wild felines?

[Yvonne]

Okay, I'm guilty... it's been years since I picked up an AM book. *feels bad* But I was wondering... where do all these wild felines come from? Did the Pern settlers really bring along a pride of lions? (since lions are the only big cats I can think of offhand that hunt and live in groups) There's no way that they're native fauna.... educate me, please! I'm dying of curiosity!

[Cali]

Tubberman played genetic madman and thought they'd be better than the grubs at destroying thread.  Then they ate him and escaped into the wild and bred like crazy.

[Vix]

To put it simply:
The original settlers brought along a variety of animal types, many still egg/fetus/whatever. Some survived in the environment, some did not. As the settlers moved to wider areas, they had a little more autonomy, including some who were skilled in genetics. One -- a certain Ted Tubberman -- disagreed with the politicos at Landing (the original settlement) and lived on his own compound, doing his own thing.

Then came Thread. It messed up many folks' lives (I told you this is the simple version). To shelter from it, the colonists moved to the Northern Continent, abandoning the South.

Ted and family had their problems, both with Thread and with his pet breeding project: felines. Ted was killed by one of his projects, his family abandoned the settlement, and the felines were left to run wild.


I think I've covered most of it -- hopefully correctly. You'll have to read Dragonsdawn if you want to know for sure.

[Dana]

According to the DLG, the type of feline Tubberman experimented with was the cheetah.

[Cali]

Which AM later discribed more as a lion in the later books. :/

[Amanda N]

Don't you just love lack of continuity?

[Cali]

yeah, well the DLG is horrible about that stuff.  Dragons the size of 747 jumbo jets and all that.  

[Amanda N]

Yeah, I know.  Thing is, there's some useful stuff in there too.  Oh well.

[Cali]

oh yeah, I love the DLG, but it's like that person at work who always has these tall tales and claims to be an expert on everything, you've just got to take everything with a grain of salt. :D

[emma]

I love my DLG, because it's signed!

[Amanda N]

Lucky. :-p  Did you go to Ireland personally?

[Yvonne]

Ah! Well thank you kindly!! That explains things to my satisfaction. And if they're cheetahs, I guess they'd have spots, which is nice to know. Even if they're more like lions. Lions with spots?

[emma]

Lucky. :-p  Did you go to Ireland personally?

Sadly no, but e-bay is my best friend!

[Amanda N]

I want to meet her and she's going to be at Dragoncon in GA this Fall, but I can't go.  Not enough money. :(