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Questions that don't need their own topics vol.2; New and fresh
Topic Started: Jan 4 2018, 11:18 AM (26,859 Views)
Talenkauen
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Perpetually paranoid iguanodont
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Nyarlathotep
May 16 2018, 01:44 PM
The issue with that description too is that it could easily be hyperbole or an exaggeration. As nigh-omnipotent as fan-Cthulhu is, the original gets knocked out with a speedboat.

Remember how Wilbur Whateley, a being with elritch anatomy from his elder-god father, still somehow died by being mauled by a guard dog?

If his eldritch bloodline was truly superhuman, you'd think he'd just smash anyone or anything opposing him into meat pulp. But nope, Wilbur was deafeted by a domestic canine.
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beingsneaky
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Adolescent
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Talenkauen
May 16 2018, 02:16 PM
Nyarlathotep
May 16 2018, 01:44 PM
The issue with that description too is that it could easily be hyperbole or an exaggeration. As nigh-omnipotent as fan-Cthulhu is, the original gets knocked out with a speedboat.

Remember how Wilbur Whateley, a being with elritch anatomy from his elder-god father, still somehow died by being mauled by a guard dog?

If his eldritch bloodline was truly superhuman, you'd think he'd just smash anyone or anything opposing him into meat pulp. But nope, Wilbur was deafeted by a domestic canine.
it looks like dogs are now the strongest thing in the lovecraft verse
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IIGSY
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A huntsman spider that wastes time on the internet because it has nothing better to do
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HangingThief
May 16 2018, 05:53 AM
IIGSY
May 15 2018, 07:42 PM
HangingThief
May 14 2018, 08:34 PM
Even more interesting, in some termites such Reticulitermes workers are capable of undergoing regressive molts to revert to the nymph stage, then transforming into reproductives. Reproductives are also capable of reverting to workers, though for termites that have developed into soldiers the change is permanent.
What, what, W H A T. Hold on. How does that work?
Presumably it's similar to the ability of dermestid beetle larvae to undergo regressive molts when starved. They just grow a new exoskeleton that's smaller and resembles that of the previous stage.
How can the new exoskeleton be smaller than the previous one? Wouldn't that crush the animal?
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Bob-The-Seagull-King
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Presumably (and this is 100% just a guess, so I'm likely wrong) the organs get squished just a little bit as the exoskeleton forms, then as they live the organs deteriorate into smaller/simpler forms - this process would repeat multiple times until eventually the organs are small and simple enough to fit into the nymph-sized body they now have.
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CaledonianWarrior96
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Would it be possible for a swan population to evolve into a large flightless species if there are large herbivorous mammals present in the environment? My idea is that because swans feed on aquatic vegetation they could become big flightless birds as they themselves are already large and have little competition from other animals; which the extinct New Zealand swan was heading towards, though it evolved in a land devoid of large mammals. I know there's the giant swan in Malta but I'm not sure if that evolved before dwarf elephants arrived or while they two existed and evolved at the same time.
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Nyarlathotep
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They appear to have indeed been contemporary, alongside the dwarf hippos and such.
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Akurian452
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Could microbes with a different biochemistry exist on Pluto?
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CaledonianWarrior96
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An Awesome Reptile
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Nyarlathotep
May 16 2018, 07:01 PM
They appear to have indeed been contemporary, alongside the dwarf hippos and such.
So if any swan species became sedentary in its environment year round it could become flightless? Since migration appears to be the main reason for retaining flight in my understanding
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The Beryoni Galaxy: The Biologically Rich and Politically Complex State of our Galaxy (Habitational Zone)

- Beryoni Critique Thread (formerly: Aliens of Beryoni)
The Ecology of Skull Island: An Open Project for the Home of King Kong (Alternative Universe)
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ZoologicalBotanist
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Mixotrophic Sea Slug
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Can anyone direct me to good resources for the species from the Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous that are found in the Southeastern US (Like Florida) and Northeastern South America (Like Brazil)?

Also, is there anything that would make saltwater amphibians impossible? There are some frogs that live in deserts, so would a few be able to evolve a similar system to balance salt content that saltwater fish use?
Edited by ZoologicalBotanist, May 17 2018, 09:42 AM.


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Hola La
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1. is possible if mammal have more than 2 eyes ?
2. whats make alien look like mammal ?
3. if the ancestor have abnormalities like 2 head for example, is the descendant have same abnormalities ?

thanks
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ZoologicalBotanist
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Hola La
May 17 2018, 06:21 PM
1. is possible if mammal have more than 2 eyes ?
2. whats make alien look like mammal ?
3. if the ancestor have abnormalities like 2 head for example, is the descendant have same abnormalities ?

thanks
1.) I don't see why it couldn't. I imagine the adaptation could be useful for grazing species: One eye on the left side, one on the right, one in the front, and one in the back. 360 vision.

2.) Similar features that are considered "mammalian", such as fur. Even if the alien in question doesnt have true fur as we know it, a coating of a material similar in appearance, in my opinion, will still give a vaguely mammalian appearance.

3.) If the parent has the gene, there is always a chance the offspring would get it. In this case, I doubt it as 2 headed animals are conjoined twins that are seperated from the neck up, and being a conjoined twin is not really a genetic thing.
Edited by ZoologicalBotanist, May 18 2018, 08:43 AM.


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Russwallac
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Hola La
May 17 2018, 06:21 PM
1. is possible if mammal have more than 2 eyes ?

With the way mammalian vision functions, more than two eyes is sort of redundant. Not to mention the fact that something as complex as an eye doesn't just appear in a single mutation, and there's not much point to all the intermediary stages if you have eyes already. So although it's technically within the realm of possibility, it's incredibly unlikely.

Akurian452
May 16 2018, 10:10 PM
Could microbes with a different biochemistry exist on Pluto?

Probably not. Pluto's cold, dark, and barren, with little to no atmosphere. It's not exactly ideal for life, even life with an extremely alien biochemistry.
"We've started a cult about a guy's liver, of course we're going to demand that you give us an incredibly scientific zombie apocalypse." -Nanotyranus

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Zemeraire
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Fetus
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Russwallac
May 19 2018, 06:50 AM
Hola La
May 17 2018, 06:21 PM
1. is possible if mammal have more than 2 eyes ?

With the way mammalian vision functions, more than two eyes is sort of redundant. Not to mention the fact that something as complex as an eye doesn't just appear in a single mutation, and there's not much point to all the intermediary stages if you have eyes already. So although it's technically within the realm of possibility, it's incredibly unlikely.

Akurian452
May 16 2018, 10:10 PM
Could microbes with a different biochemistry exist on Pluto?

Probably not. Pluto's cold, dark, and barren, with little to no atmosphere. It's not exactly ideal for life, even life with an extremely alien biochemistry.
I mean technically if you go back far enough there is the Parietal eye in the tuatara, most lizards, frogs, salamanders, certain bony fish, sharks, and lampreys. Its has no function that we can 100% find and say is fact, but its a start.
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Holben
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Rumbo a la Victoria

The parietal eye has a well understood role in thermoregulation and circadian rhythms. Our understanding owes a lot to some (rather unethical, I think) surgical experiments in the 80s where pineal eyes were removed from reptiles. Mammals are weird among vertebrates for only using light entering the ordinary eyes to establish their rhythms. Birds have photoreceptive hypothalamus, pineal eye, and eyes, which afaik is the most complicated system, but maybe it has something to do with migration.

Other organisms have convergently come to a similar setup with specialised light receptors for biorhythms and others for object detection, like spiders.
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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Zemeraire
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I have a question regarding the forum itself. I am still a little confused as to where specific projects go.

My current understanding;

Evolutionary Continuum: Current species evolving from now, either on earth or transplanted elsewhere?

Alternative Evolution: Possible alternatives to what did evolve in our own timeline from an ancestor further back than present.

The Habitable Zone: Speculative Xenobiology inside our current universe

Alternate Universes: Speculative life in universes with slightly or vastly different rules of physics.

Café Cosmique: ? I see random art and concept threads but also full in depth projects so I'm not sure what should go here?

Also, would a "recreate extinct species in modern day and see where they go from there" thread go in Evolutionary Continuum or Café Cosmique?
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