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Pandora; Filling in the ecosystems
Topic Started: Jan 4 2010, 02:52 PM (4,179 Views)
Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

This topic is for filling in the unfortunately sparse ecosystems of Pandora, the planet from the movie Avatar. To assist, here is a list of current fauna;

FULL LIST OF KNOWN PANDORAN FAUNA


Flyers (Supposedly related)

Banshee- dragon-like carnivore, subspecies in mountains and rainforest
Leonopteryx (Leonopteryx rex) - like an oversized Banshee, but with bright blue vertical head crest
Stingbat (Scorpiobattus volansii) - miniature Banshee, with long, poisonous tail-barb
Tetrapteron - beaked animal with two tails, subspecies found in swamp and rainforest

Herbivores (Supposedly related)

Hammerhead Titanothere (Titanotheris hammercephalis) - huge browser, similar in behavior to Terran Rhinoceras. Herd animal
Sturmbeest (Bovindicum monocerii) - plains dwelling herd beast
Hexapede (Sexcruscervus caeruleus) - gazelle-like creature, with twin membranes on head, used for display

Carnivores (Supposedly related)

Thanator (Thanatora Rex) - mighty, lion-like apex predator. Subspecies in rainforest and sub-arctic biomes
Viperwolf (Caniferratus costatus) - pack hunting, highly intelligent carnivores. Subspecies in rainforest, savannah and sub-arctic habitats

Other


Direhorse (Equidirus hoplites) - nectar drinking, horse-like animal. Possibly forms herds
Fan Lizard (Fanisaurus pennatus) - lizard-like creature, with large, circular flap of brightly coloured skin, used to escape predation
Slinger (Acediacetus xenoterribili) - bizarre predator, whose body is the adult and whose head is the infant
Dinicthoid (Gargoylia macropisceae) - highly aggressive, bottom-dwelling fish. Hunts like Terran crocodiles, dragging prey underwater

Invertebrates


Hellfire Wasp (Magnivespa velox) - swarming, wasp-like insect. Two stingers, agonizing venom
Teylu - larval stage of centipede-like invertebrate. Highly nutritious
Arachnoid (Scorpiosista virosae) - scorpion-like animal, six-legs, two stingers
Glow Worms (Arachnolumera nitidae) - large, bioluminescent worms. Feed off decaying plant material
Medusa-Aerocoelenterates (Aerocnideria aerae) - massive floating jellyfish, uses tentacles to capture prey
Anemenoid (Cataracta anemonica) - lifeforms that float on the surface of the water, uses tentacles to grab prey

Simians

Prolemuris (Prolemuris noctis) - monkey/ lemur-like animal, highly sociable. Odd arm configuration
Na'vi (Homo pandorus) - sentient race



Go speculate! :)
Edited by Ddraig Goch, Jan 31 2010, 06:51 AM.
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Are you plausible?

That's entire possible. The book only suggests a fishlike ancestry, based on the jaw structure, but that could just as easily be terran 'ichthyomorphizing'.

The helicoradians could easily be in their own unique hybrid kingdom. The book calls them 'zooplantae'. I haven't read the plant section enough to figure out if there's anything else that fits in this category, or if anything else is more traditionally plantlike.
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Holben
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They seem to have animal and plant parts.

Hey, are we doing microbes?
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.

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Ddraig Goch
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I did, actually, make a list of the zooplantae at the start of this topic, along with the plants. They include the Helicoradian, the "Cat Ear", the "Binary Sunshine", and the Panopyra.

The glossary states that the zooplantae (or "planimals") are "hybrid lifeforms that have characteristics of both plants and animals, with a nervous system more animal-like than plantlike".

And Holbenilord, I don't think we are doing microbes, at least not in detail. For a start, we have no examples to base them off.
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Holben
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Yeah!

I don't like microbes. Just not interesting.

So, do we have any ideas on floor-feeders?
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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Ddraig Goch
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Such as the Titanothere, do you mean? Creatures that feed on the forest floor?

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Holben
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More like a kiwi or bandicoot, i was thinking. That kinda niche.
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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Ddraig Goch
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Ar hyd y nos

Not in the book. So, lets make one!
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Are you plausible?

What should it be closely related to? Titanotheres? Hexapeds?
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food for thought
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Ànraich
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Holbenilord
Jan 9 2010, 03:20 PM
That's annoying. They worked really hard on the (non Na'vi) vertebrates, and just gave up on the arthropods?

Well, maybe there are a limited number of possible arthropod forms.
Arthropods and insects in general are really simple creatures. It's likely that wherever you find complex multicellular life you'll find insectoids, and they'll all generally look more or less the same as on Earth (not exactly the same, mind you, but same in the sense that a fly looks like a centipede).
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Holben
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Hmmm.

I suppose that's right, seeing as how insectoids, which are the most successful (by successful, i mean varied and numerous) multicellular life forms, yet they all have the same basic body plan.

But then again, so do amniotes. In fact, i think i remember all life on earth is based off one of twenty-something body plans specific to DNA.
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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Are you plausible?

Pixar movies aside, macrofauna is more interesting than tiny invertebrates.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

Which Pixar movie?
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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Are you plausible?

A Bug's Life.
Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus!

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food for thought
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T.Neo
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I don't know.

IMO insectoids (IMO, arthropoids would be a better name) are only as likely as "vertebrates".

They might look superficially similar, but their internal workings, etc might be very different.
A hard mathematical figure provides a sort of enlightenment to one's understanding of an idea that is never matched by mere guesswork.
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Are you plausible?

As far as I see it, the arthropoids on Pandora are only superficially similar to the terrestrial variety. Exoskeletons are a pretty basic development, so it makes sense for them to be common, as are the organs typical of terrestrial arthropods. While they may not have identical arrangement, it makes sense that alien arthropoids would have similar elements.

The hellfire wasp, for example, exhibits such traits, and if it was presented to me as a terrestrial species I'd think it's one of the weirdest around, but as an alien species it seems unique enough in my book to be accepted as such.
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