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| Plant Mobility; How far can it go? | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 8 2011, 08:26 PM (522 Views) | |
| Cephalian | Apr 8 2011, 08:26 PM Post #1 |
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Adolescent
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Realistically speaking, plants are pretty much stationary. Carnivorous plants are occasionally the exception, but that's rare. I'm coming up with ideas for carnivorous plants that seem cool in my head, but realistically require a decent mobility of the limbs, even if the plant is stationary. Is such a thing possible? and if so, how far along can it come? |
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Check out my settings, either Urban Jungles or Terra Cephalapodia! Also, I apologize in advance to sometimes responding to quoted posts separately, my iPad makes it nearly impossible to multi-quote multiple posts. | |
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| SabrWolf | Apr 8 2011, 08:38 PM Post #2 |
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Pup
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Sundew This is the most mobile carnivorous plant I know of. That said, for a plant, it's pretty animate! |
To Do List
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| urufumarukai | Apr 8 2011, 09:11 PM Post #3 |
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Hitler is my spirit animal
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Possible? Yes but it might not exactly be a plant as we know it. I have a topic in the habitable zone like this. |
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Henry you dick! Mr. Hands "Am I boring? Depends, do you like watching documentaries about 19th and 18th century warfare, having complicated feelings about bismark and crying over the film of winston churchill putting flowers on FDR's grave. If so then I'm so fucking boring. " | |
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| Empyreon | Apr 8 2011, 09:55 PM Post #4 |
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Are you plausible?
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Plants with a degree of mobility we would regard as "active" would not only require special organs within limbs to facilitate the movement (muscular analogues) but it would also need more advanced sense organs to use these limbs effectively. Also, if the plant is large (like a bush or a tree) then limbs may be heavy enough to need internal support, which is a whole new factor to consider. |
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Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus! COM Contributions food for thought
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| Holben | Apr 9 2011, 10:51 AM Post #5 |
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Rumbo a la Victoria
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Plants can move parts of themselves through the transport of ions, water, etc. And growing in certain ways. But you'd have to use quite a small plant, and it would have to go slowly. Perhaps it has a sequence of filaments along whatever part touches the ground, which move out when turgid. By pumping water into the first, then out and into the second, etc, you could have some leisurely movement. But how would it know where to go? A little light-sensitive patch could be present maybe, and it moves into the light within a forest or rocky area. |
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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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| Cephalian | Apr 9 2011, 03:09 PM Post #6 |
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Adolescent
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So in other words, either not very or very slowly unless we take it to the point where calling them plants isn't really accurate anymore, but their not quite animals, so basically creating a new kingdom. Awesome, I have a new project for once I've done more with my existing ones - I love having multiple projects to work on. |
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Check out my settings, either Urban Jungles or Terra Cephalapodia! Also, I apologize in advance to sometimes responding to quoted posts separately, my iPad makes it nearly impossible to multi-quote multiple posts. | |
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| Dark-Matter | Apr 9 2011, 05:34 PM Post #7 |
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Adult
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Well I have made several cocepts for moving plants, but almost all of them are aquatic. The ones that are terrestrial have many cephalopod characteristics.
Edited by Dark-Matter, Jan 9 2012, 01:01 AM.
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2:28 PM Jul 11