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Fragment by Warren Fahy
Topic Started: Aug 7 2009, 10:45 PM (6,016 Views)
The Dodo
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You should see the pistol shrimp, their fierce as well.
Yes, they would compete with each other, but organisms in places like North America have had to compete with organisms from other continents.
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Holben
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The pistol shrimp wouldn't attack a shark.

If they are all predators, what do they eat (except for unfortunate researchers)?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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sam999
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Holbenilord
Jan 22 2010, 02:16 PM
If they are all predators, what do they eat (except for unfortunate researchers)?
The base of the eacosystam are seabirds and fish which wash up on shore. From there the smaller stuff eats those and the bigger stuff eat the smaller stuff. Sometimes a large number of smaller stuff gang up and atack one of the biggys like a spriger.
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Xenophile
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They're not ALL predators, Warhen Fahy did describe some animals that feed on the "lichen".
Edited by Xenophile, Jan 25 2010, 12:58 AM.
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sam999
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alienboy
Jan 23 2010, 01:45 PM
They're not ALL predators, Warhen Fahy did describe some animals that feed on the "lichen".
:")
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lemming98
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I have read the book and it was awesome. BUt a mistake of this thread is that the animals are not stomatopods. Though they share the same eyes,and a few other adaptions with stomatopods they have other body functions suxh as Malpighian tubes reminiscent of spiders, also each individual has a penis anda vagina, and no stomatopods, no athropdos for that matter are hemaphroditic.
The creatures of Fragment are a new group among themselves.

EDIT: I just about finished the book and it just got better. If anyone has read fragment, do you agree with the fire breathing theories? ALso everything on the Island is an omnivore, they all eat animals and they all eat plants. ONe of the coolest parts was when thet described a species of "plant" that had a sybiosis with a species of frigate bird. THe frigate bird would come to the Island to breed, After it laid it's eggs the plants would eat the adults, then the plant would nurse the chicks on special teets. This would ensure another wave of fat juicy adults would return to be eaten.
Edited by lemming98, Jan 31 2010, 12:31 PM.

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sam999
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lemming98
Jan 25 2010, 06:50 PM
One of the coolest parts was when thet described a species of "plant" that had a sybiosis with a species of frigate bird. THe frigate bird would come to the Island to breed, After it laid it's eggs the plants would eat the adults, then the plant would nurse the chicks on special teets. This would ensure another wave of fat juicy adults would return to be eaten.
So is such a biotrick possable?
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lemming98
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In the book it also talked about how the many organisms on the Island have multiple stages in life where the fit into a different niche. For example the Henderson's rat starts life small as a medium sized predator and can reproduce in this stage giving birth to other rats. If a rat survives long enough grows into somthing the size of a badger which acts as a larger predator and may even eat the Hendersons rat. The Badger can give birth only to other badgers but at a slower rate. This is how the Island survives mass extinctions, even a small number of animals can create an ecosystem on the Island.

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sam999
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lemming98
Feb 2 2010, 06:44 PM
the Henderson's rat starts life small as a medium sized predator and can reproduce in this stage giving birth to other rats. If a rat survives long enough grows into somthing the size of a badger which acts as a larger predator and may even eat the Hendersons rat. The Badger can give birth only to other badgers but at a slower rate.
So is the spriger simply a very big rat?
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lemming98
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It was never made clear if the spiger was a life stage of the rat but I don't think it is. ANother cool thing is that all of the pseudo-bugs exhibited radial symetry, and these bugs shared a common anscetor with the plants of the Island.

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sam999
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Do the henderpods have different life stages? If so an idea for anoughte book:
1. As the henderpods ajust to life on the mainland some breed
2. The offspring fill out a different, nich more like one of the now-nuked superpredators then their parents
3. Now we have hender's superpredators on the mainland. :-o
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lemming98
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I don't think the hendropods are have life stages because they are an evolutionary off shoot a individual stage in the life cycle of the shrimpanzee.
WARNING SPOILER!!!!
WHat you are saying is impossible because the hendropods are immortal and have only four individuals at a time. Everything on the Island is immortal because since everything has such a high metabolism and everything kills and eats everything death is not needed. THe Henderpods however evolved the cuttle fish ability to the max and can practically become invisible, effectively taking themselves out of the food chain. THis peace gave them time to evolve into intelligence on a extremely chaotic Island. Being immortal on the Island would obviously create some tricky overpopulation issues, to solve this the hendropods only ever have four individuals alive at one time, procreating a new one only when one dies. THis should lead to genetic problems since only four individuals means alot of family love. However, the life on the Island only mate maybe eight or ten times and then live their life, and can even bee born pregnant. THe Henderpods, it seems, have evolved so that the ancestral DNA is stored in each individual and can be swapped at will, ennsuring genetic difference.
Edited by lemming98, Feb 4 2010, 09:00 PM.

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Holben
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lemming98
Feb 4 2010, 08:58 PM
hendropods are immortal and have only four individuals at a time. Everything on the Island is immortal because since everything has such a high metabolism and everything kills and eats everything death is not needed.
This is an evolutionary joke, right? On earth, i would say 'impossible'. No immortal creatures. Can they survive being ripped to shreds? Starvation? Dehydration? Being burned or frozen? Telomere erosion? Genetic erosion?
Time flows like a river. Which is to say, downhill. We can tell this because everything is going downhill rapidly. It would seem prudent to be somewhere else when we reach the sea.

"It is the old wound my king. It has never healed."
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sam999
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Holbenilord
Feb 5 2010, 04:30 PM
lemming98
Feb 4 2010, 08:58 PM
hendropods are immortal and have only four individuals at a time. Everything on the Island is immortal because since everything has such a high metabolism and everything kills and eats everything death is not needed.
This is an evolutionary joke, right? On earth, i would say 'impossible'. No immortal creatures. Can they survive being ripped to shreds? Starvation? Dehydration? Being burned or frozen? Telomere erosion? Genetic erosion?
If I remember the book it just meant they had no genes for death by old age as predators would kill them first. Therefore, shoot a henderpod... dead henderpod. :confused:
I am not suffering from insanaty. I truely enjoy being mad.
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The Dodo
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lemming98
Feb 4 2010, 08:58 PM
WHat you are saying is impossible because the hendropods are immortal and have only four individuals at a time. Everything on the Island is immortal because since everything has such a high metabolism and everything kills and eats everything death is not needed.
Wait, what? That doesn't make any sense :confused: .
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