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Organic Wheels
Topic Started: Aug 22 2008, 11:03 PM (2,510 Views)
Marty Party
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Fithp Herdmaster
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I remember those interesting sketches in Nemo's resume, the ones with animals that have evolved wheels, and I would like to discuss the possibilities of sch organisms. I think that the wheels are probably pushed by tiny legs, or perhaps like a tattoo pen. Said creatures could achieve speeds that would shame earth creatures.
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I support the tree octopus
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CarrionTrooper
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I require more vespene gas?!?
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Meh, lack of archeological evidence. It might be that there's some kinds of early cells, which then mixed and combined between the different types, and even more diversity followed. Then evolution kicks in and here we are.
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Cynovolans
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Canis Lupis
Dec 25 2008, 04:01 PM
That could work.


Here's where I based by solution off of:
I always thought the the first life-forms that ever existed on Earth were a form of photosynthetic cyanobacteria. Then this cyanobacteria evolved into algae, animals that ate the algae, and animals that ate those animals. Then it all diversified until we get to modern times.

Is that how life evolved on Earth? 'Cause I honestly don't know.
I forget what the first life on Earth was exactly like but I believe they had a different form of photosynthesis than cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria became more widespread and dominant 2 billion years ago when there was more oxygen in the atmosphere. I think animals evolved from Flagellate cells, which are also produced by algae.
I wish I could give the public a true picture of the queen as she appeared at her best, but this would be impossible, even had she permitted a photograph to be taken, for her charming play of expression while in conversation, the character and intellect which were then revealed, were only half seen when the face was in repose. -Lilias Underwood when speaking of Empress Myeongseong

"I was born in the dark. I went out into the light, and your Majesty, it is my displeasure to inform you that I have returned to the dark. I envision a Seoul of towering buildings filled with Western establishments that will place herself back above the Japanese barbarians. Great things lie ahead for the Kingdom, great things. We must take action, your Majesty, without hesitation, to further modernize this still ancient kingdom."-Min Young-ik to Empress Myeongseong
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

So did algae produce the plants?
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Cynovolans
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It produced the land plants today, about 500 million years ago.
I wish I could give the public a true picture of the queen as she appeared at her best, but this would be impossible, even had she permitted a photograph to be taken, for her charming play of expression while in conversation, the character and intellect which were then revealed, were only half seen when the face was in repose. -Lilias Underwood when speaking of Empress Myeongseong

"I was born in the dark. I went out into the light, and your Majesty, it is my displeasure to inform you that I have returned to the dark. I envision a Seoul of towering buildings filled with Western establishments that will place herself back above the Japanese barbarians. Great things lie ahead for the Kingdom, great things. We must take action, your Majesty, without hesitation, to further modernize this still ancient kingdom."-Min Young-ik to Empress Myeongseong
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agatharights
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Prime Specimen
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The Amber Spyglass. I forget what hte species in it is called, but they adapted to use round, hard nuts that are rather large as wheels, with specifically-adapted claws to make an axel for them.
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Carlos
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Adveho in me Lucifero
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Mulefas, I used that example. Do you like His Dark Materials too?
Lemuria:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/topic/5724950/

Terra Alternativa:
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Conceptual_Evolution/forum/460637/

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ashwinder
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Bit of a random idea, what if (a big if) a species was born with a large horny growth on its back which slowly developed into a large Hoop/tube/wheel like structure in the first few years of life. Once the creature reached maturity the growth would drop off (like a milk tooth) allowing the creature to climb inside and scurry around rotating it from the inside, somewhat like a hamster wheel!
So basically a creature that grows its own hamster-wheel on its back like a snail grows a shell!
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colddigger
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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why not just have a small creature with a semi-open cardiovascular system? one side of the wheel can have blood pumped into it, the other side removes the blood, and the holes could have seals (is that the right word?) of some fatty tissues that hold together but slide easily across one another? With this seal in mind you can have a series of arms laid out on the sides of the wheel that control spinning and support, even turning (which is a must) ...

Or you could have a single base limb that two halves of a wheel grow out of, a crevice (or whatever the word is) that goes all the way around the the wheels edge, or circumference, instead of through the axis, so the wheel can spin continuously. Blood can be pumped to and from the wheel using this limb, of course that fatty seal is needed, maybe... then you can have a pair of limbs used for propelling the wheel, either on the sides or in the crevice.
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

TOPIC RESURRECTION!

I found this section from this website:

Quote:
 
Rotary motion may be possible for large animals too. Picture a small Earthlike world with little tectonic activity and broad, flat continental shelves flooded to a depth of five or ten meters during global warm spells. A creature not unlike the molluscan cuttlefish Sepia hovers near the bottom, stalking small fish, shrimps, and crabs, sometimes jetting about by expelling water rapidly from several exit portals like many other cephalopods. Occasionally sand particles jam in a portal, causing irritation. The animal responds by encasing them in a perfectly smooth spherical pearl, much like those of the modem oyster.

Millions of years later an Ice Age arrives. The retreating shoreline leaves behind vast tracts of smooth hard continental shelf. Forced into ever more turbid, colder, shallower waters, we might imagine our cuttlefish eventually abandoning the sea for land, evolving into a “caster creature.” Its jet ports now permanently plugged by large pearly structures almost from birth, these animals might develop the ability to roll along the graded continental raceways. Speed is controlled by internal sphincters aided by heat sensors for guided braking on gentle downhill stretches and a “low-gear” muscular assist for steep climbs. Tentacle arms like ski poles provide additional stability on fast runs along the coastline.

Thoughts?
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food for thought
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Practically Uninformed
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I thought of something like this a while ago. It was a creature that possessed enormous shoulders, skinny arms, and huge wheel-shaped feet. The animal could drag its feet along, but when danger struck, it could hunker down, set itself on the treaded sides of its legs, and move its shoulders to turn the wheel. The wheel would be somewhat uneven to the axle, like on one of those pull-toys.
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Giant Squidward
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How about the Polarians from Piers Anthony's Cluster series?
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Spugpow
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How do the polarians work?
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Giant Squidward
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The wheel is a hollow sphere held in place by powerful adhesive muscles. The hollowness allows it to just absorb nutrients from the main body.
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Scrublord
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Father Pellegrini
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How does the sphere get there?
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Giant Squidward
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It grows, than, when the sphere gets big enough, it detaches & sits in the socket.
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