Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Could humanoids without a skeleton be viable?

+0
−0

It's tempting to think that anything with the outer shape of a human would simply collapse in a heap if its skeleton were not there. That is surely true if the internal structure was the same as ours but with the bones simply non-existent.

However the human tongue, the elephant's trunk and the octopus's whole body work perfectly well without bones to support them. An octopus can squeeze through remarkably small spaces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus

I'd like my land-living approximately human-shaped aliens to be able to walk upright on land and disguise themselves as humans but also have the ability to get where humans can't by squeezing themselves through small apertures.

The question is - could a creature without a skeleton actually hold and balance itself upright on land for any appreciable length of time? What difficulties might it experience?


Video of octopus walking on land https://youtu.be/TFzpC_e44Tg?t=43

EDIT

A hydrostatic skeleton, or hydroskeleton, is a flexible skeleton supported by fluid pressure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrostatic_skeleton

A muscular hydrostat is a biological structure found in animals. It is used to manipulate items (including food) or to move its host about and consists mainly of muscles with no skeletal support. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_hydrostat

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/134718. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »