Blood Moon Series - Extras

SWS Animal Extras

As you read, there are a variety of animals seen and heard in my book. Each species used was one I had already known about from previous reading/teaching or learned about from researching and cross-referencing. (As I hope any who use animals in their books do)

While truth was obviously stretched in some areas for fantasy purposes, most facts given are actual facts. Sounds, for example, was a big one that I stuck to. All the noises made by each animal are what those critters actually make. There are some cats that don't purr, and there are some big cats that don't roar.

Faline, Nicolaus, and Benji were the three main cats here, followed by Lady, Ava(and Lily), and Orion. That list gives you an ocelot, mountain lion, white Bengal tiger, then a leopard, snow leopards, and an African lion.

Those 'zombie' sounds that Faline makes while in animal form weren't an exaggeration, the ocelot - for a relatively small cat - has a very deep and scary timbre: 

As such, their purr is also very deep and misleading when first heard.

Another noise I had Faline make were those 'no no no' mantras. While I don't know if the ocelots can actually do this or not, I don't see why they couldn't, as it's just a moving of the throat, tongue, and jaw at just the right time. So picture the above noise with this: 

Makes for some interesting visuals, no? For sure gets the point across I would think when you can't speak otherwise.

As for Nicolaus; his mountain lion/puma/cougar/Florida panther - also has some distinct vocals. For a big cat, they make cute, high pitched calls/squeaks to one another. Most often heard from a female to her kittens, but also used as communication like wolves do with barks and howls: 

Their purrs are also very deep and loud, sounding much like a car motor when they are content or happy.

Benjamin is the white Bengal tiger and they are one of the cats that don't purr, they instead 'chuff' or do a type of staggered snort. In the scene where Benji first shifts and is laying in Kie's lap, the sound he makes is a 'chuffing':

As you hear in the video, they also moan and groan, and aren't exactly quiet about it. In there you can also get an idea of how big they are, although those were female, so they'd be slightly smaller, and Benji would be slightly larger than a normal male.

Ava and Lily are snow leopards, and while not overly vocal, they do seem to be known for their crazy bouts of hyperness: 

While Ava is more 'contained', I picture Lily to be much like that, especially now that she is free to be herself when Kie is around. I was able to find a clip of a snow mew purring too: 

Not exactly what you'd think, is it? lol

Lady is a leopard, and while there are many types out there, she specifically is an African leopard, and they sound like this when purring:

You don't hear her do it too often in the story, but she does a few times with Faline

Orion, the freakishly tall man who's an African Lion, you don't see till the end of the book and see just how massive he is. You never realize just how big - big cats are until you're right next to them, then they're huge. Even moreso if you're in a form that makes you so much smaller than they.

They aren't exactly the quietest cats either, but luckily Orion doesn't do any of this in the story when his inner animal comes out. They make a range of sounds, but trying to find any of those is damn near impossible when everyone obsesses over just their roars or without the video being forever long(documentary).

You of course have the other animals; the canines. The wolves being the main one here and then the singular maned wolf. I think everyone who've stuck with this book knows what a wolf sounds like, even still, I'd like to throw this in here:  

(Other canines do get brought up, just as other felines, but these are the main ones)

Xavier is the maned wolf - You don't see too many of those in shapeshifter novels that I see, so I wanted to put a spotlight on the critter and give it a little fame. They are highly elusive loners that are rarely heard due to being nowhere near as vocal as actual wolves. The big one they are known for is their roar-bark: 

You hear of the Dogdeer making this bark in the story, it isn't one Kie particularly wants to hear often. They do have some 'quieter' sounds, which almost mimic the fox in nature:

He makes these as well, but he's mostly quiet, speaking telepathically while in animal form or body language.