INTRODUCTION
Yoshisaur, (dinosaur), creature with smooth, scaled skin. Scientists only recognize twelve known species in the Yoshisaur group. Nearly all Yoshisaurs (or Yoshis, as they are more commonly called) live entirely on land, whereas others never leave the water, and still others spend some time in the water and some on land. One type lives underground and spends their time burrowing in the soil.
RANGE AND HABITAT
The most widespread of all creatures are Yoshies, which are found just about everywhere except the polar regions, and the driest deserts. In the western hemisphere, their range extends from North Fungaitown to parts of the Koopahari Desert. They inhabit Isle Delfino, parts of the Beanbean Kingdom, Yo’ster Isle, the Central and Southern Mushroom Kingdom, parts of Dinosaur Land, and most recently, Sarasaland. Yoshis live in many environments, including grasslands, rain forests, conifer forests, alpine areas, and even deserts, although most species require some flat land for mating and reproduction.
DIET
Remarkably, many Yoshis are adept at finding food in seemingly sparse environments, due to their incredible sense of smell. For example, one unique group survives in the Koopahari’s dry climate by eating a type of green, webbed melon that can be found underground. Yoshes, like humans, are omnivores; that is, their diet consists of complex carbohydrates and occasionally protein. There are also cases reported of Yoshis consuming insects, such as Wigglers, but their stomachs are not designed to digest such food.
Yoshis survive by eating a diet of 90% fruit and 10% greens and fish. They consume a wide assortment of local and tropical fruits, varying from apples, coconuts, durians, and watermelons to bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and grapes. Underwater, they must chase and catch fish. On land, they flick out their sticky tongues to reach fruit on trees and berries on low-lying scrub.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
All members of the Yoshi group have solid, stocky bodies ending in short, thick tails. Yoshis have dull, flat teeth, a sticky tongue with elastic properties, a crested, large head with a broad nose region, three-fingered hands with an opposable thumb, a bipedal stance, and large, three-toed feet. A streak of white runs from their cheeks, jaw, and throat to their stomach, ending before the tail.
Yoshis begin their lives as an egg, laid by the mother in a nest. After the incubation, they hatch and begin to forage. Most hatchlings have tiny teeth; however, they rarely chew their food. Hatchlings must consume three times their weight everyday for proper growth. Between hatching and training, the juveniles, now called Yo’sters, learn from socializing and parental interaction. During this important stage, the Yo’sters begin learning the use of their abilities (see Unique Powers). Yoshters, the "teenage" stage of Yoshis, center solely on physical maturity. Now the Yoshters "cut" or develop their permanent teeth. They also grow quickly, often reaching five to six feet tall in a year, and cease growing when they reach their adult height of seven feet.
Adult Yoshis have powerful, streamlined body structures that enable them to move about on land as well as in the water. Their hind legs are bigger and stronger than their forearms, for use in jumping and walking, their primary mode of locomotion on land. They use their short, strong tail for balance while walking on land, and to steer them through the water while swimming. A Yoshi's tongue is attached to the back of its mouth. By manipulating a muscle underneath their tongue, it shoots out, much like the recoil of elastic. This arrangement provides additional length and agility for seizing unsuspecting prey.
A. Internal Anatomy
Yoshis’ internal anatomy is similar to that of other vertebrates. They have large lungs for breathing oxygen. A three-chambered heart pumps blood throughout a complex circulatory system, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the cells and carrying away waste products. The digestive system consists of a mouth, oesophagus, two stomachs, and intestine. Usually, the digestive process stops here, as Yoshis extract all nutritional substance from fruit, thus virtually eliminating the need for daily movement. Digestive wastes, if any, are processed by the kidneys, excreted into the cloacae, then expelled from the body through a muscular opening. This opening is also where eggs exit the body.
Yoshis are warm-blooded, or more correctly, endotherms- that is, they are able to generate their own body heat. However, their body temperature can also be determined by their surroundings. In extremely cold weather, for example, they become sluggish, and some enter a state of reduced activity, or torpor, which is similar to hibernation. They are also susceptible to heatstroke.
B. Skin
Delicately scaled Yoshi skin provides them with a way to absorb light from their environments, and a defense against injury. Yoshis come in every color of the rainbow: red, yellow, green, teal, blue, orange, pink, purple, brown, white, black, and gold. The gold Yoshis are Elders (see Culture) and silver Yoshis do not exist in the true Yoshi clan. Brilliantly hued Yoshies owe their diverse coloration to both pigment in the skin and specialized pigment-containing cells called chromatophores in the skin’s lower layer. They can make their skin color lighter or darker by concentrating or dispersing the various pigments in the chromatophores. This behavior helps them to adjust their body temperature because light colors reflect heat more than dark colors, and it acts as a camouflaging mechanism, helping them to escape notice by predators.
C. Hearing, Vision, and Vocalizations
Yoshis lack external ears, but have a small, well-developed tympanum, or eardrum, situated on either side of their head. Because of this, their hearing is very sensitive, and they use their keen hearing in communicating with one another. Using a true voice box, or larynx, they produce a wide variety of vocalizations, which they use in speaking in their own language. This language, so-called Yoshiese, can produce guttural chirps, yelps, or barking sounds (see Culture). It has been reported that some Yoshis can use their larynx to imitate and understand human speech, but this is purely speculative.
One would think that Yoshis’ vision would be critical for their survival, but this is not the case. Their eyes lack irises, but their large pupils give them better peripheral vision. With this exception, their eyes function the same as normal humans’ do.
BEHAVIOR
Yoshis are known for their kindness and their ability to control a power, depending on their color (see Unique Power). Much of the Yoshis’ lifestyle is dictated by the necessity of keeping itself fed and preventing its body temperature from becoming too hot or too cold. Some species bask in the sun in order to raise their body temperature. In the hotter regions, many adults are active at night rather than in the day to avoid excessive heat and guard against water loss. The reverse is true of the colder climates.
Their soft skin and lack of true claws with which to defend themselves leave Yoshis particularly vulnerable to predators, which include large predatory birds, large fish, and even larger dinosaurs, such as Blarggs. When facing a predator, many Yoshis faint and pretend to be dead, an involuntary response cued by blood drainage. Others rely on brute strength by using their strong leg muscles to kick and stomp in offence. Male Yoshis often respond to threats by puffing up their bodies so that they appear much larger than their real size.
REPRODUCTION
Little is known about courtship among the secretive Yoshis, but many exhibit elaborate mating behaviors. Yoshis come into Season (heat) once every two years. Males often emit low, throaty yaps to attract a female’s attention. If a female looks their way, these males may display complex postures. They gather in huge numbers- sometimes thousands of individuals- when conditions are right for mating. Males rely on their calls, which are familiar to humans as barks and rumbling growls but may also consist of clicks, whistles, or trills, to attract females and keep other males away.
There seems to be a hierarchy among the Yoshis. Often females will gather around the biggest male. If a smaller male desires one of the females for his own, a fight will ensue. It may consist of scratching, biting, kicking, or loud protesting. Fights can go on for hours, ending only when one is weakened by injury or just gives up. Sometimes Yoshis will mate for life.
Fertilization is internal. Yoshi eggs are protected by a waterproof shell like those of birds. The eggs need to be kept warm. Teal Yoshis lay their eggs directly in tepid water, but the rest of the group lay their eggs on land in warm places such as under leaf litter, in warm burrows, or in rock circles. Most lay their eggs in nests formed from tree branches.
Some Yoshis that lay their eggs leave them unattended, but in most groups, a parent commonly guards the eggs to prevent hungry predators from stealing them. Yoshis show remarkable forms of parental care, tending to their young until they reach adult age.
LIFE CYCLE
Yoshis have a calendar based on the number five (see Culture), and rightly so, because most of their growth occurs within multiples of five.
After fertilization, the female lays the egg in five days. It is white, with large, round spots matching one of the parent’s colors and indicating the color of the infant. Usually, one of the parents will lie close, incubating it with its body heat, and the egg hatches into the juvenile form after five weeks. The hatchling’s survival is determined in the first few days. Five weeks after hatching, the Yo’ster has eaten two-hundred times its own weight, and undergoes several growth spurts. At the end of the year, the Yo’ster begins to learn hunting skills and such from the older Yoshis in the family group. Between the second to the fifth year, the Yoshters undergo dramatic growth. The length of time required for physical development varies among the different family groups.
Little is known about the longevity of most Yoshis in the wild, but studies of known creatures show that they can be extremely long-lived. Some have survived for two-hundred to two-hundred-fifty years, and a few have lived for more than three-hundred years.
UNIQUE POWERS
Yoshis are swift, fast creatures. Their strong legs enable them to move quickly and jump high. Upon jumping, they can rapidly kick their legs, somehow gaining airtime. This "flutterjump" enables them to cross gaps too wide to normally jump. In addition, they have a unique trait. Whereas females lay fertilized eggs, males can convert anything inedible into eggs. When they swallow something, it moves into their other stomach and is coated with a thin shell. Then it is laid, the whole process taking only seconds.
As mentioned earlier in this article, Yoshi colors vary into twelve different types:
With tempers as fiery as their skin, red Yoshis have the ability to breathe out fire, like a dragon. They prefer hot climates, such as blazing sun or near lava pits.
Yellow Yoshis prefer warm, sandy climates, and can use their weight to land heavily, causing tremors and sometimes cracking the ground.
Green Yoshis love the coolness of the vast jungle, and use their amplified voices to carry their voices across great distances.
Teal Yoshis love the water, spending nearly their whole lives in it. They have developed the ability to hold their breath for an amazing amount of time.
Blue Yoshis are unique in the sense that they are the only Yoshis with wings. They learn how to fly from an early age, and reside in the mountainous regions.
Orange Yoshis can control a form of bioluminescence, allowing their skin to give off an orange glow. They reside in caverns and such.
Only the Pink Yoshis are nocturnal, as they are able to see in the dark quite easily. They reside everywhere other Yoshis live.
Purple Yoshis are reported to have creative talent, and show it through music, art, and dance. They prefer to live in forests or valleys.
Brown Yoshis have discovered a way to dig under the earth for their food, and as such, spend most of their time underground.
White Yoshis are rarely seen, mainly because of an advanced form of invisibility they can control. It is rumored they live in the forest, but there is not much info about them.
Black Yoshis have a rare extra tendon in their back legs not evident in the rest of the species. This tendon is revealed to aid them in high-speed running. They reside in moderate, flat areas.
Golden Yoshis, also known as Elders, have golden skin and white wings. They dwell in the sacred Dome and aid by judging the other groups with justice.
CULTURE
Culture, by definition, includes a group’s beliefs, language, rituals, art, and technology, styles of dress, ways of producing and cooking food, religion, and/or political and economic systems. Individuals are not born with culture; they have to learn it. For instance, one must learn to speak and understand a language and to abide by the rules of a society. Many societies must learn to produce and prepare food and to construct shelters. Some believe they must learn a skill to earn money, which they then use to provide for themselves. In all human societies, children learn culture from adults.
Anthropologists call this process enculturation, or cultural transmission. Enculturation is a long process. Just learning the intricacies of a language, a major part of enculturation, takes many years. Families commonly protect and enculturate children in the households of their birth for 15 years or more. Only at this point can the children leave and establish their own households.
A. Beliefs
In general, Yoshis believe in an altruistic society. Large groups of the same color often live nearby, often aiding each other in child rearing, food gathering, and protection. This is actually part of a mutual-aid system in which favors are given because they will almost certainly be repaid. This system, known as kin selection, is widespread. All it requires is that an animal perform services of little cost to itself but of great benefit to relations. Most civilizations vigorously practice kin selection, leading anthropologists to believe that Yoshis may be more human-like than was imagined before.
B. Language
The language of the Yoshis is called Yoshiese, and it is composed of guttural sounds, such as clicks, barks and chirps, whistles, growling, and trilling. The Yoshis seem to understand it perfectly, which leads scientists to believe that, if deciphered, Yoshiese could prove to be a true language. There has been no success so far. Though the human larynx can create and articulate a wide enough variety of sounds to create millions of distinct words, it is nearly impossible to physically reproduce the throaty Yoshi sounds heard. In fact, researchers can only make a fraction of the sounds Yoshis can make.
There is evidence that Yoshis at birth have a high IQ, giving them the capacity to construct, understand, and communicate primarily by physical signs and language. Research has shown, for example, that hatchlings have a basic structure of gibberish- a sort of universal grammar- built into their minds. Infants are thus predisposed to learn the Yoshiese spoken by the groups around them.
C. Rituals
Yoshis observe the moon’s cycle carefully to determine their planting and harvesting schedules (see Agriculture). At the end of each cycle, the Yoshis throw festivals celebrating the start of planting, the end of harvest, the end of Season, and a ceremony called "Joining" similar to matrimony. An egg hatching is also cause for celebration.
D. Art
Yoshis are very intelligent creatures, and their level of artistic creativity astounds scientists. For example, the Purple Yoshis can perform rhythmic music, elaborate dance routines, and complex paintings down to the finest details. They often lead the yearly feasts with these abilities (see Rituals).
E. Dress and Fashion
People living together in a society share culture. For example, almost all people living on Plit share the English language, dress in similar styles, eat many of the same foods, and celebrate many of the same holidays. Yoshis do not wear clothes, but prefer to wear pendants, anklets, and thick bracelets made with natural items. Some wear headbands formed out of carved wood, decorated with seashells, small colored leaves, or pebbles. Beads and glass fascinate them, as such articles are foreign to them.
F. Agriculture
Growing and harvesting their own food is already a known concept to the Yoshis. Recently, they began learning how to grow grains and vegetables, supplied from the Kingdom, to suppliment their diet.
G. Religion
Not much is known of the Yoshis' religion, outside of the fact they credit all fate to a great "Spirit-Yoshi" that watches over and protects them. Additionally, they hold the Elders in high regard. The number five seems to hold some importance as well. There are five islands on Dinosaur Land, their preferred habitat. In addition, their calendar is based on five months in one year. Lastly, the word "Yoshi" has five letters.
H. Government
The closest thing the Yoshis have to a government is the rule of the Elders. Endowed with wisdom and justice, they enforce the few laws that have kept all Yoshis safe and happy for thousands of years.
ENDANGERED?
Yoshis have survived for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years. However, they are not readily accepted due to their intimidating size. This has prompted international concern, and in prudent foresight, Princess Daisy Sarasa, Ruler of Sarasaland, and Princess Peach Toadstool, Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, joined alliances to pass an act (# 21.4) called the Sacred Creatures Protection Act or SAPA for short. This act enforces the Yoshis’ protection, with the threat of imprisonment if found guilty of injuring or abusing a Yoshisaur.
Their extensive life cycle makes Yoshis particularly sensitive to environmental disruptions such as drought and pollutants. This sensitivity makes them excellent bioindicators- life forms whose well-being provides clues to the health of an ecosystem. Declines in some populations may be due in part to natural fluctuations, but they more likely suggest that the citizens of Plit are changing the environment more rapidly than Yoshis can adapt. One such change is the destruction and modification of their habitats, such as the cutting down of forests and the draining of small lakes.
No single factor has been identified as the cause of these disturbing facts. Instead, a variety of factors may be responsible. These may include disease from viral, bacterial, or fungal pathogens. At a local level, chemical pollutants, such as pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, may be harming Yoshi populations. In some regions, the introduction of non-native competitors and predators has contributed to population declines. It is likely that an interaction of some or all of these factors may be exacerbating conditions for Yoshis.
Scientific classification: Yoshis are the only members of the class Yoshisaur, species extendicus tongus bipedel erectus.
Contributed By:
William T. Sporeton
Microspore University
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