Australia.
There aren't many people who haven't heard about what's going on with Australia's bushfire crisis. The flames consume the continent and annihilate animals, with the toll rising every day. As we're writing this, it's estimated that there are around 800 thousand million animals lost to the fires. That is a mass extinction, including the species that were endemic or endangered already.

We think it's appropriate to keep spreading information and support the Australian people's efforts to fight this disaster. We've made a small donation to this cause. Every little bit helps - maybe you could spare a dollar or two. If we all work together, even in small amounts, there will be enough to help with the struggle.

The main link we want to share is a compilation of all possible information and URLs to websites where you can choose how to help to those in need.

We personally chose the CFS Foundation to help the firefighters. If you want to help those who have suffered the worst, Givit is a choice we also liked.

Considering we made an awareness news section dedicated to the Amazon and Siberian fires in 2019, it felt right to make one for Australia as well. We hope 2020 will be the year where humanity will understand how to cooperate with our planet. Without our planet functioning in harmony with nature, and without nature itself, there are no living beings, including us humans.

To have a small memorial for what is happening, we've released two backgrounds and two decors into the Monkey Business shop. They will be half the price and twice the uses, and they will stay there until January 31st 11:59pm LDT.

The Ones Who Suffered: Kangaroo 150 SB - 10 uses

The Ones Who Suffered: Koala 150 SB - 10 uses

Australian Fires - Blue Mountains 500 SB - 20 uses

Australian Fires - Kangaroo Island 500 SB - 20 uses

Environmental Encounters
Along with this, we've released seven new environmental encounters that will have a rare chance of appearing year-round in all biomes. Many of them involve animals trying to adapt to the changing surroundings, and many will include choices affecting your karma. There is also one that helps our lions understand some humans are trying to help, too. There are new rare encounters that have small chances of giving you more than the usual food and toys, including an Instant Cub Delivery.

New applicators

Styx Fur 50 x Snake Skin - Dark Also dropped from an environmental encounter

Eye Applicator: Crepuscular 1 x Beetle: Sternotomis strandi [Cyan] 20 x Nightjar Feather 20 x Shoebill Feather

Eye Applicator: Mist The Flood Pit

Thank you Cake for your suggestions! We've changed the name of Mint Choc into Crepuscular.

What's that new Styx colour? We'll elaborate a bit more in the Poll section of the News!

New Eye Genetics
Crepuscular: 40% Crepuscular, 10% Brown, 10% Mint, 10% Sandy, 10% Silver, 10% Storm, 10% Tan.
Mist: 40% Mist, 10% Aqua, 10% Blue, 10% Ice, 10% Seafoam, 10% Sodalite, 10% White.

New Craftable Decor!

Hornbill Tail Adornment 10 x Hornbill Skull 15 x Nut Grass

Jewelry: Shrike Bedlah 30 x Shrikes in Thorns

Koppie Foam Grasshopper 30 x Coffee Locust [1]

There is also a new set of random chameleon decors you can craft out of Rainbow Stones! To make this recipe separate from the old set, the new one will state it's a 2020 recipe!

African Chameleon 30 x Rainbow Stones 25% chance, 2020 recipe

Strange-Horned Chameleon 30 x Rainbow Stones 25% chance, 2020 recipe

Cameroon Stumptail Chameleon 30 x Rainbow Stones 25% chance, 2020 recipe

Crested Chameleon 30 x Rainbow Stones 25% chance, 2020 recipe

Updates and Fixes!
* The Small Turtle item has been corrected to Small Tortoise. Apparently the term is interchangeable in many countries, but not all.
* The Gorilla Enclave sets have now been named to indicate what set they are from - as an example, [GE - Andalusia] Andalusian Horse. It will now be easier to collect sets and find them in your hoard. Thanks for your poll votes!
* The Trivia rewards from the last update were not being given out properly - this is now fixed.
* Being able to see adolescent female heat cycles on the Mass Abandon/Chase/Kill/Reserve screen has been fixed.

Art Bug Fixes
* Ancylotherium decor no longer covers Male Cub Young stage.
* Ahihia Tail Ornaments decor had a minor unfinished section on Teen Female stage.
* Dinosaur Egg Nest was adjusted for Adult Female Default stage.
* Quiver Tree decor was adjusted for Adult Female Default stage.
* Red Ruffed Lemur was placed incorrectly on Teen Female stage.
* Ammonite Mane file was missing for Adult Male Primal stage.
* Western Sandveld Lizard decor was missing for Adult Female Jolly pose.
* The Ticks [Body] and Ticks [Face] decors had floating ticks on a few Adult Male stages.
* Angelic Growth [Back] decor had the wrong file uploaded on Teen Male Tsavo stage.
* Rabies decor overlapped some Adult Male stages and was missing for Cub Newborn and Cub Young stages.
* Stray pixels on the Scar: Goddess decor for Teen Female stage were fixed.
* Scar: Worn Eyes decor overlapped some Adult Male mane stages.
* Wildebeest Horns decor had a clipping issue on some Adult Male mane stages.
* Vulture Feather and Skull Necklace decor had a shadow that clipped on Adult Female Neutral pose.
* Pink Hibiscus Lei decor had clipping issues on Adult Male Tsavo stage.
* Taita Fiscal decor had a shadow clipping for Cub stage.
* Von Der Decken's Hornbill - Male decor was missing for Cub Newborn and Cub Young stages.
* Vulture Feather decor had a shadow clipping for Adult Female Jolly pose.
* Tefnut's Flower decor had stray pixels on Teen Female stage.
* Garland and Garland [Festive] decors had stray pixels and incorrect cutouts for Adult Male mane stages.
* Gourd Baubles decor had clipping issues for Adult Male Sideward stage.
* The wrong file for the Chert Tail marking was uploaded for Adult Female Tigon stage.
* Ember base was missing for Folded Ears Cub stage.
* "Sloppy" Primal Fangs for Adult Female poses have been updated with a crisper version of whiskers.
* War Paint: Ravage and War Paint: Reaper decors had clipping issues on multiple stages.
* Striped Bush Squirrel decor was missing for Adult Female Jolly pose.
* The explore encounter for the Dead Ridgeback was positioned too high in the explore scene.
* Some item images were lacking their ornamental frame borders.

Dwarfism Cub Newborn stage is currently being worked on. Bases, eyes, and skin files have been fully updated, and markings will be uploaded this weekend!

* If you cannot see new updated art - remember to clear your cache or reload the page when viewing updated art in order for your browser to download new version of the image.

New Beetle Nemesis!
Are you into beetle battling? Yay! You can now find African Mole Cricket tokens (Gryllotalpa africana) in the Gorilla Enclave!

The Art Tutorial Thread had an update!
We've also heard that the "Mane Specific .PSD" file was missing in the Custom Decor rules thread - this has been fixed!

Timelapse: Twitch livestream recording - November explore encounters (Sept/Nov 2019) SEIZURE WARNING

February 2019 explore encounter Step by Step - NEW!
2019 Nov. Extinct Birds - NEW!
Two-Banded Chameleon, Khejri Tree, Simbakubwa, Ocelot Gecko - NEW!
Catoplebas Step by Step - NEW!
Protective Piebald Pal - closeup - NEW!
Protective Piebald Pal - shaded, no colours - NEW!
Royal Sphinx Step by Step - NEW!
Royal Sphinx final close up - NEW!
2019 New Chameleon set - NEW!
Adolescent's First Kill - NEW!
Bone Chewing Kudu - NEW!
Stage Closeups of Goat Skull Mask - NEW!
Australian spirit decors - NEW!

Raffle Lioness

Congrats PeperMint (#190573)! You have won last week's Asali lady, woo!
A new hyena-inspired Pearl lady with Scoria Rogue, Brown Crackle, and the fifth Coffee Bay background is up for impressing in the Special Lioness area linked here!

Tags!
Shad has added new tags this week in the Miscellaneous category!

Poll Results Thank you for voting on the Hyena base colour genetics! Golden has won, and it will be assigned shortly.

NEW POLL - The Styx base was a community request to have a less saturated version of the Noctis base. To match the Styx mane, we will eventually release a Styx base - not right now though, as we want to focus on other colour groups first. So, meanwhile, can you vote on a possible source of obtaining the Styx base?

Next Update: Community Update - January 17th!
Next Big Update: February 14th!!