I've always had an interest in Yukkuri lore and headcanon, especially seeing how it differs from artist to artist. So, after being inspired by RSPA Fact Sheet 8: Pest Yukkuri on your Property, I typed up a brief primer along those lines, detailing the origins of yukkuri, what makes them tick biologically and other facts taken from preexisting headcanon and some other ideas I thought of along the way.
My own headcanon includes the idea of yukkuris evolving and adapting according to their environments and situations. Nothing that's game-breaking, but interesting nonetheless. Here's a little something I wrote up concerning languages:
Another unique aspect of the yukkuri is its ability to vocalize in nearly the same manner as human beings or, as one researcher remarked, humanity’s ability to understand the yukkuri regardless of the language spoken. Unlike creatures that rely on mimicry to produce human-like vocalizations, the yukkuri are fully capable of producing their own speech. However, the methods of production and delivery of said speech remain up for heated debate among researchers.
Some researchers theorize that the yukkuri itself is not capable of producing human speech, but instead humans are somehow capable of translating its natural language into their native tongue, even with local variations on dialect accounted for. A team of scientists discovered this phenomenon during an audio recording of yukkuri subjects. Instead of hearing human speech during playback, researchers instead heard a series of “yu” vocalizations. This was postulated as being the “true” language of the yukkuri.
Nevertheless, yukkuri are perfectly able to understand a broad range of languages and accents, even obscure and “dead” languages. This capability has piqued interest in yukkuri as “universal translators” of sorts, capable of understanding and translating human languages.
OYP's been a bit slow and the Yukkuri fad isn't what it used to be, so I'm using that as an impetus to finally finish my compendium and put it up on the Google forum. Any thoughts or suggestions?