part 2 of all the stuff in missed in the first one
herd propagation:
herds, mainly comes from the mixture of fluffies that were released from the bio-engineering facilities, and fluffies that escaped or were abandoned by their owners.
herds can be divided in 2 major sections, herds that live in ( or near ) human populated areas, such as cities or farms, and feral herds that live in areas with little to no human activity, such as forests and grasslands mainly, though seeing some herds venturing into the deserts or mountains is not unheard of.
city herds: the fluffies that live on the cities are usually bigger and more obese than their more feral counterpart, this is because they have access to more food, mainly from garbage bins and food that people gives them, these herds understand the value that bright, rarer or “better” colors have, and usually discriminate, bully or outright kill “poopie” colors, in an attempt to make the herd members more prone to adoption by a human, these herds usually suffer from their low capacity to find food in other places than garbage cans or human scraps, making them dependable on humans, most of the fluffies usually lives with the pressure to be adopted to escape the hard reality that these fluffies often are victims of, and constantly begs any human that comes near to adopt them, surprisingly ( by fluffy standards ) they also understand ( to some extent ) the value higiene has in order to be adopted, and try to makes themselves cleaner by constantly grooming between herd members, ensuring that they have at least a degree of cleanliness, they usually outcast any fluffy that presents fleas or other form of disease to avoid getting whatever that fluffy has and increment their chances of being adopted, their high numbers gives shelters, breeding operations, factories and most notoriously, abusers, a constant supply of fluffies to use in any way they like.
city herds usually sleeps in whatever makeshift nest they can make, these usually are boxes, or narrow spaces between dumpsters, buildings, or just bushes or burrows in parks, or more fatally to the fluffy in gardens, city herds usually have a designed area in which they live, and rarely leaves that area, only if no food is accessible nearby, or something threatens them ( such as a particularly cruel human, dog, or extreme noise because of construction work ), they leave the area and search another more suited for the herd, they usually defecate in any area that is deemed good for the fluffy, wich is practically anywhere ( excluding the herd’s nest )
feral herds: fluffies that live far from humans, are smaller and skinnier than their city counterparts, because food sources are very scarce in comparison with the big cities or near human inhabited areas, most of their food supplies were learned the hard way, by trial and error, this, paired with more depredation resulted in lesser numbers overall, these herds understand the value that color that resembles their environment has, for example a forest herd usually keeps shades of brown and green to better blend with the environment, though fluffies don’t realize something as abstract as colors and camouflage, but they made the connection between bright colors with danger because of predators, and often leave behind members that presents more hazardous colors, these herds usually choose the members they leave behind due to disease, infections, fleas, to name a few, if the fluffy is deemed more useful than the risk of contracting something bad, they usually keep them, otherwise the fluffy is expulsed from the herd, or if the food is more scarce than other areas, the unfortunate outcast is killed and consumed by their herd, cannibalism between fluffies is the last option to get food, but it’s never forgotten, this behaviour is more often seen with feral fluffies due to the usual lack of a safe food supply.
these fluffies are constantly moving, usually near rivers and masses of water, there are very few examples of non-nomadic feral fluffy herds, their nests are usually burrows near foliage to be more hidden from view, or fluff-piles inside of bushes, they, in contrast with their city counterpart, are more organized in the managements of their wastes, they have a designated are in which they burrow any feces and urine they would make in order to hide their scent from possible predators.
herd reproduction and behavior:
a mare usually has around 4-6 foals per pregnancy, with the first two looking similar to their parents and the rest a mixture of all the genes the fluffy has, resulting in a wide variety of colors and sub-species, usually 1-2 foals are unicorns/pegasus, and of those 1-2, only one in a hundred usually is a alicorn.
the herd reproductive behavior is similar to those of wolf packs, usually only the alfa ( or in the herd’s case, the smarty ) is allowed to mate with the mares, usually selecting the prettiest mare to be his “special friend” while the other mares are just to make their numbers bigger, other herds allows everyone to mate, but this usually ends with less resources overall, often leading to more severe cannibalism, or “wars” between herds for resources if they are extremely scarce.
because of fluffy programing, they are constantly seeking social interaction, because of this, herds usually collaborate with each other, but in extreme cases, when food is scarce “wars” between herds can happen, these usually are taken in a more distant approach, trying to get to the food source before the other herd ( or exhausting said source faster than that herd ), however, in more extreme cases ( and particularly those that involves more violent herds ), some fluffies kill each other in order to get food if there isn’t any nearby, in this cases, fluffies usually go at early hours to take the foals of the other herd to eat, or Unicorns go directly to fight in order to get food ( their horn usually helps them injuring and killing fluffies faster )
most fluffy mothers have a “bestest babbeh” system, in which the better looking foal is selected to be given more food and attention, to better help their chances of survival in feral herds, or adoption in city herds, but in some rarer cases this never happens, and all foals are equal in the food and attention they get.
fluffies tend to reproduce when they have enough food and water, and a safe place to live, though in some cases, and more commonly, fluffies simply reproduces because it feels good, or because fluff tv tells them that is a good idea.
fluffy lifecycle:
foal: in this stage the fluffy is mainly dependant on their mother, they can be either a newborn ( chirpie babbeh ), talking foal ( talkie babbeh ), or wandering foal ( splorin’ babbeh )
a newborn foal have little to no fur, usually only chirps and peeps, because it’s too small for proper communication, though they seem to understand ( or react ) to some words, like mummah, milkie, litterbox, love/wub, and many more, it’s theorized that they mainly react to the tone in which the words are spoken, rather than the word itself, they drag themselves and only drink milk, and needs to be cleaned by their mother when they are born, or when they poop themselves, they sleep in their mothers fluff, have their eyes closed and are unable to generate their own heat. this stage usually lasts for about a week, if the foal opens his/her eyes too early, it can lead to vision problems, same as with sounds, sounds that are too loud can permanently deafen them.
a talking foal, as the name implies, it’s starting to talk, use and understand words, though they still have some difficulty when moving, the foal quickly learns how to move properly, they still drink milk, but sometimes eat very soft foods, here you can start to train them, since they would be able to understand rewards, they sleep besides their mother, and they are starting to generate their own heat, this stage usually lasts half a week.
the difference between a wandering and a talking foal is the mobility they have and food they can eat, if they are able to properly use their limbs and run/jump, alongside with starting to eat more solid foods, they are a wandering foal, they understand more words and can learn more complex things, like places or specific individuals, at this stage there is a noticeable difference in mares and stallions, with the later being a little bigger, mares usually have little to no fur near their teats, which can help in recognizing them, this stage lasts about 2 weeks
young fluffy: it’s all the space between a foal and a fully functional adult, this stage lasts about half a year, and it’s mainly the fluffy growing and starting to develop hormones, they can have more meaninful social interactions since this stage, and usually ends up in the fluffy having a special friend.
adult fluffy: it’s the longest stage in a fluffy lifecycle, and usually the last one, since most fluffies die in their adulthood, the fluffy is fully capable of doing a wide variety of tasks, and are completely able to reproduce, this stage usually lasts about 6-10 years.
grey/old/elder fluffy: it’s the fluffy equivalent of a grandad or grandmother, very few feral fluffies reach this stage, particularly those that possess lot’s of knowledge or are very useful to the herd, mosts city fluffies never reach this stage, and those that do, are mainly because their owner likes them very much.
water subspecies follows all of the above statements.
herd movement: in most herds, there are fluffy explorators, usually the fastest fluffy with better memory, or simply an expendable fluffy, the explorator constantly surveys the herd surroundings and relays the information to the smarty, they usually seeks safer food and water sources, better nest locations and places that fulfill the herd needs, it’s common to see antlered fluffies being the explorators, since their genes usually makes them the fastest fluffies in the herd.
“elder” fluffies: usually feral herds possess elder fluffies, even though they are unable to help the herd in exploration, resource gathering or any physical task, they are keep alive because of all the knowledge and history they possess, knowing which signs are those of human inhabited areas, which berries are safe to eat, what water it’s the less contaminated one, and any other knowledge a particular fluffy may have.
fluffy modifications: fluffies, thanks to their very high regeneration and coagulation rate, are able to be easily modified, a fluffy can quickly close the wound of a trauma dismemberment or any other wound, they are also able to quickly regenerate nerves, meaning if the surgeon is skilled enough, one can add a legs to a previously pillowed fluffy, or any part that the fluffy may need, though adding extra limbs ( more than 4 legs, for example ), is possible, in very rare occasions, the extra limb is fully functional.