How would you classify these creatures?

lbowe_elbow • 24 January 2023 at 11:45 PM

Come and hang out with us and talk about how to categorize all the wacky EggCave creatures! ❤️

For the polls visit: https://eggcavity.com/creature-category-polls. We are using this data on EggCavity's new creature category feature!

Expect many more polls added as time goes on. Let me know in the comments if you want to be pinged when new creatures are added!

daisycat • 24 January 2023 at 11:46 PM

I'm saying goat cuz chev(re) means goat (in French). c: But I see how some of the others resemble!

lbowe_elbow • 24 January 2023 at 11:47 PM

@daisycat It has no hooves *sobbing emoji*

Omg the description says "A descendent of the goat" BUT BUT BUT

daisycat • 24 January 2023 at 11:49 PM

@lbowe_elbow
Bleehhhh I know, I know. ;_; I literally think it looks nothing like a goat, it's just, the name has a hold on me. XD

And yes they mention goats in the description -- it's a descendent, but not a goat. So... o.o

Edit: Omg the results so far. XD

twinkle • 24 January 2023 at 11:51 PM

@lbowe_elbow I'd say at first glance it looks like a hybrid between an armadillo and a goat lol

okami • 24 January 2023 at 11:53 PM

@lbowe_elbow

To me it seems like a weird cross between an armadillo and a fox (a bat-eared fox to be more specific).

lbowe_elbow • 25 January 2023 at 12:05 AM

We could call it a goat-a-dillo

snowywinter • 25 January 2023 at 12:10 AM

@lbowe_elbow Yes, please ping me in future polls ^^

This one has always sort of stumped me.
Suuuure, it's a goat, but it looks a little sheepish. And yeah it has armor like an armadillo, but it looks a bit more like a Chihuahua. Since it lives in the mountains maybe it's actually more related to alpacas/llamas / vicuna/guanaco, but natural selection for a niche made it evolve in different ways. (Or it's actually a chupacabra, and the "monsters" just got a bad rap since they were *caught* around the sheep.) Or maybe it's actually an older more ancient branch more closely related to the dawn horse. Yeah! that's it, it reminds me of the dawn horse!
(Official creature description not-withstanding. Otherwise this would be case closed and what fun would that be. lol)

But yeah, for categorizing I'd probably go with Goat or Original. possibly Armadillo.

Edit/p.s. lol love the name goat-a-dillo : D


@frankenstein, you wanna vote on this? ^^

frankenstein • 25 January 2023 at 3:41 AM

@snowywinter thanks for pinging me, this was super interesting to look into!

So, at first glance the Chev defo resembles an armadillo, but I don't think that's it.

Reading that it was a descendant of goats had me thinking about hyenas. When you look at a hyena, your first impression might be that it visually presents as a type of wild dog, but it actually is in its own, tiny subspecies - more closely related to felines!

I feel like that's probably the case here. It's still genetically similar to goats, specifically mountain goats/ibex, but it's now in its own subspecies. Instead of a thick fur coat for protection the Chev developed the rock coating on its back (which it doesn't indicate that it curls up in like a 'dillo, it simply has it.) Instead of a tougher respiration to handle higher altitudes, it stores oxygen in its back rocks. Instead of the sharp, cloven hooves for climbing, maybe the pads are for a different kind of grippy grippy, lol. Ionno, I haven't slept all night and I researched this too much XD

Lemme know what y'all think.

snowywinter • 25 January 2023 at 4:04 AM

@frankenstein

You're welcome for the ping! Thanks for sharing your input 😊

I personally loved the way you analyzed this creature!

We were thinking along similar lines with the feet. I forget which one but i know there is an animal with soft pads like you described specifically for dealing with rocks.
But my mind was between the more familiar camels (soft, but tough and versitile) and anoles (grippy pads) on that.

- - - -

conversely... maybe it never developed good footing, but the rock plating helps shield it when it does fall. ...and its organs are just super durable, including the brain. (Sort of like how mountain goats (spines?) absorb the shock of butting heads. A blow that would kill almost anything else.)

------

Edit: P.s. Get some sleep!
(I should heed my own advice. My head is hurting so bad, I only got 3.5 hours sleep yesterday.)

lbowe_elbow • 25 January 2023 at 10:48 AM

Alright everyone looks like Chev came out to Armadillo/Goat.

Next up is Danaus! This thing looks so much like a domestic cat to me, although I think it has tiger stripes. What do you guys think?

@daisycat
@snowywinter
@twinkle
@bluewolf
@frankenstein

daisycat • 25 January 2023 at 11:00 AM

@lbowe_elbow
Two stages have tiger stripes (three if including egg), all stages look like a cat (not including egg), final stage is a butterfly cat (middle stage is chrysalis). So, I think this should go in Big Cat, Cat, Butterfly, and Bug. c:
Danaus is the scientific name for the Monarch butterfly.

Edit: To slim its results, you could omit Bug category. 😊

snowywinter • 25 January 2023 at 11:18 AM

@lbowe_elbow
Definitely Big cat for the tiger inspiration. Even if it is almost chibi, I can still see the resemblance. (Reminds me of an artist's style that was popular back in the 80's and 90's and their stuff got put on a lot of stationary and related items. Not Lisa Frank. This was in pastels and reminiscent of the 50's to 70's? Nostalgic and cute, but fresh also. And it also seems a little like a nod to the photographer who but babies in things like angel and fairy costumes.)

I'd say Big Cat and Butterfly.
(Cat and Bug also if the parent categories stick.)

sapphire12 • 25 January 2023 at 12:09 PM

@snowywinter it's a Catbug 😭

@lbowe_elbow I don't know much about the categories but it's definitely more Big Cat than bug. Head body paws all bigcat. It just happens to have butterfly wings.

shirothekittehlover • 25 January 2023 at 12:24 PM

@lbowe_elbow
Please ping me in future classification polls! Would love to help out sometime :>

lbowe_elbow • 25 January 2023 at 12:35 PM

Alright then! It's not just a cat, it's a big cat lol

Next up is the Skreel!

@daisycat
@snowywinter
@twinkle
@bluewolf
@frankenstein
@shirothekittehlover

dragrawr • 25 January 2023 at 12:36 PM

@lbowe_elbow I adore t he Sherth, I’ve always seen it as a dragon lol. It’s my favorite creature on EC!

As for skreel I just assume it’s an eel lol

daisycat • 25 January 2023 at 12:39 PM

@lbowe_elbow
Skreels could go under Fish and Dragon? 😊 Looks to me like an amphibious fish-dragon-eel (eels are fish).

Edit: And Sherths would go under Dragon and Halloween. :-}

okami • 25 January 2023 at 12:40 PM

@lbowe_elbow

I did a quick search to find the thread that the skreel was originally suggested on. The creator said that the design of the Skreel is based off of a gulper eel 😊

snowywinter • 25 January 2023 at 1:39 PM

@lbowe_elbow Skreel I checked/marked Eel (and Other), but I always thought of it as a fish, like a cross between mud skippers or mud puppies and sail fish (though Flying Fish would be more accurate.)

nice digging @bluewolf ^^


As for the Sherth i always thought of it as Halloween / Original
(not opposed to a dragon classification though)

daisycat • 25 January 2023 at 2:38 PM

@snowywinter
Flying fish! I didn't think about that. Cute. 😊
Similar to Blue, I had looked at a few of the creators' words and Sherth is described as a dragon. c:

dragrawr • 25 January 2023 at 2:39 PM

@bluewolf gulper eels are wonderful !

lbowe_elbow • 25 January 2023 at 2:47 PM

Wow ok I agree with the Skreel / Eel, but dragon for Sherth alright. I thought it looked kinda like a dog lol.

Next up Skrulline. Dog or Cat? Or neither?
@daisycat
@snowywinter
@twinkle
@bluewolf
@frankenstein
@shirothekittehlover

daisycat • 25 January 2023 at 2:52 PM

@lbowe_elbow
Sherth does look canine, I agree. Creator said: "a Halloween creature for eggcave. Some sort of dark/bone dragon"

Skrulline is a cat! ❤️

lbowe_elbow • 25 January 2023 at 3:20 PM

You know what. I just decided to put multiple polls on EggCavity. I don't have time to add all of them, but I will ping you all again when I have added more! Here are the first four!

https://eggcavity.com/creature-category-polls

@daisycat
@snowywinter
@twinkle
@bluewolf
@frankenstein
@shirothekittehlover
@dragrawr
@sapphire12

daisycat • 25 January 2023 at 3:49 PM

@lbowe_elbow
Fun! This works even better. 😊

I think users may see the Follet as a pig cuz it has a bat nose, which can look similar to a pig nose. 😅 It definitely has moth-like wings, which can lead into them being called fairies too, which is mentioned in their description. Those ears, nose, fur, very batty, just missing the bat wings. 😊 It's a bat moth fairy, a bothy. Lol. Interested to see the results for all of these! :-D

PS love the creature categories listed on the side now. :}

shirothekittehlover • 25 January 2023 at 6:48 PM

@lbowe_elbow
I personally disagree with the Deena being categorized as an object, since cells count as living (albeit primitive) organisms.....

twinkle • 25 January 2023 at 7:02 PM

@shirothekittehlover
Hi! I would like to clarify that a DNA is not a cell.
It is a molecule composed of nucleotides (nitrogen base, sugar, phosphate) 😊
Whilst found in the nucleus of a cell, it is not a cell per se ^^
Source: I'm studying biochemistry right now lol
So I agree with it being categorized as an object :')

snowywinter • 26 January 2023 at 2:08 AM

@lbowe_elbow

I do agree about the Sherth being a bit dog-like ^^
(I watch so much sci-fi though I like when i can think of creatures as being off-planet unique originals. Like they can fill a similar niche to animals we are familiar with, but yet not related at all.)

The Skrulline fits into that category for what I just said.
Totally shocked I'm the outlier with voting demon on this one! O.O Wow.
But I've never seen them as cat, dog, or demon. demon-like *maybe*, but it's another one I've always considered completely original. Personally categorized it as Halloween / Spooky, but cute-spooky.

Yay! Polls. (I honestly was impressed with how you were changing them on here so fast. I was expecting one poll per day. Was planning on trying to find the time to ask you HOW you were changing them, I've never been able to figure it out.)

Awww, tried voting on Eggcavity but got 'Server error. Please try again.'

Aqueueren
Aquatic

Deena
SARC/Science Experiment
but in lieu of that not being an option I'd say
Uncatorgorized or... Object?

Foglin
Elements sounds good ^^ (I'd definitely put Ulumin, and possibly the Mull in there. What, bubbles aren't an element!? : P What about gasses? - And I know while the Lazzar is technically Halloween and the creature description wouldn't match, Visually I think the Lazzar could be lumped in here. Supposed other will chime in when the time comes; i was just following a train of thought.)
Goblin or Monster works too. (If Monsters, I'd suggest something like Monster & Spirits)

Follet
YAY! FOLLET! ❤️
100% Bat-Moth (imo) (from Fairyworld.)
(Technically a Fairy yes. but *pffpht* *eye roll & sticks tongue out at Ian* ; ) )

@twinkle
Thank you for the science refresher! ^^



*hmm* The Object label kept bugging me... (woah brain spazzed. None of my words were in the right order for about five sentences. *deep breath* let's try this again.) I keep trying to find the right wording. I feel like it's demeaning to sentient things. For example i feel like something like the Tracdeere, is totally different from something mysteriously sentient like the Deena.
Maybe 'Oddly Sentient Things' and 'Objects' separately? (Or lumping them all into OST?) Thoughts anyone?
(I just came up with the OST, and I'm already falling in love with it. I had just been looking for 'Sentient' or something sentient adjacent, being practical and accurate, but I like this so much more! It's fun and playful for a title while still being practical and the added benefit that it has broad range.)

dragrawr • 26 January 2023 at 2:16 AM

Demon cat is skrullrine 😸