[gurps] elephants

[Max, Dunedin, NZ]

> I'm assuming from the question that the character doesn't have enough
> experience to know it automatically, or the OP wouldn't have asked.

Being the OP... Yep, pretty much they are intelligent characters, some 
having skills which may be in the area (biology and naturalist, which 
most people have suggested), but would have actually come apon a live 
specimen of what they are viewing, or think they are viewing if it was 
actually the animal that it looks like at first glance.


>> And it doesn't need to.  From my daily experience I can tell you the
>> difference between collies and dobermans, and I've studied neither.
>> If elephants were a daily part of my life, I'd be able to tell you
>> which is which without any reference to naturalist skills.  It almost
>> falls under assumed area knowledge of one's home to be able to
>> recognize whether a gigantic animal looks like the ones you usually
>> see there.


On the example of Dogs, while I can personally name a few breeds when I 
encounter them, I was more looking for a skill which doesn't say ... 
"that's a collie", but more "that's _just_about_ a collie, but having a 
little closer look at it, and thinking about it a little, there is 
definably something odd going on here" (in my case the animals have been 
transported from different planes, but other examples may be it has been 
genetically modified slightly and escaped etc), the real question is 
what do you need to do to spot the 'hay, that isn't quite right'.


Me personally, if I saw a dog, I may be able to name the breed I 'think' 
it is, but unless there is something pretty dam weird about it, I 
wouldn't have much of a shot of thinking that its a GE'ed dog or 
x-planar dog etc.

And as such, if I went to a zoo, and there was a elephant, and the sign 
says it came from Africa, I couldn't look at its characteristics and 
have any idea if it did or not.



Thanks for all the inpuit everybody, its been helpful. :)


Max
Dunedin, New Zealand