Instinct - Prepare for Mating Season   Instinct - Prepare for mating season Preparation For most animals there is preparation work required before mating. 1) Select a nest site. 2) Build a nest if required. 3) Challenge if required to establish enough dominance rank to mate. Select a nest site Many animals will select a nest site. Another way of saying this is that animals will pick a place to set up home. For example, a Blue Bird will set up home inside of a hole in a tree. This provides a suitable place to build a nest and ample protection from the weather, and some protection from predators. There are a number of ways to find the preferred nesting location for your animal. This instinctual hint indicates it with the nest site: indicator. For example the hint for a Blue Bird shows nest site: Hole_in_Tree This means the preferred nesting site for Blue Birds is a hole in a tree. To find a hole in a tree click on the location of a tree and then click on the tree. If there is a hole in the tree it will be shown as a hole in a tree option. The example below shows how to do this: Building Nests Some animals must build a nest for their babies. If your babies require a nest then you should build one for them. Not building a nest can cause your eggs to crack when laid, or for your babies to die. When you have selected a nest site (a home for your nest) then you can begin building a nest. In the example of a Blue Bird you start by collecting straw and bringing it back to your hole in a tree. Then add the straw to your nest. A Blue Bird nest will also require a small quantity of sticks to be completed. Below is shown an example of a Blue Bird collecting straw and adding it to a nest. The examine nest shows which ingredients and how much of each ingredient is needed to complete the nest. You will need to study each animal to determine which nest ingredients are used in nest building. It is possible to acquire an old nest or to steal a nest. NPC's will fight for their nests if they still occupy them. Real player's can resolve a nest dispute in any way they see fit. The components of a nest do decay with time so eventually an un-maintained nest will rot away. For the purposes of mating you will have to do some work (i.e. add some nest materials) on a nest that you acquire or you won't get credit for it with your perspective mate. What is Challenging A challenge is something you can do to an animal which is the same gender and species as you. A challenge helps determine your rank in dominance order. For example, if you are a male wolf, you can challenge another male wolf, but you can't challenge a female wolf, or a male Elk. This is a challenge for position in dominance order. If you win the challenge, you stand to move up in the dominance order if you have challenged an animal of higher rank. By challenging you score life points and gain combat skills. If you win the challenge you will score more life points and gain even more combat skills than if you lose, either way, you gain points. Challenging will cause you and the target of your challenge to burn energy, but no real physical harm is done to either of you. Challenges manifest themselves as foot stomping, growling, staring down, or whatever is appropriate for the species posting the challenge. Challenging can have its own set of risks. Energy, water, and food can be precious resources. Challenging will cause you to use these resources up. As with any activity that you may wish to partake in, you should constantly monitor energy, water, and health resources for your animal. Dominance order has importance when mating. Your animal may not be allowed to mate, especially with NPC's, unless you have achieved sufficient rank in dominance order. You can challenge an animal that is anywhere within your view. In other words, if you can see it, you can challenge it. How to Challenge There are 3 steps to challenging. You must first click on the location of the animal that you want to challenge. Then you must click on the animal you want to challenge, then you must select challenge, and the animal selected will be challenged. Here is an example of how to to challenge: