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If this topic is already on here, my apologies, I must have missed it.

While both humans and canines are both omnivorous, the foods we can eat are markidly differant. Humans can easily digest (in fact, human health can be improved) by foods that can cause extremly painful deaths in canines (Chocolate, onions and garlic being the most common) where-as canines, leaning much more towards the 'carnivore' edge of the omnivore spectrum, can eat meat that would be 'to far gone' for a human to digest safely.
My question is this. Most people seem to have werewolves as a perfect amalgum, is that the case here, or do some of the problems with the digestive tract appear? Is the resistance to decaying meat weaker? Is onion, garlic and chocolate poison to them? And could the weakness to those food types be a way for werewolves to be identified, like garlic with hollywood vampires?
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And on a simular subject.
How does the gesalt of eye types work? In order to see better in the dark, canines sacrifice cones (color) for rods (black and white). While simply addint the reflective layer at the back of the reitna would increase night vision capabilities, it would not really be enough unless some color vision was sacrificed. Which, again, would be a way for a werewolf to be I.D.ed.

Switching gears.
Do werewolves gain or loose mass as they shift? If they keep the same amount of mass it could mean that they were heavy for their size in human and wolf form, while being overall larger (and weighing what one would expect) in gesalt form
And for the ability of 'super strength'. That could be managed by having the muscles, bones tendons and such being denser then normal human/wolf physiology (sp?), but controversly, that would make them heavier, meaning a human could escape them by climbinb out on something that could not support a werewolves weight (climbing a rickety fireescape or the like, perhaps?)
Also, while gesalt would be the perfect close range fighting form, it would be slower then wolf form, and detrigrade legs would make climbing very difficult.
...And am I the only one that looks at the thick fur werewolves have and goes 'well, they wouldn't be comfortable in hot climates'.
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And I'm going to head off to return to post-hurricane cleanup, and thus avoid the angry mob! I'll try to get on again sometime later...
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Please no killie the tired one who just got power back?

-Alteron

Garlic is poisonous to dogs?

Yes, it is. Not AS deadly as onions/chocolate, but still.
Ummm, *scoures through some old websites from when she was taking vet classes* Ah, here's a good one.

http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/Sto ... ory_no=257

Also... There are some other herbs/plants that have ill effects on canines, but those are the top three that spring to mind that people would have easy access to.
(Dad twisted his ankle, so we all came in for the night (day?)... Darn it all our clocks are still way off, what TIME (EST) is it?)

Alteron wrote: And on a simular subject.
How does the gesalt of eye types work? In order to see better in the dark, canines sacrifice cones (color) for rods (black and white). While simply addint the reflective layer at the back of the reitna would increase night vision capabilities, it would not really be enough unless some color vision was sacrificed. Which, again, would be a way for a werewolf to be I.D.ed.

That was discussed a bit in this thread:
http://calypso-blue.com/werewolf/viewtopic.php?t=1357

IIRC, in gestalt form there was a sacrifice in color vision and acuity for increase in night vision.

And as for the time:

In a older thread vision was discussed. I think the conclusion was that vision depends on forms. Gestalt having a vision between Wolf-and-man. Which is like a...faded form of our vision do to some lack of colors. There was a picture somewhere in it that compared normal vision and a susposed werewolf-vision.

On food, I think in another thread, someone chocolate could be said to possibly have a affect similar to alcohol in terms of damage to the body (no getting drunk off chocolate though) and would be detrimental, but only fatal in large doses. I'd figure the same would apply to garlic and onions. etc.

Rotted meat, I dunno. I'd say they could. But would have a better chance if in Wolf-form.

...And am I the only one that looks at the thick fur werewolves have and goes 'well, they wouldn't be comfortable in hot climates'.
...

Wolves shed. And besides, they have humaniod forms. Just shift to that to ride out the heat. Not like you're entirely defenseless in that form. If you have a weapon, of course. Like a big stick, rock, sword, firearm....

Lupin wrote: That was discussed a bit in this thread:
http://calypso-blue.com/werewolf/viewtopic.php?t=1357

Ack! Sorry, I missed it
*bows* My sincere apologies, I will do my best to avoid making a simular mistake in the future.

Lupin wrote: IIRC, in gestalt form there was a sacrifice in color vision and acuity for increase in night vision.

Ah! That IS interesting.

Lupin wrote: And as for the time:

...Oh lordy... Ooookay, time for this one to go to bed (I was wondering why I had such a bad headache)
-Alteron

I would say the digestrive tract would depend on the form. When in human form, a werewolf's digestive abilities would be close to those of a human. When a wolf, his/her digestive abilities would be close to that. Gestalt, I imagine, would be a combination, but leaning towards the wolf side of things. Able to handle raw meat easily, but vulnerable to what you mention, to an extent.

Aki wrote:In a older thread vision was discussed. I think the conclusion was that vision depends on forms. Gestalt having a vision between Wolf-and-man. Which is like a...faded form of our vision do to some lack of colors. There was a picture somewhere in it that compared normal vision and a susposed werewolf-vision.

This one?

Aki wrote:

...And am I the only one that looks at the thick fur werewolves have and goes 'well, they wouldn't be comfortable in hot climates'.
...

Wolves shed. And besides, they have humaniod forms. Just shift to that to ride out the heat. Not like you're entirely defenseless in that form. If you have a weapon, of course. Like a big stick, rock, sword, firearm....

Haha, that would be something. Waking up in the morning in a bed full of hair.

Or your mom or someone comes in to wash your sheets and finds massive piles of hair in your bed

As for food, maybe oinions, garlic, and chocolate just make werewolves sick if they eat a little too much. You know how some people feel kinda sick when they eat certain foods? (Pancakes and waffles for me ) Maybe if they eat a little bit garlic, an oinion, or a chocolate bar, they feel a little sick and need to go lie down. Then the more they eat, the worse they feel. Just a thought from me

On the subject of shedding:
True, as a human you wouldn't feel too much of an adverse effect, though if you're a northener with 'thick blood' you'd still feel uncomfortable. But I meant more along the lines of 'in gesalt or wolf forms' they'd be uncomfortable. As someone who used to own shelties (...I miss my babies ) they would definitly feel the heat, at least if they were down in south florida, central america, the islands near the equator, the northen areas of S.America, etc. Which might explain why werewolf legends always seem to be in the areas north or south of the equator/tropics.

On onions, etc:
Yeah, that would make sense.
See, this is why I am enjoying this board so much, INTELLIGENT people!

-Alteron

EEK! I much more embrace the cold than the heat. Of course, I live in New England so that could be the reason. I couldn't imagine being under thick fur in 100+ F weather. Talk about overheating

I'm a 'thin blood' myself. South Florida, 90 to 100 percent humidity, weather rarely gettin' below 80 (in fact, I consider 80 kinda brisk). That's what I like;)

Yeah on the overheating... though WW ...guh, too much work in war resaerch, I can't see or write that without thinking WWI or WWII... anyway, WW that have lived in hot areas for long periods of time MAY have evolved thinner, shorter fur and slightly larger ears, much like humans' skins lightened as we moved north out of africa and into areas with colder climates and less direct sunlight.

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And I think we're off the topic of poisons;)
Let's see. Humans can eat more plants then wolves... but could it be possible that, like bears, werewolves could eat some plantlife (meat types) that neither could handle, while still having some weaknesses? (onions/chocolate/aged meat)

I'll buy that. Sort of like there are different traits more beneficial in some climates than others. Certainly.

And thanks for bringing this (and me) back to the topic at hand. Yeah I think it can be said that they'll be able to handle some ruffage other animals might not be able to. I certainly don't see why not

Alteron wrote:) they would definitly feel the heat, at least if they were down in south florida, central america, the islands near the equator, the northen areas of S.America, etc. Which might explain why werewolf legends always seem to be in the areas north or south of the equator/tropics.

Mexican Wolf

Ethiopian Wolf.

Both live in hot climates (and both unfortunately, are dying out. Stupid people killing them.. <_< )

I'll start off with the fur and then circle back around to the food because I thought of something I'd like to add to what I said earlier

Perhaps if you're a "thin blood" you don't get as furry. I'd hope so because I live in a desert and when the heat first starts coming on I can't stand it! Once I'm use to it, I can wander around in jeans and be fine. But with fur- oh man! You'd have to figure out how to shave while in gestalt form (outcome might be pretty funny though ). It sort of makes sense that they'd just "get used to it", but I like the idea of being able to grow the necessary amount of fur depending on the season. After all, you could still grow a nice, thick coat but be chilly or have thin fur and be hot, but not to an excessive degree.

Back to food, I totally forgot about aged meat. If you go with chocolate and all that making a werewolf feel a little queasy, then maybe aged meat is okay and they can eat more in human form without feeling sick than they could with chocolate and stuff. Okay, I'm done

I will address the food part of the question because food is one of my favorite things.

IMO, and as I've said before, the werewolf form should have the best of both worlds. The capacity to eat both the "too far gone for humans" meat as well as the "poisonous to canines" onions and chocolate without any ill effects is what I mean.

Maybe it's just because that, as an author... I hate the idea of 'perfection', as there is no such thing as perfect in the real world. Thus I dislike the idea that WW are 'perfect' in any of their three forms and would like some weaknesses to exist. Even if they evolved as generalists (canines and humans are generalitsts after all) sharing the weaknesses (even if they have a lslight increase from one or the other) would be a realistic touch.
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Hmmm, relating to this topic... humans have many more taste buds on the tounge then wolves, this helps the sense of taste compensate for the weak sense of smell... but it also means that they can taste 'oderless' things that wolves could not. Would a WW have a human or wolf type sense of taste?

I say whatevers more dominate, so it would be the human taste.

thier tast would be somewhere between the two, i wuld think...

I'd say that since the head, nose and mouth are more lupine, the sense of taste would be too.

[quote="Lupin"][quote="Aki"]In a older thread vision was discussed. I think the conclusion was that vision depends on forms. Gestalt having a vision between Wolf-and-man. Which is like a...faded form of our vision do to some lack of colors. There was a picture somewhere in it that compared normal vision and a susposed werewolf-vision.[/quote]

This one?
[URL=http://lupin.nonexiste.net/view.php/aut ... viz3od.jpg][img]http://lupin.nonexiste.net/wereviz3od.jpg[/img][/URL][/quote]

It acurly dosn't matter we would still be abliy to see colore.

sorry spelling.

dnl wrote:

Lupin wrote:

Aki wrote:In a older thread vision was discussed. I think the conclusion was that vision depends on forms. Gestalt having a vision between Wolf-and-man. Which is like a...faded form of our vision do to some lack of colors. There was a picture somewhere in it that compared normal vision and a susposed werewolf-vision.

This one?

It acurly dosn't matter we would still be abliy to see colore.

sorry spelling.

Yah, but our ability to see color would be worse.

nope

"Nope" Alone isn't a statement

Why sould vision change with form? Won't that damage your eyes focus or be impractical? Seeing full colour then in black'n'white dosen't make sence to me.
If that supposed werewolf visual range was the same in all forms that sounds better to me. Sacrificing some colour for better sight in the dark, makes sence for a preditory animal to have equil vision both day and night.