How could a creature get off a planet without technology?
Imagine a spacefaring creature, one that colonises star systems, and then shoots some of its kind on to another system (the mechanism for doing this doesn't matter). The question is, how could this creature get into space in the first place. (It has to evolve on a planet, and be fairly large, eg. human size or larger).
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Your creature needs to accomplish two things: 1) escape velocity and 2) survive the harshness of space, all without the benefit of so much as a sharpened stick or flake of rock. This is going to be difficult, but not impossible.
For #1, I think you are going to have to start out with a low gravity for your world, in addition to the specialized characteristics of the creature. It might be able to get to escape velocity with a pair of mega-grasshopper-like legs to jump into space, but clearly, flight is more likely. I found this interesting article at Audubon discussing how peregrine falcons, common swifts, and free-tailed bats have been jockeying for the title of "Earth's fastest flying animal." No matter the winner, what they share is a light, streamlined body and long, thin wings. The fastest flying insects- dragonflies- have a similar body plan. Your creature will need to borrow this shape, able to accelerate itself through your world's atmosphere fast enough to overcome its reduced gravity.
For #2 things are much harder. Most familiar animals, including us humans, don't do well in outer space. Without a pressurized suit, our body fluids boil, and even with one, radiation will get us sooner or later. Plus, said suit is technology, so clearly not allowed here. But there are creatures that can survive- they are called tardigrades, or more commonly water bears.
Unfortunately, the body plan of the water bear is vastly different from our fast flyers. They are tiny, stout, not at all streamlined, and lacking wings. However, your creature can adapt the mechanisms of the water bear, able to turn off its metabolism and go into a state of cryptobiosis. The animal essentially puts itself into "suspended animation" until it returns to a hospitable environment.
I think your creature would need to remain quite small for all of this to work, however, probably only a centimeter or so in length. In other words, I don't think you can meet all of your goals in one creature without a lot of hand-waving. But you can get part way there with some reduced restrictions.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/74846. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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