Post by Okibi on Jul 5, 2004 15:59:31 GMT -5
Hoorah! I know what Rookie is now! (Well, I’m really not certain if he’s settled or not, but I’m pretty sure that I know what he’ll settle as.) He’s a black coyote, as I mentioned in another thread. =) And I’d like to ramble about my discovery a bit here, because it needs to be written out somewhere.
For roughly a year I called Rookie’s black canine shape a “fox-wolf hybrid.” I knew that sounded peculiar, but it was all I could think up at the time. I’d seen black foxes and black wolves before, and Rookie’s body was like something in-between. But describing to people how a “fox-wolf” looks is too complicated. Ridiculous, even. “Well, his structure is that of a wolf, but….” “He has the face of a fox, except…” And detailing the exceptions took paragraphs. Eventually I tried to describe his canine form in full detail – mostly for myself. www.livejournal.com/community/your_daemons/24107.html And one would notice that I started coming to the realization that he resembled a coyote more than either a fox or wolf. Well, I was stupid and didn’t give it much thought until a week ago. While at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, I flipped through guides on African wildlife, and the jackals got me curious about Rookie’s form again. They also resembled my dæmon, but didn’t have the right face, and weren’t as powerfully built. Once I could get online, I attempted to look up ‘black jackals’ out of curiosity. None have been reported.
Well, the next morning (July 4th) I hopped back on the computer and typed ‘black coyote’ into Google. It’s something I should’a done a long time ago, even if my brain told me they wouldn’t exist either. But low and behold! The second link read ‘The following picture is of a BLACK Coyote that was captured alive in 1999 in southern West Virginia’! I immediately clicked it, and both Rookie and I gawked once the pictures loaded. That female coyote could very well be mistaken as my dæmon, except for the white patch on her chest. So after examining the photos for a few minutes, I went back and tried to learn more about these rare creatures. I was amazed to find that people out in the west have sighted such ‘yotes numerous times, but since they appear and leave so quickly, most won’t have a picture unless it’s shot. >_< And indeed the only other ones I saw online were dead. =(
It all fit so perfectly, yet I’d been dense to the fact before. One site talked about coyotes with an unusual black-gray coat, which is what Rookie has. And it seems that coyotes can’t be that dark without being a wolf hybrid (they get it from the lupus genes), so Rookie is technically a coyote-wolf hybrid. So I guess I wasn’t too far off, eh? =) Oh, it just feels so great to KNOW—to be able to put a real animal’s face to Rookie’s. Now I can simply describe my dæmon’s most common form as a black coyote, and demolish the confusing black fox-wolf description. ^^
For the rest of the day, Rookie was almost constantly this newly discovered body. He wanted to get accustomed to being a black coyote, and not a nameless wild dog. And I’m glad this happened on the 4th of July. During the fireworks show he jumped atop a car and howled up at the brilliantly-lit sky; so much enthusiasm, so much heart…. His howl was crying out thanks to God, blessings to our lovely nation, and joy at knowing what he was. He was so happy ‘e could explode. XD
For my conclusion, I just want to briefly mention a few coincidences: On the way to Virginia Beach we passed a billboard for the VA Living Science Museum. On it is a coyote. I saw the huge picture and melted. ^^ Later on I hinted at visiting the museum to my father (wanna see the ‘yotes!), but I don’t think he fully grasped what I meant. Then this morning my dad’s reading the newspaper, and I look up from my journal—I’d been writing about Rookie—to see the same coyote face staring at me! On this page of the paper was the advertisement for the museum! And yesterday, on our way to see my stepmom’s family, we passed a field with a pure black dog standing in it. Now, I won’t jump to conclusions, because I’m pretty sure I saw flopped-over ears on the dog, but it was still neat.
Lastly, I found a kiddy book titled ‘Black Nell: The Adventures of a Coyote.’ Yep. A black coyote named Nell. And the black wolf, Fell, is what reintroduced Rookie to his canine form. O.o Pretty weird, huh?
Photos of the black coyote: (Sadly, it’s a dead one) www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58906&page=1&pp=15
Live photos: www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/1318/blkcoy.html
For roughly a year I called Rookie’s black canine shape a “fox-wolf hybrid.” I knew that sounded peculiar, but it was all I could think up at the time. I’d seen black foxes and black wolves before, and Rookie’s body was like something in-between. But describing to people how a “fox-wolf” looks is too complicated. Ridiculous, even. “Well, his structure is that of a wolf, but….” “He has the face of a fox, except…” And detailing the exceptions took paragraphs. Eventually I tried to describe his canine form in full detail – mostly for myself. www.livejournal.com/community/your_daemons/24107.html And one would notice that I started coming to the realization that he resembled a coyote more than either a fox or wolf. Well, I was stupid and didn’t give it much thought until a week ago. While at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, I flipped through guides on African wildlife, and the jackals got me curious about Rookie’s form again. They also resembled my dæmon, but didn’t have the right face, and weren’t as powerfully built. Once I could get online, I attempted to look up ‘black jackals’ out of curiosity. None have been reported.
Well, the next morning (July 4th) I hopped back on the computer and typed ‘black coyote’ into Google. It’s something I should’a done a long time ago, even if my brain told me they wouldn’t exist either. But low and behold! The second link read ‘The following picture is of a BLACK Coyote that was captured alive in 1999 in southern West Virginia’! I immediately clicked it, and both Rookie and I gawked once the pictures loaded. That female coyote could very well be mistaken as my dæmon, except for the white patch on her chest. So after examining the photos for a few minutes, I went back and tried to learn more about these rare creatures. I was amazed to find that people out in the west have sighted such ‘yotes numerous times, but since they appear and leave so quickly, most won’t have a picture unless it’s shot. >_< And indeed the only other ones I saw online were dead. =(
It all fit so perfectly, yet I’d been dense to the fact before. One site talked about coyotes with an unusual black-gray coat, which is what Rookie has. And it seems that coyotes can’t be that dark without being a wolf hybrid (they get it from the lupus genes), so Rookie is technically a coyote-wolf hybrid. So I guess I wasn’t too far off, eh? =) Oh, it just feels so great to KNOW—to be able to put a real animal’s face to Rookie’s. Now I can simply describe my dæmon’s most common form as a black coyote, and demolish the confusing black fox-wolf description. ^^
For the rest of the day, Rookie was almost constantly this newly discovered body. He wanted to get accustomed to being a black coyote, and not a nameless wild dog. And I’m glad this happened on the 4th of July. During the fireworks show he jumped atop a car and howled up at the brilliantly-lit sky; so much enthusiasm, so much heart…. His howl was crying out thanks to God, blessings to our lovely nation, and joy at knowing what he was. He was so happy ‘e could explode. XD
For my conclusion, I just want to briefly mention a few coincidences: On the way to Virginia Beach we passed a billboard for the VA Living Science Museum. On it is a coyote. I saw the huge picture and melted. ^^ Later on I hinted at visiting the museum to my father (wanna see the ‘yotes!), but I don’t think he fully grasped what I meant. Then this morning my dad’s reading the newspaper, and I look up from my journal—I’d been writing about Rookie—to see the same coyote face staring at me! On this page of the paper was the advertisement for the museum! And yesterday, on our way to see my stepmom’s family, we passed a field with a pure black dog standing in it. Now, I won’t jump to conclusions, because I’m pretty sure I saw flopped-over ears on the dog, but it was still neat.
Lastly, I found a kiddy book titled ‘Black Nell: The Adventures of a Coyote.’ Yep. A black coyote named Nell. And the black wolf, Fell, is what reintroduced Rookie to his canine form. O.o Pretty weird, huh?
Photos of the black coyote: (Sadly, it’s a dead one) www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58906&page=1&pp=15
Live photos: www.geocities.com/rainforest/vines/1318/blkcoy.html
but its cool u figured that out!!
