Chocobo Anatomy

[Knahli]

everything else (delicious treats)
Finger licking good!

No. Don't even go there!

[Jamillion]

No. Don't even go there!

Lol, I've seen a few named dinner and such on Lamia, I won't eat my own chocobro though

[Knahli]

Lol, I've seen a few named dinner and such on Lamia, I won't eat my own chocobro though

Don't eat any chocobo!! Don't even humour the idea of doing the quests that endorse the idea! Skip them entirely!

[Kaiser-Ace]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU7EccguAfs

Assuming I linked that correctly, That should be a link to the "Aki's Pixel Pets" Episode on the chocobo.

Mentions the Miyazaki inspiration, their similarities to terror birds (Which they actually aren't), and a general run down on how their anatomy likely works.

[CyrilLucifer]

They always reminded me most of Dromornithidae.

Amusingly, Dromornis is an ancestral waterfowl. So it's basically a giant 1000+ lb duck.
When I was doing upper division studies in Waterfowl and Gamebird Ecology, the general joke about Anseriformes (waterfowl; ducks, geese, etc) and Galliformes (gamebirds; chickens, pheasants, etc) were that they're really just "Tastegoodiformes." And, since Chocobo taste good, they must be in one of those closely-related orders.

Yep. Sound logic, if I do say so myself.

[Kaiser-Ace]

Hey, that might be a good base for the swimming chocobo variants in final fantasy. Instead of Giant Chickens they're Giant Ducks. lol

[CyrilLucifer]

Oh, belatedly, for the more anal about anatomy. Spoilered for those who hate science in fantasy.

The biggest problem with the XIV Chocobo design is their legs. They drive me crazy.

The general rule in all birds is that the farther the legs are back on their body the worse they are at walking and running. As a runner, the Chocobo's legs should really, really be towards the middle of their body. Birds with legs that far back would be terrible at escaping predation on land.

Now, Galliformes can get away with legs relatively far back on their body because they're usually very strong burst fliers. They can get into the air quickly due to their short, strong wings. Galliformes aren't going to be running to escape a predator.

Since someone mentioned an Ostrich, look at how centered their legs are in comparison to their body and compare that to the XIV Chocobo design up there. And going off my Anseriform example above, compare the leg placement of a Snow Goose and a Western Grebe (Grebes are a pretty extreme example, though, and also not an anseriform). Snow Geese spend a lot of time foraging and nesting on Land, and Grebes are basically water-only divers.