I was born under the auspices of the Capybara and have always striven to live in its virtues

[melannen]

Help me fill out and fix these lists! I was doing so well and then I got stuck on the last set.

Muskrat
Dugong
Sea Lion
Sea Hare
Seadragon
Sea Snake
Hippopotamus
???
Brine Shrimp
Tuna
Mudpuppy
Capybara

Pocket Gopher
Tapir
Sandcat
Hyrax
Earthworm
Rock Python
??
Bighorn
Ardipithecus??
Cock-of-the-rock
Aardwolf
Aardvark

Pigeon
Cowbird
Tiger Beetle??
??
Dragonfly
Flying snake
Horsefly
Nightjar??
Hornbill??
Junglefowl??
Fruitbat
Bumblebee Bat??

??
??
??
??
Salamander
Electric eel??
??
Orangutang??
Sunbird??
Foxfire??

Comments

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

I'm not understanding the delimits well enough to give suggestions.

OT I'm trying to recall a discussion topic, MCU, something character based.

[seekingferret]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lrle0x_DHBM

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Now the musical clue makes sense!

[melannen]

what kind of discussion topic? you mean one on this journal?

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

My train of thought had derailed and I was trying to recall what I'd forgotten.

[(Anonymous)]

A

[melannen]

y

[megpie71]

Okay, so they're alternate zodiacs, right? Is the aim to try and match up thematically to existing zodiac signs? (and are we going with Occidental or Oriental in this case?)

I mean, the theme with the first one is pretty obvious - aquatic animals. The second appears to be "earth-dwellers", third is "air-dwellers" and I presume the last one is themed vaguely on fire, in order to fill out the traditional four "elements".

Can't really offer many guesses (although in the "fire" one, if you want to accept "capable of coping with extreme heat conditions" there's a lot of Australian fauna which might fit the bill).

[melannen]

yes, it's a zodiac! it's a set of the same animals for each element.

[seekingferret]

For your last list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash-grey_mouse

[melannen]

oh, I didn't think of trying Ash names! that should help, thanks!

[espresso_addict]

If plants count, then plants that require fire to germinate might be in spec? See fire ecology, which also has a section on fauna suggesting that 'certain species of fire-foraging raptors may engage in intentional fire propagation to flush out prey'. And my icon reminds me to mention dragons...

[melannen]

the dragon slots were already pretty easy to fill! sea dragon/earthwyrm/dragonfly/salamander. I'm trying to stick to creatures known to science though, as tempting as wolpertinger is.

[seekingferret]

I'm not sure a flying squirrel is close enough to a rabbit to fill your blank in the third list, but maybe?

Or perhaps the jumping jerboa?

[cupidsbow]

Seahorse or coral for the first set? It's meant to be Virgo, right?

Womabt or Tasmanian Tiger for the second set?

Kookaburra or pelican for the third set?

Fire ant and redback spider are all I have for the final set.

Hope that helps.

[seekingferret]

It seems to be a reworking of the Chinese Zodiac.

Rat --> Muskrat // Pocket Gopher // Pigeon // Ash Grey Mouse
Ox --> Dugong // Tapir // Cowbird // Firecow
Tiger --> Sealion // Sandcat // Tiger Beetle // Fire Tiger
Rabbit --> etc...

So the gap in the second list is for analogue to Earth Horse and the gap in the third list is for analogue to Air Rabbit. And the gaps in the fourth list include Fire Rat, Fire Ox, Fire Tiger, Fire Rabbit, and Fire Goat.

[cupidsbow]

Ah, gotcha. I'm not very familiar with that zodiac, so I'll leave it to those more expert. Thanks for explaining.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

I think there should probably be a platypus, an armadillo, and a tardigrade somewhere in there.

Oh, they're sorted by elements! Oh. For fire: firefly. Anglerfish?? Glowworm? Phoenix moth?

[melannen]

Phoenix moth maybe? I really wanted to do Phoenix for 'fire chicken' but i should stick with known creatures.

[sheliak]

Group 2 needs a wombat.

For the last group, maybe those Australian hawks that spread wildfires (whether they mean to do so seems to be controversial).

[melannen]

I really wanted to have a tardigrade/wombat/??/sun bear set, but bear isn't on the list of years, alas.

[lazaefair]

The sheep leaf sea slug for the first set.

[melannen]

ooh, good one! although with the sea hare that would be two slugs in the water list. but then, sea slugs are awesome.

[lazaefair]

“Earth-horse” puts me in mind of Brighty of the Grand Canyon, so burro for the second list? Compact, hardy, sure-footed among the stones?