Porcupine

In the constant war against predation, plants have been extremely inventive. Their chemical arsenal includes alkaloids, cyanogenic glycosides, glucosinolates, benzoxazinoids, terpenoids, and phenolics. They’ve invented thorns and armored coatings ranging from wax to resin. They have pressure sensitivity whose responses range from mild curling away to far more violent explosions. They’ve event entered into agreements with fungi, other plants and less dangerous animals, forming multi-species treaties that last for centuries.

It is not going well for them.

Final Tally

And the annual vote is complete (linky). Not much change from yesterday, though one more poem did come in.

The final tally is:

Pygmy Marmoset: 11 + 10 (alisgray recipe + birdfigment poem)
Porcupine: 11 + 10 (lydy Poem + yarram Poem)
Narwhal: 8
Whale Shark: 3 + 1 (Facebook vote)
Pronghorn: 1

Yes, that's right. We have ourselves a tie between:

Pygmy Marmoset	Porcupine

Which means, I guess, that I have to get them both. Wondering if that was yarram's intent with the final poem.

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)

Facing her arch-nemesis*, Kestrel takes a deep breath and prepares to unleash her astonishing super sonic** scream, in the hopes of blasting*** her enemy backwards and into the clutches**** of her partner.*****

* Well, nemesis, perhaps. Can one truly tell when one’s nemesis is arch until one has completed one’s career and had a chance to assess all the variables?

** Technically, all screams are sonic. This one, though, is sonic and particularly loud as well. Super loud, actually.

*** Metaphoric blasting, that is. The intent is to overload the target’s senses and stun them. It would take a lot more energy to physically move the target than can be stored within a kestrel.

**** “Talons” would be more accurate, but they do clutch, so the word usage is likely sufficiently clear.

***** For some reason, Marvel Comics hasn’t accepted one of my scripts yet.

Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularius)

“Yessss, come closssser my pretty. Letssss get a good look at you. Worry not. Wikipedia ssssaysss I’m harmelessssssss.” /Clicks [Save Edit] button./