Of fur and scales
Rex: “I’m THIS close to spontaneously combusting and you guys are joking about having fur!”
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OOI, if Kai met Jesse or Jackie, would he remember dreaming about them?
Maybe he would. Although they were faces in the crowd in his dream, so not sure :p
Well, reptiles Do prefer warmer/hotter temps, while furry critters prefer the shade and cooler areas.
Yeah, they generally do ^^
Also, dragons tend to be endothermic in physiology, even though their exhalations are quite exothermic…
Most dragons tend to be pretty good at the whole keeping warm in my experience, but since the twins seem to be at least mostly non-magical dragons, them having problems in winter don’t seem that unlikely.
And by that I mean, that it was determined that their fire was biological, the dragons that have no problems with cold, tend to be the ones with magical fire, as their inner fire tend to keep them warm, with biological fire, it can’t really keep them warm when not in use.
“In my experience…”
Are you some kind of cryptozoologist?
I know there’s one species of reptile that lives in colder temperatures, the Leatherback Sea Turtle. Granted, they have insulation to help deal with swimming in the cold northern waters. They live in the northern regions of the ocean and are considere to be among the fastest swimmers on Earth.
It doesn’t apply to you, if you are a dragon – your inner fire is way hotter, than what the sun can heat up the air, and it provides you your inner warmth even in the winter.
They find their way to their home truck
where Rex and Nate are serving.
The Lizard ladies enjoy the heat
whilst Rex finds the heat unnerving.
He rises to the attack, though,
speaking of the fierce winter
whilst showing his best humour
(or, at least, giving a hint, huh?)
We see Zeke likes to keep quite close
and he’s really to be trusted.
The stage is set for Larissa
and how she’s going to get busted…
Yeah hot weather and thick insulating fur really don’t go together. I wouldn’t be surprised of some hybrids elect to shave much of their fur during the hotter parts of the year. But Rex does have the flip side correct! Bet Cleo likes spending her winter school breaks someplace nice and warm, like the Caribbean perhaps.
In the case of double coated dogs (basically dogs that shed) shaving can damage their fur and cause skin problems in the long run. Don’t know if that particular trait effects hybrids, but if so they’d have to find a different solution.
Hybrids based on such creatures probably would get rid of excess fur by shedding (Benji does IIRC) which would probably mean a full body brushing every couple of days to help remove excess hair. Other options might be going to the pool more or staying in an air conditioned area as much as possible.
I knew Rex was gonna be struggling with the heat! #IKnewIt
Don’t get me wrong, I’m 100% on his side. I’m a Canadian; I’m built for cold. Heat can go frick itself; there aren’t as many countermeasures against heat as there are against cold.
Yes, but the air conditioners north of the 49th or the Great Lakes, if you get that far east, or the 45th parallel if you get really far east, don’t have to work so hard as those in most of the States.
If you spring for deep ground source A/C, eg wells, it can be essentially free. When deep enough, the temp underground is essentially equal to long term average. So your A/c is running in say, 50F weather. 65F in south. Some areas don’t need A/C, just run water through a coil.
Rex is sweating. With fur. That’s interesting.
With furred hybrids being a *thing* one would think air conditioning would be more popular.
How do you propose an air conditioner would keep a non-enclosed space cool?
Living in lovely, warm 😑 Western Australia which is now in Summer, we have a variety of cooling mechanisms available for use. Aircon units are an Allspark sent, but for outside there are fans, some that are rigged to spray water mist which cools the area as it evaporates. There are also aircon units which work like a fridge, drawing heat from 1 side and venting it out the other, some places setting them up so multiple units blow cold into an outdoor area…
What? I used to be ship’s engineer before I decided to stop working for the bad guys and enjoy this new planet we had landed on…
Well he IS basically a human.
I like how the wolf just pops up to ruin their illusion of supposed superiority. Cleo and the twins probably have to really bundle tight to keep from feeling the chill in winter, and are likely pretty lethargic on cold days (possibly to the point they are more prone to just wanting to sleep than do any sort of activity).
What would probably be really amusing, in my opinion, would be us seeing Kaya and Cleo working on their own startup venture at around this same time (in-universe) next year, by that time both would have gotten to know each other’s strengths and preferences, also I think we just need more cute interactions between the two. Now, what sort of ventures do you think Cleo and Kaya would be trying out as a startup? It could be a fun game for us, and Robin, to play because speculation can be fun at times. And maybe Robin will play around with some of the ideas they like.
The twins at least maintain a normal human body temperature (when not intentionally heating the thermometer). They won’t go lethargic like reptiles do. I expect that Cleo is also warm-blooded. She is mostly human under her scales after all.
True, but it has been stated that hybrids tend to share attributes with the animal they seem to be based on, and for reptiles that means increased susceptibility to cold conditions, hence the lethargy at cooler temperatures, it’s one of the reasons reptile houses have a cold room (sedating reptiles by putting them somewhere cold means a lot for various reasons. So even if they do seem to maintain regular human body temperatures in most cases, there is still the chance a cold spell might affect them in a manner similar to that of reptiles.
As for dragons, they have been depicted in so many ways at this point that them having reptile-like behaviors in cold environments wouldn’t be too out of place. So the twins reacting similarly to Cleo during cold spell wouldn’t be all that unusual. Although, in the case of Kai and Kaya, they can literally start a fire to keep warm if they start feeling too cold to do anything.
i´m reading another web comic where they combat the winter lethargy by stuffing dozens(!) of these pocket heat pad thingies in their clothes…..cleo would probably have designer clothes with top insulation and inbuild rechargeable heaters.
Don’t forget how many thermometers Kai destroyed during his checkup – he’s cookin’ inside!
Heh. True; but I believe he was doing that on purpose. 😉
What , no Cheynas or Zuri ? X_X
Normally , Rex isn’t annoyed by the heat : a lot of furries can “change” their fur according the seasons ……. And we have to wait the “attack” of the witches , too
We do get Drago & Viper though!
Yes : at least , we have the famous reptile couple ^_^
I remember it suddenly : Rex can’t sweat , being a canine . Wolves and dogs pants , in place of
But Rex, being a hybrid, apparently has fur like a wolf and sweat glands like a human. The sweat should make his fur wet and sticky. Fur is much less insulating when wet, so the sweat serves its purpose. Rex’s cooling is probably less effective than sweat on bare skin though.
Clem: “Okay, time to freshen up…oh, who are you?”
Larissa: “There will be time for that later. For now, does this rag smell like chloroform to you?”
Katsumi: “Well…it seems like I was keeping an eye on the wrong person. Oops.”
I dunno.
I think the whole “polar bear hybrid” thing is going to to be the big wrench in their plan.
Yeah, especially if she does have some relation to Doc Nickel. Can we say “airstrike?”
The seats for tailed people are a nice touch.
Agreed! Of course, Mr. Romero has live-in test subjects making demands for that, but I think he’s nice and common-sensical enough to have thought of it even without them.
Hurray for clothes! They are much more flexible than fur. Hurray also for sweat glands. As much as I dislike sweating, it allows humans to keep going when other animals collapse from overheating.
I bet fur is quite effective against sunburn though.
re: White fur
Depends on the thickness. White horses can have a significant sunburn problem in real life.
I can’t wait to see Wintertime with both Dragons and Cleo are freezing while Rex is walking around like topless with a smile.
Rex: “While you’ll be freezing your tails off in the winter trying to stay awake, I’ll be walking through the snow in my underwear and still be warn!”
*Rex turns and sees Kaya and Cleo sporting pervy expressions as they picture Rex in his undies and what type of underwear he prefers*
*Rex starts blushing as his smirk fades to a panicked look of embarrassment*
Rex: “Wa-wait, I didn’t mean I’d literally do it… It was just a figure of speech!”
“Howl for us, Rex. Pleeeeaze?” – Kaya and Cleo 😉
Rex: *Blushing like crazy* “I WILL NOT!”
Kai: *Within the food truck* “Rex, you can show them your underwear or howl or whatever later! We’ve got customers to feed!”
Rex: *Mutters under his breath* “Who died and made you king?”
Kai: “I heard that, these ears aren’t just for show! I’m the Sous Chef, that makes me your boss right now!”
Rex, Kaya, & Cleo: *Thinking to themselves* “How does he bloody do that?”
Kai: *Spoken both mentally and verbally to the trio* “I heard that, too!
*Rex, Kaya, and Cleo panic*
Katsumi: “Stop the voices in my head!!!”
Snek girls be snekky
I do love the scaling girls laughing at the furry hybrids. I do like that they’re both scaled hybrids.
I actually find it interesting. Mammals generally cool off using sweat glands, scaled creatures don’t have them (I think), and have to rely on their environment. Or course, we know that the dragon twins are not cold blooded like many reptiles, assumably neither is Cleo. Despite their appearance, they are all technically human mammals.
So I wonder how the scales work with sweat glands? I’m surprised the scales don’t seem to trap heat, or maybe in warm weather the scales ‘open up’ more in order to vent?
Of course, come to that, based on Rex, canine hybrids do not sweat through their tongues, and sweat much like humans.
While mammals have sweat glands, only primates have big number of sweat glands used for thermoregulation. Most animals have just as hard time cooling by sweating as scaled creatures.
Which is an important part of how humans can chase down much faster animals like antelopes and cheetahs.
Isn’t fur also supposed to help insulate from the heat too though? Granted, it’s not like it would block all of it and would also insulate your own body heat against you.
Also makes me wonder just how sweating even works when you have fur since that’s mostly a human thing.
You own body heat is enough to cook you. You need to get rid of waste heat somehow.
Yes, but different layers of fur can be for different uses, similar to how different cloths can be useful for keeping the sun off you compared to others that are designed to keep you warm.
A lot of animals, including dogs, have winter coats that differ from their summer coat, with an outer layer of long, but thin hairs that deflect the sun from heating you up as much and keep insects out, and an inner layer of thick, short hairs that protect from the cold, which then fall out in the summer.
Scales might actually backfire in warm-blooded animals as they are often poor insulators, meaning the sun’s energy is going to go straight into their core.
I think someone needs to explain to wolf boy what the word “dragon” means.
Kai and Kaya may not have fur like Clementine, Benji, or Rex, but I doubt they’d need it to keep warm in the winter as they’re practically living furnaces that produce their own fuel. They have shown themselves capable (at least, Kai has) of raising their internal temperature at will without overheating immediately, even if it’s just in their mouths. Plus, Dragon’s blood is said to possess mystical properties, namely being able to heat up enough to melt through armor (when it’s not just acidic) when the Dragon has been immediately wounded. Reptile Hybrids (not just the Mythical ones) probably aren’t ectothermic due to being half Human, at the very least they’re mesothermic (in between cold blooded/ectothermic and warm blooded/endothermic) like how Dinosaurs are theorized to have been. The twins, however, are likely exothermic/hot-blooded, in more ways than one!
Also, it just occurred to me that Kaya and Cleo are back at the food truck and – going by panel 1 – Larissa isn’t there yet. Which means that (a) bets are back on for Marco being able to refuse service to Larissa on the grounds of knowing she’s going to be trouble, because Cleo or Kaya can identify her to him, and (b) Larissa, being the coward she is, might just be intimidated by being outnumbered.
Given how close she is to having a full head of hair again, I imagine Larissa could be scared off just by Kaya blowing a tiny stream of fire out of the corner of her mouth like a smoker’s puff.
“Larissa, being the coward she is, might just be intimidated by being outnumbered.”
I can’t seem to recall a moment of cowardice. I don’t think she’s smart enough.
Museum arc. She made to intimidate Cleo only until Kaya returned, and when they met up with the others, Larissa tried to attack from range.
Doesn’t necessarily make her a coward. -Might- be that she’s just -slightly- smarter than we all assume. 😉
it took me a few days to actually get what he meant by that XD, cold blooded reptiles
https://www.twindragonscomic.com/comic/temperature-rising/
I thought the dragons weren’t cold-blooded?