If you want to know how terrifying gryphons actually should be to ponies.

This is an eagle's talon.

Gryphons would have even larger ones, relative to ponies.

Comments

[Rocinante]

You have confirmed my suspicion that you are a redditor.

I'm reminded of the theory that dragons are a projection of genetic memories of our ancient predators: raptors, cats, and snakes. With ponies living in a world where their predictors still roamed free, I'm curios how those instinct-fears would express.

[TheLastBrunnenG]

Lion paws:
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[Brony2893]

Looks cuddly

[Daetrin]

1894295

imgurite actually...I have a reddit account but for some reason never really got into it.

Anyhow, it's probably why they're so skittish. Atavistic fears are a lot closer to the surface.

[Psykosis]

I'm pretty sure that many legends with gryphons actually had horses as their main source of food. So, the common fanfic plot of having the ponies and gryphons be warring nations isn't all that unfounded.

[Wade]

Oh god.

[Daetrin]

1894318
Cartography of War is totally going to touch on why they went to war.

Culture clash is fun!

[Rocinante]

1894314

Have a picture of real life pony seekers.

[Daetrin]

1894377 Very nice.

[ArguingPizza]

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Ladies

[SPark]

I used to volunteer at a raptor center here. Cleaning the golden eagle cage out was always... interesting. Crouching and picking up rabbit bones, while one of those sits on a perch just a foot or so over your head is really nervous-making. Though my real fear was always that one would crap on me.

[GoneZombie]

It's like that scene in Jurassic Park where Sam Neill mentally traumatizes a little kid forever.

[Firedon]

Yeah, yeah, the claw is crazy big. But that's not scary. What's scary is the power they can put in that claw.

[Astarea]

Also consider their rear part is a lion.

[Silent Strider]

1895201
Yep. A griffon is a mix of carnivorous beasts, one of which commonly preys on hoofed mammals.

1894318
Very true. Heck, my first reaction to Griffon the Brush Off was "What, aren't griffons and pegasi natural enemies?"

This was mainly based on my D&D knowledge, though. In D&D, if a griffon and a pegasus are confined together, only one will leave alive, usually the griffon. I couldn't find other references for how griffons and pegasi behave when close together, though references of griffons eating Horses are easy to find.

[ForSpite]

....Looks more adorable than terrifying. They're just holding hands or possibly going for the fist bump.

I am a strange person, though.

[UseFistNotMouth]

Eagles are small, flying velociraptors.

[permeakra]

*looked*
Dunno, what so much to be scared about? Not much worse than having hydraulic press for jaws and mallets for limbs. Definitely much less scary than a proper knife or sword. Even less scary than a loaded gun or crossbow.

[Daetrin]

2551344 I think there's a few important differences.

One is that ponies are prey animals. Now, that doesn't mean they're harmless; you do not want to get kicked by a horse. But it does mean that they have entirely different threat- and aggression-responses. Ones humans would not have, since we're social predators. More on this topic in my Xenofictional construction.

Another is that weapons are created for a purpose. Claws are part of a gryphon's anatomy. Part of their fundamental nature is designed for mayhem. Just like humans fundamentally use tools. Or speak. Yes, ripping flesh is programmed in on the same level as making 'ba ba' noises is for humans.

A third thing is that this is coming from above. Death From Above! is a sort of funny trope, but it works. Any race without flight is fundamentally living in a two-dimensional world, plodding around under twenty miles of ocean. Anything that's up there? Can't do much about, at least, not by wiring. Something big in the sky, something that might potentially be a threat, is an immediate atavistic fear.

[permeakra]

2551405
> Ones humans would not have, since we're social predators.
That's ... well, not completely BS, but still far from true.

Not that humans were not hunters, they were and still are in some corners of Earth. However, unlike most animals, humans' behaviour is guarded mostly by learned things, not inherited (and this is why we can develop intelligence). And our life is not that of a social hunter in any sense, so to say that our behaviour is derived from instincts of social hunter would be a huge stretch at the very least.

On the other hand, in reports of social culture of Autstralian natives, who were mostly hunters-gatherers (and more gatherers than hunters), one can find things very close to the herd you described: a patriarch, an older leading wife (who, in case of a young hunter is much more of a teacher to him than wife), a set of younger wifes who learn from the older one, and young girls and boys, who learnsfrom the hunter and his wifes respectively. It is very debatable, who is a leader in such family. Even in modern days there are sayings that a man is like a head, but his wife is like his neck: the head is turned by the neck, not other way around, guess how it was in times when a woman could be twice as old as her husbad. The society was quite peaceful, with collective ownership of the land and birth regulation.

Also, stating that prey species would be devoid of inherent (not talking about agressive responces) agression would be risky at best. Maybe modern wild horses are relatively peaceful, but this is mostly because their behaviour is affected by several milleniums of selection (modern wild horses are descedants of domesticated ones). On the other hand, looking at their really wild relatives (zebras) we can see various agression mechanisms, namely: preventive attacks on smaller predators with warning sounds, fights between males for the female, males' intolerance towards foals of other males and so on. Granted, deers of buffalo are better equipped for expression of their agression, but horses have family history too.

>Part of their fundamental nature is designed for mayhem.

I think, it is more for gripping than mayhem. AFAIK eagles more tear flesh with their beaks than claws. This said, ponies being herbivores also have their teeth that are very suited for crushing, so they have quite high damage potential.

>Death From Above!

Your average pegasus is as good with it. Actually, pegasus may be better at this, as (s)he can cause lightning strike, that probably has highter damage potential.