All Questions
17
questions
1
vote
3
answers
542
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Would a carnivore that can only see in infrared be an effective predator?
I'm trying to design new animals. One animal I came up with is a type of nocturnal & carnivorous predator that is shaped like a very large wolf. This predator sees in infrared light instead of ...
- 4,453
5
votes
5
answers
744
views
How could a ruminant become a carnivore?
I have a speculative evolution project regarding giraffes. For those unfamiliar, giraffes are ruminants and rumination is not viable for carnivory according to every site I have wandered upon in my ...
3
votes
2
answers
102
views
Grazing Adaptations in Many-Mouthed Animals
In a world I am designing, most animals have many mouths placed directly in their side. These mouths have two jaws like in sharks, and also have a small pair of palps for manipulating food, which act ...
- 16.2k
2
votes
5
answers
191
views
What evolutionary pressures would result in metabolic INefficiency?
What evolutionary pressures would result in metabolic IN-efficiency being a fitness-increasing adaptation in an animal?
By "metabolic efficiency", I mean "percentage of usable energy ...
- 13.1k
5
votes
4
answers
334
views
How do animals evolve to have arms
My question is how/why does my creature evolve into having arms when it has none?
Context: I am currently creating a evolutionary tree for the first animals of my planet. My planet is the size of ...
- 1,260
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Could penguins evolve to become herbivores?
In a science-fiction story I am writing, there is a species of penguins that has evolved to consume seaweed rather than fish, arthropods, cephalopods, and echinoderms. They are my trolls. Also, they ...
- 5,374
12
votes
4
answers
446
views
Sand Plankton. Is it possible?
In many Sci Fi and Fantasy worlds, the deserts are filled with giant megafauna that swim through dunes of loose sand. The issue with this depiction of course is not just the size of said sand ...
- 4,971
15
votes
7
answers
1k
views
Is it possible that technologically-capable, spacefaring species would depend on a single source of food?
In my world, an intelligent species has evolved to the point of space travelling. However, this species can eat only one single type of food (which is a product of another species on its planet).
It ...
- 151
10
votes
5
answers
528
views
How do the people of Hjårdan 'farm' the Booze-Rat?
Why certainly! We have all sorts of exotic drink. Can I excite you for a pint of Tarnesian Starköl - bitter, tart, nutty brew this stuff; or rather have shot of H'elvanian Whisky(?) - 7 years old(!), ...
- 12.1k
3
votes
4
answers
490
views
Would multiple sapient species with similar diets cooperate or compete?
This is connected to a previous question, found here: Realism of a setting with several sapient anthropomorphic animal species
Presume that due to outside interference with evolution, a planet has ...
- 767
2
votes
3
answers
428
views
How plausible is a photosynthetic parasite that targets animal hosts?
Real parasitic plants target only plant hosts and in certain species fungal hosts. How plausible are parasitic plants (or algae, lichen, or other photosynthetic organisms) that targets animal hosts ...
- 7,340
36
votes
21
answers
7k
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How could a species survive on just luring in and eating humans?
In a question about mermaids, it was proposed that they might have evolved to look like humans to lure them in and prey on them.
How could a creature survive on a diet of nothing but lured-in humans?
...
- 1,618
14
votes
13
answers
5k
views
What type of food might an organism that lives its entire life in interstellar space eat?
I was thinking of an organism that lives its entire life in interstellar space
It eats, defecates, moves, grows, ejects eggs, attracts mates, and has sex in interstellar space.
It has skin that ...
- 7,531
3
votes
4
answers
582
views
Would it be possible for a population of snakes to survive by eating nothing but fruit?
I was thinking of a scenario in which a population of snakes gets stranded on an island in which they are literally the only animals. This hypothetical island does not even have insects for the ...
- 7,531
26
votes
15
answers
6k
views
Could an autotrophic civilisation develop, or will evolving life forms always eat each other?
I can imagine our own civilisation becoming autotrophic eventually, if biological life gives way to a population of machines that need only sunlight. However, the history of that situation still ...
