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| Three legs? | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 25 2011, 06:41 AM (1,371 Views) | |
| magpie | Apr 26 2011, 02:29 PM Post #16 |
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I see. I never really took time into consideration, but I would probably stick to 10 million - 100 million years. This way, there can be a diverse amount of life, but I wanted them to keep similar traits (the proboscis, three legs). I did not want them to evolve so much that you could not tell them apart as a member of the same group (for example, take the elephant and the hyrax. Whilst related, can you physically tell that?) Anyway, what about this appendage that could evolve into a limb or a pincer? I was thinking it could of evolved from a dorsal fin? |
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| magpie | Apr 26 2011, 02:45 PM Post #17 |
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Newborn
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oh, and for the eye thing, the waters there are very nutrient rich with algae and microorganisms, making it very murky to see in. Whilst they do have eyes, they would be useless in the water, so the land dwelling tripods would have not evolved fully functioning eyes. Whats more, the dense atmosphere means sound travels better, so sonic would be a very effective sense on their planet. |
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| Dark-Matter | Apr 26 2011, 02:54 PM Post #18 |
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Adult
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If you want to know more about the way the tripeldas walk visit furaha wedside ( http://members.casema.nl/gertvandijk/ ) there have been several post wich show some tripeldas walking in a video.A grazing type tripelda would walk and run similar to the tripods from war of the world.The stalking tripelda could be similar to the tripelda of dead space( http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Tripod ),you should see some videos about them they are jumping all over the room and and using the middle legg to drag you to it nest . |
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| Dark-Matter | Apr 26 2011, 02:54 PM Post #19 |
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Adult
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If you want to know more about the way the tripeldas walk visit furaha wedside ( http://members.casema.nl/gertvandijk/ ) there have been several post wich show some tripeldas walking in a video.A grazing type tripelda would walk and run similar to the tripods from war of the world.The stalking tripelda could be similar to the tripelda of dead space( http://deadspace.wikia.com/wiki/Tripod ),you should see some videos about them they are jumping all over the room and and using the middle legg to drag you to it nest . |
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| Empyreon | Apr 26 2011, 03:34 PM Post #20 |
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Are you plausible?
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Ah, I understand now. Well, it's important to keep in mind that speciation doesn't happen by a prescribed rate or time table. While the first amphibian crawled from the water on Earth some 400 million years ago (give or take) it eventually branched into reptiles, dinosaurs, mammals, birds, and everything in between. Some clades within those groups show very little apparent difference (crocodilians are pretty much all recognizable as closely related, and they've been around forever), while others, such as the elephant and the hyrax, can radically diversify in as little as 50 million years. Evolutionary rates and pressures differ based on a number of factors, and it's up to you to determine just how much different species will diversify. So when determining how much time you need to develop different groups you want enough time that the 6 or 7 groups you've outlined can come about. The phylogenic differences within each group is up to you, though I'd feel remiss if I didn't speak in defense of the diversity of the hyrax/elephant/manatee. This kind of diversity not only provides your project with plausible variety but it also makes a more rapid emergence of the successive groups more possible. As I said, amphibians crawled out of the water 400 million years ago; if your groups came about in a fourth of that time then evolutionary pressures must be much stronger within your ecosystems, and radiated species will be common.
Just so I'm clear: you're proposing a bauplan where, in addition to the three legs developed from limbs, a fourth limb develops from the back. Did this happen at the same time, or was the dorsal limb only present in later species? What prompted this structure to turn into a limb?
By "the waters" do you mean the water all over the planet, or just those of which the pioneer species crawled from? In any case, sonar is a useful sense in such situations, but once they crawl from the water into the air that muck becomes a memory, and fully functioning eyes have plenty of incentive. Sound certainly travels faster in denser air, but it still doesn't travel faster than light. Auditory sense is certainly a useful trait for all the groups you mentioned, but I haven't seen anything to suppress eyes enough for universal echolocation to come about. |
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Take a look at my exobiology subforum of the planet Nereus! COM Contributions food for thought
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| magpie | Apr 27 2011, 04:02 AM Post #21 |
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Dark Matter: thank you for those links, I will definitely look and see if I can find these walking videos. Empyreon: All the water on the planet is in this mucky state, as it can support a variety of microorganisms. Whilst eyes may be more of an effective sensory organ, this planet has instead adapted sonar. You yourself spoke of diversity: earth animals have eyes, the tripods have sonar. It is just a different method of getting to the same goal, the goal being for the animal to be able to identify its environment. When you put the dorsal-appendage like that (an arm sticking out of its back), I realized that it would not work. Unless it had an arm almost half the length of it's body, that could then manipulate objects, or become pincers in group 2, it would be a useless limb, and eventually become vestigial. I need to go back to the thinking board and try to do some diagrams of what the 'average' tripod would look like. Thanks for the advice! |
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| Sigmund Nastrazzurro | Apr 27 2011, 04:47 PM Post #22 |
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Curator, Institute of Furahan Biology
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For a discussion and some video's on walking with an odd number of legs, see here: http://planetfuraha.blogspot.com/2009/10/odd-walkers.html and here: http://planetfuraha.blogspot.com/2010/06/odd-walkers-ii.html |
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"Never again, we vowed, would we let Natural History become a mere part of Human History" (Souren Nyoroge) Visit the planet Furaha website and the corresponding blog | |
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| magpie | Apr 28 2011, 02:59 AM Post #23 |
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Thank you for the links. I had tried to find tripod links on the furaha website (suggested by dark-matter), but I could not find them. |
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| magpie | Apr 28 2011, 06:41 AM Post #24 |
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Newborn
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just had a thought, perhaps their extra appendage came from the anal or pelvic fins. Then the tail becomes the third leg. Is this a good idea?
Edited by magpie, Apr 28 2011, 07:48 AM.
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| colddigger | Apr 29 2011, 02:05 PM Post #25 |
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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I had a ... minor... three legged critter project once, the single leg was in the front though and I had gradually developed the idea that they evolved from endoskeletal predatory floating (ocean) creatures, very worm-like really... The front leg developed from a weapon on the ventral side of the body and the hind legs from limbs used to move around. The skeleton was kinda odd though since the creatures were originally just little drawings with no proper development behind them... I refused to give them a spine like ours, rather making everything quite rigid and plate-like. Also... no jaws... and lots of tendrils... and of course I just HAD to five them biolights because what is an alien without glowing flesh? |
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Oh Fine. Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP?? v Don't click v Spoiler: click to toggle | |
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