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The creature I have thought up has no mouth or eyes. It doesn't eat or drink. It feeds off of the energy present at the core of it planet.

The creature is the size of a moose. It has a skeletal and muscular system, but no circulatory system, I don't know how it would even have blood since it doesn't drink. I need it to be able to move, and fast. My plan thus far is to have the energy it absorbs somehow be distributed throughout the body. Maybe though a quasi circulatory system? I know practically nothing about physiology.

I'm a high school student and know almost nothing about this subject so I'm hoping someone can help me.

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  • $\begingroup$ This cannot be a dumb question as soon as you learn from it 🦋. And here's one or two things to learn ^^ : Plants have a simili-blood system, the sap, but they don't drink nor eat like animals do; They take instead from the soil (the closest I can think scientifically of "taking the energy at the planet's core" without eating).[...] $\endgroup$
    – Tortliena
    Jun 17 at 3:04
  • $\begingroup$ [...]While sap does transport nutrients, you'll have troubles to make plants move, especially move fast, which might be a problem to translate it for your moose with science only. First because you're litterally rooted to the ground. Then because to move fast it's best to have high-energy nutrients, something hard to gain from the ground or/and air or/and sun alone with no stomach to process it. To better feel how much energy it costs to move fast, compare how much you're tired after walking, jogging or sprinting the same distance 🚶/🏃 😊. $\endgroup$
    – Tortliena
    Jun 17 at 3:04
  • $\begingroup$ That being said, nothing prevents you from having a moose getting energy from the planet's core, depending on whether you want it very strictly rooted in science or not. In fact, I played recently a game with giant monsters feeding almost litterally from the air, and it does feel believable in the context it was built-up (Japanese-ish medieval folklore). You just have to find what's really important for you :) $\endgroup$
    – Tortliena
    Jun 17 at 3:15
  • $\begingroup$ I removed the science-based tag. If you read the mouse roll-overs or the tag wikis, you'll learn that they'r mutually exclusive. You can use only one. Given the fantastic nature of your creature, the science-based tag doesn't make sense. The science-fiction tag still requires the use of science, it's just not as restrictive. Again, considering the nature of your creature, that's OK. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Jun 17 at 4:11
  • $\begingroup$ can you expand on how it gets the energy from the core? Is it near it (in that case it could use some of the radiated energy (glowing heat, radioactivity), or somehow even the spin (mechanical energy) or is it living on the crust? in that case it could only use the energy transferred from the core in the form of chemical energy and (low)heat - like some deep sea bacteria. Could you also expand on why it needs to move fast? A sloth can move pretty fast for very short amounts of time, as can parts of plants (see seed-shooting plants). Moving rather fast all the time (no living examples) is hard $\endgroup$
    – bukwyrm
    Jun 17 at 8:56

4 Answers 4

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As Framed - I'm not sure it's possible. The reason I say that is you mention it has a Muscle and Skeletal system - both of which are living systems and both need nutrients (okay, we get that from the Planet core) but more importantly - Will need some form of Oxygen (how can we breathe without a mouth and osmosis of Oxygen through a body that size is pushing it) and it will produce some form of waste product that will need to go somewhere.

However...

Let's assume for the moment that it has a super-absorbent skin layer that secretes something that allows it to 'digest' minerals in the earth and absorb them into the skin - say Iron. So now instead of having a traditional Skeletal system, our Moose has Iron for bones, literally. The Skeleton being close to the Skin allows for absorption and maybe not a full circulatory system, but a capillary type system between the Skin and the Iron bones, the Skin also absorbs ambient moisture to allow for the transmission of necessary minerals in this capillary system.

Why would such a creature evolve? Well, without a Circulatory system, it's remarkably resilient. It can't bleed out, it has no heart or lungs that can be punctured/destroyed - and it's Iron bones make it rather strong.

For muscles - again, we are going to think outside the box here for a moment - we have Metal Bones.

Bi-Metallic strips bend. We could have something where the energy from the core causes localized build-up of heat that bends the limbs, generating muscle-like motion and force - they work in antagonistic pairs, like real muscles. And as a bonus - they don't need Oxygen or have any nasty waste products that need to be transported away.

That's the best I got.

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It needs two things, mass and energy

Mass is important for growth. As such, it needs to absorb mass from the environment. Perhaps its skin can absorb gases, and so it can slowly absorb the surrounding mass to let it grow.

For energy, the core needs to have concentrated pockets of power, rather than just ambient power everywhere. It can absorb those through its skin like a plant absorbs sunlight, and get energy for growth.

It needs to mostly remain still

The reason things have mouths is that passive absorption of energy and mass is a very slow way to gather energy and mass. Eating plants or meat is much faster. As such, it needs to spend most of its life passively absorbing energy from the core. This means it generally doesn't need a circulatory system, since most of its body is resting.

When it meets invaders, it can burn its stored energy for quick bursts of speed, but it will lack the endurance to have a long battle or chase. It can use muscular contractions of fluids to supply resources to cells.

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The nearest I can find is a giant clam. These are filter-feeders, which ain't 'feeding of the energy at the core of the planet' but it is a slow absorption of energy in a dilute form, so it may serve as a near-equivalent. The weight of the living organism can be over 300 Kg, which overlaps with a moose, but quite a lot of that is shell.

This follows the logic of the previous authors. It may be able to react quickly to attack by closing its shell, but most of its like it spends almost motionless.

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It feeds through H2O particle vibrations and small amounts of radiation emitted by the core, it has no need for excretion because it generates energy in order to power his cells, no need for nutrient and protein digestion to build it up. Muscle its impossible since there is no protein in its system but it could move (just dont try to explain it), same with bones, but they could have an entirely new system of locomotion i just cant list all possibilities here.They could have a system like Peacock mantis shrimp claw, they could have some structure that acts like a spring making it bounce instead of walking or running, giving it the appearence of being really fast since they could jump great distances (Handwavium)

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