Could a creature carry its own biome and be self-sustaining?

Could a creature carry its own ecosystem around with it? What traits would it need to make this viable?

These self-sufficient creatures are native to planet which is for the most part frozen and covered with snow with a thin atmosphere that allows a lot of radiation through. These conditions don't allow much plant life to thrive except on a few habitable zones. The planets habitable zones host many native species but are rather restrictive in terms of space. So these creatures which are resistant to the cold environment carry around their ecosystem within their bodies. Due to this they can avoid the intense competition entirely by venturing in the less hospitable environments.

So here are the traits this specific creature needs:

1 Cold resistance.

2 A means to cope with their poor atmosphere.

3 Adaptations to survive solar radiation.

4 An inner biome to produce food and recycle waste.

They are gentle giants (about the size of a polar bear) with a nomadic lifestyle, thus they rarely ever visit the competition filled habitable zones. They lack any sort of natural defense against predators except maybe for their blubber and rely entirely on their hostile environment to keep predators away. They are slow moving, have very long lifespans and can communicate over long distances. They are not very intelligent but occasionally move in herds.

Edit: It seems there has been a misunderstanding about the term "self-sufficient". By that I meant an autotroph. A creature carrying around a biome of algae could recycle its waste using solar energy which is abundant on said planet. It is by no means a perpetual motion machine, which is why it uses solar energy and occasionally refills its recourses by visiting the habitable zone. Thank you for understanding.

Edit: A means of making up for the square-cub law would be most appreciated as you have done well answering the other aspects on this question.

posted almost 5 years ago

System‭

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