I wonder if the split happened a long time ago, with the Hisuian Sneasel going extinct and "common" Sneasels that came to Sinnoh filling their niche - either by wild specimens wandering in from Johto when the environnent changed, or them being "reintroduced" by humans.
I would love to see a full timeline of Pokemon history, but I'll be making a rudimentary one with the fossil video (along with the first branches of a massive Pokemon evolution tree!
Hisuian Sneasel is the only one of the forms i think was going extinct before human settlement in Hisui effected them. they are located in one area, in a secluded section. And with the pokemon that spawn in and around its area makes me think they were competing for food. When they died out i think is when the OG sneasel took over. We do see one Alpha Sneasel up north wehre we would later find them in dpp. so they might have already begun adpating to the weather up there. This could mean dark sneasel could have bred with the hisuian variants as well.
Given that we can't really explore the Coronet Highlands in BDSP, only getting a few mountian trails that Hisuian Sneasel and Snealer would likely avoid, it's possible that they only went extinct in the Alabaster Icelands. Which, considering that the Alabaster Icelands became a forest in the past 200 or so years, makes sense.
They went from poison/fighting to dark/ice types so maybe some psychic types were giving them trouble at one point and drove them to an icy environment
@@roastingroyalty2125 That is actually a point I had considered with my thoughts on the matter. If you look at pokemon that spawn near sneasels location, you find a strong amoung of bronzor and bronzong nearby. And this area is also where you find Gible. So, evolving to dark ice most ikely was a trait that benefited fighting off its main competion. We are led to beleive Garchomp foraged up into the alabaster highlands after all with its aplha up there.
I think it was mostly due to pack hunting and written communication proving to be the better direction more than anything else. Humans were willing to utilize Sneasler as transportation through mountainous terrain but with their solitary nature there wasn't really anything to protect or aid them which led to it being ultimately unfavorable. I also wouldn't be discounting moves as mere game balance given how core to pokemon their multitude of moves and typings are. It is likely that they are simply more selective in their use of toxins. No point in wasting energy in generating chemical compounds when you don't commonly need them.
It’s likely Sneasel may have split from their Hisuian counterpart in the form of adapting to a new environment. Moving away from where Hisuian Braviary and other Pokémon such as Ursaluna would be and changing into a dark/ice type from a poison/fighting type. Also hunting in packs allowed the new Sneasel to prosper while Hisuian Sneasel eventually faded out as they were likely picked off from various things and becoming much scarcer.
It could be, similar to how cats' hair stands on end in frightening situations. Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I thought about that in some sleep-deprived moment and forgot to write it down.
My suspicions are that common Sneasel and Weavile live on forested mountains, using their claws to climb trees for hunting and fleeing. Hisui’s mountains are sparser than Sinnoh’s, so it may be they were forced to become ambush predators, favoring the rocky cliffs and uneven terrain. This would explain their typing changes as venom and strong muscles would be needed to scale the cliffs and take down fiercer prey. When the environment changed they could be outcompeted by their pack hunting cousins.
@@Pokecology I am aware, I was referring to how different they were at different points in time. I suppose I could have said "in Sinnoh's time" or something instead but I think the meaning should be clear regardless.
I think the common Sneasel and Weavile live in tundras and their claws are used to dig through snow and ice. The dark type is because they can see through snow and lack of sunlight easily and they hunt by slashing their pray's legs and stalking them until they pass out.
Their longer ear doesn't necessarily for leading pack, other than for better hearing though. Most animal packs, prey or predator alike, is mostly related or one family. It's either the eldest male or female who leads the pack. If a pack consists of different individuals from different families, they'll start to show aggresivity towards the other, and very rarely form a functional pack. The usage of a larger ear for Sneasler may be because they're a loner, and need better hearings of their prey, and predator. Or to hear sounds more accurately on a windy mountainous region.
I think this evolutionary line actually could mimic our own; between homo sapiens and neanderthals. Neanderthal communities didn't grow to the size as sapiens' did (so Sneasler is the Neanderthal in this metaphor, Weavile are Sapiens) and this probably kept their population lower. You mentioned Hisui was cooler then than modern day, same when our species last interacted with Neanderthals, but at the end of the last ice age the megafauna died off, and since Neanderthals were larger their baseline metabolism was higher, so it took more resources to sustain it, but if larger species were no longer present it wouldn't get the food it needs to sustain itself. So if there was warming, even though Weavile were ice types the rise in temperature wasn't as bad for them, so they survived while Sneaslers went extinct. (Also, I agree, I don't think one branched off from the other, just they had a common ancestor a while back) Also, I believe Weavile are typically described as somewhat intelligent, and I don't think Sneaslers were as smart too. I do find the parallels interesting and maybe an insight to what happened.
Wow, thorough analysis! Part of the reason Neanderthals went extinct was also that their favored prey was so tough to take down, deepening this analogy.
I think at some point the sneasel line was driven from their mountainous environment to a colder one and had to adapt to the ice type and maybe they were spiteful because of that hence the dark typing
I wonder, in Legends Arceus, we only see Johtonian Sneasel and Weavile in space/time distortions, while they’re the only variant found in modern Sinnoh. Is it possible the Sneasel from the distortion outcompeted their cousins, and that’s why we don’t see any Hisuian Sneasel or Sneasler in Sinnoh?
It may be so! Another commenter pointed out that Johtonian Sneasel were introduced while Hisuian Sneasel's populations were already on the decline, and so they simply became the dominant variant/species.
I'm hesitant to consider type matchups because a flamethrower would probably deal significant damage to a rat regardless of whether that rat is any particular type.
@@Pokecology Well, the rat is probably normal type so it wouldnt have any resistance to fire, so yes it would do damage. Types are just characteristics that could be aquired or lost based on the environmental pressures of the organism. EG maybe the reason Machop evolved the fighting type to prey on Geodude, and other rock types. Maybe Weavile evolved to be an ice type so that it can resist the Ice type moves of its prey, and be more effective against the Swinub family.
@@umwha I get where you're coming from, but I don't want to open the can of worms of Bisharps dying to a single punch because bodybuilders can punch through metal and resist bullets
@@Pokecology I think type matchups make sense more often than they make no sense. I had a look at where Pawniard lives in BW, and the typing does make sense in its original environment. I'd guess it evolved Steel type so it can prey on Seviper, and resist the flying type Rufflet and Vullaby. I'd guess the dark type evolved so they can prey on Gothitelle. There are no fighting types in their natural environment, hence them being weak to it. I just think if your doing a 'pkemon ecology' series, you need to utilise the basic elements of pokemn, such as types and abilites. If the result is a little illogical, I think it would be a funny moment in the video to point it out.
Sneasler one of the most visually disgusting and disturbing pokemon redesigns of all time. I mean really how the hell does someone take the normal looking Sneasle and turn it into a monstrosity. Move over Frankenstein we have something more disturbing as hell to look at now.
I wonder if the split happened a long time ago, with the Hisuian Sneasel going extinct and "common" Sneasels that came to Sinnoh filling their niche - either by wild specimens wandering in from Johto when the environnent changed, or them being "reintroduced" by humans.
I would love to see a full timeline of Pokemon history, but I'll be making a rudimentary one with the fossil video (along with the first branches of a massive Pokemon evolution tree!
Hisuian Sneasel is the only one of the forms i think was going extinct before human settlement in Hisui effected them. they are located in one area, in a secluded section. And with the pokemon that spawn in and around its area makes me think they were competing for food.
When they died out i think is when the OG sneasel took over. We do see one Alpha Sneasel up north wehre we would later find them in dpp. so they might have already begun adpating to the weather up there. This could mean dark sneasel could have bred with the hisuian variants as well.
Given that we can't really explore the Coronet Highlands in BDSP, only getting a few mountian trails that Hisuian Sneasel and Snealer would likely avoid, it's possible that they only went extinct in the Alabaster Icelands.
Which, considering that the Alabaster Icelands became a forest in the past 200 or so years, makes sense.
They went from poison/fighting to dark/ice types so maybe some psychic types were giving them trouble at one point and drove them to an icy environment
@@roastingroyalty2125 That is actually a point I had considered with my thoughts on the matter. If you look at pokemon that spawn near sneasels location, you find a strong amoung of bronzor and bronzong nearby. And this area is also where you find Gible. So, evolving to dark ice most ikely was a trait that benefited fighting off its main competion. We are led to beleive Garchomp foraged up into the alabaster highlands after all with its aplha up there.
I really like the concept of vestigial traits in Pokemon manifesting in some of the more unique moves they learn.
I think it was mostly due to pack hunting and written communication proving to be the better direction more than anything else. Humans were willing to utilize Sneasler as transportation through mountainous terrain but with their solitary nature there wasn't really anything to protect or aid them which led to it being ultimately unfavorable.
I also wouldn't be discounting moves as mere game balance given how core to pokemon their multitude of moves and typings are. It is likely that they are simply more selective in their use of toxins. No point in wasting energy in generating chemical compounds when you don't commonly need them.
It’s likely Sneasel may have split from their Hisuian counterpart in the form of adapting to a new environment. Moving away from where Hisuian Braviary and other Pokémon such as Ursaluna would be and changing into a dark/ice type from a poison/fighting type. Also hunting in packs allowed the new Sneasel to prosper while Hisuian Sneasel eventually faded out as they were likely picked off from various things and becoming much scarcer.
maybe weavile’s frill is for intimidation
It could be, similar to how cats' hair stands on end in frightening situations. Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I thought about that in some sleep-deprived moment and forgot to write it down.
My suspicions are that common Sneasel and Weavile live on forested mountains, using their claws to climb trees for hunting and fleeing. Hisui’s mountains are sparser than Sinnoh’s, so it may be they were forced to become ambush predators, favoring the rocky cliffs and uneven terrain. This would explain their typing changes as venom and strong muscles would be needed to scale the cliffs and take down fiercer prey. When the environment changed they could be outcompeted by their pack hunting cousins.
Hisui IS Sinnoh
@@Pokecology I am aware, I was referring to how different they were at different points in time. I suppose I could have said "in Sinnoh's time" or something instead but I think the meaning should be clear regardless.
@@QuarterCentum Hisui's mountains are more rich than Sinnoh's, though. Most of the locales are valleys.
I think the common Sneasel and Weavile live in tundras and their claws are used to dig through snow and ice. The dark type is because they can see through snow and lack of sunlight easily and they hunt by slashing their pray's legs and stalking them until they pass out.
Their longer ear doesn't necessarily for leading pack, other than for better hearing though. Most animal packs, prey or predator alike, is mostly related or one family. It's either the eldest male or female who leads the pack. If a pack consists of different individuals from different families, they'll start to show aggresivity towards the other, and very rarely form a functional pack. The usage of a larger ear for Sneasler may be because they're a loner, and need better hearings of their prey, and predator. Or to hear sounds more accurately on a windy mountainous region.
Just found this. I really like your thoughts on the social cues and divergence.
I think this evolutionary line actually could mimic our own; between homo sapiens and neanderthals. Neanderthal communities didn't grow to the size as sapiens' did (so Sneasler is the Neanderthal in this metaphor, Weavile are Sapiens) and this probably kept their population lower. You mentioned Hisui was cooler then than modern day, same when our species last interacted with Neanderthals, but at the end of the last ice age the megafauna died off, and since Neanderthals were larger their baseline metabolism was higher, so it took more resources to sustain it, but if larger species were no longer present it wouldn't get the food it needs to sustain itself. So if there was warming, even though Weavile were ice types the rise in temperature wasn't as bad for them, so they survived while Sneaslers went extinct. (Also, I agree, I don't think one branched off from the other, just they had a common ancestor a while back) Also, I believe Weavile are typically described as somewhat intelligent, and I don't think Sneaslers were as smart too. I do find the parallels interesting and maybe an insight to what happened.
Wow, thorough analysis! Part of the reason Neanderthals went extinct was also that their favored prey was so tough to take down, deepening this analogy.
I think at some point the sneasel line was driven from their mountainous environment to a colder one and had to adapt to the ice type and maybe they were spiteful because of that hence the dark typing
WOW I made this way too quiet. That's the last time I'll be editing audio at 5:30 AM.
I wonder, in Legends Arceus, we only see Johtonian Sneasel and Weavile in space/time distortions, while they’re the only variant found in modern Sinnoh. Is it possible the Sneasel from the distortion outcompeted their cousins, and that’s why we don’t see any Hisuian Sneasel or Sneasler in Sinnoh?
It may be so! Another commenter pointed out that Johtonian Sneasel were introduced while Hisuian Sneasel's populations were already on the decline, and so they simply became the dominant variant/species.
The idea of Pokemon from a different time impacting the environment was brought up in SV so this comment actually is pretty reasonable
that's been my headcanon!@@Pokecology
Something you need to consider is type effectiveness. I double Weavile preying on Machoke when it’s x4 weak to fighting.
I'm hesitant to consider type matchups because a flamethrower would probably deal significant damage to a rat regardless of whether that rat is any particular type.
@@Pokecology Well, the rat is probably normal type so it wouldnt have any resistance to fire, so yes it would do damage. Types are just characteristics that could be aquired or lost based on the environmental pressures of the organism. EG maybe the reason Machop evolved the fighting type to prey on Geodude, and other rock types. Maybe Weavile evolved to be an ice type so that it can resist the Ice type moves of its prey, and be more effective against the Swinub family.
@@umwha I get where you're coming from, but I don't want to open the can of worms of Bisharps dying to a single punch because bodybuilders can punch through metal and resist bullets
@@Pokecology I think type matchups make sense more often than they make no sense. I had a look at where Pawniard lives in BW, and the typing does make sense in its original environment. I'd guess it evolved Steel type so it can prey on Seviper, and resist the flying type Rufflet and Vullaby. I'd guess the dark type evolved so they can prey on Gothitelle. There are no fighting types in their natural environment, hence them being weak to it.
I just think if your doing a 'pkemon ecology' series, you need to utilise the basic elements of pokemn, such as types and abilites. If the result is a little illogical, I think it would be a funny moment in the video to point it out.
Tinkaton is said to hunt steel types but is a fairy type so type matchups aren't always relevant
great video as usual :)
best pokemon
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Sneasler one of the most visually disgusting and disturbing pokemon redesigns of all time. I mean really how the hell does someone take the normal looking Sneasle and turn it into a monstrosity. Move over Frankenstein we have something more disturbing as hell to look at now.