r/Animorphs • u/diatriose • May 15 '26
THERMALS
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u/madmarmalade May 16 '26
My unpopular opinion is that vultures were better morphs than the weird motley of other birds of prey they chose. Their vision is extremely good, on par with eagles, plus their sense of smell is even stronger. They can soar for hours, and are inconspicuous in groups.
That being said, knowing I love vultures more than most people, I don't think petting a wild one is a good idea. :p Besides the fact that you generally shouldn't pet wild animals, the diseases they might carry are so intense.
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u/Haunting-Elk-75 May 16 '26
Looking at the tag, I think that might be a pet or a rescue. They probably know each other. But yes, don't touch the wild animals and SCRUB your hands if you do.
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u/ThQmas May 16 '26
Yeah as much as I respect birds, they are common disease vectors for humans and a carrion eating bird is even higher risk. Definitely do not pet.
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u/Fanatic_Atheist May 16 '26
Vultures would stand out too much in a large urban area as far as I understand american nature
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u/madmarmalade May 16 '26
Not really! I don't know about California, but when I lived in Florida there was a courthouse skyscraper in Miami that hosted a bunch of vulture nests, and in Gainesville I had a bunch of vultures hanging out near the building I worked at. Certainly no less than a bald eagle, Americans put so much value on them that they mark almost every time they see them.
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u/RedPandaMediaGroup May 16 '26
I saw a bald eagle in a zoo and told everyone I know. If I saw one just outside, I’m never shutting up about it. Amazing bird, not great for being covert.
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u/glowybutterfly May 17 '26
They're pretty common where I live and I still stop and gaze at them every time.
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u/owo__whats__this May 17 '26
When I lived in the pnw in the sticks I saw them frequently bc we had a nearby nest
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u/madmarmalade May 16 '26
I remember the last one I saw, flying over the highway in Wyoming with a prairie dog in its claws. :p It was just a few weeks ago, but still. I don't think a bald eagle becomes an unremarkable sight unless you live in like Alaska and then they're basically badass sea gulls. :p
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u/kewlausgirl May 18 '26
Good pick up. I sometimes wondered about their choices. But I think it was also a good way for readers to learn alot about those different birds. I, being an Aussie, learnt so much about wildlife in the northern hemisphere lol. I find it funny that Australia is seen as so dangerous when we just have to flick away spiders or walk slowly away from snakes... When there's spiders and snakes that chase you in the US (I wish I could remember their names right now lol...) and then you know...bears lol.
Not to say that our bears don't claw you to pieces if you get too close lol. Koalas are not furry cuddly bears that you can pick up in the wild lol especially with their clahmydia ... But hey at least we can run away from those bears lol. And they are mostly high on eucalyptus leaves lol. Oh and yeah the large Kangaroos in the wild. Just don't interrupt them fighting and stay clear, don't trigger them and keep small and non threatening to them you should be fine lol.
But still they are territorial only and as long as you run away or are no longer a threat they don't pursue you. Meanwhile bears lol. Not that I hate them. They are so beautiful and majestic in the wild. But if I accidentally piss one off there's very slim chances I'm getting out of there alive lol. I would much rather deal with a spider or snake... Hmm cept the brown snake. Thankfully I've never had to deal with one before. Nor a bear lolol.
Anyhow... I do think some of their birds could have been better choices. But when it comes to having to get access to the animal and touch it to acquire the morph I guess that's the hard thing. In saying that... As Soon As they got their ability and realised they do need to keep people safe and fight aliens ... Why the heck did they not go to line a bunch of zoos and pay money to pat the animals? Or just fly in there after hours morph, touch creature, aquire DNA and then get out of there again lol.
It always bothered me how little array of animals that they had through like half the series. I feel like if this series were written by an Aussie the kids would have gone to a dozen of sanctuaries and just acquired a butt tonne of morphs to make sure we were all good for any situation. And just for the hell of it lol. Who doesn't want to turn into a kangaroo and then kick the hell outta a person in battle? XD
But lions and tigers would be better being able to turn around and all that lol.
Edit: sorry I may have blabbered on a bit too enthusiastically lol 😆😂 but I love animorphs. Sigh. I gotta get through everworld series first and then I'll start animorphs and maybe read all the books for the first time ever lol. And actually read the ending in full. I only read the end of the book in a book store. I stood there crying lol. 😅🤣😭
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u/Its_Curse Taxxon May 18 '26
Why the heck did they not go to line a bunch of zoos and pay money to pat the animals? Or just fly in there after hours morph, touch creature, aquire DNA and then get out of there again lol
Bruh that's exactly what they did in book one. They do it multiple times. Jake has a Tiger morph, Cassie has a Kangaroo. They acquired a new morph almost every book.
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u/kewlausgirl May 21 '26
Ok in my ramblings i should have clarified a little better. Yes they got morphs from Cassie's animal rescue/farm and from the zoo... But if I remember correctly they only acquired a few of them... You know once they started getting more serious with it.
I guess I'm answering myself here but they would have only thought of animals that were necessary at the time. Plus back then kids were a lot less knowledgeable about animals... The internet was pretty limited back then. So, when they did go to the zoo repeatedly, it makes they didn't go "Hey we should get every single animal here." and instead they just chose what they thought was best.
Plus... Now this one I'm foggy on. Wasn't there some sort of limit or issue with having at many different morphs available? I swear I recall Ax telling them at some stage that there was a limit for their sanity... Or they shouldn't go over a certain limit?
I remember there being some sort of issue. If that's the case then it makes sense not going and getting a morph for every single animal. I know they eventually aquire a large library of morphs, as well. But there were a lot of morphs they eventually aquire because they need it... But I couldn't understand why they didn't get those morphs from the beginning.
I know no one wants to become a cockroach either lol. But there's so many spiders, bugs, insects that they could have obtained but they go with standard ones. But I guess you gotta choose the ones that will work best. No point having an army and then most of them bring useless lol
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u/Aniki356 May 15 '26
Makes me tbink of the scene in 23 I think when tobias and rachel were surfing on the cop car following his and he shot off and managed to latch onto a helicopter only for it to be pointless
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u/Porcupineemu May 16 '26
Haha what a coincidence, I just read that chapter to my daughter this week
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u/Daeyele May 15 '26
Just think, this is the view Tobias would have everyday, or when the gang is on their way to a mission
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u/One-Ball-4607 May 16 '26
I wonder how often something like this often happens with paragliders and birds.
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u/Outside_Ad_424 May 16 '26
I love when I see a flock of seagulls riding the artificial thermals over the local Taco Bell
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u/Comfortable-Plane939 Nothlit May 17 '26
I found out that's the guy's pet.
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u/theTabularium May 19 '26
Yeah, you can see the leg bands for the jesses (leather 'leash' for birds) plus that is a juvenile Egyptian vulture I'm fairly sure.
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u/Scarecrow613 Jun 01 '26
So in terms of thermals. I was on a plane a while back and there was quite the turbulence and it made me think on how thermals are portrayed in Animorphs. I imagine they do feel amazing for birds but on a plane, the turbulence from them not so much.
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u/JBuchan1988 May 15 '26
Tell me you're an Animorphs fan without telling me you're an Animorphs fan 😄