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arctic-hands · 9 months

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I learned what a bullet journal was by watching a few YouTube artists set theirs up and my algorithm spiraled out of control from there so I guess I have all the bujo influencers to thank for getting into it because it has been a godsend so far on my third attempt, but damn if the over emphasis on aesthetic over the actual practical organizational aspect of it doesn't rankle me a bit

[thirty rambling tags later] huh. I didn't know there was a thirty tag limit in all the years I've been on tumblr. Whatevs I can't copy paste the tags onto the main body because I'm on mobile and I don't want to write it out again so I'll just summarize the last bit here:

If you are browsing the bujo tag because you feel bullet journaling will help you but you feel intimated because you don't think you can make it look pretty, or that the bullet journal method could never help you because it looks exhausting or the inspo you see doesn't cover what you need, I am pleading with you to ignore all the pretty inspiration, take the most common and even original Ryder Carroll formats and spreads with a grain of salt and eliminate or change them as needed, and talk to people who have similar needs than you even if they don't bujo and suss out what's important to keep track of. My bujo is eighty percent important medical bullshit, because that's what I need more than a book tracker. You prolly have your own unique needs. And hell, if you want a book tracker then add a booktracker. It's your bujo to format and plan out.

So like if you want to start bullet journaling, go to Michaels and get a seven dollar Artist's Loft dot grid journal. Or a binder you have left over from school years past and print out your own dot grid paper if you have enough ink and paper and printer that can do double sided (Kevin McLeod's site I forget the name of has free adjustable dot and other grids I've used), or buy a pack of 8.5x11 dot grid paper, and grab a crappy hole punch that just barely does the job. Get yourself a nice pen you think looks and feels nice in your hand and on the paper–or if that doesn't matter to you go get pack of Bics or even pencil if that's what you prefer (I use a pencil for things I can't have be permanent, like temporary meds or the dates of yearly vaccines). If you're twitchy about messing up then get the cheapest wite out they have (but don't worry about messing up especially if you're not even showing it off to anybody). A cheap yellow highlighter if you think it'll help. And a ruler if straight lines are important to you. I lost mine so I just wobble my lines now I don't care (and it's marginally easier to get a line adjacent to straight with a dot grid)

Anyway. If you want to bullet journal but don't know where to start or how to make it pretty or how to make it work for your needs, just try it in the cheapest way possible and rearrange the guts of the bujo as you see fit. And don't worry about the optics as long as you can make sense of your methods and writing.

(and for the love of God if you're bipolar don't make an hourly mood tracker yes our moods can and will fluctuate throughout the day but goddamn was that a bitch to log and abandoned a few weeks after inking it out)

#i see this with in regular journaling/diary circles too #people saying 'i want to start a bujo/diary but I'm not good enough at art ☹️'#like more power to you if you can make it pretty but it shouldn't be the primary emphasis especially with how useful it is #(it's especially depressing with just regular diaries and journals because like. you're under no obligation to share that shit with anybody)#I'm on my third bujo attempt because i got overwhelmed with my first two because i didn't know how to customize it with me and my needs #the most i got about symptom tracking was like a weekly layout checking off if the criteria was hit #and mood tracking was like daily smiley or frowny face in the corner #like my siblings in planning that is not enough for my chronically ill bipolar ass lol #i went way overboard my first attempt with just mood tracking. i planned it out HOURLY. every week #and that got overwhelmingly tedious and i use overwhelmingly deliberately. so i just stopped mood tracking #and then the whole thing got overwhelming so i stopped it entirely #gave it another shot because my method of scheduling things and symptom tracking was to write appointments and symptoms on post its #and pray they didn't fall off and i could remember where i even put them #and i see a lot of doctors so that was a LOT post its to keep track of #so i did another bujo but had the same problem as lack of resources and inspo and how to make it work for my needs #plus future logs were hard to parse AND i often felt too tired to lay out a new month or two every time #so like there were just whole months and the symptoms and appointments within just missing and i might as well not even have a bujo #so i stopped that one too #FINALLY after a little bit more watching Ryder Carroll and looking at prefab medical planners that were still woefully inadequate #AND MORE IMPORTANTLY talking to my fellow chronically ill. mentally ill. disabled. or all three. friends on what i should jot down #i finally got a system that worked for me thus far #i got rid of even staples like future logs and just laid out a monthly calendar format because that was easier FOR ME #and i laid out the year in advance so i could still have the scheduling part of i was too tired to do entire layouts at the beginning of the #month #my mood tracker was merged with my symptom tracker and turned into a symptoms *list*#with a section for every specialist i see. mood stuff just went under psych/therapist #also i switched to a binder format instead of a bound book for even more flexibility #i can easily remove things i no longer need. i can rearrange what goes in what section. i can easily add more to a section before the next #bujo #bullet journal

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crookedlyinnernightmare · 7 months

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recently got a dragon necklace at a renaissance faire! wearing it for the first time :]

#it's really pretty n it's got a nice smooth texture I've been fiddling w this thing all day #the shop i got it from had sooo many more dragons tbh this isn't the best one by a long shot.. it was cheaper tho #an i being overly flattering. it's just everything was gorgeous i love glass!!!#i wish i could've gotten a couple hummingbirds too but they would've been like. $70 more?#but n e ways i had to get the pink one bc i like pink but also because of The Character. you know how it is.#personal

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atanx · 11 months

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i just had a silly little scenario in my head but like imagine instead of nishiki having his little villain arc due to literally no one giving a shit about him and always comparing him to kiryu, nishiki quits being a yakuza (though he prolly wouldnt canonically lol), gets a new stable job and life, and then when kiryu gets outta jail nishiki immediately comes to see him just to give him the biggest, well-needed hug 😔 i may or may not sound delusional but this is the ending i need, i just want a happy ending PLEAAAAAASE

i feel u so hard we need a good ending for our koi boi </3

honestly i feel this could happen in a nishiki gets very horribly drunk, has a mental breakdown at a bar, gets therapy-talked / pep-talked by an equally drunk stranger and wakes up the next morning having resigned by the yakuza by insulting kazama's drip until kazama was too tired to deal with his shit XD

this is a very crack-y promise, but angst can ensue! :D nishiki being confronted with the fact that he has neither money nor qualifications for acquiring a job! maybe working as a host until he's saved up enough to be able to do other shit.

since this would have to be inbetween yuko dying so that he can still lose it and attempting suicide / murdering matsushige, he hasn't gotten revenge on the doctor yet, so that could be a motivating factor in what field he wants to work in.

he'd probably do well at working in the nightlife industry, as a host or manager of a cabaret / host club. keep some underground ties, maybe contribute to this whole honest living thing by helping yakuza get a proper job (i think i read that he did stuff like that at some point on his wiki article but im no longer sure)

oor the popular idea of nishiki going into fashion. which i don't know nearly enough about fashion to comment on any of that but nishiki does have drip (potential) especially if he's not at 2005-box-suit level yet.

ooooor the idea of nishiki working as an independant investigative journalist with the primary goal of making the doctor's life a living hell. somehow he ends up involved in scandal after scandal and people soon fear him for how thoroughly he exposes corrupt businesses / politicians / whatever. his reporting has steadily been getting very good and he delights in the political power his articles and the populace's favour have gotten him. he is also very hard to get rid of because HE WAS IN THE YAKUZA AND HE CAN FIGHT.

i'd also honestly live for nishiki just not knowing what to do and attending university and finding a good friend group and getting the love he fucking deserves.

i'm actually now really into the investigative journalist idea asdfghjkmjnbvcfgt i blame the judge eyes series because this idea of investigative journalism i have has an overlap with detective work and DAMN JUDGEMENT IS SO GOOD.

anyway so because in this world, nishiki isn't plotting to murder kazama, he has a clear conscience and goes to pick up kiryu when he's released and reacclimate him into society. (also nishiki totally knows everything about what's going with yumi and jingu etc and can relay that to kiryu)

yo sorry for rambling so much the plot bunny population in my brain just starts increasing exponentially whenever i get to ramble about stuff <3

#my rants #yeah i honestly believe that nishiki not only has an inferiority complex he also has a fear of being powerless #because he couldn't help (save) yumi or kiryu or yuko #also he just likes power which fair more power to him #so i think at that point in his life he wouldn't be able to become a normal civilian. whether its still being involved in shady stuff #being a politician an influential businessman or an investigative journalist i think he would seek out something where he could attain powe #it's still pretty unlikely that he would quit but hey we can just introduce a bit of ooc from time to time to spice things up XD #i didn't really go into the kiryu aspect but yeah their relationship would definitely be much much better when nishiki doesn't have #goals that will put them on opposing sides or any guilt about his actions and feeling like he isn't deserving of kiryu #because wtf was that scene in serena where he goes like 'i shot ur dad' and then like 'i did hope that we could work together'#like no?? he was obviously trying to drive kiryu away by just outright telling him that and in such a provocative way too #like hes not stupid he knows how loyal kiryu is to kazama there is no way he expected that conversation to go any different from how it wen #and i started rambling again ill just cut myself off here-#thank u for the ask <3

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mattodore · 7 months

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time to finish reading theo’s questionnaire

#river dipping #questionnaire lb #literally had to take a break from it yesterday because it broke my brain a little bit . like i was Unwell all day bc of him #like that last moodboard post i shared before Logging Out did a number on my head too and then everything reminded me of him all day lmao #i also deleted like a hundred old pins from his board so now his pinterest board is back down in the 400s from where it crept into the 500s #his board is so text heavy it's not very aesthetically pleasing... like in comparison to matthias's board which is just...... chef's kiss #but i cannotttttt get myself to whittle his board down any more than i already did. like........... WHY should i try to make his board #pretty anyway? like this is theo we're talking abt. his thoughts overwhelm him his surroundings are cluttered there's holes everywhere #in his brain and he's lost all his softness so like ACTUALLY ! his board being messy is uhhhhhh #a character choice i've just decided 😁#...no but it does actually annoy me that matthias's board is so much more cohesive 😒 should i kill him for this . . .#.............OC brain rot aside !#when i'm done reading i'm going to finish making this pose i started last night based on this gifset i saw #and then i'm gonna actually !!!! open !!! the sims !!! to test poses out and take these shots for that tag game kay sent my way 😋#i've gotta see what clutter cc i already have first tho... i have 50gb of build cc there's gotta be some stuff i can use for theo #matthias is easy. he literally just carries his phone and his card like that's it...#...also sorry i'm being so bad at replying/looking at my activity i'm just an avoidant personality disorder haver . you understand

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designernishiki · 10 months

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I feel like whatever was going on with majima/mirei/katsuya in the early 90s was some sort of complicated bisexual love triangle situation. like majima is majima and katsuya’s handsome and eloquent and absolutely doesn’t seem straight to me, but on top of that it feels like there was some sort of confusing tension between katsuya and mirei, not sure if it was romantic or one-sided or what but. SOMETHING. I don’t know what the hell was going on with those three really but no way in hell do I believe the romantic/sexual/??? depth ends with majima and mirei

#katsuya is HANDSOME and CHARMING and ELOQUENT. I just KNOW at least one of them was into him. probably both #one way I’m imagining it could’ve went is like #katsuya introduces majima and mirei to one another and mirei crushes on him pretty quick (because she is 19 and quick to do so)#majima doesn’t really particularly have an interest in her- not cause she’s unattractive or anything probably mostly because she’s almost a #because she’s almost a decade younger than him and barely legal. but at some point she confides in katsuya about her feelings for him and #katsuya being the sweet and honorable kinda dude he is acts as a wingman and tries to get majima to go out with her #and eventually majima relents because he doesn’t want to end up admitting to katsuya that he actually had a thing for KATSUYA #and by playing wingman for his good friend mirei majima takes it as him being uninterested and thus doesn’t shoot his shot and yeah #katsuya’s hard to say no to and hey I mean maybe mirei- a civilian- will make his life more capable of Normalcy #she’s conventionally attractive and is a decent enough friend- albeit he didn’t really know what she was like as a person before she was #crushing on him and also. again. she’s 19 and an idol. so inevitably her identity in general is NOT solid yet #almost as if rebounding off a relationship he never even Got- things move insanely quickly with mirei and they’re married in less than a #year. the whole time katsuya is there cheering them on- he’s smart and I think he’d see the red flags when it comes to their ages and #maturity at least but I think that’d become more apparent over time and he’d start to have regrets but #it’s way too late for that. especially when she comes to him bawling her eyes out because she’s found out she’s pregnant and she has no #idea what to do. both for her career and because she’s literally barely an adult she doesn’t want a child at that point but obviously she #knows she’ll feel guilty and- more than that- deep shame for terminating. she’s insightful even at that age and also maybe can read majima #well enough to know that he might take her abortion as a sign for him to book it to no longer cause her anymore issues. katsuya reassures #her cause what else is he gonna do. but of course she’s right and his commitment issues kick in big time and yeah. over the years katsuya’s #the in-between still close with both of them. specifically he’s closer with mirei and they trust one another a lot more than majima with #either of them- just because majima’s Like That and his trust issues create distance easily. nonetheless at some point majima asks him if #he’s been single for so long because he was hung up on mirei and apologizes if he got in the way of them and that leads into some really #long overdue admissions and likely hooking up. but of course majima is STILL majima and again kinda books it because feelings are #inconvenient and their time for something like a relationship has passed (or something like that).#mirei often wonders if things would’ve been better if she’d have ended up with katsuya instead but similar to majima she’s career-focused #now and just wants to value him as a friend regardless of any lingering potential feelings. majima ends up falling hard for kiryu #sooner than later and life just moves on from any romanticism beteeen the three of them- a nostalgic closeness lingers instead #rambling #that was. a lot.

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cherry-shipping · 1 year

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started replaying broken age now after 6 years……… can you believe i felt a pang of jealousy and sadness that a character who is a literal silly knife with a face implied it had dated another character once (a spoon with a face)

#cherry chats #POSTING IT HERE NOT BECAUSE IM ABOUT TO F/O A FUCKING KNIFE BUT BECAUSE ITS TOO INCRIMINATING TO POST ON MAIN #its literally just the accent and the snarky cutthroat (no pun intended) attitude. what on earths my problem #this is the exact same reason i started KIND OF crushing on spades slick last month or whenever it was i dont remember #its JUST the fucking accent and attitude. thats apparently all it takes to hit a weak spot #and this is also so fucking funny not only because of the Everything about it #but also i joked to myself in my head that i was gonna f/o the knife when i knew i just really liked his character cause hes funny as hell #(i love when you try to use him on shay and he goes ‘stabbing myself is NOT the right way to get off this ship’#and dutch goes ‘might be worth a shot. ya never know’. i love his dialogue im clicking on EVERYTHING with him)#and then he sort of MAYBE hinted at having dated loraine once? u know. the fucking fork.#and for just a moment i got sad and jealous. then it went away after a second and everything was back to normal #thats when i had the realization that. yeah ok im pretty sure i just have a weakness for Ummm THAT particular character archetype #SO embarrassing. im telling you google dutch broken age and see what i mean. its so funnt #that said for the FUCKING record im NOT crushing on a KNIFE in a video game. im not stooping that low despite my reputation #but its funny that i got so attached to him for like. 1 reason #im not explaining this very good anyway i guess i like snarky 20s mobsters or sum shit i dunno -_-

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executiveibex · 2 years

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this week, on The Road to PALISADE........ from the trio that brought you “what if ~the Seductress~ was an incredibly charming and ruthlessly competent dude with an extremely punchable face persisting on borrowed time” and “Commander, show them that their god is mortal” and “well we could send Rigour to September — SHIT WE COULD SEND RIGOUR TO SEPTEMBER OH FUCK”..........

what if 🤔❓ we had a series of climactic duels ⚔️ to determine which side of an imperialist war 💥 would occupy a planet 🪐 that would later be dramatized as a campy war romance novel 📕💋 and we were both mech pilots with something to prove 🤖😤

#mine #f@tt liveblogging #friends at the table #f@tt spoilers #the road to palisade #I'VE MISSED THE COUNTER/WEIGHT FACTION GAME TEAM SO MUCH; IT'S BEEN TOO LONG #(unless there was a road to PARTIZAN episode with this trio)#(if so my bad; i'm planning on listening to those after i get through TM)#anyway i made a real PUSH to finish this episode before work today #normally i can get away with listening to emotionally-charged podcasts at work about. 90% of the time #because even though i AM a very expressive person i also wear a mask to work which does a pretty good job at hiding that!#but based on the way i was like. open-mouthed ear-to-ear GRINNING while listening to this while doing lunch prep #no SHOT i could've listened to this in public #god road to PALISADE really IS giving us only the BEST of duos #first veronique and fealty..... now cor'rina and miseri #anyway shout-out to alise breka and an even BIGGER shout-out to sylvi's galaxy brain story pitch

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todayisafridaynight · 1 year

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Its SO upsetting how often the bad guys don't get to have a lasting turnaround. You see it with random side characters, but c'mon guys. Just let them go to prison for a little while and have them come back. I promise you do not have to kill a character off, or base the character off a real life person, thus narrowing their chances of a return even thinner, while building up the possibility of a comeback. This franchise has cursed me with such lovable characters I'll never see again, and my heart can't keep at it like this.

I'm gonna have to just take that suddenly-dropped-off-a-cliff-storyline into my own hands. Gotta pick up all the slack. They're too good at giving tender, heart wrenching moments to characters we'll never see again. Way too good.

Not sure if you know the streamer Crystal, but her reaction to the ending of 3 was the most extreme I've ever seen. She was full on breakdown sobbing, and even the chat was asking if she was okay. RGG look at the hearts you're breaking out here 🙃 Also, your posts about Mine and that ending are beautiful, and you could talk about it a million times. It'll never get old.

the most egregious- pardon the pun- execution of this trope in rgg games is aoki's death.

like legitimately, his death did not need to happen. the past antagonists you could make a decent point for why their deaths were justified (ryuji's probably being the goofiest ngl) but aoki's felt as though rgg was just checking off a to-do list.

i don't really watch rgg content creators, but if someone could send me a clip of that i'd be down to watch: always a fan of watching people be emo over Y3's ending

and speaking of, thank you i have strong enough mental illness that all i can do is talk about that scene over and over again :)

#snap chats #the worst part is im only partially joking about being mentally ill #like i just think of that one directioner fan being a super fan until they took medication and then they were normal #pretty sure if i did the same I Too would have shut up four months ago but to our benefit/dismay medicine's hard to get so <3 #i am simply a dog chasing its tail and by that i mean i will simply talk about mine and y3's ending until i die #or until my mental illness latches onto something else idk #but yeah it sucks dick how rgg does so many great and emotional scenes #but like. we never get to fully see that pay off with characters like mine or aoki #like i want to see them have to face the consequences of their actions- ESPECIALLY mine #mine makes me the most deranged Obviously but i just want to know how daigo would react and treat him #we only get a semblance of how daigo felt after Y3 via the rggo story but its not enough #i want daigo to be upset with mine i want mine to HAVE to work things through with daigo #because unfortunately i dont think daigo would just cut mine off i think he still would try to figure out what the fuck was going on #idk i just need something to happen to mine that crushes him and has him rethink his ways a bit #'crushes' yk like. something beside the pavement---#i wouldnt want him to totally change tho. i like him deranged but just channel that deranged behavior to their benefit #brb thinking about mine saying he wouldnt be acting up if daigo didnt get shot again jesus christ i think of that line every day #OK I HAVE TO GO DO A COMM RN ACTUALLY I'LL BE MENTALLY ILL LATER BYYYE FEEL FREE TO SEND ASKS AND ENABLE ME

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vonkarma2 · 2 years

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more like. multiverse of midness

#i watched it like illegally bc I was bored and ok I liked some of the visual stuff #but plot and character wise it made like no sense there was like way too much going on but they didn’t do like anything with it #so it felt way shorter than it actually was and like a lot of it was a waste of time #it’s like about traveling across universes but they only ever spend time in like 4 of them and don’t give any of them details #+ a lot of the character stuff is really rushed too #like América and dr strange had like 2 scenes together #some of the shots were cool though #also how there was a lot of killing. But like idk there were some parts which while obviously they weren’t actual horror #were influenced by it it was probably like evil dead I wouldn’t know I haven’t seen it #and I never will because it’s too scary. But I’m sure it’s good #so like I said that aspect was honestly pretty entertaining but overall I think it had like no identity and wasn’t interesting at all #oh and the ending was like :| moments #also not only did they whitewash América and her parents they also gave her like no screen time or development or good lines #and the whole plot with scarlet witch was kinda sexist too

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kaijutegu · 4 months

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Alligator Body Language and You, or: How To Know When An Alligator On Social Media is Being Stressed for Views

Alligators are wild animals. Despite the idiotic claims of animal abusers like Jay Brewer, they cannot be domesticated, which means they are always going to react on the same natural instincts they've had for millions of years. Habituated, yes. Tamed, yes. Trained, definitely. Crocodilians can form bonds with people- they're social and quite intelligent. They can solve problems, use tools, and they're actually quite playful. Alligators are also really good at communicating how they're feeling, but to somebody who doesn't spend much time around them, their body language can be a bit mystifying. And it doesn't help when social media influencers are saying shit like this:

That is not what a happy gator looks like.

That's a terrified, furious gator who isn't attacking because the ogre handling her has her in a chokehold. She's doing everything she can to express her displeasure, and he's lying about it because he knows his audience doesn't even know how to think critically about what he's doing. He knows that because his audience doesn't know anything about these animals, he can get away with it. This I think is why I hate him so much- he deliberately miseducates his audience. He knows what he's doing is factually inaccurate, he just doesn't care because attention means more to him than anything else in the world.

Let's change that! Here are two really important lessons for understanding alligator body language on social media.

Lesson 1: Alligators Don't Smile (in fact, most animals don't)

So what's going on in this video? Jay Brewer is aggressively choking his white alligator Coconut while scrubbing algae off of her with a toothbrush. And make no mistake, he is digging into the creature's throat while she is visibly distressed. He claims she's happy- but she's not. He is willfully misrepresenting what this animal is feeling. That's a problem, because people... well, we actually kind of suck at reading other species' body language. The reason for this is that we tend to overlay our own responses on their physical cues, and that's a problem. For example, let's look at an animal with a really similar face to ours, the chimpanzee. Check out Ama's toothy grin!

Wait, no. That's not a happy smile. That's a threat display. When a chimpanzee "smiles," it's either terrified and doing a fear grimace, or it's showing you its teeth because it intends on using them in your face.

How about a dog? Look at my smiling, happy puppy!

Oh wait no, this is a picture of Ryder when he was super overwhelmed by noise and people during a holiday party. He'd hopped up in my sister's lap to get away from stuff that was happening on the floor and was panting quite heavily. See the tension in the corners of his mouth and his eyes? A lot of the time when a dog "smiles," the smile isn't happy. It's stress! Why Animals Do The Thing has a nice writeup about that, but the point is, our body language is not the same as other species. And for reptiles, body language is wildly different.

For instance, look at these two alligators. Pretty cute, right? Look at 'em, they're posing for a Christmas card or something! How do you think they're feeling?

Well, I'll tell you how the normal one is feeling. He's annoyed! Why is he annoyed? Because the albino just rolled up, pushed another gator off the platform, and is trying to push this guy, too. I know this because I actually saw it happen. It was pretty funny, not gonna lie. He's not gaping all the way, but he was hissing- you can actually see him getting annoyed in the sequence I took right before this shot. Look at him in this first shot here- he's just relaxing, and you can see he isn't gaping even a little bit.

By the end, he's expressing displeasure, but not enough to actually do anything about it. He's annoyed, but he's comfy and that's where one of the best basking areas is, so he'll put up with it.

Reptiles open their mouths wide for a lot of reasons, but never because they are actively enjoying a sensation. Unless they're eating. No reptile smiles- they can't. They don't even have moveable lips. If a reptile is gaping, it's doing so because:

It is doing a threat display.

It is making certain vocalizations, all of which are threats. Alligators are one of the rare reptiles that do regularly vocalize, but most of their calls aren't made with a wide open mouth.

It is about to bite something delicious or somebody stupid. Check out this video- virtually all of the gaping here is anticipatory because these trained gators know darn well that the bowl is full of delicious snacks. (I have some issues with Florida's Wildest, but the man knows how to train a gator AND he is honest about explaining what they're doing and why, and all of his animals are healthy and well-cared for, and he doesn't put the public or his staff at risk- just himself.)

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It's too hot and it has opened its mouth to vent some of that heat and thermoregulate. This is the main reason why alligators will often have their mouths part of the way open, but sometimes they'll open all the way for thermoregulation. This is what a thermoregulatory gape looks like- usually it's not all the way open, kinda more like < rather than V, but you can't say that 100% of the time. Additionally, a thermoregulatory gape... typically happens when it's hot out. If they're inside, maybe they've been under their basking light for too long. Heat's the dominant factor, is what I'm getting at.

There is another reason that a captive crocodilian might be gaping, and that's because it's doing so on command. Some places have their gators trained to gape on cue, like St. Augustine Alligator Farm and other good zoos. They have the animals do this in presentations that are genuinely educational. They ask the animals to open their mouths so that they can show off their teeth and demonstrate how their tongues seal off the back of their mouth. They'll also do it as part of routine healthcare, because looking at their teeth is important.

In this case, the animals aren't gaping because they're stressed, they're gaping because they know they're gonna get a piece of chicken or fish if they do it. And what's more, they're doing it on cue. They have a specific command or signal that tells them to open wide. It's not an instinctive response to a situation. It's trained. If the animal provides the behavior after a cue, the situation is much less likely to be negatively impactful.

It's also important to remember that there's a difference between a partially open mouth and a gape! As discussed above, alligators will often have their mouths a little bit open just to maintain temperature homeostasis. It helps them stay comfy, temperature-wise. These guys are all doing thermoregulatory open-mouthed behavior- that slight open and relaxed body posture is a dead giveaway. (That and it's the hottest spot in the enclosure.)

Lesson 2: A Happy Gator Is A Chill Gator

So if alligators don't smile or have facial expressions other than the :V that typically signifies distress, how else can you tell how they're feeling? One way is stillness. See, alligators subscribe to the philosophy of if it sucks... hit da bricks.

Basically, if they hate it, they'll leave. Unless, y'know, somebody has their meaty claws digging into their throat or is otherwise restraining them. (Restraint isn't always bad, btw. Sometimes the animal is going through a medical thing or needs to be restrained for their safety- which a responsible educator will explain.)

Let's look at a very similar scenario, in which a captive alligator is getting his back scrubbed.

As you can see, it's quite different. First, he's not being restrained at all. Second, look at how relaxed he is! He's just chilling there vibing! He could simply get up and leave if he wanted to, because he's not being held. Towards the end of the video, as he lifts his head, you can see that his respiratory rate is very even as his throat flutters a bit. I'm not sure what this facility is, so I can't comment on care/general ethics, but like. In this specific case, this is an alligator enjoying being scrubbed! And you can tell because he's not doing anything. A happy gator is content to be doing what they're doing.

Why Should I Listen To You?

Now, you should ask yourself, why should you listen to me? Why should you trust me, who does not own an alligator, versus Jay Brewer, who owns several?

Well, first off, there's no profit for me in telling you that what you're seeing on social media is in fact not what you're being told you're seeing. I'm not getting paid to do this. That's the thing with people who make social media content. The big names aren't doing it just for fun. They're doing it for money. Whether that's profit through partnerships or sponsorships, or getting more people to visit their facilities, or ad revenue, you can't ignore the factor of money. And this is NOT a bad thing, because it allows educators to do what they're passionate about! People deserve to be paid for the work that they do!

But the problem starts when you chase the algorithm instead of actually educating. A "smiling" alligator gets the views, and if people don't know enough to know better, it keeps getting the views. People love unconventional animal stories and they want those animals to be happy- but the inability to even know where to start with critically evaluating these posts really hinders the ability to spread real information. Like, this post will probably get a couple hundred notes, but that video of Coconut being scrubbed had almost 400,000 likes when I took that screenshot. Think about how many eyeballs that's reached by now. What I'm saying here is that it's just... really important to think critically about who you're getting your information from. What do dissenters say in the comments? What do other professionals say? You won't find a single herpetologist that has anything good to say about Prehistoric Pets, I can tell you that right now.

Another reason you can trust me is that my sources are not "just trust me bro," or "years of experience pretending my pet shop where animals come to die is a real zoo." Instead, here are my primary sources for my information on alligator behavior:

Dragon Songs: Love and Adventure among Crocodiles, Alligators, and Other Dinosaur Relations- Vladimir Dinets

The Secret Social Lives of Reptiles- J. Sean Doody, Vladimir Dinets, Gordon M. Burghardt

Social Behavior Deficiencies in Captive American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)- Z Walsh, H Olson, M Clendening, A Rycyk

Social Displays of the American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)- Kent Vliet

Social Signals and Behaviors of Adult Alligators and Crocodiles- Leslie Garrick, Jeffery Lang

Never smile at a crocodile: Gaping behaviour in the Nile crocodile at Ndumo Game Reserve, South Africa- Cormac Price, Mohamed Ezat, Céline Hanzen, Colleen Downs (this one's Nile crocs, not American alligators, but it's really useful for modeling an understanding of gape behaviors and proximity)

Thermoregulatory Behavior of Captive American Alligators (Alligator mississippiensis)- Cheryl S. Asa, Gary D. London, Ronald R. Goellner, Norman Haskell, Glenn Roberts, Crispen Wilson

Unprovoked Mouth Gaping Behavior in Extant Crocodylia- Noah J. Carl, Heather A. Stewart, Jenny S. Paul

Thank you for reading! Here's a very happy wild alligator from Sanibel for your trouble.

#reptiblr #alligator #crocodile #Youtube

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