Please keep in mind my guide does not replace the other roleplay guides; It complements them. They are great guides that y'all should read before diving into mine, since I'll not talk about gameplay basics or food chains.

What is roleplay? And how to do it - A must read if you're just starting out on the roleplay world!

Roleplaying grove Foodchain (A foodchain to end all foodchains((hopefully))) Is my own take at the Meadow's foodchain! It might look like it's a lot to read though, so I recommend reading just the first part of it (General foodchain, Hit summary, Disclaimer) and leaving the long animal sections to read slowly on your own time. Although if you think that's too much information, the next guide has a really sum-up version of a foodchain:

How To Roleplay As A Wolf - A good guide in how to play as a Wolf! I couldn't explain the wolf playstyle better if I tried, and I really recommend reading this guide throught. This guide also has an updated food chain; And although it isn't as detailed as the one above, I agree with it a lot and it is direct to the point.

Disclaimer; Nothing here is an absolute truth or should be followed - I just wanted to share my experience having fun with the community and seeing all the ways other people play on the roleplaying grove ♥ In general this is my way to roleplay and keep myself engaged even when I'm alone.
This is all thought out for a survival roleplaying style, but not exclusively.

If you have any suggestions, or just want to improve my poor english, please let me know in the comments! I would love to add more stuff, hear your opinions and just have a good time. <3

Since you are finished reading the first and second guide (and even the third), let's get started!

The play animation, unlocked at 30.000 essence, is a custon animation for every animal. There's a lot of interactions that can be done with it, and I'm here to list up everything i've seen so far:

Any animal:
Playful (+ emotes: Greetings, Happiness, Playful/Silly tongue)
For being generally friendly to other animals. This is the action main use.








Lynx:
Hunting (+emote: Mischevious/Untrustworthy[AKA hunting emote])
I've seen some use this as a means of stalk; They use it when they are just behind a prey they want to jump in. Not very effective since some prey get startled by the purring sound, and you get stuck on the animation unable to chase them.

Challenging someone/angry (+emotes: Anger, Distrustful)
Used to give a warning to any animal close to it, even other lynxes. Common to same-species fighting.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

Lynx cub:
Trust (+ emotes: Greetings, Happiness, Flirting, Playful/Silly tongue)
Basically the same use as being playful, but done to strangers. Cats only show their belly to who they trust since it's an weak spot.

Falling/tripping (+ emotes: Confused and any other)
You can use this emote while jumping or running, and simulate that you fell. Great to use when your sibilings tackle you, or while you're running to signify that you tripped.

You can also use this to roll on mud for extra cuteness factor.

Badger:
Challenging someone/angry (+emotes: Anger, Distrustful)
Used to give a warning to any animal close to it, even other badgers. Common to same-species fighting.

Warning others (+emotes: Surprised, confused, crying, "!")
Use this to warn your cubs or friends about a danger.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.


Badger cub:
Warning others (+emotes: Surprised, confused, crying, "!")
Use this to warn your siblings, friends or mother about a danger. More effective using the loud cry voice.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

You can use this to roll on mud for extra cuteness factor.


Goat:

Challenging someone/angry (+emotes: Anger, Distrustful)
Used to give a warning to any animal close to it, even other goats. Common to same-species fighting. Common use in deer fighting.

Test the ground - Just an roleplaying extra, you can use this before laying down/sitting on a flower bed to check for snakes and other small dangers.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

Fox:
Challenging someone/angry (+emotes: Anger, Distrustful)
Used to give a warning to any animal close to it, even other foxes. Common to same-species fighting.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

Hunting in flowerbeddings (+ emote: Mischevious/Untrustworthy[AKA hunting emote])
If you want to give an interesting hide n' seek chase, you can use this on a flower bedding that a muddy prey is hiding on to try and find it. Jumping on the flower bed might work aswell.
You can also hunt for insects, as an roleplaying extra.

Hunting in tall bushes/trees (+ emote: Mischevious/Untrustworthy[AKA hunting emote] AND Ladder/climb emote)
For pesky pheasant hunting. If you see an pheasant on top of a tree or bush, you can use it on the base of the bush to "shake" it so the pheasant might fall. You can also put a fire right when the animation ends so they understand you're damaging the bush.

Bear cub:
Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

Test the ground - Just an roleplaying extra, you can use this before laying down/sitting on a flower bed to check for snakes and other small dangers.




Pheasant:
Challenging someone/angry (+emotes: Anger, Distrustful)
Used to give a warning to any animal close to it, even other pheasants. Common to same-species fighting.

Warning others (+emotes: Surprised, confused, crying, "!")
Use this to warn your friends about a danger.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

Look at me! - You can use the play animation while in the air. You will make the dance while flying, while your wings stretch on a T-pose.

To laugh at your enemies - Roleplaying extra; Use this emote with predators around while you're on top of a bush or tree to make them angrier >:) Just beware of lynxes and foxes trying to destroy your bush or tree!

Rabbit:
Warning others (+emotes: Surprised, confused, crying, "!")
Use this to warn your friends about a danger.

Shaking off water (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to pretend you're shaking it off.

Test the ground - Just an roleplaying extra, you can use this before laying down/sitting on a flower bed to check for small dangers.

To laugh at your enemies - Roleplaying extra; Use this emote with predators around while you're far enough to make them angrier >:) Run as soon as you can when you're done!

Frog:
To laugh at your enemies - Roleplaying extra; Use this emote with predators around while you're close to water or on the other side of a river to make them angrier >:) Run to the water for cover.







Hedgehog:
This emote is tricky; It could be a good alternative to using the sleep emote to protect yourself.

Spooked (+emotes: Distrustful, Shock/fear, Confused) - Since the hedgehog does a small jump, you can use it when you get scared of something, like you jumped to curl-up in a ball to protect yourself.




Wolf:
Facepalming - A plain facepalm for situations that deserve it. Your wolf friend ate a bad mushroom? A lynx got caught in catnip? Your pup is crying for falling from a ledge you told them not to climb? Show how deeply dissapointed you are with them.

Clean off water/tears from your face (+emotes: Distrustful and Water) - Use it just when you're out of water to wipe water out of your face. Can also be done to wipe out tears if you've been crying over someone or something. :(

Peek-a-boo (+emotes:Greetings, Happiness, Fear/shook) - This might need some coordination; You can use this action to play peek-a-boo with a cub/pup. Use Greetings or Fear/shook right after your hand is lifted from your face.

If you have seen any other uses for these, please let me know!

Right after the play animation, you can unlock with 50.000 essence a "special" category that gives a unique action for each animal. Right now the only animals with said action are cub animals (badger cub, bear cub and lynx cub) and wolves.


The yawning animation is a small animation for the lynx cub, badger cub and bear cub, where they move their heads yawning, making a faith sound. It's general uses:

• Showing tiredness - The usual reason someone would yawn.
  
• Being hungry - Using it coupled with "food", "crying", "hunting" and other emotes to convey that you're not tired, but actually hungry.
  
• Soft-calling someone - Instead of using a normal call or a loud call, you can use this to call attention to yourself, or to wake your littermates up.

I believe the best way to use this emote is in a subtle, quiet way. Experiment using this instead of verbally saying "Den + crying", or even "food + crying" (if your family has already rested). It reminds me of how your cubs on Shelter 2 would have really small hints about how well fed they were, with small voice changes, size and color. It's more roleplaying immersive to give a small hint about your state. ♥

• Protip: You can use the yawn while sitting!

The howl animation is a long call for the wolf, with different howls depending of the voice you're using for your wolf.

It's general uses line up with the uses the regular long calls of other animals have:

Originally posted by Other Actions section:

Howls, or Long calls
Badger, badger cub, Lynx, Lynx cub.
As a general rule: Use them wherever you'd like. Some uses:

• To warn other animals
  
• To hunt
  
• To announce a fresh kill
  
• To announce your death
  
• To announce someone else's death
  
• To call for someone or for help
  
• To wake up sleeping animals,

Basically, a lot of actions are valid.

Some other uses and extras:

• You can use this action while sitting!
  
• The howl changes in intensity depending on the voice used. Voice 1# has a very subtle howl, voice 2# has a moderate howl, and voice 3# has a loud and strong howl. If you want to use your howl effectivelly, you can change your voice before activating the howl animation to match the howl you want to make.
  
• As a leader, to call your pack members to start/end a hunt.
  
• As a battle cry (right before attacking) as a way of intimidation.
  
• As long-distance communication (In real life that's one of the wolf howl uses, on Meadow whoever it is not as effective as the range of the howl is quite short).
  
• To look up (better coupled with the first wolf's voice as it's howl is very subtle).
  
• With Yes/no headshakes and voice 1#, you can change the action slighlty to look like the wolf is leaning towards instead of howling. Third image above this list is an example of when you time your Yes/No just right!
  It seens like the wolf is checking whatever's in front of him with caution. It might be another wolf, a fishy cave, ice, etc; If you don't feel like howling, you can instead nuzzle others! :)

I've been studying some animal behavior and I've noticed some of the animal's jumps have little animation quirks and interactions that I never noticed before, and that might be useful roleplaying-wise.

First, I need to get this out of the way; There are two types of jump for each animal. A "walk jump" that activates when your animal is walking or not moving (this jump tends to be higher) and a "run jump" that activates when your animal jumps when you're running foward (this jumps tends to go further). Two different jumps with two different animations overall.

Second, there is a jumping technique that people like to call skipping. Basically, you have your animal constinously jump while running. It's a little tricky to do and requites practice:

While running, stop pressing W, jump and press W again really fast and in order. You'll trigger the "walk jump" even thought you're still going on running speed.
Right when your animal hits the ground again, let go of W, jump and press W again. Knowing the exact timing is tricky and will require practice.
Repeat. If you accidentally trigger the "run jump", stop running for a moment, them jump and W afterwards.
If you do it correctly, you'll be jumping around continuously at run's speed. It's not very noticeable with some animals (frog, badger, badger cub, hedgehog, wolf arguably), while in others it's very easy to notice and looks really cute (lynx cub, bear cub, rabbit, fox, lynx, goat, pheasant if you don't fly).

Here's another way to do it, explained by Labracadabrador
"Regarding the jumping section, I find it easier to quickly press space then w then shift in succession as soon as the animation starts, holding w and shift longer to increase the jump length. Holding space then pressing w + shift everytime the animation starts work too. I find it's typically slightly slower than a run as a result of the delay though.
Similarly, pressing shift then w then jump quickly then again when the animal is near to landing allows you to repeatedly use the long jump without the waiting time."

[I'll post a gif of a lynx cub doing it later. :o]

Alright, with all of that in mind! Here's some jump animation quirks.

• Sadly, nothing interesting (roleplaying-wise) to point out on the jumping animation of these animals: Badger cub, badger, pheasant, hedgehog, frog, lynx.
  
  
• Goat: There is a antelope behavior that I would find really interesting to see roleplayed out on Meadow: They tend to jump continuously while running. The reason for this is mostly uknown, but it leans towards being a display of health to the predators to intimidate them.
  
  As a goat being chased by a predator (such as a lynx or wolf), you can continuously jump as to mock your pursuer; Showing off just how good you are at evading them that you have time to jump around. USe the jump skip technique for better results (as you will jump more and the animation is very noticeable).
  
  
• Goat: As a goat again, your "walk jump" does a little back kick when it finishes. This was never something interesting back when the lynx was the only predator who could take a goat down (and arguably foxes aswell), but with the addition of the wolf it only makes sense to look at it with a little more detail.
  Lynxes precisely aim for the neck, and there is not a lot of fight a goat can do on this scenario when it's already running. Wolves whoever will not always have the luxury of landing deadly bites, intead opting to try to take down whatever they're chasing by biting and holding on to anything they can such as legs, tails, skin, etc.
  If roleplayed properly, you can kick a pursuing wolf (not really recommended against a lynx) by briefly stop running and jumping without pressing W, and them start running again. If done properly you will trigger the "walk jump" animation and it will seen like you're kicking behind you. The disadvantage about this is that it might slow you down for a little, but if you manage to land your kick (or better say the wolf understands it's a kick and is hit) you might be able to escape as the predator is recovering.
  I would also recommend saying "angry" + "follower" while doing this.
  
  
• Fox: The "walk jump" of a fox is very reminiscent of the long jumps artic foxes do while hunting in deep snow. They jump high and land their front paws close together against whatever they're hunting. They normally hunt small rodents like this, crushing the little critters before they can react.
  The Meadow fox has this same jumping animation; Where it jumps high and with all of it's speed land on it's front paws. You can use this to hunt in flowerbeddings as if you're capturing little critters hidden, hunt on the snow biome in general (throwing yourself against the snow), and to make quick work of smaller animals such as lynx cubs and rabbits. Try your best to activate the "walk jump" only (if on a run, let got of your W, jump and press W again afterwards.) and to pounce your prey with your front paws.
  
  
• Rabbit, lynx cub, bear cub: You can show happiness, playfulness and excitement by "skipping" (constantly "walk jump"ing) with those animals, as it's very noticeable when you do it and it looks adorable.

Meadow Satan's guide - What is Roleplay? And how to do it - already gave away the most common uses for said actions. I'll be listing any other use I've seen thoughout my playtime ♥
(I won't be listing the sleeping action or sitting action because I don't have any new interations. If you want to know what they mean and more basic meanings for the animations I'll be talking about, please read their guide!)


YES/NO headshake

• Just randomly shaking your head for someone: Usual "yes" and "no." You can also use this similarly as you would use the wave action; Shaking your head in agreement to welcome someone, or in disagreement to tell they are unwanted/you're not friendly.
  
  
• With sitting action, looking away from a den or something that is being protected (like food, cubs), and using the Distrustful emote: Basically looking around, keeping high alert. (Imagine that the animal is actually looking around frequently)
  
  
• With your head inside/close to any food (another player or grass/flowers): Alternative to eat your food, if you don't have the drinking action. Only works if you manage to put your head close to the food (being a small animal like a badger, or eating from a high source, like a deer eating a tall bush). You can also use this while walking as a bunny, being able to eat while walk.
  
  
• With your head close to someone or something, with silly/tongue emotes: Licking said someone or something. It's common to lynxes and foxes to lick eachother. You can also lick ice, food, water, etc; To test out their taste (or be stuck in place because of the ice!)
  
  
• Lynx and lynx cub only - Sitting, using the wave emote, with silly/tongue emotes: Bathing yourself, licking your own paw. Really cute action to do while taking a break :)
  
  
• Fox only - Play action and "nod" headshake. It seens like you're howling for a brief moment. Can be used to complement wolf gameplay, althought there's no real howling sound. Can also be coupled with the "sound" emote.
  
  
• Now you can use this animation coupled with any other animation. The uses are endless, so I recommend you trying with every animation and testing out for yourself. Some of my favourites are "dreaming" (sleeping + Y/N), chewing (drinking + Y/N), some of the play animations gaining an extra crazy movement (Play + Y/N), and running while banging your head (running + Y).

Wave

• Close to an animal with happy emotes: Petting! Just passing your paw though the other animal's fur or skin as a way to interact.
  
  
• Close to an animal with negative emotes: Hitting said animal with your paw. Suitable to use when you're a mother animal who need to give discipline to one of your cubs.
  
  
• Close to an animal who is close to a cliff, mud or water, with Playful or Mischevious emotes: Pushing them off to the cliff/mud/water. Jumping on them might work aswell.

• Close to a bush, berrybush tree, flowers or waterfalls, with Y/N action and with silly/tongue and/or mischiveous emotes: Tearing a bush or flower apart while eating. Can also hunt for fish close to waterfalls (catching jumping fish with your paw).
  
  
  
  
  
  Drinking
  
  • Using it to connect your head to another animal, grass, flowers, bushes, water, etc: To eat your prey or plants, and drink water.
    
    
  • Using while on the edge of a mountain, rock or cliff and/or using surprised/shook emote: Looking down. Doesn't work well for the Pheasant.
    
    
  • Using close to someone who is still alive, and being a Pheasant: Pecking someone. Can be done as a means to attack or to be playful.
    
    
  • Using anywhere, with yes/no headshakes, as badger/cub, lynx/cub, bear cub, fox, hedgehog, bunny, wolf: Sniffing. Very cleverly used to sniff around to find other players, to give a reason to head a certain direction (to follow a scent) and to "find" water and fruits. You can also keep sniffing by walking with yes/no headshake with some of the animals above (Badger/cub with Y headshake, Bear cub with Y, Fox with Y, bunny with both Y/N, Wolf with both Y/N).
    
    
  • Pheasant only: You can use your drinking action while flying. Your pheasant makes the drinking animation in the air (a peck) and stretch their wings on a T-pose. Meet the air-plane pheasant! You will loose control of the first 1-2 seconds of your flight but you should be able to move again after canceling the drinking action. Goot to reforce swan roleplay, or to be threatening in general (as an air attack).
  
  
  
  
  Howls, or Long calls
  Badger, badger cub, Lynx, Lynx cub.
  
  As a general rule: Use them wherever you'd like. Some uses:
  
  • To warn other animals
    
  • To hunt
    
  • To announce a fresh kill
    
  • To announce your death
    
  • To announce someone else's death
    
  • To call for someone or for help
    
  • To wake up sleeping animals,
  
  Basically, a lot of actions are valid.
  
  
  
  
  Others
  
  • Jumping repeatedly, on/off a bush or tree, with or without the use of 3D fire emote: Shaking or destroying said bush or tree. Use this to hunt pheasants that are perched on tall bushes or trees.
    
    
  • Not walking properly; Cutting the walking animation with short runs or stops: Injuried animal.

I personally like to use skins to convey playstyles when I can. A lot of animals have other-animal-themed skins (like the racoon fox, panda bear, the artbook skins, etc) that are not used too often and I believe would be interesting to bring to public eye - so more people might try them out, or understand when someone is using the skin.

All of the skins below can be used for any playstyle you want - they are just fun suggestions! I myself love to use the skunk badger skin but I normally don't act agressive (because I don't have the heart to do so :( ) so keep in mind; none of this needs to be followed, and you can use those skins in different situations!

I've added a small "perks and downsides" extra for every skin. It's your choice to keep them in mind or not - after all they are just playstyle suggestions :) Perks will have a "+" before them, and downsides will have a "-". All the perks are imaginary - a animal variant is not stronger than it's original animal, just different in behavior.

With that out of the way, let's see some specific skins:

Any "arctic" skin
Arctic fox, blue fox, polar bear cub, white lynx cub/mother, blosson lynx cub/mother, vanilla badger cub/mother, arctic bunny, white hedgehog, vanilla wolf, artic wolf.

Just a skin variant to say that you live on the snow biome/you're on it. No behavior change in general, apart from being mostly loners.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Immunity to cold. Your thick fur keeps you warm.
+ Able to swin on freezing waters with no downsides, as long as you shake the water off your body when you're done swimming. Your body is adapted to the cold waters, but you might freeze your fur if you stay wet.
- Low stamina outside of the snow biome. You waste more energy moving around on warmer biomes, and can overheat in long hunts. Needs to often take breaks while traveling.

Black Panther Lynxes
Preferable to couple this skin with the bigger lynx size and smaller lynx cub size.

A strong, stealthy and cautious lynx type. Is an excelent climber, prefering to shelter among the top of trees and cliffsides instead of dens. Whoever, it's strong legs are not made for endurance, resulting in low stamina. The Black Panther Lynx resorts in hunting it's prey by stalking and capturing before it reacts, and should not give much chase for anything that spots it.
Panther lynxes are not friendly to any other adult felines, showing exaggerated aggression and going as far as chasing other lynxes away from their vast territory.
Bonus; Hissing voice or mature voice (Voice #1) are very effective.

Black Panther lynx cubs in general are quieter, reserved cubs. Masters at small animal hunting such as birds, frogs and insects, and as good climbers as their adult form.
Can also be either shy or aggressive, being really hard critters to befriend or help.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Excelent climber. You have strong hind legs.
+ Able to sleep on top of trees and rocks. A true cat sleeps in the most unlikely places.
- Low stamina. Your legs are not made for running. You have to stalk, pounce and surprise your prey to be able to catch it.
- Agressive or/and shy personality. Not a shiny example of a social animal.

Elder lynx

I've seen people use/switch to this skin to represent an elder lynx. Doesn't hunt much, has low stamina, is normally friendly and has developet a taste for berries.
Bonus; Extra points for using the weak meow (voice 2). Will probably die by a rabbit attack. :(

Perks and Downsides:
+ Adorable granny kitty. A big cat that eats berries and make friends with prey, that is a cute sight to be seen.
- Low stamina. Your body is not how it used to be.
- Weak and frail. You should try to take your retirement days with some peace, or else.

Racoon fox
Preferable to couple this skin with the smaller fox size.

I personally like to be a scavenger with this skin. Following lynxes and other foxes so I can get scraps of what they hunt, or collect mushroons and berries for myself. Hunt for insects on flower-beddings (the small, green ones) and usually avoiding confrotation. I like to imagine that this fox type is smaller than the others in body size. Well I don't have to imagine anymore!
Bonus; Third voice (the bark/rawr one) is the best choice. It resembles a bark (for intimidation), and differs you from a fox or wolf pup by voice.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Good climber. You adopted the habits of a racoon, being able to climb better than your fellow foxes.
+ Eats and drinks almost anything. Berries, essence flowers and mushrooms, mud, swamp water, insects, meat, carcasses and more. Just don't try to eat grass and you should be alright.
+ [Only with second and third fox voices] Intimidation and instigation. Your voice is way toughter than yourself, and you're able to use it to scare prey off to a predator to kill it for you, or to scare dangers away.
+ Good at fishing. Should be able to catch fish every time.
- Shy and cowardish. You're not a social animal. You will be following other animals around to steal their hunt or eat what's left of it, but you should flee imediatelly if you're spotted. It takes a lot of time and effot to win your trust.
- Should visit water more often. It's part of your behavior to wash yourself often, and if possible, wash your food before eating it.


Panda bear cub
Just a slower, friendlier and harmless bear type. Should not fight, and can eat various types of flowers (since there's no bamboo) alongside berries.
Bonus: Second bear cub voice is the best choice.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Can eat flowers. Just like a panda! Except there's no bamboo around and flowes are the closest thing.
- Slow in general. Just like a panda.
- Meat has no taste. Can still be eaten in starving moments, but should be avoided. Too much meat could make you sick.

Skunk/honey badgers
Preferable to couple this skin with the bigger badger size.

Highly agressive badgers who will fight a lynx if it looks the wrong way. Not very good at choosing enemies, and will hunt anything that moves.
Bonus: First voice (the barking one) is more effective for intimidation.

Cubs with this skin might be highly playful and agressive, going as far as killing other animals cubs while playing or tauting/howling.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Bulky. You shall not be affected by any enviromental hazard. You also don't feel as much pain, being able to hunt hedgehogs (if the hedgehog accepts being hunted) without being pricked, and fight others for longer periods of time. (You still have the same "life points" as a regular badger, but you won't retreat by pain or fear).
+ Can eat almost anything. You definetelly prefer a fresh kill, but your stomach can take carcasses, insects, flowers, mushrooms, berries and others.
+ Intimidating. Your agressive behavior and easy-to-reconize pelt will keep smarter predators and competitors away, in fear of picking a deadly fight.
- Agressive. You should be agressive at everything and anything, often resulting in poor enemy selection.

Swan pheasant
Preferable to couple this skin with the bigger pheasant size.

A majestic bird who lives on lakes and water in general. Highly agressive, don't fly, and will attack cubs and smaller animals that approach it's lake territory.
Only use flight to fly over the water and have a head advance. Don't fly on terrain. Flying over water is to compensate the slow swimming speed.
Bonus: Second pheasant voice, since it's rather agressive.
[New] Bonus 2: If you decide to attack someone across the water, use your drinking action while flying in their direction. Your pheasant will peck the air in front of him and fly with both of their wings open in a T-pose. This pose reminds me a lot of the swans in Paws: A Shelter 2 game, and it looks terrifying!

Perks and Downsides:
+ Intimidation. Although you're just as strong as a pheasant, your agressive behavior, swan-colored feathers, size and voice makes you a scary animal to fight against. Lynxes don't normally fear swan pheasants, but foxes might think twice before hunting you.
+ Lives on water. Hunting something on the water takes effot and time, thing that most predators don't want to waste hunting a bird.
+ Diet is made of fish,insects and flowers. You don't need to worry about hunting for the most part.
- Can't fly outside the water. Swans are not fit for flying. You can fly above the water whoever, to compensate the slow swimming speed.
- Agressive. A very bad trait to have when there's animals that don't fear you around. This agressive behavior might cost your nest, or even your life.

With the release of "Art of shelter" book, there are some "new animals".

Red-eyed tree frog
A small green frog with red paws and eyes. Can be away from water for extended periods of time, and lives on high rocks and trees.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Good climber. You often lives on top of trees and cliffsides. You can also use your climbing skills to escape predators.
+ Can stay away from water for long periods of time. Since you live on trees mostly, you shouldn't be making your way back to the water often.
- Slow outside the water. This is more of a reminder than a downside actually.

Red panda bear cub
An agressive panda/fox-like animal. Can eat various flower types just like the panda bear cub, but is a lot more active and can hunt for small animals. Can group up with foxes or other panda bear cubs.
Bonus: Second bear cub voice.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Can eat plants. You're mostly an herbivore after all. You can still eat meat, it just might not be worth the chase.
+ Affinity to foxes. Can easily adapt to a fox family if accepted on the group.
- Agressive. Not as agressive as a swan or honey badger, but still quite untrustful and mischiveous.

Armadillo hedgehog
A variant of the regular hedgehog. Is more friendly to other animals since there's no risk of being hurt by the regular prickes other hedgehos have.

Perks and Downsides:
+ No thorns. You won't hurt other animal friends by touching them. This might help in building friendships.
+ Can't be clawled or pickled when in ball form. Your hard skin offers as much protection as the hedgehogs prickles.
- Also no thorns. Predators might be more inclined to attack and hunt you now that they won't be prickled for doing so.

Crow pheasant
Preferable to couple this skin with the smaller pheasant size.

An highly inteligent pheasant. Likes to observe other animals from high perches and is very shy and unthrustfull, prefering to fly at any sight of danger. Can be very mischiveous in a group whoever.
BONUS: Voice (2).

Perks and Downsides:
+ Can "fly". Abuse your flight skills to the maximun, by flying from bush to bush and tree to tree. Shouldn't give a chance for predators to catch up on flight.
+ An observer. You should be very awary of your surroundings, not letting your guard down unless when eating or drinking.
+ Omnivore. Can eat almost anything.
- (If on a group) Mischiveous. They can be found harrashing, following and overall being an annoyance to other animals if in groups. Predators of any kind can take advantage of this by killing a mischiveous crow.
- Weak and small. You should be dead on one hit against most animals (aside from frogs and rabbits). Cubs can one-hit you aswell.

Coyote Fox
Preferable to couple this skin with the bigger fox size.

Bulkier and bigger, the coyote fox sports a less stalkey, more mischiveous and oportunistic playstyle than a regular fox. They are known for teaming up with badgers, being pests to bigger predators such as lynxes and wolves and to lure naive cubs and prey close to hunt.

BONUS: Voice (3).

Perks and Downsides:

+ Bigger and stronger. You're stronger than other foxes. (Do not pursue fights against other predators or foxes whoever, as it is not worth the fight!)
+ Affinity to team up with badgers. As unusual as it is, coyotes can be often observed to hunt alongside badgers, both benefiting from the interaction. Don't be afraid to be friends with a badger if they also want company!
+ Backstabber. Coyotes are known to hunt cubs by luring them closer by playing and talking with them, and when they are close enough, attack. You're also okay in luring animals you're playing with to other predators so you don't have to do the dirty work yourself.
- Louder. You're not exactly good at stealth or at being a stalker. Utilize vocalizations often.
- Mischiveous. You're really playful and often times agressive, putting yourself in bad situations against other stronger predators. You should be harrassing other animals for the fun of it, mocking them and even playing with your food before killing it.
- Backstabber. As soon as other animals notice your mischiveous intentions, they will not hesitate in casting you out of their group or even attacking you. Being a backstabber is most likely the worst thing you can do on Meadow and other animals will not take your evil actions kindly.

The new DLC comic - Trails - has added one new skin to the wolf, a bright orange with dark and white details, very remaniscent of a South american animal named Maned wolf.

[New]Maned Wolf
Preferable to couple this skin with the bigger wolf size.

A tall, weird cousin of the regular wolves that can be found on other parts of the world. This south american "fox on stilts" is a highly alert and shy animal, being able to see threats from far away due to it's tall nature. Is a omnivore, prefering to mainly eat fruits and berries instead of actively hunting, and is overall weaker than a regular wolf, prefering to avoid confrotations with anything bigger than a fox.

BONUS: Voice (3).

Perks and Downsides:
+ Very tall animal with good vision. Be in tall grass or dense forests, you will be able to notice other animals from very far away, as long as they are on your line of sight.
+ Generalist omnivore. You can usually eat anything that you find, including fruits, berries, insects, fish, small prey and certain flowers and mushrooms. As long as it's eatable, you will be able to eat.
+ Menacing voice and size. Maned wolves have a special kind of vocalization called a "roarbark". And as the name implies, it's a powerful mixture of a big cat's roar with a deep bark what can be heard from afar. Despite your weak build, your powerful voice and tall physique might be able to intimidate hunters.
- Loud. It takes effot for you to not talk loudly, and even though you're a shy and stealthy creature, you might be able to be heard from great distances.
-Shy animal. You rather be left alone, being wary and afraid of contacting even foxes, deer or other wolves, aswell as lynxes.
- Extra hungry. With a diet of mainly small fruits and berries and a huge body size, you have to more often hunt and find food in general.
- Weak and frail. You have akwardly long twig legs and a omnivore lifestyle, not being built for resistance or fighting as your cousins. You have a decent fighting chance against a fox, but will be killed by a single lynx or wolf if those decide to hunt you!

The most recent update granted us with quick voice switching. You can now change voices at any time without the need to pause your game to do so.
Switching voices is a quick and effective way to convey the emotions of your animal. Here's a rundown of my personal expecience and oppinion about every animal sound, and how they should be used:

Lynx
5 voices
(1) is a mature call, (2) is a weak meow, (3) is a strong/immature meow/call (it's also the same call as lynx cub's (3) call, with a modified pitch), (4) is hissing, (5) is a rather demanding meow (it's also the same sound mother lynx makes when she's alone on Shelter 2).
People often use wherever they want, and change to (4) to hiss at enemies.
I personally use every voice for something: (1) for neutral, (2) when I'm weak/hungry/hurt, (3) when I'm a young lynx or to call my kits, (4) to any agressive behavior, and (5) for being friendly or call my kits. The last voice was used to call for a mate on the shelter series, and I normally use it to call for any stray kits or other lynxes because I don't want to be alone (if I'm using this call).

Lynx cub
5 voices
(1) is a high-pitched cry/call, (2) is a demanding meow, (3) is a loud "mature" call (it's the same call as the lynxe's (3), but with a different pitch), (4) is a weak meow, and (5) is purr/growl.
I normally see people using any voice they want with no regard in choice. I personally change between any voice to (4) when I'm hungry/weak and (5) when I'm fearful/trying to be stealthy. I often times change to (3) before "growing up"/changing animals to a lynx.

Badger
2 voices
(1) is a bark, (2) is a low and loud growl/calling sound.
I don't see people changing between voices much. Sometimes I use (2) as neutral, and (1) as a agressive voice.

Badger cub
3 Voices
(1) is a bark, (2) is a soft call, (3) is a loud cry.
People often use (1) and 2 as normal voices, and change to 3 when they are afraid. Personally I use 2 as my normal voice, 1 as a challenge/anger voice (basically barking at others) and 3 as a fearful voice.

Goat
5 voices
People normally choose any voice at any moment. (1), (2) and (5) are free to use.
(3) Is the screaming goat voice, and I would change to it to show fear. (4) is a rather agressive growl-like sound, I like to use it when I'm a herd leader, since it's so distinct.

Fox
3 voices
(1) is a crying/neutral fox sound, (2) is a low and loud agressive sound/neutral bark/sound and (3) is a bark/roar sound.
Since the addition of the wolf itself, a lot of people have been using voice (2) as a "wolf pup voice", with the wolf skin or other wolf-like skins (like dark skins, whites, blues). So as a new configuration;
(1) as a fox voice (can also be used to mean an injuried/fearful sound/voice), (2) a wolf voice (or a more canine voice for the fox, aswell as an agressive-neutral voice), and (3) as a bark (for fights and call-outs).

Bear cub
2 voices
(1) is a loud calling, and (2) is kinda like a growl.
I normally use the growl for being sneaky, but that's all. Not a lot of choice; Choose what fits you better.

Pheasant
2 voices
(1) is a pheasant "tut", (2) is a sharp bird hiss/call.
For goofyness I always use (1), but (2) is well suited for agressive behavior.

Rabbit
3 voices
Voices (1) and (2) are very alike, and voice (3) is a little scream.
I normally use (1) and (2) equally, and change to (3) at the sight of danger.

Hedgehog
4 voices
Voices (1), (2) and (3) are very alike (a loud squeak). As for voice (4), it's resembles a laugh.
There's not a lot of choice. You can use any, or you can use the voice (4) and change to (1)/(2)/(3) when in danger.

Frog
6 voices
I don't normally choose between them. Since frogs die on one hit from anything, there's not much you can do with his voice choices to say fear/hurt. I usually use my favourite or keep changing as I change my skin.

Wolf
3 voices
Voice (1) is a low yap/growl, voice (2) is a bark and voice (3) is a powerful and agressive bark.
Pretty straighfoard from I've seen. (1) is a more neutral and calm voice, while (2) and (3) are agressive/distressful barks, in which (3) is also used to call for atention of other players and for a more agressive intimidation.

With quick switching, you can communicate more complex messages with your voices by combining them. (I'm still researching and testing out this).
For example, combining a rather agressive neutral voice of a fox (voice (2)) with voice's (1) cry might give you a more friendly yet serious appeal that none of the voices alone can convey.

This is a dedicated section to describe "unusual" families on the roleplaying grove, consisted of different species roleplaying as if they were of the same species. Fox and "fox" kits (lynx cubs with similar skins as of the fox parent), Eagles with "eagle" chicks (pheasants with off-white skin), Pheasant swans with "chicks" (pheasants with off-white skin) and Wolves with "wolf" pups (foxes with wolf skin or similar skins as of the wolf parent, and mainly using voice (2)). This is becoming very common as of late, so I might aswell describe this behavior!

As a sidenote, I won't be discribing families with different species of eachother (anything that is indeed two different species; For example a lynx cub roleplaying as a lynx cub with a fox as an adoptive parent) nor usual families (badger with badger cubs, lynx with lynx cubs).

Let's begin!


The most common unusual family by far, a lot of foxes will use a wolf-like skin with the second voice to be a wolf pup.

Skins:
Smaller skin symbols indicate "rarer" skins to occur when your parent has the skin indicated. It should be rare to be a white wolf pup if your parent has dark fur.
In red: Fox-exclusive skins (don't use them if you're roleplaying as a wolf pup)
[I'm sorry if this is ugly; I might do something better later]

Voices: Most wolf pups use voice (2). Other variants were (1) for fearful, (2) normal and (3) as a bark.





To be a good Wolf mother:

• Be open minded when a fox approach you; Sometimes they might want to join you as a pup instead of being a fox, and you might find yourself good company!
  
• Wolves might nurse their pups at dens for a while, but most of their time together will be travelling with the pack.
  
• Properly present your pup to the rest of your pack, so they don't mistake it for a fox. If they do, try to explain to them they're a pup (follower + group, group + yes, food + no should do the work) or leave the pack for the safety of your pup.
  
• Encourage your pack to interact with your pup and to socialize with it!
  
• Pups are clumsy and unexperienced, but also strong. If you find easy prey and you both are not in desperate need of food, you can let your pup hunt and play with a prey stock. They are able to kill other animal's cubs, rabbits and smaller animals as long as they're able to hunt it.
  
• You should be able to know when to flee and when to fight to defend your pups. You should be fine fighting and scaring off foxes and eagles, but you should be really careful around badgers and lynxes as they can hurt you and kill your pups easily if you're alone. Avoid confrotation if possible.
  
• Any other parenting rule that is common to lynxes and badgers also apply to you and you pup.
  
• Eventually, your child will grow - and change animals - and become an adult wolf! You can either welcome him into your pack, or say your goodbyes as he might want to follow his own path.

And how about being the pup?

• Playing as a pup should feel roughly like playing as any other cub. Be naive, fun, energetic, curious!
  
• As a wolf pup you are mostly safe from other predators as your mother can protect you from most dangers and your pack can shield you from any hazards. So have fun, take risks, be loud! You don't need to be as afraid as a lynx cub or badger cub, since you're overall a stronger cub animal and is mostly child of a top predator.
  
• Interact with the pack and have fun! You won't see a lot of other wolf pups around, so you should socialize with the other adults in your pack.
  
• You are a really strong cub, although clumsy and unexperienced. You should be roughly as strong as a fox, although a lot louder and inefective at hunting. You can use this to your advantage as you can hunt and kill other species cubs and smaller herbivores if you're able to catch them and fight.
  
• You walk faster than a wolf, so it might be a little annoying to be constantly stopping so you can properly follow your mother. A way I've found to get around this is to follow your parent going left and right, following the rhythm of it's tail as if you were holding onto it. It's also cute!
  
• Your voice (3) can be used as to immitate the adult's wolf bark.
  
• When time has come, you can change animals to a wolf, effectivelly growing up! This is the moment where you decide if you want to stay with the pack, or to say goodbye.

Sometimes you can see a fox walking around with lynx cubs of similar skin.

Skins:
In dark red: Skins that does not fit into any of the foxes skins. You can still use them, although it would be best to try to match your parent.

Voices: No voices trully match a fox. I would stick to the purr sound whoever, as it is not a meow.












To be a good Fox mother:

• Be open minded when finding a lynx cub; You might just find a pup wanting to group with you instead of being hunted.
  
• Foxes will often dig up - or in the case of Meadow, find - a den for it's pups to stay. Pups don't normally follow their parents around, instead having to wait for them to hunt and bring food to the den.
  
• This playstyle based on living on a den can be boring sometimes though; So don't be afraid to take your pups for a walk!
  
• You and your pups are really vulnerable to other predators around - such as badgers, lynxes and wolves - so it is important for you to be always mindful of your suroundings, and know when to flee. Your cub isn't as fast as you nor as agile so you have to take extra precautions against predators because you can't defend your cubs from bigger predators.
  
• You are an elusive, stalker predator unlike other animals in Meadow, and you should teach your pups the art of stealth. Insist in silencing them at hunts, show them how to stalk, how to hunt, what to hunt, etc;
  
• Any other parenting rule that is common to lynxes and badgers also apply to you and you pup.
  
• The time will come where the cubs will have to say goodbye to you - and probably change animals to a fox. Give your bittersweet goodbyes!

And how about being the pup?

• Playing as a pup should feel roughly like playing as any other cub. Be naive, fun, energetic, curious!
  
• The only difference is that you and your family are really vulnerable overall, and you should be careful. Foxes on Meadow survive by being quiet and smart stalkers and even though you're a naive cub, you should be mindful of your surroundings and strive to be quieter.
  
• As a little sidenote, your wave action resembles the foxe's play animation. You can use this to imitate your fox parent!
  
• When you feel you're ready, you can change animals to a fox! Don't forget to say goodbye to your parent :)

My happy child!
A pheasant can take the role of a eagle chick if both parties properly understand eachother.

Skins:
Your default skin should be the off-white pheasant skin. Other skins that fits the eagle parent's skin can also be used.
Smaller symbols means "rarer" skins to come by for a parent with that specific skin. A green eagle should rarely have a golden chick because of it's golden crest as for example.
In dark-red: Skins that does not fit any of the eagle's skins.

Voices: Preferably voice (2), as it sounds very similar to a chick.







To be a good Eagle mother:

• Set a nest somewhere high (and that pheasants can reach with their limited flight). A tall bush, on top of a tree, on a mountain, etc; Someplace slighly high from the ground. The higher, the safer!
  
• Hunt and bring food and water for your chicks. (You can either ask a prey to follow you to the nest or just pretend you're carrying something for your chicks. To bring water, dive into a water souce and bring to them using the rain 3d emote and/or water emoticon.)
  
• [New] If the area you're currently nested in doesn't have any food sources (other players or water to drink/fish), or if your nest is somewhere dangerous (too many predatory animals around), it is best to move to a better nest with moe resources, or that is simply safer.
  
• When they have grown a bit, let them leave the nest.
  
• Stay close to the ground while you guide your children around.
  
• Teach them how to hunt by letting them observe your tactics from a safe distance.
  
• Teach them how to fly by taking them to high rocks and trees.
  
• Their last flight test should be a free fall from a high place. (this is where I recommend the pheasants to change to eagle if they have it, or change skins to resemble their parent. It can be either the AoS skin (kinda looks like a bald eagle), a swan skin (white eagle) or green skin (AoS skin eagle).
  
• Stay with your childen for a while longer now that they know how to fly (as changing to eagle, or pretentind to fly as a pheasant). Teach them anything air-related (how to dive, high-up nest locations, perches, etc).
  
• When it's time, they'll leave you to start their own family. Give your bittersweet goodbyes :(

And how about being the chick?

• Find a eagle parent who is whilling to take care of you. With some coordination, a eagle will understand you want to be their chick - and not their prey. (To help you with this: Try to approach a eagle asking if they want a cub. "Group + ?", "Follower + ?" should do the trick.)
  
• Act like a cub animal would. Mischiveous or obedient, the personality doesn't matter as much as you being aware you're a cub.
  
• Stay at the nest on your early days. You're too young to leave it. Just wait for your mother to bring food and water for you and have fun with your siblings. You can also take some time to check your phone/browse the internet while your mother is away, if you're alone.
  
• When you've grown a bit, you can follow your mother around. She will be flying low to be sure you're safe, and you should more or less follow her commands. You still can't properly fly.
  
• Observe how your mother hunts. Learn with her!
  
• Train your flight by flying over rocks, gliding and not falling.
  
• Eventually, you'll be put to the ultimate test: You will have to jump from a high altitude to finally be able to fly. (This is where you should change animals to an eagle, or change skins if you don't have it. AoS skin for a bald eagle, swan skin for a white eagle, green skin for AoS eagle).
  
• Now that you're able to fly (by being a eagle itself or changing skins), follow your mother for a little longer to learn new flying tricks such as diving, nest locations, etc. (If you're still a pheasant, pretend to fly alongside her and stay for as long as you can in the air.)
  
• Eventually, you'll have to leave her to start a new family. Give her your goodbyes. :(

The rarest family to come by, sometimes you might see a white skin pheasant - who is roleplaying as a swan - swimming at a lake or river, and right behind them there might be one or more pheasants swimming with him, being their chicks.

Skins:
For the mother: Swan pheasant skin (skin #7; White skin with red details) with bigger pheasant size.

For the chicks: Both the swan pheasant skin or the off-white skin (skin 2#; a greyish white skin) with smaller pheasant size.



To be a good Swan mother:

• Be sure to understand the playstyle of a swan pheasant before trying to be a mother yourself; In a nutshell, you're an aquatic pheasant that can only fly above water, lives in lakes and rivers and takes a small space to call yours (be it a small area with water, an island and it's surrounding lake/river, or even a rock and it's surrounding water) to protect against any intruders. Swan pheasants are highly agressive, big and do not live away from water as they can not fly.
  
• It is recommended for you to use the bigger pheasant size, as it both helps the swan playstyle (diferenciates you from regular pheasants by size and make you slighlty more intimidating) aswell as give your child a bigger size difference, as they might be using the smaller size for a chick and regular size for a sub-adult.
  
• Teach your children the basics about your swan lifestyle: Show your chick around your home (that might be a small area, an island, or a simple rock on the middle of a river), show them the nest (a flowerbedding, a dead tree, a rock with some flowers, a bush, etc), show them water, and show them how to protect your home from intruders by intimidation.
  
• When they get used to your home and water, teach them how to swim! They might be carried by your on their first try, but in consecutive tries they should be able to swin and follow you on their own.
  
• Teach them how to hunt for themselves. Swan pheasants eat small fish and water lilies. To eat something while in the water (be it a plant or fishing), use a yes headshake and your voice, as both those actions will make your pheasant peck the area ahead of them. With a bit of roleplaying, pretend you're fishing!
  
• You can feed your chick directly if they can not fish for themselves. Tell your chick you have food (food + water, food + silly/tongue emote, food + up, etc) and turn yourself to be facing them. Pretend you're giving them the fish you'vej ust caugh by being close to them and using yes/no headshakes.
  
• Swin with them around the lake or river you're in for fun and perhaps show your chick some landmarks around the place such as rocks, mud, flowers and rivers. Take your time to bond with them and talk, as sometimes there's not a lot of threats around to defend your den from.
  
• If a threat arrives, tell your pheasant chick to wait on the water (if they can properly swin) and go defend your den. If defending is hopeless, it is better to let your den be temporally run down and your nest be destroyed than letting your chick be motherless, so flee to the water.
  
• When the time comes, your chick might grow in size into a beautiful swan! And when it happens, you can either welcome him into your flock and both can defend the den, or you might need to tell your bittersweet goodbyes as they might want to find a place for themselves.

And how about being the chick?

• You don't need to know prior how to play as a swan chick as your mother will probably teach you how, but it might help knowing regardless; In a nutshell, you're an aquatic pheasant that can only fly above water, lives in lakes and rivers and takes a small space to call yours (be it a small area with water, an island and it's surrounding lake/river, or even a rock and it's surrounding water) to protect against any intruders. Swan pheasants are highly agressive, big and do not live away from water as they can not fly.
  
• You should use the smaller pheasant size to be a chick, and change to the regular pheasant size when you consider yourself a sub-adult (or juvenile). You can change to the bigger pheasant size when you're a full grown swan.
  
• Follow your mother around, hear what she has to teach you. Where's your home, your nest (for you to sleep in), the water, and anything else she might deem important! All of this info might be vital to know in desperate situations.
  
• Learn to swin with your mother. She might help you on your first try, but you're expected to get the hang of swimming very soon after.
  
• She will proceed to teach you how to fish. Use a yes headshake and a call to do so, as your head projects fowards. You can pretend you're fishing this way!
  
• It's okay if you're not able to catch anything on your first tries, as she will fish for you. She might call you to stop moving, and approach you to offer the fish she just caugh. Use silly/tongue emotes + food to tell you're eating, aswell as a yes/no headshake!
  
• Follow your mother through the water, travel with her and learn new things about your surroundings! A river route, a weird rock, some mud to play on, the destination don't matter as much as the journey. Take this time to chat with her and bond :)
  
• You are small and defenseless, even more so by being a prey's youngling. Your power to intimidate others like your mother is far smaller and should be taken into consideration.
  
• At the face of danger, take refugee in the water. Most predators won't bother in hunting in the water as it is annoying to do so.
  
• Eventually you will grow to be a beautiful swan (and hopefully change to the bigger pheasant size to match an adult's size). At this moment you may choose to stay with your parent and defend your home together, or leave to find a home of your own. Don't forget to say your bittersweet goodbyes!

I've got a lot of feedback for the eagle since I created this guide (I would go as far as to say the eagle was one of the reasons I created it in the first place) and I believe I have enough material about this majestic bird to make a separate section just for it!

I'll be compiling things I've already talked about with some new ideas.

(HOW) TO KILL A MOCKINBIRDEAGLE

Poor dead fellow.

Eagles can die, and I want to explain how eagles convey that they are dead.
The only animal that can effectivelly kill an eagle is an adult lynx (maybe a fully grown male deer aswell using it's horns or even a big wolf, but those are niche cases), and it would come down to the fighters to decide who wins in a fight. I believe the eagle can harm and kill the lynx as well as the lynx can kill an eagle (Shelter 2 lynx could do it at least). Personally I leave to the lynx to count any hits on himself, and I count a hit if the lynx jumps right on time that I come down to attack.

Dying eagle:
Flying low or desoriented, crying emote. Stops in place, food emote.

If you're not sure if the eagle is dead, you can use "dead + ?" to ask.

I don't want to step too much on the food chain, but I wanted to explain how an eagle could die. I just don't like the idea of an immortal animal, so personally the eagle can be killed.

3D EMOTES
Just a perched, confused fella.
Eagles are now finally able to put 3D emotes down. With that, I can see use for some of it's emotes:

Fire emotes for attacking - The same as other animals, althought I don't personally attack this way.
Lonesome Fog as an nest - It sort of have a circular form and it spawns just on the eagle's feet, I just see it fit. It would be a good visual clue of when a eagle is perched somewhere instead of just flying in place.
Flowers - Just as any other use. To help others, show friendliness, etc.
Sketch 3d skin effect - I've been personally using this as a "cooldown" attached to a "strike" sound. I like to use it exactly when I land on a prey as a way to give more weight to my attack, and it doubles down as a cooldown where I can't attack again while I'm under the dark ink/sketch effect.
Rain/moon emote - A symbolic way to bring water to someone.
[New]Butterfly pathway 3d emote - I've not thought of a use for this emote for the eagle just yet, besides it's intended use (a magical pathway).

The latest update has blessed us with the hability to use different horns with every skin, and some new horns to choose from! I want to give a recap of every role a goat can take depending of the horns used, aswell as a small insight on this animal's place within the roleplaying grove.



Musk deer (no horns with long teeth)

Loner and shy animals, should not be on herds and must run from anything that might scare them. Even little rabbits. They can defend themselves with their teeth if cornered.

Perks and Downsides:
+ Intimidation. Your long teeth and big size are intimidating for smaller predators.
- Loner animal. You're a shy animal, prefering to live alone.

Female deer, or goats (no horns, straight-up horns, smaller horns)


Should act like you normally would with a goat/deer herd. Followers of the male with the biggest antlers, should look up for the male to protect them against dangers.
Try not to fight off danger with no horns/small horns. You can intimidate foxes with your size, but you should flee at the sight of a lynx.

Young male deer, or roe deer (smaller horns)

Younger male deers. Will grow bigger antlers over time. Can act either as a follower (such as the female deers) or as an male deer (challenging other males or leading).
You can either fight or flee at the sight of danger. Whoever, your horns are too small to do any damage to predators.

Adult male deer (medium-sized horns and bigger horns)


Leader of the herd. Will be deciding where to go, when to rest, what to eat, etc; And should protect it's herd from other males and predators.
It's your job to protect your herd from danger. You're still not a match against lynxes, but you can scare them off or buy time fo your herd to flee.
You can also flee from danger if you wish; But it might end on tragedy.

Males should fight to determine who is the leader of the herd:
A challenger must use the play animation with Mischevious/Untrustworthy, Anger and/or group emotes to show they want to challenge the group leader.
When confrotation is accepted, the two males now alternate between play-emoting and jumping at the enemy until one gives up and the other wins. You can also use nod/headshakes and the drinking animation to show off your horns and attack.
Another way of winning is for the females to stop the fight and choose the winner, moving to their side.
The defeated party might leave the herd or change horns (as if they broke, or to change gender).

Roleplaying bonus! You can "fight" trees by headbutting them. This is a common male behavior to exercise fighting and to sharpen the horns.

Another roleplaying bonus is not challenging the leader, but instead trying to seduce the females to form a new herd with you. Wave animation + Flirting emote should do it.

There's some small enviromental-specific things that are worth talking about. Those are:

Dens
Anything about dens might come here.

Water ponds within dens
Some dens have a specific texture that contain a small blue square. Since water is a bit scarce in some regions, this little square is drinked up as it was a small water pond.

Foliage texture in dens
Some dens can present different textures aside from the usual rocky texture. These areas are ideal for sleeping for being more confortable.

Pheasant dens
Pheasants can use small flower beddings (the circular, green or vanilla ones) as a den/nest, aswell as making a home on top of trees and bushes. If well roleplayed, predadors can hunt for eggs on pheasant nests. (Not as useful for a lynx, wolf, fox or bear cub who can hunt the pheasant itself, but very good for scavangers and badger/lynx cubs!)

Alternately, you can also use food bushes as a pheasant den. The best thing about this option is that you can guard the food as if they were your eggs!
I recommend clearing up the food on the "middle" of the den and some other scattered food, and finding a spot where you can sit freely without accidentally eating more food than needed. Food won't vanish as long as you don't eat it, so don't worry about it randomly disapearing!

[New]Fallen trees and tree roots
I've seen a lot of burrow-inclined critters (such as foxes, badgers, rabbits and others who dig homes for themselves) using fallen trees as burrows, and refusing to take damage against bigger predators as to say they are inside the burrow! It gives a new twist to prey animals as those smaller homes does seen to fit them better in contrast to the giant dens thought Meadow. If you see a critter chilling on the roots of a fallen tree, try not to attack them!
[New] There's also a lot of trees (mainly on the new, tropical area) with tree roots partially exposed, for critters to sleep under and protect themselves ^^

Hazards
Hazards are areas or objects that can be "dangerous" for yourself if you're playing as a survival animal. Being stuck inside leaves, hypothermia, cold, etc! Just don't forget that you should not force others to roleplay those dangers with you; You can interact with others by telling them about these dangers or even suffering from said dangers yourself, but you should never exclude or be aggressive towards someone for not roleplaying in the same way you do.

Swamp water
This green looking liquid is not fit for drinking for most animals since it's water from the swamp. It can make healthy animals sick and is potentially deadly to cub and weak animals. It's OK to bath yourself and swin on it whoever.
Sidenote: Swamp water does not make you sick all the time. You can drink it if you're desperate, and you should count other players drinking it as "being lucky" for not getting sick.

[New]Salty ocean water
Similar to the Swamp water, ocean water is not drinkable. Drinking directly from the ocean only causes your animal to be even thirstier for fresh water, and can lead to dehydration.

Freezing water
Waters from the winter/snow biome should not be swim on, since they are dangerously freezing. Small animals who fall on the water have a serious danger of hypothermia and should be taken care of immediately after they are out of the freezing stream.
Sidenote:
This lake is okay to swin on whoever. The waterfalls above shower the lake with warm waters, making it not life-threatning to swin on. (AKA You can freely swin to the cave).

Water currents close to waterfalls (and sometimes in rivers)
Close to waterfalls, the water current can be extremelly harsh and strong, dragging smaller and weaker animals along with it to ineviable doom unless saved, be it by newfound willpower or someone else dragging them out of the water. Be mindful when traversing water, and keep your cubs and small friends close.

Long distance swimming
Some areas of the map can have huge bodies of water to traverse such as the ocean area, in which might be dangerous if you're not a water-inclined critter such as a frog or even a swan pheasant.
Be careful to not stay too long swimming from one end to another, as you risk tiring yourself and even drowining. Be careful when doing long travels through water with cubs, pups or chicks, as they will get exausted quicker than you and might not be able to keep swimming, needing asistance. Finding a route around the water is always ideal.

Snowfalls and cold
Thoughtout the whole snow biome, snow falls from the sky. For unprepared animals, the cold might be overwhelming, demanding constant shelter-taking (to not freeze to death) and to remove the snow from the animal's pelt (just like you would shake off water).

Rain and cold
Rain can be a common ocurrance in some biomes, requiring you to take shelter more often to dry yourself up and to not be too tired - since water weights you down and makes you cold.

Leaf piles and snow piles
Not a danger on itself, but a small or weak animal can get stuck inside/bellow the leaves and snow. Can be easily released by being dug out. (Roleplaying: Lay on the leaves/snow and wait for them to respawn with you inside of it. Refuse to move until someone pops the leaf/snow pile).

Mist
Althought not a real danger, animals should be on high alert on misty areas, since it's hard to see and hear. Utilize cover from bushes and flower beddings while walking.

Other

Catnip
A hallucinogen plant. Mainly affects lynxes, althought can affect other animals (with some roleplaying). Can be a positive or negative sight to an adventure - some might enjoy playing around with it, while others fear or hate the sensation.

[New]Lotus pads
Really fun water plants that can be stepped on to avoid water! Just be mindful of your own size and weight, as bigger animals such as goats, wolves and lynxes might risk falling into the water bellow as the Lotus pad sinks due to their weight or a loss in balance!

There are more burrows around the whole Meadow map than there are dens! Sadly they are pretty hidden away and I rarely see people using them with burrow-inclined animals (Badger, fox, rabbit, etc), and I want to share some of my favourite areas to stay in hopes more people will use them :)

There are way, waaaay too many burrows around meadow for me to list off, and not all of them are really too useful. I want to keep this list short. So I'll be choosing burrows with one of three criteria: Close to the Center Tree, close to a popular den/area, or has something special about it.

Originally posted by Before that though, something you need to know:

You can change the point of view of your animal's camera, placing it either higher up, or down to the ground. Hold left Ctrl while using your mouse-wheel (Zoom-in movement will place your camera closer to the ground, and zoom-out will place it higher.). If you place your camera as close as you can to the ground, most of the burrows won't glitch your camera.

Camera glitching happens when your camera tries to enter inside a wall. When your camera is placed on your animal's feet whoever, it doesn't colide with the walls above so you can see inside most burrows pretty swell.

Overall map with all the interesting burrow locations: (You can open the map on another window to expand it, as it is way bigger in size!)

(Thank you so much Nemo for letting me use your map! Check their guide out later!)

What's written on the corner (if the handwriting is too awful to read:)


A: Burrow location (A red circle will mark it)

B: Direction of entrance (A line will indicate the direction the burrow entrance is facing.)

C: From the side (A line indicates the burrow entrance is on the same level of the burrow itself; No climbing or dropping involved.)

D: From above or bellow (A dot inside of the red circle indicates that the burrow entrance is either from above (requires dropping down to it) or below (requires climbing to reach it).)

Blue lines / arrows: Path to reach burrow (some burrows are on mountains with specific paths to reach)

Purple areas: Requires climbing (Some burrows will require you to climb rocks to reach the entrance)



Now, each burrow in detail:

The easier burrow to find, this is one directly on the Center Tree. From the center of the tree area, go to the waterfalls direction (where there's a giant hole on the world) and you will be sure to find the tree root with the burrow in it.

This burrow is very small, and is semi-open. It's not the best, but at least it is right on the tree!

I do not recommend staying in this burrow (or area) for long thought as the high rate of spawning players might disturb your home.





How it looks:


This burrow is also on the center tree, but you have to climb the tree itself to reach it. It's a great home for flying animals (pheasants, eagles) and you hardly have to travel to find it; Just climb!

This burrow has a little window inside of it. It's rather lovely :)

A little description in how to reach it: The burrow is on the tree's "middle" area; It's above where the roots connect with the tree, and bellow where the branches start. There's a lot of giant mushrooms ("tree ears") guiding you to this den, so follow them around until you find it! The burrow's entrance is facing the waterfall's direction (basically east).


How it looks:


Reference shots (If you're still not able to find it)

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

This one's right beside a regular sleeping den. It's on the bushes to the den's left!

This den also has two entrances: One on it's front by traversing the bushes, and another by climbing the rock on it's side and dropping down inside of it.

Wolves, goats and rabbits can't enter this den thoughtout the bush entrance, as they are too big. They can still access it from above tho!

Overall it's a nicer option to choose from if you think the regular den is too exposed, big or is already occupied by someone else.



How it looks:


The entrance from above:

(Click on the thumbnail to see it better!)

A pretty big one right alongside the mountain's side! It's a pretty hidden burrow overall as you have to climb a bit to reach the area.
It also has a "watchpoint" above it where you can sit and watch your surroundings for any sight of danger, in which if happens you can hide on the burrow right behind it.

There's a food source close to it (a apple tree), aswell as a world gap that you can use to find the burrow (following the gap in a straight line you'll end up on the burrow!)
Right above this burrow there is another one; You can use one of the burrows as a main home and the other one as backup if needed.



How it looks:


Reference shots:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

Right above burrow 4, there is a stair-case'd burrow with two entrances. It's one of my favourites as it is both in a hard to reach place and just looks awesome overall!

You can access the burrow from above or from below (there's a little area for you to climb to reach the secured part of the den.)
This is a wolf-safe den! Wolves can not enter this den from any direction, as they are too big. Goat's can't enter this den too sadly. :(
You can get down from this burrow to the bigger one below if you want more space, or climb your way up from the one below to protect yourself against big predators.


How it looks (entrance from above):

How it looks (entrance from below by climbing):

Reference shots:



(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

This is more or less a well known burrow, one of the only burrows that I've seen people using sometimes. It's very well hidden!

It's on a really open area, with water to the side, a lovely forest, food, a cliffside and overall peaceful.

Wolves, goats, rabbits and (surprisingly) foxes can't access this burrow, even though it's quite a big one. Use this to your advantage!

It has a small window on the end of it, looking up. Aww :)
There's multiple ways to climb to access it.



How it looks:


Reference shots:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

Another favourite of mine, this is a hidden burrow with plenty of space inside of it, perfect for badgers. It is rather hidden, and is close to a lot of other burrows (3, 4, 5 and 6).

Wolves, goats and foxes (to an extend) can't access this burrow.

Beware that you can get temporaly stuck on this den if you stop moving for a while. To unstuck, just run, jump and rotate left/right, you'll eventually be free!

There's a lake close to it, aswell as three food sources around the area.



How it looks:


Reference shots:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

Another fairly known burrow, it's a triangle-shaped burrow above a staircase made of rocks!

It's not very confortable to stay on, but at least it really looks nice!

It's fairly close to the tree, just run to the waterfall's direction (east) towards the mountain to your right.

There's two food sources around this burrow, a high ground to climb in to use as a watch tower, a lot of fallen trees to play on, and a lovely forest.





How it looks:


Reference shot:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

This one's less a burrow, more a bushy den. I still quitel ike it though, as it fits a badger/fox way more than the bid dens.

It has two entrances, so you can enter on one side and leave on another.

The bush inside this burrow doesn't have a hitbox, so you can hide or sleep inside of it!

To reach it, just make your way up to the waterfall's area (the one where starts spawn at night), and look closely on the walls for a bush like the one on the screenshots.



How it looks:


Reference shots:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

A fairly small burrow, with a bigger den area just outside to make up for it!

Only smaller animals can enter this den. Badger, badger cub, lynx cub, hedgehog, possibly frog! You can use here to hide yourself or your cubs from bigger predators.

It's close to the redwood forest (a place with little to no dens), has a lot of food around, is on a pretty popular place with players often travelling on this area, and has a big den area around the burrow to live in. It's one of the best burrows around for badgers :)



How it looks:


Reference shots:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

The last one of the useful burrows, this one is quite far from the tree, but is right beside a regular den, aswell as close to another popular home (the swamp tree). I'll let this one pass.

This burrow has two entrances: One from it's front (shaped like a triangle) and another from above (that you have to rotate in place to get down to). Both entrances seen to have roughly the same size, as animals who can enter from one, can also pass through the other.

Wolves, goats, rabbits and foxes can't enter this den. Use this to your advantage if you are a cub animal, preystock or a badger!


How it looks:


Reference shots:

(Click on the thumbnails to see them better!)

AKA any little nitpicks I have.

FROGS

Oh no, obstacles! I must jump across them!

Not a lot of people play as an frog on the roleplaying grove (myself included) but I found it better to "hunt" insects on these green flowerbeddings than to pretent I'm eating in the water/hunting flies on lilypads.

It makes you leave the security of the water to get food, and I found myself in more interesting hunter/prey situations like that.
Since I'm on this lil slimy fella, if you ever want to play him, there's some suggestions to make things hard:
You can't run. Only run+jump to move around fast! You can still walk.
You can't enter the flower beddings. You have to walk around or jump throught them.
Obviously, you can't stay out of the water for long. But you can't stay without eating for long aswell. So no camping!

BADGERS Vs. LYNXES (And foxes, to an extend)
Can't even reach the forest without being killed by a lynx :(

Again, I don't want to step on the food chain's territory, but I think it should be adressed.
Even thought the Lynx is a lot bigger than the Badger, their fight should be more or less fair. Both sides can fight and win (althought most guides give an advance to the lynx - which is fine). Just don't keep harassing the same badger or family.
If you're a proud lynx wanting some prey, adult badgers should be your last resort. They are agressive, bulky and have a really powerful bite and it doesn't make a lot of sense to hunt one of them when you have less dangerous prey around like foxes, goats, rabbits (your main prey), or even fruits. It's even worse when this said badger has a family and they can't really counterplay you if you keep this "I'm bigger so I win" mentality.
Badgers are slower than lynxes, and their cubs are the slowest animals in the game. They can't really run from you if you keep chasing then forever so the only other way to counterplay a lynx attack is by fighting the attacker. It's not fun to the badger side to fight something that refuses to take damage or die, run straight at you even if you're hidden and just keep jumping at you demanding food instead of fighting back or really roleplaying.
It's even more troubling when the adult badger has a family (which is quite hard to come by on the roleplaying server) and they don't want to loose this family to a fighter that can't be beaten or counterplayed.
Soooo, like, you mean, don't attack a badger family? What if I want some sweet cub's meat?
Hunt badger cubs the same way you would hunt lynx cubs: Be sneaky, don't try to directly fight the mother unless you're desperate, and know when to give up. You don't need to kill the badger mother to get to the cubs, and you don't need to hunt more than one to be satisfied. (This sounds like common sense but it really happens way too often.) Put yourself in that mother's place: Would you find it fun to loose your lynx cubs to a reckless player who can't be fought back, is faster than you and keep attacking you for a full minute of two unless you bend to his will? And when it's all over, you lost your family to something you had no control over?
I really love to see badgers on the roleplaying server, but I feel they are way too rare because of this kind of behavior. It's not challenging to play as an badger, it's just frustrating and you feel like you should be playing a lynx instead.
So, if you see a badger, be mindful. He's not a walking sack of meat that is easy to hunt, he should be a powerfull predator and also a player who wants to have fun interactions with other roleplaying animals.

Also, foxes, by Shelter standarts, you're badger's prey. Please don't hunt badgers unless you have numbers, and even so, don't forget that you should be fearful of your predator even with number's advance, so try to make an interesting fight. Surrounding a badger, don't attacking it from the front, harassing it little by little, all are valid strategies to hunt a badger as long as you be fair to it aswell: Admit when you made a mistake and got hurt, or even killed.

CARRYING SMALL ANIMALS - DEAD OR ALIVE
but moooooom, I don't want to go!
The emoticon shown above by the mother is often refered as the "follower" emote within the roleplaying grove. Or at least, the most common uses are to talk about cubs - who are followers by nature - or stalkers nearby like foxes hunting cubs.

But the use I want to talk about is slightly different; It's the concept of a bigger animal carrying a smaller one.
Effective to use when a cub can't move because of hunger or tiredness, if both parties understands the "carrying" concept, the cub should get off the ground ad follow the carrier anywhere they go as if they were being carried. Can also be used on the water, making it impossible to said cub to be taken by the stream or drown.

Another way of using it is to carry prey around, as long as it's not too big. Ask a prey you've just killed to follow you (follower + food), and if they get what you mean, they should follow you while dead.

You can also quicly use the drinking action to give a visual clue of you carrying another player/food coupled with the follower emote.

FISHING
Preparing to strike.
Fishing is the act of catching fish by jumping on the water and grabbing your dinner while it tries to swim away from your jaws.
A small tutorial of how to do it: Observe the water carefully from a rock or shore, prepare to jump, do said jump, return with the fish, use the drinking emote on the ground and cancel it right after (it seens like you've dropped something on the ground), inform of food for anyone around (water + food), eat said food or wait for someone else to eat it.
Fish should give you a low amount of hunger, roughly the same ammount as one-three berries, and shouldn't be done twice on the same place (after all you scared the fish away the first time you jumped on the water), having to move to another part of the river/lake or moving on to another food source.

Lynxes and pheasants have a quick drinking animation, and can be used as an alternate way to fish if you position yourself just right (like being able to dip your whole head inside the water). I've also seen swan pheasants fishing while on the water by nodding their heads and talking (activating the "talking" animation that moves the pheasant's head foward).

Animals that can fish well (should be succeful every time): Lynx, eagle, bear cub
Animals that can possibly fish (should fail to catch something half the time): Badger, fox, lynx cub
Other animals shouldn't be able to fish.

Fruit collecting
Actual fruit bush on the background: Am I a joke to you?
Sometimes you will not have any luck finding food bushes with interactive fruits to be eaten, but you can still find imaginary fruits with some roleplaying!
There's a new bush on the tropical area that has on it's model a distinct fruit shape and colors on it, and although they don't drop any fruits, they do look tasty.
Jump and grab yourself one juicy fruit from the bush, and then use the drinking action as to say you're eating it. Try not to rely too much on it though - only grabbing one fruit per bush.

Because I was reaching the character's limit. D:

FLOWER 3D EMOTE/TOY - MEDICINE IN ROLEPLAYING, HUNTING TRAINING AND OTHERS

A new toy came out, and it's a little flower who loose it's petals like a clock, and explodes when you touch it again.

It's still a rather new emote, but I want to throw an idea I always wanted to use, but wasn't really possible:
Being able to cure your friends with flowers.
My lynx friend just got in a fight :(
If there's a injuried friend of yours who is walking too slow or not walking at all (dying), there's now a way to help him:
Flowers!
You have to find the nearest flower camp or flower collectable, and when you do, pretend you're collecting a flower from it (use the drinking animation), and then come back to your friend and use the new 3D emote. He should "eat" the petals (as they're falling) and receive the sparkles that the flower gives when exploding, curing him from any injuries from a battle or predador.

Why I have to run around and find a flower?
It would be too easy to just use the emote close to him without any effot. Having to find a flower and having to leave your friend (who would be an easy prey alone) is actually a hard choice and also challenging, which makes everything more fun.

What if I don't have the flower 3D emote?
You can pretend to have a flower with you, giving the standart "flower" emote and using the drinking animation close to your friend, like you're leaving it on the ground close to him. It's harder to understand, but sometimes the person gets it. Or don't cure your friend at all - not everyone knows how to deal with wounds anyways.
There you go, I hope you feel well soon!

Adding a way to cure yourself opens up the possibility to consequences to fights and having to deal with wounds.

See next: "WOUNDS"

Another interesting uses for the flower:

• Teaching your cubs how to hunt - Since it has a timer, a satisfyng sound when you hit it and particle effects when it explodes, it's very satisfying to jump on the flower to break it. Mother animals can use it to teach their cubs how to hunt.
  Put the flower on the ground, use the "untrustworthy" (AKA hunting) emote with the "flower" emote and pretend to hunt it. Use an action, stalk it, walk around it, etc; Until all the petals fall. When they do, strike the flower so it can explode.
  When you're done, put more flowers on the ground and encourage your cubs to do the same. You can also put flowers while you're walking to keep them busy while they follow you, or take a break from walking to let them hunt flowers.
  
  
• Showing kindness or friendliness - Giving a flower to someone is in general a kind act; You can go to a player and give them a flower so they know you're friendly, or that you apreciate them.
  
  
• Builind a nest or campfire - Similar of how you would collect a flower to give to someone, you can also collect flowers and folliage to build a soft bed on a den, or a campfire to cold enviroments. Just find a flower/leaf source (like flower camps, bushes, low trees and flowerbeddings), use the drink animation, carry it over to your den (with "tongue/silly" + "flower") and use the drinking animation oce again as you were putting it on the ground. Do it as many times as you'd like, and when you're done, put a flower on the ground. You can either lay on it or put fire on it, depends on your objective - a confortable nest or a warn den?

[New] BUTTERFLY PATHWAY 3D EMOTE


On the most recent Comic DLC addition, we have access to a new 3d emote that shines a magical blue, and conjures spirit-like butterflies. This emote opens up simple yet charming new possibilities:

• People have been using this emote as a combination of the fire emote and the flower; To both use as a pathway and indication of where they are going (just like the fire) aswell as a sign of friendiness (just like the flower).
  
• Just like the flower emote, you can use this emote as a hunting exercise! As a mother, put the butterflie emotes down. Circle it, use play animations, stalk it and use untrustworty/hunting emotions until the butterflies actualy apear, and them jump it, pretending that you're hunting it! Afther the emote vanishes, put another one down and encourage your cubs to do the same as you did, hunting the imaginary butterflies ^^
  
• You can use this emote as a way to indicate that you're hunting and digging for insects in general. The shine that it produces even reminds me of a opening on the ground from where the butterflies could have emerged from!

WOUNDS
My leg hurts. :(
I don't often see animals wounded or hurt at all, even in big fights with fire everywhere. Crippling yourself for some time makes for an challeging playthough, for yourself to survive or your friends/mother who have to take care of you.

Here's some ways to show you're wounded:
Crying emote, of course. If the person don't understand why you're crying, use "death + wait", or "way + no" (when it's hard to walk) or "cave + crying" (and also "flower + crying", if the person understand that flower = medicine). There's not a perfect answer/way of saying you're hurt, so it depends on the context given.
Shard emote, as to say you're wounded. I've seen some animals asking others after a fight "Shard + ?", as if they are asking if you've wounded yourself. I've also seen other animals using "Shard + Crying" after being wounded by someone else.
Not walking properly: Keep walking and making some stops, in a way that the walking animation doesn't finish well. It seens like you're limping, and players around you will eventually understand that your animal is hurt.
Not running, or running and making a lot of stops - Same as above, being slow in general.
Changing to weaker voices: If your animal have a crying or weak voice, changing to them might help giving the message that you're hurt or weak.
Laying on the ground, crying. Use "death + wait" and "death + no" to reforce that you're dying, but not dead yet. Use this when you consider yourself so hurt that you can't even move anymore. If the person who is taking care of you knows how to make you better, he might bring you an flower, or lick your wounds and wait for you to get better.

3D EMOTE-ESQUE SKETCH SKIN EFFECT
The main use I've seen for this effect is to turn into a "ghost". People who have died and don't want to leave their group just yet might use this effect to symbolize they are a ghost observing, and they normally expect to be ignored. Other uses:

• To change skins/your coat - It's a more dramatic way of changing which skins you're using, since it will temporally hide your skin.
  
• [New] Going sneaky - I've seen some people activating this effect when scouting, since it's harder to see your animal. Just beware you're still visible with scent, and that this skin effect cleans yourself from mud. Edit: Now the effect will render you animal indetectable on Scent mode while it's active :)
  
• Symbolize death - Since it has a short cooldown, you can activate it while you're dead and proceed to change skins or respawn when the effect's time is up.

ANIMAL SIZE CUSTOMIZATION:

Last update has added size customization for each animal! Almost all of the animals got their regular sizes, a smaller version and a bigger version.

Really neat feature, but I'll admit that I haven't got a lot to say about it. So I'll make a list!

• On most animals, the difference between the smaller and bigger size is a lot. I've found out that for some animals you can use the bigger size as an adult and let others use the smaller size to effectivelly roleplay a family with any animal, with the smaller ones as cubs. It doesn't work too well (frankly the smaller version seens more like a young adult) but if your group has coordenation and understand eachother, it might work and be fun!

• To be very honest, it is better to count the bigger size to be as strong as the regular one. On the heat of a battle, you'll rarely be able to notice if the wolf you're fighting with is 10% bigger than it used to be and in general trying to incorporate size as a point of strenght will just make the already messy foodchain to be even messier aswell as cause more harm than good. And I won't even mention that if the grove decided that bigger = stronger, it would just make most people pick the bigger size as default to not be on a disadvantage and when everyone around you is big, there's not really any advantage. So it's best to simplify things and just consider the bigger size as an aesthethic choice and nothing else. That counts to the smaller size too, although if you wish to make yourself weaker, it's fine! There's no issue in that as it's only "harming" yourself.
  
  
• I've found out that organized groups will sometimes choose the bigger animal to be their leader as it is a quick and neat way to represent the leader besides a special skin or voice.
  
  
• I believe the bigger model is best used when you want to be slighty more intimidating, or to lead a group. Examples: Wolf pack leader, goat herd leader, Swan pheasant, Black phanter lynx, honey badger.
  
  
• Other good uses for big models is when you have other adult animals with you, and you want to roleplay as if you're their parent. Lynx with juvenile lynxes, badger and young adults, eagle with juvenile eagles following, etc. You might need to use the bigger skin so they can use the smallest one, so the difference in size is noticeable.
  
  
• As a baby animal (that includes both lynx cub, badger cub, bear cub, "wolf" (fox with wolf skins) pup and eagle/swan "chick" (pheasant with certain skins)) you can save your bigger size option to use later, as if you're growing. You can also use the bigger size to fit better with the species you're with (wolf and chick comes to mind) as they might be bigger than a regular fox/pheasant if you wish.
  
  
• Lastly, you can use the bigger model just because you want to. Just remember to not roleplay as if you're stronger because of this, and don't forget it's harder to hide from predators and threats when you're bigger!

• I will try to not repeat myself much as most of my points were already made on the "bigger size" list above, but it is important to remind nonetheless: Do not look at sizes as a way to say an animal is in fact weaker or stronger than another. That counts when you see a small version of an animal too, do not assume they are playing a weaker version of themselves.
  
  
• Regardless of that, if you want to, you can use the smaller sizes to be a weaker, less threatening version of the animal you're playing as. A small wolf, eagle and lynx are not as threatening as their bigger counterpads even though they might be as strong, so you can use this to your advantage; To make friendships more easily, or to subvert expectations.
  
  
• On a goat herd, you can use a smaller size to consider yourself a easier target for predators. If roleplayed properly, a predator might choose to hunt you instead of the other regular sized goats when preparing to hunt your herd. (Works best for wolves;)
  
  
• You can also use the smaller version to support a specific animal playstyle. That might be a crow pheasant, a pheasant chick, a wolf pup, a racoon fox, etc.
  
  
• You can use the smaller model to be a juvenile version of the animal you're playing as, aswell as a baby version with some coordination with your group.
  
  
• As a baby animal, you can use the smaller size to show yourself as malnourished/unhealthy, or a subtle hint you have not eaten for a while and you're smaller and weaker by hunger.
  
  
• Smaller animals are less noticeable aswell as easier to hide in the enviroment.
  
  
• You can also use it as you please; If you wish to be a dwarf adult wolf, you can and you're adorable. <3

This is just a guide to fill in any gaps left by other guides and give some interesting playstyle ideas for anyone to try out :p

Blooper:
How to NOT carry your cub/"Why have you forsaken me mother"


Credits (your name will appear here if I add something that is yours to my guide; like an playstyle, ideas, etc;)

Thank you very much Gred_sedec for helping me with some screenshots!

Thank you dawnan for indirectly giving the elder lynx idea!

Thank you Labracadabrador for the water hazards idea, fishing and another "skipping" explanation, aswell as indirectly giving me the idea of a crow/raven pheasant skin! (And if I'm not mistaken, for a armadillo one too!)

Thank you Pom for some play action ideas!

Thank you Antares for helping me out in some screenshots!

Thank you Wish_inu for the howling idea!

Thank you NinjaGerbil for the eagle chick/mother idea!

Thank you Thunder Light(indirectly) and HollowBrain for the sniffing action idea!

Thank you Lommo for helping me out in some screenshots!

Thank you averettsc for some new ways to fish using drinking actions!

Thank you NorthenLights(indirectly) for the fallen den "invulnerability" idea!