Can a creature sustain itself by eating its own severed body parts?
I was inspired by geckos which can sever their own tails.
I wonder if a creature which has such an ability, especially with a high regenerative power to grow its body parts, can sustain itself over and over by only eating its own body parts, rather than as distraction like geckos do.
It may not make it full, or allow it to do many activities, but I hope at least it is enough to keep this creature alive.
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1 answer
The short answer is: Yes with magic, no without magic.
Wouldn't you rather have a magical bowl that is always full with fresh nutritious food, perfectly matched to the species that approaches it?
A lot less disgusting and utterly painful for that poor creature. And the magic is the same, or perhaps less.
You need a lot of energy or magic or power to regenerate a body part, and that's in part because it isn't just meat, it's a functional part of the body with nerves and blood vessels and more.
Creating basic food shouldn't be nearly as hard. But it still requires magic or some sort of power source (which can be the sun) to create the food or at least magic or work to harvest and prepare the food to put in the bowl.
It's the same idea. Without magic, you don't get something for free (even with magic there are often limits; it depends on how you set up your magical system).
When geckos sever their tails (for quick getaways from danger) they have to spend a lot of energy to grow them back. Even if they return and eat them, they're not getting anywhere near the calories it takes to regenerate.
Remember, it takes calories to digest food. It's like taking out a loan to pay back previous loans. There's interest on the money you owe and you simply can not sustain the process.
Nor do all the calories you need for regeneration go to edible flesh. There's just too much else you need there. Only a fraction of the energy it takes to grow a body part becomes stored calories in the body part itself.
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