Member's Night Special: Pokemon in Science!

Hello, it's been a while. Again, I keep intending to post things and never getting around to it. This, however, was too awesome not to post.

Go back through my blog archives. Find the "Who's That Pokemon?" tag. Now, imagine getting up close and personal with some of those creatures.

That was my idea for this year's Members' Night at the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History. Mind, our choices were limited to reptiles and amphibians (I do work in herps, after all), but it was still a fun set up. We will definitely be doing it next year, too, possibly with a few modifications!

Now, I have to admit that the flyers were a little misleading. Initially, we had planned for both more Pokemon and live animals (leopard gecko, tiger salamander, and/or Pudge the Frog - a painted narrowmouth toad (Kaloula picta)). I made fanmade Pokemon for the setup, which will be available for viewing on my DeviantArt account (kurokarasu.deviantart.com). For now, though, let's focus on the setup itself and some of the critters covered on it.

First off, I'd like to apologize for the relatively narrow spectrum, again. For those of you who got the guide, I'm sorry that we didn't have room for Tyranitar, who makes an awesome armadillo lizard, as well as a few other Pokemon we talked about in the ad, but simply couldn't include. The setup still got plenty of attention (nothing quite got my own ear like when a kid walking by yelled "Pokemon!" - that happened a lot), so we did some things right. (I had to correct the setup above, by the way: Tirtouga is the Archelon, Squirtle's kind of a sea turtle like that hawksbill, and that is definitely a Torkoal shell, up there.)

See those critters in baggies? That's what we do in the lab when we don't want to use jars to send things. I got to heat-seal some of these, and they encouraged more interaction with the animals than just having them in glass jars.

I didn't take a photo of this, but one of the stars of the show was a preserved axolotl. For the uninformed, the Pokemon Wooper's name comes from the Japanese word for the axolotl, "wooper looper." Pick your favorite funny-sounding word for the eternally-young, indestructible salamander!

One of the more creative displays from the older staff was a section on Haunter and a cleared and stained horned lizard. Although the idea was the creepiness of the transparent body, it's always worth mentioning that the horned lizard cries high-pressure blood at its enemies. Emos, meet your spirit animal. Alas, I apparently didn't get a good photo of this on my digital camera.

It's hard to say which of these three displays is my baby. Anyone who's known me for a long time knows that I have a huuuuge thing about Serperior being a Baron's Racer (Philodryas baroni), but will not deny that there's probably vine snake in there. The habu and Draco maximus up there were really well-selected, though; if you look carefully on the habu, you can even see its fangs.

Overall, this exhibit was just a ton of fun to design! Two teachers want me to design Pokemon-based lesson plans for their kids, and since ACen hit yesterday (and okay, fine, today) as well, I'm tempted to do a panel on Pokemon as it relates to natural science. It's not something a lot of people think about, and seems to be a hit on more than one front. 

Who's That Pokemon? - #495 Tsutarja.

OK, you all TOTALLY saw this coming. Tsutarja and its serpentine company are my favorites in the new Generation. Snakes are my favorite animals in the world and, to my pleasure, Tsutarja's final form is as close to a naga as Pokemon will feasibly get.


Pokemon: Jaroda "japanese" by ~mark331 on deviantART

I wish I could truly fall in love with this one; it is easily my favorite line of the new generation, but its stats, while GREAT for a snake churned out by Nintendo, disappointed me in the end. They cannot make a single good snake. (Dragonair might count as an imugi, but I would not bet money on it.)

Even though it has the coloration of the North American Grass Snake, Tsutarja resembles a vine snake more than anything else. To be fair, even people in the exotic pet trade can get the two mixed up.


Oxybelis fulgidus. Note the schnoz.

As I said in my old (and crappy) Ahaetulla entry, there are several types of snake called 'vine snakes.' The genera labeled as such include Ahaetulla and Oxybelis. They are Old and New World vine snakes respectively and are native to the rain forest areas of their corresponding continents.


Ahaetulla nasuta - a nose so noticeable that science acknowledges it.

As with green tree pythons and emerald tree boas, there are some common features between New and Old World vine snakes. Both have very slender bodies, mild venom and pointed snouts. Luckily for you, only Ahaetulla has the eyes of Satan (which I totally want contacts of).


Gotta catch 'em- ARCEUS WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!

Most people have cited the Oxybelis vine snakes native to South America as the basis for Tsutarja's pointy snout. Really, both are equally likely, but it's probably the lack of 'eyes of death' that really make people suggest Oxybelis fulgidus as Tsutarja's real-life counterpart. Plus, the coloration comes fairly close:



I also swear that there's some Ahaetulla in Tsutarja's system, especially towards the end of the line. I can't believe that I've developed a favorite vine snake thanks to this little guy! (It's Ahaetulla prasina, BTW.) If this doesn't clinch it, I don't know what does.

BRB, I have real snakes to tend to.

Who's That Pokemon? - #45 Vileplume.

Quite a few people have asked me when I'm going to cover the weird, wonderful world of plants on this blog. Although some of my personal favorites will be reserved for their own week at some point, this seemed like a good opportunity to squeeze one in.



Vileplume...OK, there's not much to say except, well, it evolves from the extremely common Oddish. How can that be good? Well, it learns Aromatherapy, so that's something.



The plant that Vileplume is based off of, Rafflesia arnoldii, has the biggest flower in the world. Its massive petals can stretch up to a meter (roughly a yard) across and a single bloom can weigh up to 24 pounds. It is found only in the rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo and is considered endangered. Several other Rafflesia species also went into Vileplume's composition.


Guy shown for scale. Lots of other cool pics here.

True to the rotten stench of Gloom, the evolution between Oddish and Vileplume, the rafflesia is also affectionately called 'corpse flower.' It reeks like a dead body so that insects will come pollinate it. Given that rafflesia can be male or female and will only bloom for a short time, successful pollination is a little tricky.



It gets weirder: Rafflesia lack many of the traits commonly associated with plants such as roots, stems, or leaves. It instead gets its nutrients by parasitizing a Tetrastigma vine. The only thing plantlike about this flower is, well, the flower. Otherwise, it resembles a fungus.

No, this plant is not a triffid, but it's still pretty damn weird. Triffids are more like another corpse flower.

Who's That Pokemon? - #258 MUDKIP

You will be assimilated. Seriously, though, this thing is cute enough to take over the internet.



Mudkip was one of the three Starter Pokemon from Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald (Gen III). It eventually evolves into the powerful Swampert, but as if that was not enough to warrant a massive Mudkip uprising, 4chan turned the cute little bugger into a meme.



Mudkip is classified as a "Mud Fish" Pokemon, leading one's mind to immediately think "mudskipper." Mudskippers (family Oxudercinae) are fish that walk through mud on their pectoral fins, meaning that they are among the few fish capable of living on land. They live in the tropics of Africa and India, although some species range all the way to southern Japan.


i herd u liek me?

Mudkip itself looks a lot more like a mudpuppy (family Proteidae), a four-legged salamander with frilly gills. Not only are they as cute as puppies, but they were once thought to make puppy-like sounds. Like axolotls, mudpuppies never lose their baby gills and are entirely aquatic. They live in the shallow waters of anywhere from Canada to the southern United States.

So...if u liek Mudkipz, go ahead and find a real one. You have quite a few options.


Including this.

Who's That Pokemon? - Pineco and Burmy lines.

Whatever this thing is, its eyes are staring into my soul.

Instead of being a "pine cone," Pineco is classified as a bagworm Pokemon. Again, one must ask Nintendo exactly what a bagworm is, especially since Generation IV came up with a far more elaborate bagworm line of its own.


Now in...know what? I'm not making flavor jokes about these.

Bagworms are lepidopterans of the family Psychidae. They live pretty much everywhere in the world, feeding on various plants and causing a fair amount of crop damage. As one would expect, pine trees are among the plants they eat; wattle and oranges are also common foods.



As larvae, these moths take whatever happens to be around them and create a shell (or bag, if you will) out of it. Pine needles, bark bits and soil all get made into clothing for bagworm larvae, either at rest or as an actual cocoon before metamorphose. This makes them a bitch to identify for more than one reason.


There's a worm in there, we swear.

The Burmy line's evolution portrays the bizarre sexual dimorphism in these insects: The males get to become free-flying moths; the females do not. The female stays in her bag, waiting for the free-flying male to come along and impregnate her. The bagworm is, in short, this guy's spirit animal:


Your name is Dick. You had this coming.

Who's That Pokemon?: Munna and Drowzee Lines.

Ever notice that Pokemon has a thing for tapirs that put people to sleep? There was Drowzee -> Hypno in Gen I, now the Munna line in Gen V. What gives, Nintendo?

More importantly, what the hell's a tapir?


Tapirs (genus Tapirus) are piggish mammals related to rhinoceroses and horses - odd-toed ungulates, AKA 'perissodactyls.' They are small for relatives of giant perissodactyl mammals; 6-8 feet long is tiny compared to elephants and rhinoceroses. They are found in Central and South America, as well as Southeast Asia. All tapirs are in danger of extinction.



The shnoz common to all tapirs gets one's attention right away. It makes the tapir's skull unlike that of any other mammal; every skull abnormality exists to make that proboscis work. This appendage, like a miniature elephant trunk, allows the tapir to grab vegetation that it could not reach otherwise. A tapir's sense of smell is terrific because of its extended nose, but its sight (like that of the rhino) is sub-par.



Drowzee (most closely) resembles the Malayan/Asian tapir (Tapirus indicus), the largest tapir species and the variety with the longest nose. On the other hand, Munna and its evolution look like tapir-shaped piggy banks. There are reasons why some people object to the Gen V Pokemon; given that they made a particularly mundane tapir that would probably make a GREAT cell phone dangle, I'd say that Nintendo has pretty much run dry on ideas.

Still, what's up with the similar sleep theme?


Sleeeep. I'll see you in your nightmares...which I will then devour.

What does this weird rhino relative have to do with sleep? Japanese mythology tells of a creature called a baku, pictured above. It looks very similar to the tapir and eats bad dreams. Although some of Drowzee's PokeDex info makes it sound malignant, the baku is rarely a bad creature; images of a baku can be used to devour nightmares or ward off bad dreams altogether. This creature and the zoological tapir share the same name in Japan, which naturally leads to many more baku monsters than just those two Pokemon.


Digimon's Bakumon/Tapirmon, for instance.

Who's That Pokemon? - #214 Heracross.

Heracross is one of the baddest bugs in the Pokemon world. It has massive ATK, the most powerful Bug-type attack in the game at its (STAB'd!) disposal and an ability that makes its ATK even more impressive. Its unique Bug/Fighting combination leaves it with few weaknesses. I have heard Heracross touted as one of the best Pokemon in the game since its introduction.

To make things even cooler, Heracross is based off of an actual beetle:



The rhinoceros beetle dubbed kabutomushi ("helmet bug") (Trypoxylus dichotomus or Allomyrina dichotoma, depending on who you ask) in Japan is the real-life basis for Heracross. They are found throughout Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea.

Like Heracross, the males of the species have spectacular horns with a cross-like growth on the end. They have been featured in every series that features monsters kicking each other's asses.


Including Mushiking, a game devoted entirely to fighting beetles. (Sorry, I couldn't find the rhino card.)

Also, like Heracross, these bugs are born to fight. In Japan, pitting one male unicorn beetle against another is as popular as fighting roosters and bettas, if not more so. This sport is enjoyed by children and adults alike, leading Japanese scientists to seek stronger, faster-growing beetles. People both lose and win a lot of money pitting one male beetle against another, but they are not difficult to procure at all; people either catch their own beetles or buy them at department stores for approximately 5-10 USD.


Boxed and ready for battle!

Want a real Heracross? Nintendo lies; it's not THAT hard to get one.

Who's That Pokemon? - Eevee #133

It is physically impossible not to like Eevee. It's cute, it's versatile and it comes in what...seven flavors, now?

Rainbow sherbet will have to come eventually...

There is still a bit of debate over whether Eevee and its seven mature forms are felid or canid (especially given how Espeon CLEARLY resembles a nekomata). Allow me to answer that:


Give a nickname to the newly hatched EEVEE? Kidding, foxes are born hairless.

Eevee is totally based off of the fennec fox (Vulpes zerda). The colors are a bit off and the fennec lacks the ruff of fur that becomes a different sort of collar in each of the first three Eeveelutions, but the resemblance is still darn close. The bushy tail, short snout, pointed ears and overall adorable appearance all say "I'm a Pokemon!"

Fennec foxes are native to the Sahara Desert in Africa. They are nocturnal foxes well-adapted to desert life with extremely acute hearing and adaptations that gather water as efficiently as possible. They are omnivores, eating everything from insects to eggs.


I'm gonna kill you...

Fennecs are the smallest canid species alive - I am quite sure that some freaks have bred their dogs to be even tinier, probably with massive defects. (Only the Chihuahua is slightly smaller and considerably uglier.)


Those ears are effing huge and are the largest, proportionately, of any fox. Fennecs can hear their prey scurrying underground with those large ears. Plus, they're nocturnal; at night, hearing is more important than vision. Just ask owls and bats.


Ya rly.

As one can probably imagine, these little foxes are popular as exotic pets. They are one of the two foxes thought to be properly tameable. This requires a little bit more work than with 'domesticated' animals, but really, you should do your research with those, too. (Why do you suppose so many dogs wind up in shelters, eh?)


This outfit demeans both of us. You realize that, right?

Before you ask, no, you cannot use radiation to evolve a fennec into seven different forms. Radiation does weird shit to creatures. Just ask Japan.

Gotta Catch 'em All! - A whole week of Pokemon!

In order to celebrate the release of Black and White (which some of you may regret me celebrating), this week's Creature Feature will be replaced by "Who's That Pokemon?"

Remember that article I found a while back? The one about how kids can identify Pokemon more readily than local wildlife? Many Pokemon are based off of real creatures. Some of them have already been covered in this very blog. This is just to drive seven of those connections home.

Yeah. Have a whole week of creatures that you wish you could stick into little balls IRL!