After looking at the planets history and geography here and creating plants here, we are now going to look at animal life.
I have quite a bit of trouble with this one myself but I do what I can. With this there is SO much information that you CAN add that I just never know how much I SHOULD add. Here I'll go ahead and put it all just to be thorough but once again if you are going to use it pick and choose what you need for the specific animal.
Fauna
Name
I do this exactly as I do the plant name. No names yet! I have to go through the whole exercise to pick a name but it's bascially like this Biome + Type + Number (only if more than one of same type in same biome)Biome
Just as before. My biome is going to be the rainforest again.Type
Here you really can go into quite a bit of detail. You can use Kingdom, phylum, class, etc if you wanted. I don't, however. I do use class because it is pretty simple and then come up with ways to classify the animals in that particular class.I guess the only real way to explain this is to SHOW you so here's how I begin.
For this particular animal I'm going to be using the mammal class. Mammal
Next I'm going to determine how I'm going to group all the many types of mammals. You can probably find a website to do this for you but they were all either to extensive or not extensive enough for me. My classifying of mammals will look like this -- Ground, Tree-dwelling, Predators, and Hooved. Some could go into both, I know this, but I usually pick the more "detailed" group For example a horse is both ground and hooved but I would choose hooved in this case. This is just how I like to do it. Obviously you can create your own categories.
Tree dwelling
When naming I will define this as the "Rainforest tree dwelling Mammal"
Characteristics
Size
Here I look at the size of the animal. Height, weight, and length and I give a rough estimation but I sometimes I also name an animal that has about the same stature so that I have a clear idea of it in my head. I could say an average of 340lbs and a height of 63 inches but sometimes I'm not sure exactly what size that would be so I say, "black bear" or whatever and have a good idea about what size it would be. Other times however I don't need thi.Quick note here if I'm going to use say a hooved mammal I do not used a hooved mammel for an idea about weight or size, this is because it makes me think of that particular animal and that's the picture I have in my head for it. And if thats the case then why wouldn't I just use that animal instead of making a new one. So use something other than the type of animal you are creating, if you do this.
Weight: 10 lbs
Length: 16 in
Height (shoulder):10 in
Tail: 11 in
Features
Here you'll want to look at everything. Eyes, nose, mouth, body coverings and so on. You'll want just enough to be able to get a clear picture of what your animal will look like. This will depend on so many things. Is the animal predator or prey (for the most part), active during the day or night, location of the animal, and so on. I've picked a few features to use in order to get a idea about the animal.Eyes: Large and round
Nose: large, sticks away from face and connects to the mouth
Mouth: connects to the nose in a large snout
Body coverings: lightly covered fur, hands and feet do no have fur in order to get a better grib when climbing a tree, light tan or brown
Tail: Almost as long as body, wraps around the body and uses for hanging from trees like a monkey
This gives me the information I want so I'll move on but it isn't all I could have used..
Diet
This is pretty self explanatory. What does the animal eat?Ground dwelling mammals like mice or other tiny animals and some fruits and nuts from trees though for the most part it is a carnivor.
Behavior
This includes a wide variety of information. Almost too much. If you are going through this do not feel as though it all has to be completed, it doesn't! Don't get burnt out before you even start writing the story. If the animal is used just for a main character to see in the field, rather than it being a companion of some sort, a lot of this will be a waste of time (though truly any worldbuilding is NOT a waste of time but if it burns you out... well it's not helpful either). Find out what you need and move on.But this section can include things like.... Activity, Aggressiveness, Social, Play, Hunting, and Mating.
While I could do this in a list sort of style for me it's easier to explain in a little paragraph about the animal.
This tree dwelling mammal is mostly active during the night, which is how it hunts for it's a lot prey: while they are sleeping. The little animal is usually not aggressive just sneaky. If cornered it will become aggressive and females during pregnancy are also aggressive. They are very social animals and live in large groups at the tops of threes. To humans they seem to act like kids, running around and chasing each other for fun, although this is also for practice during hunting. Mating happens during all seasons. A female usually has a litter of about 2-3 little ones. They hang on to the mother most of the time. For the first weeks she doesn't leave there side and then after that she leaves them alone while she gathers some food for them other than milk. Later on she teaches them to hunt and so on. They usually stay close as part of a big family unit.
Interesting Facts
This section is just a throw in section. Whatever else that hasn't been covered that seems important to me. I have no real outline for this section, just whatever comes to mind. For example...One of these can be taken away within the first few weeks of like and given to a human as a companion. It will begin to think of the person as family and take fierce action as it grows older to protect the human. This is true even if the family returns to find the stolen one.
Drawing
I do not do this part but it is really good. If you have any artistic ability I would suggest going ahead and drawing out the animal. I do not because it would be a complete mess. But it is a good idea.And that concludes the fauna section. If anyone did it along with me, post your animals!
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