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| The Moon, Pandora, from the film "Avatar" | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 20 2009, 02:13 PM (8,074 Views) | |
| Yorick | Dec 20 2009, 02:13 PM Post #1 |
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Adult
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I took someone's suggestion and created another topic to speculate on the moon's inhabitants' evolution. So...speculate! |
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"I believe, that whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you...stranger" -The Dark Knight (2008) | |
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| Kingpin | Dec 30 2009, 12:39 AM Post #61 |
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Prime Specimen
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Well, bonding is a completely alien concept to us. I don't fully understand what happens when they connect. But I imagine if they share each others reactions to what was happening around them, plus hightend senses (really just the two organisms senses combined), then it could just be the wolf-type alien trying to keep itself alive during all the commotion. |
-Last Olympian, Rick Riordan.
-Nick | |
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| Canis Lupis | Dec 30 2009, 12:47 AM Post #62 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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No, I'm talking about the large alien creature. The one that looked like a tiger? It chased Jake's avatar over a cliff at the beginning of the movie. Normally, those things rip Na'vi apart. What stopped him from doing it this time? I realize it may just be scripting that doesn't make sense. But in a real world setting, it sounds to me like the thanator would just run and fight the humans solo. Or pause and eat the Na'vi girl. Now, I could understand it more if the Na'vi girl jumped on the thanator's back and forcefully bonded with it. But the thanator just willingly offered itself to the Na'vi girl, almost like it was saying: "I give you permission to bond with me." |
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| Kingpin | Dec 30 2009, 12:57 AM Post #63 |
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Prime Specimen
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No, no, I know what animal you meant. It may just be the script. Unless, bear with me on this, the surrounding trees and plants (being connected and all) were sending each other signals that I imagine would sound something like "Something just trampled Steve!" or "Holy crap! Fire!". The plants could've sent out a a defensive signal throughout its sytem, which the thanator had the misfortune of accidentaly connecting to, thus recieving a signal of "Get help" or "Defend the area". Or I could just be rambling. |
-Last Olympian, Rick Riordan.
-Nick | |
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| lamna | Dec 30 2009, 04:11 AM Post #64 |
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Or perhaps the hexapuma thought that having some extra brain and fire power would be handy so it grabbed the closest morsel |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Oceaniis | Dec 30 2009, 05:53 AM Post #65 |
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Adolescent
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Plants use chlorophyla, that just use red and blue light, the blue light is "transformed" into red on the photosystems. Red plants are red because of the carotenoids that reflect red light, but still use chlorophyla for photosyntesis. All the others photosyntetic organisms that use other light colors weren't plants but algae |
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| lamna | Dec 30 2009, 07:50 AM Post #66 |
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And is there any reason that a plant could not use one of these colours? |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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| Canis Lupis | Dec 30 2009, 12:10 PM Post #67 |
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.
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Oh, I see where you're coming from now Kingpin (and lamna). The thanator did appear to be at least slightly intelligent. |
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| Empyreon | Dec 30 2009, 12:51 PM Post #68 |
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Are you plausible?
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If that was the case then we'd be just as blue, because of the de-oxygenated blood in our veins. No, I actually heard that the blue skin is a camouflage pigmentation. Whether the plantlife itself is blue (I don't know about anyone else, but I saw plenty of green in the movie), the light of the night is definitely blue in color, whether from light reflected from the big blue parent jovian, or just the fact that blue light dominates at night, having blue skin would help the Na'vi blend in.
By their very nature, predators tend to be more intelligent than their prey. And the thanator that 'allies' with Neytiri was probably just following "Eywa's" orders, IMO. If they had fought off the humans and he and Neytiri were still around each other, he probably would have thought, "Okay, lunchtime." |
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Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus! COM Contributions food for thought
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| Ddraig Goch | Dec 30 2009, 01:17 PM Post #69 |
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Ar hyd y nos
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I've managed to aquire myself a copy of Avatar - An Activist Surivival Guide. Those predators that attacked Jake just after the Thanator did are called Viperwolves. There is this one, really strange beast in this book. It's known as the Slinger, and basically has a detachable head. The head is shaped like an arrow, and the Slinger fires this at prey. The head injects venom, the animal dies, and then the body comes over and both parts of the Slinger feast. However, the head is actually the larval stage of the animal, and the body the adult. Eventually, the head pupates, becomes a body, produces it's own head-offspring, and begins again. Plausible? |
| Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction! | |
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| Empyreon | Dec 30 2009, 01:22 PM Post #70 |
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Are you plausible?
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Lucky! I want a copy! I can't think of why it would be implausible, and it's certainly an interesting idea. At first I thought "How can an animal shoot its head off and survive?" but then you explained that it's actually the offspring. Awesome! |
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Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus! COM Contributions food for thought
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| Ddraig Goch | Dec 30 2009, 01:32 PM Post #71 |
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Ar hyd y nos
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Yeah. It's a good book, although the graphics in some of the pictures are a bit dodgy. Oh well. Also - from the film - the mini-banshee-creatures seen flying over a lake near the start of the film are called Tetrapteron, and the gazelle-like animal that Jake kills whilst training with the Na'vi is a Hexapede (Or, in Na'vi, a Yerik). |
| Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction! | |
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| Empyreon | Dec 30 2009, 01:54 PM Post #72 |
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Are you plausible?
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Just ordered me a copy! |
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Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus! COM Contributions food for thought
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| Genesis | Dec 30 2009, 02:33 PM Post #73 |
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Newborn
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Perhaps the animals and plants there have developed a greater level of intelligence than most Earth animals? Some of them might actually think it is in their best interest to bond with Na'Vi. Heck, they might even have something similar to selflessness. If humans and Na'vi can (occasionally) develop it, why not some of the other life forms? And you must admit that it is very interesting that bioluminescence could be used as camoflauge in such an environment. Edited by Genesis, Dec 30 2009, 02:37 PM.
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| Ddraig Goch | Dec 30 2009, 04:04 PM Post #74 |
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Ar hyd y nos
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Yes. So much bioluminescence must have taken ages to evolve in so many species. I don't know about selflessness, but they might indeed want to bond for their own interests. Perhaps, if the animals are a lot more intelligent than those on Earth, then they might want to be domesticated by the Na'vi to improve their quality of life. |
| Save the Blibbering Humdinger from extinction! | |
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| lamna | Dec 30 2009, 04:23 PM Post #75 |
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Hmm, well the Na'vi are supposed to be "more evolved", perhaps that means they are older. In general life on earth has been getting smarter and smarter, so on a earth like world perhaps a Thanator is to a lions what a lion is to a creodont. Or they were just designed that way when the Na'vi's ancestors rebuilt the world how they wanted it, which also explains the bioluminescence. Glowing is so much cooler than not glowing. |
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Living Fossils Fósseis Vibos: Reserva Natural 34 MYH, 4 tonne dinosaur. [flash=500,450] Video Magic! [/flash] | |
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