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2019 Reader Question 10

2019 Reader Question 10 published on 18 Comments on 2019 Reader Question 10

David took advantage of there not being a whole lot of pure-avian species in the Avalon (gosh but there sure are a lot of mammals with wings, aren’t there) to impress people with his immunity to capsaicin, but it’s only really a trick you can do once before people get wise and read up some bird facts on wikipedia.

18 Comments

Why does he have teeth in his beak? I always assumed Jim’s excuse was because gryphons have cat features but now I’m really questioning the beak teeth.

Geese and ducks have teeth-like structures called tomia. The images google produces are pretty nightmarish. I think prehistoric birds had actual teeth too, so it’s not a stretch to assume some mythical bird lineages would as well. Plus I try not to think too hard about the anatomy of mythical critters cuz there’s a LOT that wouldn’t fly in the real world (multi-headed beings, mishmash appendages, etc.).

The ancestors of all birds had them once, or at least that’s what the fossil record so far shows. Turtles and tortoises are kind of inbetween– they have beak-like structures beneath the skin of their snouts, but grinding-plates instead of teeth. I think it’s way weirder that birds LOST their teeth, really– I mean, why? Lizards didn’t, I have three pet Bearded Dragons and being really bitten by one is like having your finger crunched by heavy steel pliers edged with a hundred tiny razors.

I just stabbed the crap out of myself with a felting needle, and it has me wondering- are there any magical beings with atypical blood? Would some magical beings, like thriae, have hemolymph, or perhaps some sirt of hermit crab totem with blue blood?

Would they perhaps benimmune to spooky blood magic?

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