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welcome to modern thylacines <3
the grand opening event has begun !! check out the event hub here to participate (:

rules • getting started • genetics • nursery • growths • archives • staff • store • contests • faq



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it was once said in the mid-1800s that the thylacine made an exceptional pet. these animals were loyal, had eyesight better than any dog, and could hear passing strangers a mile away. imagine combining the best characteristics of both dogs and cats...and then some. those were the temperament and skills of a thylacine.

while men across australia were hunting the animal to extinction, a single man was trying to persuade everyone that thylacines were not the devils they made them out to be. he thought that they even made great companions! although he was able to convince a small number of people to keep thylacines, unfortunately he couldn't stop the inevitable. blamed for attacks on sheep made by the local dogs, the thylacine was persecuted needlessly to extinction. it is now gone forever, lost to the sands of time...or is it?

the recent, successful mapping of the thylacine genome from a single, preserved pup in a museum has reopened the long-shut gate of possibilities, and now, it seems the thylacine is here to stay whether we like it or not.

it's the beginning of a new era, one with scientists working in labs and designer animals brought back from the dead. are you ready for a thylacine of your own? what about an entire kennel full of them?

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all species must have some rules to run smoothly! don't worry, though - these rules are very simple and easy to follow. any rules that have been changed will have the date they take effect next to them.


• modern thylacines is a closed species, so only staff may create thylacines. you're welcome to adopt available thylacines, though!

• harassment, bullying, hate, or any similar negativity will not be tolerated within this species whatsoever.

• please respect the artist's decisions in adopt competitions! don't complain, harass the winner, or post discouraging comments after the competition ends.

• remember that artists have lives outside of cs. don't bump competitions after they end or harass the artist by asking when it'll be judged. if you're concerned about a competition, please pm me instead! if competitions aren't judged after two weeks, I will judge them myself so no competition goes without a winner.

• please don't mini-mod, allow staff to handle any questions about the species. you're welcome to point users in the direction of staff if they're confused, though!

• cheating isn't allowed. anyone caught trying to slide around these rules will be punished.

• thylacines may be co-owned with written permission from both users; however, we will not be held accountable if something goes awry between you and your co-owner! both users must be on board for any major decisions like breedings / ownership transfers, shown via screenshot.

• if you'd like to report a user for breaking a rule, pm me with proof. it's 100% anonymous so don't worry - they won't find out that you were the one who reported them.

• modern thylacines was created by me. please don't copy them! you're more than welcome to create your own thylacine ocs and species - thylacines are a real animal and I definitely can't copyright that LOL. running your thylacine species similarly to this one with genetics, kennels, and/or contests, however, is a bit too similar and warrants a report for theft.

• by adopting a modern thylacine, you're agreeing to follow these rules even if they change later on. they will not change without warning, though!

breaking any of these rules may result in a warning, a ban from this species, or even having your thylacines taken away. I reserve the right to confiscate and readopt thylacines from banned members at any time. I will not, however, take away thylacines from users that are following the rules.

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maybe you're unsure how to get started, or maybe you're new to closed species altogether and aren't sure how they work! worry no more, this guide is for you (:

before you can adopt any thylacines, you must have a kennel set up to house them in. we wouldn't want our poor thylacines out in the cold or running loose! to do this, create a new thread in the character storage section of the cs forums. remember to give your kennel a unique name so we can identify you properly in the archives! your kennel will store your thylacine's information. [url=coming%soon]this[/url] is a good example of a kennel that I made for my own thylacines (:

when you get a thylacine, you'll need to include their breeding slots and permissions, contest ribbons and titles, and a link to their original oekaki on this page.

offsite storages are also alright as long as they contain the same information! if you have other characters on there, though, it's prefered that you have some sort of folder or tag for easy access to just the thylacines.

writing about your kennel somewhere in your storage is optional, but greatly encouraged! if you do, try to think about the details. where is your kennel located? what is the climate like there? what does the facility look like? does your kennel specialize in breeding, showing, competing, etc? be as creative as you like! remember that your kennel can be anywhere in the world, but it's against cs rules to give out personal information like your actual location.

once you have your kennel set up, you can begin to try out for adopts to add thylacines to your kennel. artists for modern thylacines will post new adopts in the 'colored in' section of this oekaki drawing (the small drawings underneath the main one), and each thylacine that's currently up for adoption will have a noticeable 'adopt me!' mark on its image so you know which ones are available. you can scroll right to see more thylacines that were posted previously.

click on any available thylacine that you like. there will be a competition on that page for you to enter to win it! some competitions are short while others might require some writing or drawing, but competition details will always be in the first post with an end date / time showing when the competition closes to new entries. you can post your entry on the thylacine's page, and if you win, you can add them to your kennel!

once you have a thylacine, you can breed it after a short cool-down, participate in events, draw / write about it, or even roleplay as it. what you do is up to you since it's your character now!

I hope you'll have fun <3

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below is a complete guide to modern thylacine genetics. don't worry, you don't need to understand genetics in order to participate! the only time genetics will come into play is when breeding your thylacines. understanding genetics can help you predict the colors and markings that your pups might get which can assist in planning breedings, but it's 100% okay to breed and participate without a knowledge of genetics.

the genetics system in modern thylacines is heavily based on coat color genetics in other mammals, particularly dogs and cats, and each pup is rolled for colors and markings by the artist.

sometimes, getting two copies of a gene in real life can harm an animal (examples of this are merle and bobbed tails). thankfully, modern thylacines has no genes that can harm pups so you are free to breed any unrelated thylacines without worry!

if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask any time - I'd be happy to help or explain it in a different way (:

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check back in later for the complete guide!

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what is genetics? I can't understand the words in the guide! where do I even begin to learn? this seems too complicated...
if these are thoughts crossing your mind, this is the section of the guide for you! I'm here to make genetics easy and fun.

let's start with some basic genetics terms!


genetics: the study of heredity, or how certain features pass from parents to their offspring.

pigment: the thing that gives hair or skin its color.

melanin: the most common type of pigment in animals. thylacines have two types: eumelanin (black) and phaeomelanin (red).

genes: a set of instructions in an animal's dna that tell the cells in the body how to produce pigment.

alleles: different variations in genes that are represented by letters. in dna, they come in pairs. (ie: A, a, ab, ac, a1, a2, etc)

locus (plural locii): the spot on dna where a particular set of alleles is located. represented by a single letter. (ie: the A locus)

heterozygous: a pair of genes that are different. (ie: Cc, Ddb, etc)

homozygous: a pair of genes that are the same. (ie: CC, dbdb, etc)

order of dominance: shows which genes 'lead' over others, or take control when in a heterozygous pair. dominant genes lead over recessive genes. this is usually shown in a chart with the most dominant gene on the left and the least dominant gene on the right.

incomplete dominance / co-dominance: when two genes are both expressed instead of only one taking control. in an order of dominance, these are shown with an equals sign between them.

genotype: what genes an animal has. (ie: Aa b1b2 Cc DD, aa b6b6 cc Ddb, etc)

phenotype: what an animal looks like. (ie: black, red, etc)


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every section in this guide includes a short blurb on what each locus controls, a chart showing the dominance of the alleles, a list of the alleles saying what they do, and picture references. as an example, let's look at a made-up locus, the Z locus. let's say that the Z locus controls what color an animal is.

in an order of dominance chart, we use greater-than (>) and equals (=) signs to show which genes have the most control. the dominance chart for the Z locus is:


Z > za = zb > z

read the chart from left to right. this means that:


• Z is greater than za, zb, and z. Z is the most dominant allele.
• za and zb are equal, meaning that they are co-dominant. when these alleles are paired together, a mix of the two will be displayed instead of one being more dominant than the other. za and zb are less dominant than Z, but more dominant than z.
• z is the least dominant allele. Z, za, and zb are all more dominant than z.

next comes a list of what each allele does. in this case, it lists what color each allele corresponds to:


Z - red
za - yellow
zb - blue
z - white

now let's try pairing these alleles a few times to see how they mix and match according to the dominance chart (:


• ZZ: this animal will be red since Z represents red.
• Zz: since Z is dominant over z, this animal will be red, too.
• zbz: since zb is dominant over z, this animal will be blue.
• zazb: this one is a bit trickier. since za and zb are co-dominant, and each represent blue and yellow respectively, this animal will be a mix of the two! in this case, you can expect a green animal!
• zz: finally, tiny z gets to be expressed! this animal will be white since none of the other, more dominant alleles are in this pair.

reading the picture references is a little bit tricker than reading the other charts since we have to fill in some gaps ourselves. when we write down the alleles in each possible pair, we always write the most dominant allele first. because of this, we don't always have to list the second allele. it is implied that the second allele is less dominant than - or even the same as - the first, and therefore any allele of less dominance could be in the pair to get the same result. this is how it works in the picture references; we are implying that there is not an allele more dominant than the one listed, and not a co-dominant allele that would result in a different color.

in this case, we'd have photo references for the following:


• red (Z)
• yellow (za)
• green (zazb)
• blue (zb)
• white (z)

if we were to list out every possible combination of alleles, the charts would get too long, especially for the locii with 6 or more possible alleles on them! here's an example of every combination we can make with the Z locus above, showing how we can use the picture references to fill in the gaps ourselves:


• red (ZZ, Zza, Zzb, Zz)
• yellow (zaza, zaz)
• green (zazb)
• blue (zbzb, zbz)
• white (zz)

now that you understand how to read the charts below, let's get started !!

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together, the A and B locii control what 'main' color a thylacine has. this is the darkest color on a thylacine, found in the stripes and possibly other markings on the body. let's look at these locii one at a time!


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the A locus controls whether or not the thylacine produces both eumelanin (black/brown pigment) and phaeomelanin (red pigment).


A > a

A - produces both eumelanin and phaeomelanin; follow the base colors 1 list below
a - only produces phaeomelanin; follow the base colors 2 list below


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the B locus tells you which number to follow on the list we previously chose for the base color. it controls the dilution levels of the pigment, or how strong are the colors are - are they intense or 'washed out'? remember that the base color is the stripe color, not the background color!
note: this is highly simplified. in real life, multiple genes come into play for dilution, but to make it easier I've combined them all onto one locus (:


b1 > b2 > b3 > b4 > b5 > b6

b1 - follow 1
b2 - follow 2
b3 - follow 3
b4 - follow 4
b5 - follow 5
b6 - follow 6


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from the A and B locii's instructions, we can now see what the base color is:


base colors 1

1 - black
2 - chocolate
3 - liver
4 - gray
5 - isabella
6 - pearl

base colors 2

1 - red
2 - fawn
3 - apricot
4 - peach
5 - cream
6 - chinchilla


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the C locus tells us what the background color underneath the stripes looks like. the background is often a mottled 'agouti' color that's a mix of both black and red pigments, but different genes can affect which color is the most prominent and how dark it is.
remember: if a thylacine can't produce black pigment, the base will always be a shade of red/yellow no matter what! and if a thylacine is gray, it won't have as much red pigment so the base will always be gray, too.


C > cg > cr > cm > c

C - regular (a good amount lighter than the stripes; often a tawny color)
cg - golden (more yellow than usual)
cr - rusty (more red than usual)
cm - muddy (in between regular and dark; often brownish)
cd - dark (a little bit lighter than the stripes; must be noticeable)
c - absent (usually a cream, pale gray, or off-white color; pure white only on a light-colored thylacine)

here's an example on a black thylacine:



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the D locus tells us about stripe variations, like what shape the stripes are and how many of them we'll have. this one is a little bit different from the previous locii - we'll indicate the number of stripes with a symbol next to the two genes representing shape (ie: Ddc+). when breeding, thylacines do not carry a second gene for the number of stripes so a pup will inherit this modifier from only one parent (it will be randomly rolled for which parent they'll get the gene from) (:


D > dz > dc > db > ds > dt

D - regular stripes
dz - zigzag stripes
dc - connected stripes
db - broken stripes
ds - split stripes
dt - tiger stripes

± > + > -

± - around the usual number of stripes (six to twelve)
+ - more stripes (thirteen or more)
- - less stripes (five or less)




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the E locus controls white markings on a thylacine. these markings are co-dominant, meaning that the two genes mix together to create the final marking pattern. certain combinations of low and high white can create pseudo markings for genes in between (for example, pseudo-irish can occur with emep while psuedo-piebald can occur with eiew). see the examples below for a general idea of marking shapes! if the particular gene combo isn't on the chart below, pick the amount of white in between both genes. markings don't have to follow the pictures exactly as white markings are so fluid, but the amounts of white should stay generally the same.


E > em = ei = ep = ew

E - none
em - minimal white
ei - irish
ep - piebald
ew - extreme white



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the F locus controls white modifiers. these genes are only visible if there are white markings on a thylacine.


F > fb > ft > fr > fd

F - none
fb - fleabites (a few round spots of color showing through; on the legs and face)
ft - ticking (round spots of color showing through; scattered around the coat)
fr - roaning (lots of spots of color showing through; throughout the entire coat giving a mottled appearance)
fd - dalmation (large, round spots of color showing through; scattered throughout the coat)


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markings

urajiro (light undersides)
sable
brindle
tan points
saddle
masks
points
spectacles

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overrides

full albinism
partial albinism
melanism
leucism?
isabelline?
abundism

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occasionally, special thylacines will have peculiar markings that aren't quite explained by normal genetics. these markings will not be passed down to pups, but are extremely rare and sought after nonetheless! some oddities include:


• somatic mutations, when a single cell mutates after the embryo has begun to form. as the cell replicates, it passes the mutation onto those new surrounding cells. when pigment is involved, it causes a patch of color on the body, the size depending on how early on the mutation occurred.

• chimerism, when a single organism is composed of the genetically distinct cells of multiple organisms, usually when two embryos merge early on in development. in animals, this often causes a marbled or patched pattern between the two distinct coats.

• vitiligo, when the skin and coat develops a progressive pigment loss, causing speckles or patches of white. the pigment loss is generally concentrated around the head and face, but often spreads to the rest of the body.


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thylacines may have little nuances to keep their designs looking unique. this is completely normal! nuances may be passed down to children as long as it doesn't break any 'rules' in this guide. some nuances include:


• gradients / mottling in fur

• skin showing through in certain places on lighter coats

• a reddish gradient on dark brown or black coats, as if the fur has been bleached slightly by the sun

• tannish areas on the undersides of gray thylacines

• staining on lighter fur

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fascinated by thylacines, many former dog owners who have entered the fancy have started breeding, showing, and competing their animals. because of this, many thylacine contests have popped up across the world and are run similarly to those for dogs.

every saturday, staff will host a show that anyone may enter their thylacines in. there are no limits in the number of thylacines that you can enter - the only requirement is that they're adults and not pups! all entrants will be assigned a number, and winners are chosen via random number generation (rng) in the order of third, second, and first place via a livestream that anyone may attend. winners will receive ribbons for their placing and additional prizes within the species so you'll want to join in! record holders will also win special items monthly for their participation within the species <;

the community can also host user-run competitions. these differ from shows since no ribbons are given out and the host must provide the prizes themselves, but the host will be rewarded with special items within the species! prizes in these competitions can be anything - thylacines and pups, art, even items if the host is willing to give them away.

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none! check back later <;

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none yet! record holders will begin a few weeks after shows begin. there will be categories here for most ribbons overall, most blue ribbons, most red ribbons, most white ribbons, and most shows participated in.

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last res, posting open !!