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GuthrieArtwork β The Mating Ritual
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Published: 2011-02-17 05:16:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 25178; Favourites: 553; Downloads: 1
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Description
The sinuous-nosed rat gets its name from the shape of the males' preposterously long nostrils. Males remain brightly colored all year round thanks to their noxious saliva which they meticulously coat their fur with. Male rats use their nostrils in both threat displays against predators and during courtship. During the mating season males and female engage in a comical courtship dance. When a male and female meet the male rat will begin waving his nostrils rhythmically across the forest floor while making soft tooting noises. The female will then leap into the fray, dancing around the male's nostrils. If the male is impressed with the female's dancing and the female is impressed with the male's nasal movements they will mate. After mating the male will take the time to clean the female's fur saturating it with his poisonous saliva before he leaves her. The female is not effected by the toxins and has a little extra security against predators after most likely calling attention to herself during such a conspicuous mating ritual.
Β© 2011 B.R.Guthrie
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Comments: 69
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Ooh my gosh! Such a cute little ritual! Hopscotch! X3
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Harald StΓΌmpke sends his greetings xD
Very cool idea and art
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That was one awesome discription. This art is...wow, too. So freaking clever! ^__^
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cool creatures 
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Kinda like poison dart frogs; bright colors, venomous toxins. But it seems like it'd be hard to breath for the males, wouldn't it?
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Well, there are elephants. And they got really long noses.
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This is pretty awesome, and very imaginative. Great work!
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I am really loving your work as well as the descriptions. A lovely read and lovely art to complement it.
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Thank you very much!
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*chuckles*It's odd,but I find this to be strangely adorable.Though I would like to know more about how those nostrils evolved.
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Hmm I'd assume they just started out as regular rodents that developed short brightly colored noses, and then their noses got progressively long and rope like. The males probably had to develop their poisonous saliva first though so that they could get away with bright noses instead of being easy targets for predators.
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WOW! I love it.You have this ability to create characters and creatures that I have never seen before and then place them in these seamless backgrounds that are super real! I love it and I wish I had this ability. Your work is very inspiring to an artist starting out.....what medium do you use btw?
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your welcome and those cool looking mice or rats i ever seen ^^
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I really adore this piece. The colors are neat and the species itself is very exotic. The strangeness is offset by the background and well-done coloring.
I'd love to see plushes of these two, if they were for sale I'd certainly buy one.
Fantastic job, bravo.
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Thank you very much!
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Very, unique, cute, and interesting!
The creatures themselves are very well designed, and this artwork is just beautiful. < 3
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Thats a pretty intresting little creature
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you are one of the more original artists on this site. and i love to view ur art because of this!
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Aw, that's definitely not something you see every day and that mating ritual sounds quite unusual in a really nifty way. The leaves kicked up in the air due to the ritual are a nice touch in the picture, I think; and the fur looks very well done. 8D
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What an amazing and unique species! Not to mention your overall fantastic technique! Great job
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Thank you very much!
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Very inventive! I could imagine these in a documentary or something for a laugh. Really like this idea.
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Thanks, in a way that's where I got the idea, in the Planet Earth series they have the Superb Bird of Paradise, who has a hilarious mating display, which in turn made me want to create my own humorous courtship.
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You're welcome. I must admit, the bird of paradise is a fantastic species. If I could do artwork as well as you, I would have made a documentary now. 'The Wildlife of the Awesome Isles' or some title like that. Again, well done!
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Aw, how interesting! I loved the description, it was very interesting.
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Poisonous, or venomous?
I always thought poisonous was a completely different thing from being venomous. Poisonous like, filled with bacteria from nomming on carrion and rotting shit all day, or venomous as in having an active agent that breaks down cells and bodily processes? I think brightly coloured animals in nature are actually toxic, instead of being venomous or poisonous. Most brightly coloured animals or plants are toxic if ingested.
Or maybe I'm thinking of mushrooms. Then again, a lot of venomous snakes aren't exactly brightly coloured, and things like Dart Frogs are... toxic, I believe, from the toxins they ingest from the insects they eat, and...
I'm confuzzled. @_@
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I could be wrong about this but my understanding is that a toxin is simply a substance that causes harm to something. A poison is more "passive" in that it is a toxin that hurts when it is absorbed, for example like you mentioned the dart frogs they are poisonous because they secrete toxins on their skin that when consumed do harm. Something venomous on the other hand is actively administrating a toxin, for example a scorpion's sting is venomous.
In the case of my rats, I believe poisonous is the better description since they are not biting enemies to administer their toxin, but rather coating themselves with it, although I guess it could be argued that they could in fact bite something and make them sick that way.
Or I could be wrong and all three can actually be interchangeable.
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Hmmm. Maybe it just depends on how the evolutionary form is used. Except maybe for when actual active venom is involved; I think then I'd have to say venomous, but the other two, toxic and poisonous, perhaps interchangeable, yes.
Need to look this shit up sometime, I always confuse people with it, even myself, lol!
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The female floats on an invisible ball to display the arousal that the male's tendrils create for the female.
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Oh dear, this is too cute! I 'awww'ed my way all through the description!
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Thank you, especially for reading through the description.
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