muzzle. When he dared to look out again, his companion Kivumys was gone, vanished without a trace. >Now the terror seized Acomys, and he turned to escape back down the mountain and into the trees and grass of the valley, where it was safe. >But as he leapt from rock to rock and scurried between the boulders, the wind bit at him and made his limbs leaden and slow. He began to falter. >"No borrowed warmth can stand against the cold forever," the voice said.
>Acomys came to a narrow defile in the rocks, where the way was blocked. >He turned and demanded, "Show yourself!" >"As you wish," the voice on the cold wind replied. >The clouds in the sky cleared away from the moon, and Acomys beheld in horror the shattered mountain rearing above him, and the field of bleached mouse bones that made up its slopes. >And when he made to flee, there lighting before him on a low branch across the path was the nightmare visage of Nyctea.
- Even in modern examples, there is little evidence that avian intelligence approaches that of mammals. - While Nyctea's depiction here is mythological, cultural taxologists believe his characterization mirrors important existential pressures of the time.
>"This is my domain," the owl told him, and spread his wings to cover the whole sky. His eyes became two silvery stars. "This is the great and terrible secret that you were never meant to see." >The wind rushed again and Acomys was pinned in the dirt by razor talons, far more fearsome than any reaping tool. >"You forget your place," Nyctea said. "You flout the laws I set your forebears."
>"Great Owl," said Acomys, "Spare me! Let me go, and I will agree to your laws." >"My laws were set far before your time," Nyctea replied. "They were fixed, to be as the sun rises in the day, and the moon in the night. They were never to be broken. And yet here you are." >"Please, Great One." Acomys threw away his scythe in appeasement. "Set me free, and I will never leave home again." >"Indeed, you will not." Nyctea released him, but his talons caught and shredded the cloak from Acomys' shoulders. The cold bit into his fur at once, and he began to shake. >"Surrender my gifts, and I will release you," the owl told him. "Surrender my gifts, and I will let you live, to bear a message to your kin. Our pact is ended. Never again will you quest beyond the smallness of your world, lest I hunt every last one of you to the ends of this earth." >And with that warning, Nyctea took to silent wings and vanished forever into the dark.
- A story like this one was likely a teaching tool or cultural codification about the risks of overexpansion. - Cultural taxologists believe it served as a warning of the inherent risks in moving too far from an established enclave. Variants of the story among other Myomorpha subfamilies emphasize the impact of inclement weather, immediate shortages of food or shelter, or indeed encounters with other predator species: all of these were significant threats to small mammals at the time.
>Acomys returned to his enclave without any of the great owl's gifts, and told his kin what he had experienced. >The story he shared caused a great fear among them: a fear of Nyctea, and a fear of Acomys himself. >They fell to argument and bitter disagreement. Some refused to relinquish the gifts that had brought them such plenty and comfort. Others threw down their tools and gave up the blessings they had enjoyed, in fear of what terrors the Great Owl might visit upon them. >And in the hard days of winter that followed, when food was once again scarce and the cold stole in, most blamed Acomys and his tidings. This brought him great sorrow and guilt, until one day he despaired and denied Nyctea's last decree. >He left the enclave in winter's long night, without tools or food to survive the journey. >And like all those that ventured out into the dark from that day forward, he never returned.
- Notably, warning stories among Myomorpha in general and concerning Acomys in particular declined almost immediately in the congrecene. Experts agree that the ensuing social and evolutionary changes across all of Mammalia rendered old warnings less critical.
The Acomys myth in this exhibit is based on the Musser Translation. Scholarly consensus is that is the most accurate extant version of the earliest Myomorpha texts. Imagery is from the Darfish Pliocene Collection and the Castell Stone.
This exhibit is made possible through a grant from the Zootopia Metropolitan Scientific And Cultural Development Fund.
The Zootopia Natural History Museum would also like to thank: The Curators Zootopia University department of congrecenic taxology The Darfish Foundation Arthur Hafner and Merrriam Light, Rodentia Science Directorate
>Nyctea was wise beyond time. He saw and heard everything that transpired in the valley, and all knowledge passed from him. >Nyctea brought the sun up, and chased it down. Each dawn and dusk, the first and last thing on the horizon was his silent silhouette. >The flashes of his changing plumage when he passed overhead heralded the onset of each new season. >The mice who learned to interpret these signs came to understand when the cold was due, or when the early mornings would light the valley again. Those who dared to follow his shadow toward the sunset came upon seeds, and fresh springs from the river, and land in which new grains and fruits grew in plenty.
>And so the first enclave expanded. It spread to the river, and to the southern lands where the ground turned sandy and dry. >But such dominion came at a price. Foragers now roamed far and wide, collecting even more of the grains and seeds they needed from the plenty of the valley. The cold seasons they endured were long, and unforgiving, and even huddled in the safety of their warrens the many mouths to feed meant every bit of food was precious, and every day brought new uncertainty.
- Descriptions of a large raptor or other predatory bird in contemporary works are consistent with potential encounters Murinae likely first had with genus Bubo (the true owls) in the late Pliocene. - The archaeotaxological record suggests that as early enclave societies developed, their populations experienced localized resource pressure: eventually, there was not enough food to sustain growth. It's likely that after a brief period of overshoot, populations stabilized at just below a carrying capacity.
Oral and pictographic cultural tradition, especially among Myomorpha and its associated superfamilies, is an area of constantly evolving taxological research.
Taxologists believe the storytelling tradition within the suborder has its roots before the early congrecene. As seen elsewhere in this exhibit, many related prey species have similar mythologies that include overlapping elements and themes, and in some cases indeed show only minor differences at first, before major evolutionary diversions occurred.
The story of Acomys is attributed to the subfamily Murinae. It includes examples of these common themes, such as the development of early agricultural technology, and the acknowledgement of historically accurate trophic or predation patterns. While the narrative itself is mythological, the structure and presentation of themes is nearly indistinguishable from contemporary narratives among Calomyscinae and Arvicolinae pre-congrecene groups. The majority of taxologists believe these themes and behaviors were emphasized as a result of the evolutionary and social benefits they originally conferred.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-30 01:05:09 (Flag for deletion)
This is what Nick looks like when his winter coat grows in.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-22 05:44:34 (Flag for deletion)
https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/34489458/#q34524030
>In time, the mice grew their stores of grains beyond what they would ever need. They had forgotten how their forefathers once had to struggle to keep their food plentiful and safe.
>And as Nyctea withdrew, so he became nothing more than memory, a tale shared around burrow fires upon the Granting of the First Scythe.
>One young mouse called Acomys, many generations the son of Apodemus, had inherited the same fearless curiosity of his forebear.
>He lay awake at night and dreamed at what mysteries lay in the dark, that his father and his fathers before him had so feared, and so forbidden.
>He wondered why his fellows so frequently vanished into the dark without a trace, when they were so well prepared with tools to master it.
>So one day he and his companion Kivumys took up the enclave's finest tools. With protective cloaks and sharp blades of their reaping hooks at the ready, the two mice left the warrens and fields of home.
>They traveled in the shadow of clouds that obscured the moonlight, and went north into the broken lands, onto the tumbling rocks and strange scree at the base of the great stone mountain.
>It was here the voice came to them, whispering on the wind.
- Increased prevalence of agricultural technology may have reduced and even reversed some resource pressures. The overall effect would have been to increase the population's carrying capacity.
- This is consistent with other archaeotaxological records of pre-congrecene Myomorpha societies. As farming increased, so did family sizes, overall enclave sizes, individual lifespans, and to a certain extent, species ranges.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-04 02:55:29 (Flag for deletion)
Continued from https://zoo.booru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=23615
>It was one such day, in the hurried preparations for another winter, that Nyctea came to the enclave.
>He cried out to them from a perch on the tallest tree in the valley:
>"You mice of the forest floor, why do you scurry so?"
>One mouse, bolder than the rest, came out from the burrow mouth and peered up at the horned silhouette.
>"Great Owl, we must prepare for the long cold of winter. Our harvests are thin and the roots and seeds must be made safe."
>Nyctea turned his unblinking eyes down to the mouse and asked, "What is your name, fearless one?"
>"I am called Apodemus."
>"Then, Apodemus, I will show you the knowledge you and your kin may use to thrive here, even in the deepest of winters, so that you need never cower in the cold and dark again."
>So Nyctea enlightened Apodemus and the first enclave. He taught them the use of new tools. With one stone upon another, taken from the base of the great mountain, he showed them how to grind their seeds and their dried fruits, and to mix them with water from the river springs, so that none of the bounty went to waste.
>Now larders overflowed not just in the warm seasons, but in the winter as well. The enclave grew stronger, healthier and yet more numerous, so that they came to master the whole valley, from the river's edge to the climbing scarps of the northern ridge, where the stone mountain sat.
>In time Nyctea bestowed more gifts to the first enclave. His feathers he plucked so that the mice might catch the wind, and turn mills to grind their grain. His down he turned into cloaks of such exceptional fineness and warmth that those who wore them could survive even the harshest winter storms. And from his talons he fashioned great clearing scythes, so that a single mouse could do the work of ten in the fields.
>But Nyctea's gifts came at a price.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-04 02:55:37 (Flag for deletion)
- This is among the first historical records of persistent agriculture, from any mammals.
- Subfamily Murinae is also notable for making rapid and significant advances in agricultural technology - from rudimentary slash-and-burn techniques to more industrialized wind-driven milling technology in just a few thousand years. It is thought that this first agricultural revolution allowed rodent clades to quickly support massive population sizes and ranges, which they still enjoy today.
- Incident use of avian feathers as tools is disputed; it is more likely that Murinae initially used leaves, grasses and other more readily available materials as mill sails.
- Similarly, there is little substantial evidence that any groups within Myomorpha used raptor talons as tools. Their portrayal here is likely mythological embellishment of more rudimentary bronze bladework. With that said, Murinae was no doubt acquainted with talons' potential as sharp piercing or cutting implements. See the next placard for more details on the evolution of new trophic arrangements.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-22 05:43:36 (Flag for deletion)
>The Great Owl had demonstrated his unmatched wisdom, and now he demanded that the mice of the valley follow his guidance.
>None would share the tools and knowledge that he had granted. The first enclave was blessed with plenty; but to share it was to invite the same challenge that had so threatened it before.
>None would follow his shadow, as they had in generations before. None should look upon his passage, for he was a proud creature and jealous of his ways.
>And foremost, Nyctea decreed that none would cross the river, or scale the stone mountaintops. The enclave would grow no further, he warned, because there were far worse things than deep winters beyond the boundaries of its paradise home.
>These rules he set, like the sun and the moon in the sky. They would govern the first enclave forever.
>The mice of the enclave agreed.
>And so it went for generations.
- Based on the simultaneous emergence of raptor accounts across multiple societies within Myomorpha, cultural taxologists believe owls and other large birds quickly established themselves as apex predators within the trophic environment.
- Most story traditions and oral histories record a naive set of first encounters with raptors, followed by more dangerous, mysterious or removed sets of later encounters. While the timespan within the narrative often varies, this suggests the relationship caused societal and ultimately evolutionary pressures, as Myomorpha started to recognize raptors as predators to be avoided.
tangerine
Posted on 2020-12-08 23:51:31 (Flag for deletion)
https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/34545144#34608342
tangerine
Posted on 2020-12-08 23:51:43 (Flag for deletion)
>"Do you not fear the darkness?" the voice asked.
>It sounded from before and behind them, as if at once from a great distance and from within. Acomys had never heard such a voice. It made the fear flutter in his chest; but he was proud and confident, and he gripped his scythe tighter in his paws.
>"For what should we fear?" He demanded. "Our blades are sharp and our cloaks are warm. Our tools have made us masters of this valley."
>"You forget the way of things," the voice told him. "What use is a blade against something you can't see?"
>Then a wind rushed down the stone mountain, so ferocious that Acomys cowered in the rocks and hid his muzzle. When he dared to look out again, his companion Kivumys was gone, vanished without a trace.
>Now the terror seized Acomys, and he turned to escape back down the mountain and into the trees and grass of the valley, where it was safe.
>But as he leapt from rock to rock and scurried between the boulders, the wind bit at him and made his limbs leaden and slow. He began to falter.
>"No borrowed warmth can stand against the cold forever," the voice said.
>Acomys came to a narrow defile in the rocks, where the way was blocked.
>He turned and demanded, "Show yourself!"
>"As you wish," the voice on the cold wind replied.
>The clouds in the sky cleared away from the moon, and Acomys beheld in horror the shattered mountain rearing above him, and the field of bleached mouse bones that made up its slopes.
>And when he made to flee, there lighting before him on a low branch across the path was the nightmare visage of Nyctea.
- Even in modern examples, there is little evidence that avian intelligence approaches that of mammals.
- While Nyctea's depiction here is mythological, cultural taxologists believe his characterization mirrors important existential pressures of the time.
tangerine
Posted on 2020-12-08 23:51:59 (Flag for deletion)
>"This is my domain," the owl told him, and spread his wings to cover the whole sky. His eyes became two silvery stars. "This is the great and terrible secret that you were never meant to see."
>The wind rushed again and Acomys was pinned in the dirt by razor talons, far more fearsome than any reaping tool.
>"You forget your place," Nyctea said. "You flout the laws I set your forebears."
>"Great Owl," said Acomys, "Spare me! Let me go, and I will agree to your laws."
>"My laws were set far before your time," Nyctea replied. "They were fixed, to be as the sun rises in the day, and the moon in the night. They were never to be broken. And yet here you are."
>"Please, Great One." Acomys threw away his scythe in appeasement. "Set me free, and I will never leave home again."
>"Indeed, you will not." Nyctea released him, but his talons caught and shredded the cloak from Acomys' shoulders. The cold bit into his fur at once, and he began to shake.
>"Surrender my gifts, and I will release you," the owl told him. "Surrender my gifts, and I will let you live, to bear a message to your kin. Our pact is ended. Never again will you quest beyond the smallness of your world, lest I hunt every last one of you to the ends of this earth."
>And with that warning, Nyctea took to silent wings and vanished forever into the dark.
- A story like this one was likely a teaching tool or cultural codification about the risks of overexpansion.
- Cultural taxologists believe it served as a warning of the inherent risks in moving too far from an established enclave. Variants of the story among other Myomorpha subfamilies emphasize the impact of inclement weather, immediate shortages of food or shelter, or indeed encounters with other predator species: all of these were significant threats to small mammals at the time.
tangerine
Posted on 2020-12-08 23:52:07 (Flag for deletion)
>Acomys returned to his enclave without any of the great owl's gifts, and told his kin what he had experienced.
>The story he shared caused a great fear among them: a fear of Nyctea, and a fear of Acomys himself.
>They fell to argument and bitter disagreement. Some refused to relinquish the gifts that had brought them such plenty and comfort. Others threw down their tools and gave up the blessings they had enjoyed, in fear of what terrors the Great Owl might visit upon them.
>And in the hard days of winter that followed, when food was once again scarce and the cold stole in, most blamed Acomys and his tidings. This brought him great sorrow and guilt, until one day he despaired and denied Nyctea's last decree.
>He left the enclave in winter's long night, without tools or food to survive the journey.
>And like all those that ventured out into the dark from that day forward, he never returned.
- Notably, warning stories among Myomorpha in general and concerning Acomys in particular declined almost immediately in the congrecene. Experts agree that the ensuing social and evolutionary changes across all of Mammalia rendered old warnings less critical.
The Acomys myth in this exhibit is based on the Musser Translation. Scholarly consensus is that is the most accurate extant version of the earliest Myomorpha texts.
Imagery is from the Darfish Pliocene Collection and the Castell Stone.
This exhibit is made possible through a grant from the Zootopia Metropolitan Scientific And Cultural Development Fund.
The Zootopia Natural History Museum would also like to thank:
The Curators
Zootopia University department of congrecenic taxology
The Darfish Foundation
Arthur Hafner and Merrriam Light, Rodentia Science Directorate
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-04 03:01:55 (Flag for deletion)
Someone figure out the artist, because I'm not certain. OJ?
tangerine
Posted on 2020-12-04 03:29:58 (Flag for deletion)
My money is on Ciwi.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-04 02:52:29 (Flag for deletion)
https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/34489458/#34495224
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-04 02:55:47 (Flag for deletion)
>Nyctea was wise beyond time. He saw and heard everything that transpired in the valley, and all knowledge passed from him.
>Nyctea brought the sun up, and chased it down. Each dawn and dusk, the first and last thing on the horizon was his silent silhouette.
>The flashes of his changing plumage when he passed overhead heralded the onset of each new season.
>The mice who learned to interpret these signs came to understand when the cold was due, or when the early mornings would light the valley again. Those who dared to follow his shadow toward the sunset came upon seeds, and fresh springs from the river, and land in which new grains and fruits grew in plenty.
>And so the first enclave expanded. It spread to the river, and to the southern lands where the ground turned sandy and dry.
>But such dominion came at a price. Foragers now roamed far and wide, collecting even more of the grains and seeds they needed from the plenty of the valley. The cold seasons they endured were long, and unforgiving, and even huddled in the safety of their warrens the many mouths to feed meant every bit of food was precious, and every day brought new uncertainty.
- Descriptions of a large raptor or other predatory bird in contemporary works are consistent with potential encounters Murinae likely first had with genus Bubo (the true owls) in the late Pliocene.
- The archaeotaxological record suggests that as early enclave societies developed, their populations experienced localized resource pressure: eventually, there was not enough food to sustain growth. It's likely that after a brief period of overshoot, populations stabilized at just below a carrying capacity.
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-02 04:04:15 (Flag for deletion)
Falke's first picture on this booru!
https://desuarchive.org/trash/thread/34425613/#34463200
silverchase
Posted on 2020-12-02 04:04:33 (Flag for deletion)
Oral and pictographic cultural tradition, especially among Myomorpha and its associated superfamilies, is an area of constantly evolving taxological research.
Taxologists believe the storytelling tradition within the suborder has its roots before the early congrecene. As seen elsewhere in this exhibit, many related prey species have similar mythologies that include overlapping elements and themes, and in some cases indeed show only minor differences at first, before major evolutionary diversions occurred.
The story of Acomys is attributed to the subfamily Murinae. It includes examples of these common themes, such as the development of early agricultural technology, and the acknowledgement of historically accurate trophic or predation patterns. While the narrative itself is mythological, the structure and presentation of themes is nearly indistinguishable from contemporary narratives among Calomyscinae and Arvicolinae pre-congrecene groups. The majority of taxologists believe these themes and behaviors were emphasized as a result of the evolutionary and social benefits they originally conferred.