Size Inconsistency of Species and What's With Horses?

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

A number of facts about this show seem a little inconsistent, or lacking in appropriate explanation. That's only natural: it's a cartoon that wasn't really created with an intent to do massive worldbuilding on the scale of, say, a fantasy novel series. While plenty of worldbuilding exists, it's not quite as prevelant as it could be, and the worldbuilding leaves some odd questions unanswered.

 

The issues I wish to address are that of horses, and the size inconsistences of other species relative to the ponies.

 

Horses are constantly mentioned in one way or another, whether it's the subtle cursing of Rainbow Dash saying "horseapples" to all the random uses of phrases like "Hold your horses" and "horsing around." We can see in The Best Night Ever that horses actually exist as a real species too, because although the horses we see in that episode are technically transformed mice, they're still close enough for our purposes, which is noting the size differences. As one familiar with both horses and ponies in real life would expect, the horses towered over the ponies, making them look positively puny. Those horses were larger than Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who themselves are still quite massive relative to the typical adult pony.

 

Now, on its own, the subject of horses in FIM is fascinating. What are they like compared to the ponies? Twilight's actions in The Best Night Ever, where she merely wanted to treat horses as draft animals the way that humans typically do in real life, suggests that the horses are not sentient, intelligent beings. They appear to be a lesser cousin species, something akin to gorillas or orangutans for humans, only probably nowhere near as intelligent. The horses we saw in the episode also appeared to resemble real life horses far more than the ponies do real life ponies, which argues in favor of my hypothesis that the Equestrian ponies are, biologically, rather different from real life ponies, not just in terms of intelligence but in terms of other facets of their anatomy, such as posessing binocular vision. Or in other words, if they were to somehow be brought into real life, they wouldn't look like a real-life pony.

 

But the issue of horses raises another, much larger question: why are the other species we see on the show sized inconsistently? Anyone who has been around cows, donkeys, sheep, bison, zebras, etc, will tell you they're generally larger than what we've seen on the show. Far larger, in fact. All of the intelligent species we've seen are sized relative to the ponies and not relative to horses. Why?

 

Well, the answer to that question is the reason I've made this thread, because I don't know the answer and wished to bring it up as a topic of discussion. While there's always the answer of "because it works better since the ponies are the characters of the show and therefore everything is sized relative to them" that answer misses the point of why I wish to discuss this topic. I want to see if we can't figure out a good, in-universe reason for why this might be.

 

One possible explanation is that there are both sentient and non-sentient varieties of ALL the intelligent species' we've seen, with each of the non-sentient versions being much larger, more real-life size, than the intelligent variety. That admittedly is an explanation with absolutely no real basis for evidence from the show, but it is a thought, at least.

 

So, what does everyone else think?

[Slendermane 477]

It is possible that ponies evolved from a common ancestor from horses, donkeys, and zebras. We don't know if there are any non-sentient hooved animals or not. We don't even know if there are any horses alive, or if Twilight knew about horses from her books (like a prehistoric species or fictional creature). I think that their world has a powerful energy field which they refer to as magic. Ponies evolved with the ability to use this energy field for their own purposes. The magic of the three races, cutie marks, and even raising the sun and moon (which may be smaller than our world. Their world may not have a sun like ours, or it could have died long ago and ponies were forced to create an artificial sun from magic (actually, that is a good idea. I may have to make a separate post about this.)).

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

I'm going to step away from an in-universe explanation and trend toward a design decision made by the producers and artists working on the show.

 

A fair number of the regular characters or sentient creatures are comperable in size to the ponies. For example, Gilda, Zecora, and Cranky Doodle are all within the same size range of the Mane Six and other young adult ponies, give or take a few feet. Practically speaking, it may simply be easier to keep characters with which ponies have regular interaction at a relatively even size. In that way they are more relatable to the ponies; they can easily move through Ponyville or pony populations without forcing an explanation as to why the ponies are fine with a giant griffin moving through their town. It's similar to how numerous alien races in science fiction are approximately the same height, weight, and build as humans. Because they look like humans, people---whether the audience or characters---are less likely to be repulsed. Since the sentient beings in MLP: FiM are often the same size and build as ponies, there is less need for cognitive and social adjustment to their appearance.

 

Of course, dragons are shown to be sentient: in "Dragonshy", the dragon filling Equestria with smoke could communicate by speaking. But dragons are on the whole greedy and destructive, so their enlarged size makes sense. Therefore, if you really want to establish a creature being menacing, then increase their size. Inversely, you can make them smaller so that they appear to be harmless, unassuming, and/or dependent on larger creatures (i.e., ponies) for regular care. If they are social and natural equals to ponies, however, it makes some sense in terms of design to have creatures who are then similar to ponies, the human being stand ins.

 

So relative sizes serve a dual purpose of providing ease for the animators and for the audience. Most of the characters are similarly proportioned. The differences in species correlates to racial or cultural differences in our reality: bison were equivalent to Native Americans; Zecora is some form of native African; cows are depicted as similar to north midwestern American (i.e., Minnesota, the Dakotas). One might argue then that in Equestria, most if not all the standard sentient creatures which possess a classically defined will and intellect come from a similar genetic pool, so to speak, explaining their relative size and intelligence. Ponies happened to evolve and develop in such a way that they became the preeminent group due to their internal diversity and magical prowess.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Thereisnospoon303

[Eenohay 318]

it is possible for horses like the ones seen in the best night ever are infact prehistorical ancestors of ponies, or wild creatures wich live far from cities and are not common such as gorilas or orangutans. Twilight knew about them from a book and figured they would be good for pulling.

 

But my other theory, is that just there are fewer horses, such as big mac, or dash's bullies. That's why they are constantly refered to in the show.

 

Now here's the thing. In real life we have horses wich are normal and ponies wich are small. In equestria we have ponies wich are normal and horses wich are big or giant. The donkeys and zebras are all pony size wich might just be like our horses, with character like big mac being huge giant horses

[DrOphthalmos 497]

I applaud you for bringing this up. I have had similar thoughts concerning horses, especially since at the end of one of my favorite episodes, "Suited for Success" Twilight actually uses the old saying of not looking a gift horse in the mouth. A gift horse... I do not think the ponies practice slavery. I really do believe horses exist in the pony world and that they are, as in our world, animals that can be used for certain tasks but not our intellectual equal.

 

As for the binocular vision, that could probably be a whole thread on its own. Binocularity tends to be enjoyed by creatures that need to strike out at something - in other words, predators. Horses have eyes far on the sides of their heads because they are scanning for predators. From what I can tell, the ponies do not have the threat of predation on them. But, could it also be possible, that they are not vegetarians? Thinking of the pony diet, it seems to consist mostly of apples and sweets. However, I have noticed a blue young pony in Apple Bloom's class who has a bow and arrow cutie mark. Ok, you could argue that the pony only does that for the sport and isn't actually hunting (how does an earth pony use bows and arrows anyway? sticky hooves argument?) but then I noticed a background pegasus with a fish cutie mark. This made me wonder if that pegasus could fish by diving for them like certain birds in our world. Then again, maybe they just keep an aquarium. I am suspicious that ponies may be omnivores - will the show ever show one eating meat? I am guessing not. The real answer is probably that they have binocular vision just to further anthropomorphize them for our enjoyment.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

It is possible that ponies evolved from a common ancestor from horses, donkeys, and zebras. We don't know if there are any non-sentient hooved animals or not. We don't even know if there are any horses alive, or if Twilight knew about horses from her books (like a prehistoric species or fictional creature). I think that their world has a powerful energy field which they refer to as magic. Ponies evolved with the ability to use this energy field for their own purposes. The magic of the three races, cutie marks, and even raising the sun and moon (which may be smaller than our world. Their world may not have a sun like ours, or it could have died long ago and ponies were forced to create an artificial sun from magic (actually, that is a good idea. I may have to make a separate post about this.)).

 

That is actually a rather interesting point, the notion of horses actually being a prehistoric creature, possibly extinct. And yet...Twilight didn't seem to quite act like she was temporarily resurrecting a species when she transformed those mice. Everyone else is fairly familiar with horses too, even Pinkie, who as we may recall needed to have griffons explained to her.

 

Still, that's not a bad thought.

 

 

I'm going to step away from an in-universe explanation and trend toward a design decision made by the producers and artists working on the show.

 

*snip most of post for brevity's sake*

 

So relative sizes serve a dual purpose of providing ease for the animators and for the audience. Most of the characters are similarly proportioned. The differences in species correlates to racial or cultural differences in our reality: bison were equivalent to Native Americans; Zecora is some form of native African; cows are depicted as similar to north midwestern American (i.e., Minnesota, the Dakotas). One might argue then that in Equestria, most if not all the standard sentient creatures which possess a classically defined will and intellect come from a similar genetic pool, so to speak, explaining their relative size and intelligence. Ponies happened to evolve and develop in such a way that they became the preeminent group due to their internal diversity and magical prowess.

 

That's exactly why I figured they did it, out of universe wise. It just makes things easier and keeps things much more relatable.

 

In-universe though, which is what I was getting at, we still don't quite have an explanation. I like your idea of them possibly sharing one genetic ancestor, some precursor species that contributed the intelligence and will, that then spread out to so many other species.

 

The question is, why? What made evolution work differently on their world? Or is that even the right question? After all we may be making too many presumptions about how biology works on their world.

it is possible for horses like the ones seen in the best night ever are infact prehistorical ancestors of ponies, or wild creatures wich live far from cities and are not common such as gorilas or orangutans. Twilight knew about them from a book and figured they would be good for pulling.

 

But my other theory, is that just there are fewer horses, such as big mac, or dash's bullies. That's why they are constantly refered to in the show.

 

Now here's the thing. In real life we have horses wich are normal and ponies wich are small. In equestria we have ponies wich are normal and horses wich are big or giant. The donkeys and zebras are all pony size wich might just be like our horses, with character like big mac being huge giant horses

 

Big Mac and the three Pegasi bullies aren't horses though. They're ponies. They're just larger because they're males. If Big Mac were an actual horse, he'd be MUCH larger than everypony else.

 

I applaud you for bringing this up. I have had similar thoughts concerning horses, especially since at the end of one of my favorite episodes, "Suited for Success" Twilight actually uses the old saying of not looking a gift horse in the mouth. A gift horse... I do not think the ponies practice slavery. I really do believe horses exist in the pony world and that they are, as in our world, animals that can be used for certain tasks but not our intellectual equal.

There are some who have speculated that sheep and cows, at the very least, are something akin to servant or even slave races due to the way they're tied up in pens, in barns, wrangled, etc. Until recently we hadn't seen a cow walking around on their own, but in the two most recent episodes we've seen a couple of examples, such as the oxen pulling the cart of anvils in Hearts and Hooves Day, and the cow seen at the beginning of A Friend In Deed.

 

Frankly though I don't like that notion at all because it sits very poorly with me. The thought of the ponies actually using slave labor...I don't want to consider it.

 

As for the binocular vision, that could probably be a whole thread on its own. Binocularity tends to be enjoyed by creatures that need to strike out at something - in other words, predators. Horses have eyes far on the sides of their heads because they are scanning for predators. From what I can tell, the ponies do not have the threat of predation on them. But, could it also be possible, that they are not vegetarians? Thinking of the pony diet, it seems to consist mostly of apples and sweets. However, I have noticed a blue young pony in Apple Bloom's class who has a bow and arrow cutie mark. Ok, you could argue that the pony only does that for the sport and isn't actually hunting (how does an earth pony use bows and arrows anyway? sticky hooves argument?) but then I noticed a background pegasus with a fish cutie mark. This made me wonder if that pegasus could fish by diving for them like certain birds in our world. Then again, maybe they just keep an aquarium. I am suspicious that ponies may be omnivores - will the show ever show one eating meat? I am guessing not. The real answer is probably that they have binocular vision just to further anthropomorphize them for our enjoyment.

 

Binocular vision is also just plain useful for a lot of the tasks more intelligent creatures carry out. How much harder would it be to use tools to construct a home, to create other tools, and such tasks without binocular vision?

 

Still, you have another point I've been contemplating myself, that being the ponies may very well be omnivores after all. Their brains likely require massive amounts of energy, much like how human brains do, and meat would provide a good source of both calories and protein. Especially protein which would be essential to the strength of Earth Ponies and probably Pegasi as well, since Pegasi likely need incredibly strong muscles. We've also seen many cases where they appear to consume foods outside the dietary range of real life ponies, such as the eggs Rarity was preparing in Sisterhoove Social, or the hot dogs Pinkie mentions in Fall Weather Friends. There's also that anomaly in A Bird in the Hoof, a sandwich on the buffet table that looks very much like a ham sandwich. (Of course, we also then have Pinkie claiming their diets are completely vegetarian in Over a Barrel...)

 

The question then becomes, what meat do they eat? I would suspect they would not quite eat the range of meats that humans do. While they might be omnivorous, they still have a different set of dietary needs. In addition, most of the animals that we humans would consume are sentient in their universe, making the prospect of meat eating much less...appetizing. They may be forced to stick to fish and possibly poultry and pork, since we've seen no sign of intelligence from the pigs or the chickens.

[Shankveld 4,949]

Kyronea, you always write these huge posts D:

 

you need to make a tl;dr section for us light readers ~

[DrOphthalmos 497]

I have a very hard time imagining Fluttershy, the owner of a chicken coop, giving any of them up for meal consumption purposes. Eggs definitely seem a possibility given the breakfast eggs in Sisterhooves Social though, we never actually see them crack open an egg.

 

http://chzbronies.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-cooking-with-rarity.jpg

 

As for lamb meat, I would find it very disturbing since sheep can talk though Apple Jack hardly treated them like equals. Wool slaves?

 

http://chzbronies.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-nopony-asked-your-opinion1.gif

 

Steak would definitely be a no-no given we have that Sarah Palin cow walking around, Daisy Jo. Hmmm, but would the ponies drink milk? Or do only cows drink milk? And apparently Daisy Jo likes oatmeal cookies to go with milk...

 

Hot dogs - as in our world, I bet the "meat" there will remain a mystery. After all, vegetarian hot dogs do exist.

[Eenohay 318]

I have a very hard time imagining Fluttershy, the owner of a chicken coop, giving any of them up for meal consumption purposes. Eggs definitely seem a possibility given the breakfast eggs in Sisterhooves Social though, we never actually see them crack open an egg.

 

http://chzbronies.fi...with-rarity.jpg

 

As for lamb meat, I would find it very disturbing since sheep can talk though Apple Jack hardly treated them like equals. Wool slaves?

 

http://chzbronies.fi...ur-opinion1.gif

 

Steak would definitely be a no-no given we have that Sarah Palin cow walking around, Daisy Jo. Hmmm, but would the ponies drink milk? Or do only cows drink milk? And apparently Daisy Jo likes oatmeal cookies to go with milk...

 

Hot dogs - as in our world, I bet the "meat" there will remain a mystery. After all, vegetarian hot dogs do exist.

 

This is the thing

 

Cows and sheeps are confirmed as intelligent, although I bet we all like it better if we ignored that one line a sheep said. Because the only explanation is that sheeps are slaves treated like animals, exploited for their wool.

 

Cows are kinda slaves, although we've only seen them in a farm once, in trixie's episode, maybe we can consider that more like a milk factory, since one of the cows actually went into a store in town, they don't seem so slavey

 

then there's chickens. Non intelligent creatures, wich provide eggs, not meat. (As seen in sister hooves socials)

 

But here's the thing... Pigs... pigs only use is for meat. Sure, ponies are vegetarians, but what about the hot dog eating competition? Atleast pigs don't seem to be inteligent... but still, ponies shouldn't eat meat! Are they just pets?

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

 

Steak would definitely be a no-no given we have that Sarah Palin cow walking around, Daisy Jo.

 

I think you are mis-steak-in (Get it?) there. Daisy Jo is based on Edie McClug portraying the secretary in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" I actually thought it was her for a while!

 

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

Kyronea, you always write these huge posts D:

 

you need to make a tl;dr section for us light readers ~

 

I would have laughed rather heartily at this had I been at home and not at college. As it was I had to satisfy myself with some light snickering.

 

I have a lot to say, and rarely can I condense it without losing the meaning of what I'm saying.

 

 

I have a very hard time imagining Fluttershy, the owner of a chicken coop, giving any of them up for meal consumption purposes. Eggs definitely seem a possibility given the breakfast eggs in Sisterhooves Social though, we never actually see them crack open an egg.

 

http://chzbronies.fi...with-rarity.jpg

Well, the poultry was speculation on my part. I have to say I'd find it unlikely that Fluttershy would eat any meat even if she is actually an omnivore...if she were human, she'd definitely be an ethical vegetarian.

 

Also that image is rather funny since it points out a lot of weirdness on the part of the animation you don't notice till you examine the stuff closely...cereal, saucepan, then suddenly eggs.

 

As for lamb meat, I would find it very disturbing since sheep can talk though Apple Jack hardly treated them like equals. Wool slaves?

 

http://chzbronies.fi...ur-opinion1.gif

 

Steak would definitely be a no-no given we have that Sarah Palin cow walking around, Daisy Jo. Hmmm, but would the ponies drink milk? Or do only cows drink milk? And apparently Daisy Jo likes oatmeal cookies to go with milk...

 

Hot dogs - as in our world, I bet the "meat" there will remain a mystery. After all, vegetarian hot dogs do exist.

 

That's why I excluded lamb, other mutton, and any form of beef from my speculation, since the sentient nature of cows and sheep would make consuming their flesh something akin to cannibalism. At the very least it would be murder.

 

It's definitely possible for there to be vegetarian hotdogs.

 

One other thing to point out when it comes to dairy is just how much they consume in the baked goods they seem to readily consume. Butter, for example, would be used in almost any cupcake, cake, cookie, muffin, etc recipe.

 

Also, Daisy Jo and the other cows are more of a Northern Minnesota accent, not based on Sarah Palin.

This is the thing

 

Cows and sheeps are confirmed as intelligent, although I bet we all like it better if we ignored that one line a sheep said. Because the only explanation is that sheeps are slaves treated like animals, exploited for their wool.

 

Cows are kinda slaves, although we've only seen them in a farm once, in trixie's episode, maybe we can consider that more like a milk factory, since one of the cows actually went into a store in town, they don't seem so slavey

 

then there's chickens. Non intelligent creatures, wich provide eggs, not meat. (As seen in sister hooves socials)

 

But here's the thing... Pigs... pigs only use is for meat. Sure, ponies are vegetarians, but what about the hot dog eating competition? Atleast pigs don't seem to be inteligent... but still, ponies shouldn't eat meat! Are they just pets?

 

I'll admit I would like to either have that sheep speaking line completely forgotten about, or have sheep show up later in another way that proves they're not slaves, much like how the cows have been moving away from the implications of slavery on their part.

 

As for the pigs, while meat is the primary use for them, Lauren Faust also provided another possibility in the form of truffle hunting. Pigs are good at finding truffles, which are hard to find using other methods.

 

There are also other possible uses for pork than consumption by ponies...we do see plenty of animals kept as pets, such as dogs and cats, that would eat meat. Also, Spike probably eats at least some meat, given that he's a dragon.

 

Still...Sweet Apple Acres has too many pigs if they're not being used at least partially as pork to be consumed by ponies.

[DrOphthalmos 497]

Excellent point - even if the ponies themselves are vegetarians, they keep carnivore pets! Would there be pony-owned dog and cat food companies? What exactly is Opalescence eating? The pony equivalent of Fancy Feast? I cannot imagine Rarity letting Opalescence run around after mice like some barn cat.

 

As for the Sarah Palin thing, I apologize. I saw someone call that cow Sarah Palin on some other website and I thought it was so funny I ran with it. Guess that mistake is just as bad as thinking Lady Gaga is Photo finish.

[Eenohay 318]

Excellent point - even if the ponies themselves are vegetarians, they keep carnivore pets! Would there be pony-owned dog and cat food companies? What exactly is Opalescence eating? The pony equivalent of Fancy Feast? I cannot imagine Rarity letting Opalescence run around after mice like some barn cat.

 

As for the Sarah Palin thing, I apologize. I saw someone call that cow Sarah Palin on some other website and I thought it was so funny I ran with it. Guess that mistake is just as bad as thinking Lady Gaga is Photo finish.

 

Well, that actually reminds me of the fact that Fluttershy has carnivore animals, wich must logically prey on her smaller animals. I've seen her giving fish to some of them, maybe she also gives them pork, although it's weird to think of Fluttershy killing animals to feed other, but again, we did see her doing it

[DrOphthalmos 497]

I feel I have derailed this thread into a "What do they eat?" discussion so I will try to steer it back to "Size Inconsistency" by asking about Gummy. Being a crocodilian, Gummy should be the one of the most dangerous carnivores owned by a pony. Yet, Gummy is small and toothless. Even if Gummy is a Cuvier's dwarf caiman, he is still too small unless he is a baby. But, if he is young, then he should have teeth. Crocodilians replace their teeth until old age. In other words, the only toothless ones would be old ones. The only way a young Gummy would stay toothless is if he is having his teeth regularly pulled much like someone declawing a cat (I hope this isn't the case!) or if he has some weird genetic defect. So, is Gummy an old croc that the show has made way too small? Or is he a baby croc (as FiM wiki suggests) that is toothless so he won't be dangerous to ponies? I have a feeling he would eat them if he could.

 

EDIT: I should have thought this over some more. Party of One they are celebrating his birthday! He is one-year old. So, he is a baby croc. Ok, so then, genetic defect? A crocodilian age 1 should have plenty of teeth. And, what exactly is Pinkie Pie feeding him? (Sorry, back to what they eat!)

Edited February 23, 2012 by DrOphthalmos

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

That's fine: what they eat is a worthy topic of discussion, as is the treatment of Gummy in general.

 

I honestly feel like Gummy is probably suffering from some sort of genetic defect. The alternative, that he's having his teeth constantly pulled, is far too scary and horrible to contemplate. The ponies have consistently shown a lack of cruelty--for the most part--so therefore I prefer to think Pinkie is actually caring for an animal that otherwise might have starved to death in the wild. That said, Gummy is still highly dangerous...the jaw strength alone is probably enough to start breaking bones once he gets older. How he hasn't already been injuring them with bruises, I don't know.

 

As for what he eats, I suspect it's some sort of specific diet made for him, probably fish, prepped by Fluttershy. It's likely ground down into something he can swallow without having to chew. I also suspect Pinkie occasionally tosses him some sweets, probably more than he should have, but that she otherwise sticks to that simple diet.

 

The real question I wonder about is, how the heck did she get Gummy as a pet to begin with? What made her decide to adopt a toothless baby crocodile?

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

Horses=Giants

 

Problem solved.

[Eenohay 318]

That's fine: what they eat is a worthy topic of discussion, as is the treatment of Gummy in general.

 

I honestly feel like Gummy is probably suffering from some sort of genetic defect. The alternative, that he's having his teeth constantly pulled, is far too scary and horrible to contemplate. The ponies have consistently shown a lack of cruelty--for the most part--so therefore I prefer to think Pinkie is actually caring for an animal that otherwise might have starved to death in the wild. That said, Gummy is still highly dangerous...the jaw strength alone is probably enough to start breaking bones once he gets older. How he hasn't already been injuring them with bruises, I don't know.

 

As for what he eats, I suspect it's some sort of specific diet made for him, probably fish, prepped by Fluttershy. It's likely ground down into something he can swallow without having to chew. I also suspect Pinkie occasionally tosses him some sweets, probably more than he should have, but that she otherwise sticks to that simple diet.

 

The real question I wonder about is, how the heck did she get Gummy as a pet to begin with? What made her decide to adopt a toothless baby crocodile?

 

Probably just what you said. Even though it seems more like a job for Fluttershy, taking care of a helpless animals, Pinkie might just have liked aligators. Maybe Fluttershy herself told her about how a baby aligators was born without teeth and Pinkie thought it was amusing and named him Gummy acordingly, then asked her if she could have it as a pet.

 

She might also have gotten somepony to put a spell on him so his teeth don't grow, and then named him Gummy. Anyways, an aligator outside water is practically harmless

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

That's fine: what they eat is a worthy topic of discussion, as is the treatment of Gummy in general.

 

I honestly feel like Gummy is probably suffering from some sort of genetic defect. The alternative, that he's having his teeth constantly pulled, is far too scary and horrible to contemplate. The ponies have consistently shown a lack of cruelty--for the most part--so therefore I prefer to think Pinkie is actually caring for an animal that otherwise might have starved to death in the wild. That said, Gummy is still highly dangerous...the jaw strength alone is probably enough to start breaking bones once he gets older. How he hasn't already been injuring them with bruises, I don't know.

 

As for what he eats, I suspect it's some sort of specific diet made for him, probably fish, prepped by Fluttershy. It's likely ground down into something he can swallow without having to chew. I also suspect Pinkie occasionally tosses him some sweets, probably more than he should have, but that she otherwise sticks to that simple diet.

 

The real question I wonder about is, how the heck did she get Gummy as a pet to begin with? What made her decide to adopt a toothless baby crocodile?

 

I believe you and I briefly discussed Gummy in another thread; or I brought up the same points which you just highlighted. I don't recall exactly. Nevertheless, I agree with you about Gummy's lack of teeth coming from a hereditary defect rather than, Celestia forbid, Pinkie pulling his teeth. The ponies would never stoop to something so cruel, let alone Pinkie Pie who is extraordinarily caring. In fact, I'm inclined to think that Gummy's whole disposition reflects a genetic aberration: he's small, harmless, and rather benign for a year old alligator. He practically latches onto anything regardless of its substance, meaning he doesn't have the acute carnivorous appetite shared by other alligators. As I said in the past, I would enjoy an episode which reveals Gummy's past and how Pinkie came across him. I have the sense it would be a very sweet episode.

 

With respect to the topic, though, I doubt Gummy is the norm among alligators. He must have been dealt an unusual genetic hand. The only other explanation is magic, but Pinkie is not a unicorn and she has little reason to transform an alligator into a harmless creature which can then be her pet. Plus, Gummy's short life thus far compliments his size, or at least the perception that he is just a baby.

 

If anything, Pinkie happened across Gummy and found his antics to be quite silly, thus taking him in as a pet. I doubt she gave much credence to the fact Gummy is an alligator, a potentially lethal predator. I bet the Cakes weren't too pleased initially, though.

[Envoy-in-exile 101]

Now, on its own, the subject of horses in FIM is fascinating. What are they like compared to the ponies? Twilight's actions in The Best Night Ever, where she merely wanted to treat horses as draft animals the way that humans typically do in real life, suggests that the horses are not sentient, intelligent beings. They appear to be a lesser cousin species, something akin to gorillas or orangutans for humans, only probably nowhere near as intelligent. The horses we saw in the episode also appeared to resemble real life horses far more than the ponies do real life ponies, which argues in favor of my hypothesis that the Equestrian ponies are, biologically, rather different from real life ponies, not just in terms of intelligence but in terms of other facets of their anatomy, such as posessing binocular vision. Or in other words, if they were to somehow be brought into real life, they wouldn't look like a real-life pony.

 

 

Species intelligence is rather inconsistent in the series. Cows in the older episodes appear to be mere cattle to the ponies, much like in our world (which in itself makes little sense considering ponies are vegetarian). In the latest episode however, a cow speaks to Pinkie Pie and behaves just like any other pony (although this episode is unique in that it breaks a lot of in-world "rules"). The mice transformed by Twilight into horses, I suspect, still retain the intelligence of mice and are only physically horses

 

On the ponies, yes they are physically and mentally nothing like real world ponies. Each of these differences would not logically be able to exist without the other.

 

But the issue of horses raises another, much larger question: why are the other species we see on the show sized inconsistently? Anyone who has been around cows, donkeys, sheep, bison, zebras, etc, will tell you they're generally larger than what we've seen on the show. Far larger, in fact. All of the intelligent species we've seen are sized relative to the ponies and not relative to horses. Why?

 

 

Because it's a show about ponies

Bearing in mind that the ponies in MLP != ponies IRL, there are 2 possible explanations (which are not mutually exclusive)

1. The species in MLP are in Equestria, an alternate world where ponies talk and weather/celestial bodies can be magically controlled. It would not be far-fetched to think that cows, donkeys, sheep, bison, zebras are not the same species as the ones we get in our world and would thus be physically different.

2. Even if absolute size (compared to real world species) is the same, what are you using as a benchmark to gauge the sizes of these non-pony species? The ponies themselves? They are not the same as RL ponies. The infrastructure? They are built for ponies, rather than humans and would thus be sized differently.

Edited February 25, 2012 by Envoy