Amazing animals and Real-Life Pokémon typings

Nature Talk
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Hey all!

I recently started an instagram account where I’m drawing real-life animals in a ‘Pokémon’ style, giving them ‘typings’ (as in, Fire, Water, Ground, Flying etc, again from the Pokémon computer game series), and including a short paragraph of interesting facts about the creature.

My aim is to increase my friends’ (and anyone else who follows) knowledge of the natural world, hopefully instil a bit of amazement at the incredible creatures out there, and possibly raise awareness of conservation efforts if there are any. Also, it’s just really fun to draw cool animals.

And so, I thought I would reach out to you guys for ideas! I’m looking for cool, interesting animals, outside of the sort of ones people regularly know about (or otherwise really neat facts about regular ones that people generally don’t realise), and then what types you would give them if they were Pokémon!

So, for example, some ones I’ve done already:

Upside-Down Jellyfish
Water/Grass

Flying Steamer Duck
Dark/Fighting

Spiny Bush Snake
Poison

Scaly-Foot Snail
Water/Steel

…and some coming in the future:

Peacock Mantis Shrimp
Fighting/Bug

Broadclub Cuttlefish
Water/Psychic (as in, how they seem to be able to hypnotise prey)

That sort of idea! So yeah, does anyone have any suggestions, any favourite animals that sort of thing? Have any of you ever thought about this sort of thing before? I mean, what would a Fire type animal look like? Or a Ghost type?? :ghost:

EDIT: Amazing ideas so far! @mich_croc noted I hadn’t actually mentioned what the account was called, so its @_ecodex on instagram if anyone is interested! :)

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Fire = fire salamanders (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/27725-Salamandra)
Ghost = Aye-aye (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/43558-Daubentonia-madagascariensis)

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Something which lives near a hydrothermal vent? There is a species of hawk which picks up burning branches to start fires so they can eat the animals which flee from the flames.

Ghost Spiders, Ghost Crabs, Barn Owl?

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I would love to see some art for the Red-Headed Bush Cricket Phyllopalpus pulchellus which lives in my neighborhood in Greenville, South Carolina. What amazing creatures God made!

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Some globular springtail ( for example https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/21055207) could be cute…

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something like Aequorea victoria, a jellyfish that is sort of clear like water and also bioluminescent, seems very ghosty to me. but other bioluminescent organisms like anglerfish can also be very scary. some of the bioluminescent organisms might fit under fire as well. among non-luminescent organisms, some plume moths look very ghosty to me, and screech owls sound very ghosty to me.

things like ocean dandelions have been found near hydrothermal vents and look a little fiery (orange and glow!). something like a bearded fire worm or some corals sort of look fiery (orange) under visible lighting and then become extra fiery when they fluoresce.

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I love this question. I should be working but never mind:

Hydrophis platurus is water/poison. A beautiful yellow marine snake, has a very strong neurotoxic venom.
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/776566-Hydrophis-platurus-xanthos
Centurio senex can be a flying/ghost type. The wrinkled face bat! It is very ugly but difficult to see. It has a strong bite (compared to other bats of its size) that can crush hard seeds!
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41017-Centurio-senex

What´s the name of the IG account? Would love to see the drawings!

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The instagram account is @_ecodex by the way: https://www.instagram.com/_ecodex/ I’ll add it to the main post actually, in case anyone else is interested. :) And your ideas are both ace, especially the Wrinkle-faced Bat. Amazing animal!

@pisum Those jellyfish are very cool, and screech owls are a really good shout too. And I’d never heard of Ocean Dandelions before, thanks for sharing!

@alexis_orion, that springtail is completely adorable, and yeah, would be amazing. Someone suggested treehoppers to me too, and I think likewise they would make excellent bug type additions.

@zabdiel, YES, the Black Kite I think, although Forktailed Kites might do it too. Really interesting example of Ethnobiology there, tracing indigenous stories to the natural examples.

@thebeachcomber, I think Aye-ayes would be really good, especially given the legends about them cursing you if they point their long middlefinger in your direction…

@botanicaltreasures, that is beautiful! It definitely lives up to its name as the Handsome Trig. Do you know what it uses those paddle like apendages on its mouth for?

Thanks everyone for all the ideas so far!!

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I always thought of this evolutionary line for Caviidae:

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I am surprised that the Tardigrada have not been mentioned yet. The most adorable and bad-ass creatures in the world! :-)

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That’s an excellent shout. What typing do you think they would be?? I’m actually wondering whether they would be normal type, but with an Ability which means they take on the typing of whatever is harming them - Like, they can survive at extemely high temperatures as they become Fire type - they survive extremely cold temperatures becoming Ice type, Water type in the deep sea, Poison(?) type when exposed to Radiation. What do you reckon?

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A normal/ghost lemur or tarsier Pokemon that has a split evolution, evolving into either a slow loris (low speed and high defensive stats) or an aye-aye (higher offensive stats and speed)

A poison type polecat that can evolve into one of three different forms: a wolverine (poison/ice), a honey badger/ratel (poison/steel), or tanuki (poison/normal)

A water/steel beluga that evolves into a narwhal

I have a whole spreadsheet of these so I have plenty more lol

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what a fun concept!

some ideas:

ironclad beetle as bug/steel because of their super hard exoskeleton
greenland sharks are super weird and i think they can be a candidate for ghost type, other types i can see them being include water, poison, and ice but i don’t really like ice for them
they aren’t animals, but cordyceps seem like a good fit for ghost type as well, ghost-dark maybe, for possessing their victims

i want to know what would make for a fairy type…

i can’t think of any more right now, but i woke up recently. i’m sure i’ll be back with more later

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An evolution for Carnivine that incorporates elements of Rafflesia, Amorphophallus, and sundews

A Grass/water regional variant of Tangela and Tangrowth based on kelp

A Bug/dark virus whose final stage is a bacteriophage-like spider thing and has an expansive status/disruptive moveset

Electric/fighting Kiwi/Pipit -> Secretary bird -> Terror bird that fights mostly with kicks. Also gets the move Bolt Beak

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I just looked up Handsome Trig in a book I have about crickets called *The Song of Insects by Lang Elliot and Will Hershberger. Evidently these crickets use their mouth palps along with their attennae to sense their environment. As for a special ability. The males sing very loudly. They amplify their trills by positioning themselves in acoustic chambers formed by leaves. Wow!

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Yeah, Fairy type is a tricky one. Is it just cute things? Or maybe animals which, traditionally, have been seen as magical? Hmmm…

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Awesome drawings by the way, are they by hand?

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Barn Owl would definitely be Ghost/Flying.
Burrowing Owl could be Ground/Flying
Snowy Owl would be Ice/Flying

Not really sure what would make a good Fairy type either, maybe a hummingbird of some sort?

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just looking through the most faved obs on iNat, and I found some that could be cool:

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Interesting fact. The most common screech owls vocalizations sound like a bouncing ball of hoots, not a screech. Barn owls are the ones with a haunting screech.

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