#allopreening

[harkthorn]

Ohtori and Steve, here with a timeline cleanse

[sharp-teuth]

thinking about them

[onlyscarcelyscaly]

Also from February, the inside of a Valentine's Day card for my friend and their partner, featuring dinosaurs which correspond to their names (Dromaeosaurus and Foraminacephale).

Obviously not the most behaviorally plausible premise, but finding two contemporaneous and sympatric genera with even the same first letters as the names of the recipients was rough going, and stranger things have happened…

Oil paint and printout of text on cardstock, 2025

[flock-talk]

Eating some Quaker Oats for breakfast

[cairina-photography]

Splendid Fairywren Pair

Perth, Western Australia (2024)

[monsterritory]

Allopreening

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Do you think the non avian dinosaurs would have appreciated a good pat or scritches from us humans like some of their fellow birds get to enjoy? I imagine it'd feel esp good for the feathery dinos.

Allopreening is so common in so many birds I wouldn't be surprised. The real problem is that it isn't really observed in Paleognaths, so one could argue it only evolved in Neognaths. But, really, there are places where it's hard to reach, and Paleognaths tend to have longer necks and easier reaches (and the study didn't examine *every* Paleognath, so I would say the jury is still out). So I would say enjoying scritchles is just expected in allopreeners, and it is not impossible some feathered nonavians engaged in it! But even if not, many animals that don't do allopreening behaviors appreciate a good scratch. So, I'm giving you a very strong "probably to maybe" for this one.

[missingjackklinehours]

Archangels during preening season! <3

Gabriel HATES having his wings preened. He'll whine and try to run from Michael when it's his turn to have his wings done. It's why Michael always preens Gabriel's feathers first.

Raphael is GONE when it's preening season. like, she'll hide and nobody will find her until four weeks later. She prefers to groom her own wings and will get some help from animals if she needs it.

Lucifer thoroughly enjoys having his wings preened. He'll pretend he hates it and will give everyone shit about it but when the day comes, he'll roll around in dirt so his wings will take longer to do.

Michael absolutely LOVES having his wings touched, and preening season is his favorite time of the year. Though, as he's the oldest, nobody offers to preen his feathers often. He's ultimately too shy to ask anyone for help, but when one of his brothers offer, he lights up like the sun.