Posts tagged evolution
If the earth gravity fluctuated between +50% and -50% over the course of 200 years, what specific adaptations would be useful to account for the change?
Question simplified and clarified as requested... thanks for the feedback! If humankind evolved on a planet with a consistent, gentle environment, would it negate the need for them to develop varia...
Does anyone know what the relationship is between the range of likely eye colors in animals and the color of the sun on a given alien planet? For example, on Earth we primarily see browns, greens, ...
I am considering specifically multiple intelligent species that all evolved on the same planet, and whether it is plausible that they will end up in a multi-species society or whether one species w...
An octopus is one of the most intelligent non-human species on Earth, can manipulate objects, and has lots of other interesting adaptations (e.g. the ability to change color). But, an average octop...
In a large varied environment where strong winds are the norm and every few weeks or so a huge hurricane sweeps through, how would large land animals (horse- to elephant-sized) evolve to cope? I u...
Another question concerning the Tetrapi, I would like to know if having haemocyanin-based blood (copper-based blue blood) would be an advantage over having haemoglobin-based blood (iron-based red b...
A common feature that we consider to be alien is the eyestalk and rightfully so. To my knowledge the only vertebrate that even comes close to having eyestalks is the hammer head shark (if you can e...
Basically I'm considering the physiology of eyes and camouflage might look like on an eyeball planet; tidally locked to the sun so the sun is stationary in the sky. At any point on the habitable tw...
I'm designing a world similar to Earth (liquid water, temperate climate, there is an atmosphere, oxygen and complex life everywhere). The only big difference is that there is a giant (not glowing!...
Traditionally, a Cyclops has one eye, as well as some other aliens in fiction. My question is simple: Would there be any situations, Earth-like or otherwise, where a creature would benefit from h...
So, I understand that human skin color is based on the distance from the equator, but would it be possible to evolve skin to be a non-natural color such as green, pink, blue, purple, ect? Perhaps i...
The Inflatable Hedgehog or Zamba Zaraa is a creature, reported from the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. It is described as looking something like a hedgehog. When threatened, the animal strikes its tail ...
Just out of curiosity, could a large constrictor such as a python or a boa evolve to rely on camouflaging itself as a branch, with the right colouration and positioning, in the jungle canopy and am...
A Golem is a creature of Jewish lore, they are living creature created by inanimate objects like clay, stone, hay or wood. They obey their master and will follow their orders. Creating a true golem...
The Spriggan is a tree-like creature native to the Elder Scrolls, where they are often found in forests and groves. In appearance, a Spriggan appears to be made of entirely wood and a glowing sou...
In fantasy literature wyvern's often have their habitat set as extreme mountains. Sometimes even depicted as needing to drop from a height in order to take off. Evolutionarily speaking this does no...
Having been looking into scientifically plausible forms of telepathy, I stumbled across the electroreception senses that exist in some electric fish (and in a few land-dwelling marsupials). My ques...
So, I have a story in which all of humanity flee's the Earth. The reason as to why they left is out of the scope of the question. After they leave, I want for the domestic house cat (or some other ...
Stanley Miller's experiment was an amazing step forward in unifying inorganic and organic chemistry. It was also a landmark development for the theory of chemical evolution. Miller-Urey Experiment...
This answer states that "guided evolution" would help babies develop under constant 3-4g's. This answer has inspired me to ask , what sort of genetic tinkering would help humans adapt to life on a ...
When it comes to processing hearing and visual signals, our brain has different capabilities. While it seems to be able to execute a spectral analysis for sounds, so that when we hear the superpos...
Reading through the internet and countless questions here, I learned that most Earth's flying animals have beaks because they are lightweight and function well as a substitute to hands. Now, woul...
So in my world of Horizon, there is a sentient species known as the Jar'keth that lives in the inner ocean of Enceladus. They resemble a mix between eels and catfish, and are slightly smarter than ...
Assuming the ocean is deep enough and not overcrowded is there any upper limits to the size a "sea monster" can grow? On land creatures are limited by gravity, they have to be able to generate the...
I am working on a scenario where a climate protection organization tries to breed sapient Cephalopoda as a help in their fight against climate change. The breeding goals of the evolving species are...
I'm creating a species of humanoid creatures that live their entire life in couples. From birth to death, they are bound emotionally, they work together as if they were only one individual but the...
I was thinking about a story where the sun light intensity decreases by 1/100 from its full intensity every day. So in 100 days, the sun just stop diffusing light. I was wondering if the green pl...
As part of a series on plant animals, plantimals if you will, I am now asking about the digestive system, that is the mouth, stomach and intestines. All known animal life has some kind of digestive...
This is a very closely related question to my previous: Evolution of tree-dwelling species that will help predators find prey if prey species doesn't give it a bribe? The premise is the same, a t...
I'm drawing from Norse mythology on light and dark elves to write about an alien race and planet with one humanoid 'tribe' residing on the sunlit side and the other on the dark side. I mention bloo...
This is a follow up to the creature 'griffins' I sort of created here: Anatomically Correct Griffins The idea of the final griffin was a small tree based species that will leap down on much larger...
In a previous question on my purely peaceful, 100% pacifist species, I asked about how to remove all defining characteristics for sexuality yet still retaining sapience. As was pointed out, I had a...
One of the benefits of humanity is our subconscious need to explore. It is a simple instinct of primitive people wanting to know, not only what is in your territory, but almost what is around your ...
I'm thinking of aliens that don't have hands but use their tentacles to make and use tools and, eventually, advanced technology. I would like to know whether this is a realistic idea. For the purpo...
Could I make a world where gorillas replace elephants in their niche as herbivore? Are there any reasons that they could not?
How might such a species evolve? How would they swim, navigate and breed? How big could they grow, and what complications might arise out of their growing very large?
One of the strangest and most effective weapons in the wonderful world of arthropods in the proboscis of the famed assassin bug, with even the head of the insect working as part of the weapon. T...
So in the story I'm trying to write, I'm having trouble getting the gravity on my fictional to seem realistic, and I would like to know if it seems technically possible? A group of astronauts tra...
Let's say we came across a new species of moderately intelligent birds. Like Alex the parrot, these birds are able to learn a few words and simple concepts. But once we teach these birds the word...
If a matrioshka brain where constructed specifically for AI , and , say , 1,000,000 AI were placed within it , also with many hostile enemies and various obstacles which may cause the destruction o...
I am assuming that monkey like animals are more likely to develop some form of horn or antler than apes(feel free to correct me), the question is what would be the most plausible function of the ho...
I define "generalization" as the ability to put things together into groups based on common characteristics. I define "abstraction" to be the ability to articulate what those characteristics actua...
So I am building giant spider species in my world, but I want to make semi-realistic changes to their physiology in order for them to be possible. Pack hunters like these spiders which hunt coope...
I love chocolate. Today, when I was making myself a cup of hot chocolate, I was thinking about Easter and about all the chocolate I am going to eat. And at some point I was wondering: How awesome...
So in the Marvel universe, Thor and other Asgardians are not Gods. They are simply very advanced human-like beings that have used science and tech to become harder, better, faster, stronger. Thor ...
Hunger and tiredness both take a long time to cause a human baby to cry but hunger is often the longer of the 2. Now, yes, for us humans, a hunger cry is important, even though it attracts predator...
I'm imagining an intelligent race of beings with only one major difference from humanity: that they share one mind. Biologically speaking, they're identical to humanity, and their world is, by all...
The end goal is to have human like beings with vestigial horns or antlers, but I am unsure of what types of horns they should be. Apparently there are three type of horn: living horn-bony outgr...
In his answer to a question on our Science Fiction and Fantasy SE about how Westeros in Game of Thrones produces food during the winters, Superbest says: "Martin's conception of a multi-annual win...
