How many fluffies are usually in a herd?

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21

I’d say that a smarty can be good or bad, while a smarty friend is always good. I tend to call both types “smarties”, but if I were to call one a smarty friend, it would be someone that’s smarter than the average fluffy and has a lot of knowledge of local flora/fauna so he can keep his herd out of trouble.

In terms of herd size, yeah I’d say when there’s two fluffies more than the base family, it becomes a herd - a minimum of four, not counting foals. However, for a fluffy the minimum size for a herd is one, because a single smarty claiming to be a herd is just funny to me.

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more than 1

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Vetriverse fluffies form the biggest groups possible given the circumstance, and loosely define a “herd” as a group of families. If everyone is related to a single breeding pair by blood, adoption, or “special friending” existing members then its a family. If you’ve got multiple unrelated breeding pairs its a herd.

Circumstances, however, tend to drive those numbers down a lot. Something like a fairly well protected city park with a town council that likes the idea of community accessible wildlife (and considers fluffies as such) could get up to 60-100, but predation, shelter dropoffs, and environmental hazards would keep most herds under 20 when they do form. Usually you’re only going to see families.

Given a situation of excessively available protected space and food resources, though, the breeding rate can skyrocket and generate a megaherd of (generally defined as 200+ but the number can get into the thousands.)

Megaherds are ecological disasters waiting to happen. As the herd moves farther and farther out of equilibrium with its actual environment, it incurs a “debt,” as eventually the safe, abundant food runs out and suddenly there’s a massive number of animals leaving safety in desperate search of more food than the environment can lose at once. Generally followed by rivers of fluffy blood.

And then for an added frustration, in wilderness, rural, and semi-rural environments all that fluffy flesh provides a spike in safe, easy calories for prey species that results in a spike in their populations that will also be unsustainable. Which can then crash the pred population and cause havoc with existing prey populations…

Yeah. Megaherd events are bad.

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Two mates+
Depends how they act or what they do

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As many as the toughies can manage or the Smarty can bellow at.

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For me I will have a small feral herd, thinking about the food situation mostly for the size. If you find a feral with a few herd members, the food situation is plentiful and the herd is compatible with a domestic herd.

Domestic fluffies are going to be a mix bag. A common herd:

Daddah Leader, Mummah Leader

Four pairs of Mummah’s and Daddahs with each having a role: dad’s often are the tuffies while the Mummah’s handle the feeding of the offspring.

Each pair often has between 2-4 foals and are at various stages of life. With the herd at this size, the humans only have one 50 pound kibble bag to worry about feeding the herd, with a little support of Skettis once a week so the herd stays loyal to the humans, and not run away. With a herd this size, a couple can handle them and not suffer financially. If they get too many foals, most people have sold bundles of foals to research facilities and product testing facilities for a great price: 40,000 for 10 weaned foals is a common transaction.

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As few or many as you need, the rules of logic and nature apply selectively to fluffies

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I think it would depend on a few factors, namely the weather and the location of the herd. It would be easier to navigate a city in a small herd while a larger herd could survive better in a park, forest, or countryside. Summer months will bring more food, good weather and more fluffies while winter and fall would kill off the vegetation and the cold alone could kill a large number of fluffies.

And there is a difference between a family group and a herd. Family groups led by a mated pair or a single mother/single father, along with any number of foals of different ages. A herd led by a single Smarty (either an arrogant hellish tool who rules through fear and aggression or on occasion a dependable, intelligent (for a fluffy), and ambitious Smarty Friend. Fluffies in a Smarty led herd are more likely to die because of the regime of their leader or leave because they don’t like how the Smarty is leading.

While family groups are small between 2-4 adults with any number of young foals. Herds themselves are larger, could be a Smarty and his/her chosen special friend. An appointed head toughie and toughies. Then are pregnant mares and/or their mates. I also like to think that fluffies are both monogamous and polyamorous, occasionally bonding as Special Friends or a stallion might have multiple mares and mares might have sex with multiple stallions without forming emotional connections- it depends on the fluffy.

After that in the hierarchy would be nummie finders, this could overlap with the pregnant mares/mates, and after that are poopie fluffies/nest attendents. Depends on the herd those fluffies could be relegated as the worst of the worst in charge of taking the brunt of the herd’s scraps and shit. They also could be fluffies in charge of cleaning up the nest and making it habitable for the herd itself.

So in a city scape a herd could be (1) Smarty Leader, (2-3) toughies, (0-3) pregnant mares, (1-2) nummie finders, (1-2) poopie fluffies/nest attendants. Evening out at between 5-11 adult fluffies and between 4-6 foals per mother on average, though it could be more or less depending on nutrition, the age of the mare, stress, illness, etc…

In the countryside a herd could be (1) Smarty Leader, (2-7) toughies, (12-25) pregnant mares, (5-9) nummie finders, (5-8) poopie fluffes/nest attendants. Evening out at between 25-50 adult fluffies and same difference for the foals.