Questions tagged [anatomy]
For questions about the physical structure of an organism.
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Could a person survive a high temperature environment by only cooling the blood supply or will parts of the body eventually overheat?
Obviously not temperatures above the boiling point, but could you theoretically survive in an environment hotter than a normal human could thermoregulate in if you attached a blood-cooler and if so ...
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Anatomy for a head in the middle of the neck
In all animals with a neck, the head is always the end of the line. But what if it were otherwise? Specifically, what anatomy would you need to change to get a head in the middle of the neck, while ...
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Giant mole-like creatures. Are more limbs for digging worth it?
The following creatures, in order, are a sandgroper, a mole cricket and a mole, all creatures that are well adapted for life underground:
All of them converged into a similar bodyplan, with powerful, ...
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How large does a dragon have to be for a hunter to enter its stomach through its throat?
In a world inhabited by primitive hunter-gatherer humans and dragons, one of the most respected trial by fires is to hunt a dragon by jumping through their mouth and killing it from inside the stomach....
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Can my visual system work? [duplicate]
I'm trying to design an eye for my squid-like organism, what I have thought is basically a human like-eye but with the retina being composed only of a layer of bacteria carrying the gene of rhodopsin ...
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What are the distinct functions a body orifice could have? [closed]
Different types of animal have different sorts of orifice with different functions. One commonality between them is that multiple different functions (often the same functions across multiple animals) ...
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On a planet with 99% humidity all of the time, how would human skin evolve?
This world has an incredibly high humidity rate all year round and I'm curious as to what - if any - evolutional changes might occur in human skin. Would it just be less porous or would there be a ...
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How can I tie an individual's general appearance with the season they're born in?
So basically the elves of the setting have varying appearances depending on the season they're born in, but they're entirely biological and while the setting does have magic I don't want there to be a ...
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Would communicating through an external, circular "larynx" be viable?
These aliens live on a planet with a thick atmosphere and light gravity, and spend most of their life in the air.
They communicate through a series of piercing whistles and sound-wave vibrations, and ...
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What would this animal's stool be like?
The animal is small, around the size of a rat or pigeon. Its activity level is on par with a rat, but it can fly and is rather more intelligent, and thus uses more energy. Their excretory system ...
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Could a human metamorphosis work?
I was playing Resident Evil 6 and I was wondering if it could be possible with the help of a virus to make humans metamorphose.
The girl in the videogame basically turns into a chrysalis and by the ...
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Flora of Radiotroph-Dominated World
After the Great Nuclear Apocalypse, the skies clouded over with dust and the world froze. Expectedly, most plants died out, and were then replaced with radiotrophic fungi, originating from all sorts ...
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Doing Makeup with your Mouth
The tricrurals are humanoid creatures without arms or feet. Their jaws are replaced by a set of tentacles. These tentacles are around 10cm long and are as flexible as human fingers, though they can ...
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If a very hot blade were used to cut off a limb, would it cauterize, and if so, would it be less lethal than a regular wound? [duplicate]
Okay, so first post here, howdy, nice to meet you!
I’m working on a story that involves a woman on a vendetta who decides that she will begin trying to avoid killing people, however mutilation is fine,...
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Methods to transport CO2 through HCl-rich blood to the lungs?
Situation:
The extraterrestrial vertebrate lifeforms have milky white blood rich in aqueous HCl, using an enzyme centered on aluminum oxychloride nanoparticles to transport oxygen, releasing chlorine ...
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What are the possible attributes of aluminum-based blood?
Situation:
The vertebrate life of a distant planet uses biogenic silica for structural support. However, biogenic silica is soluble in water, but (according to this article) its solubility decreases ...
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Anatomically Correct Merfolk [closed]
The classic merfolk are creatures of simple form: Above the hips, they are human, but below they have the body of a fish. This anatomy seems typical enough, if you don't think about it, but it quickly ...
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What is the most plausible way for an organism to have (limited) shapeshifting abilities?
These shapeshifters - known as Doppels - aren't the stereotypical "blob of goo that becomes whatever it wants" shapeshifters. Instead, they're humanoids that can assume the physical ...
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Can my organism retain its memories?
In my world there is an organism that goes through a phase where its brain melts like goo and re-forms but not within the same structure, could my organism remember its past memories?
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Are current electrodes as good and fast as optic nerves transmiting information?
I'm writing a cyberpunk book where people can regain their vision by connecting an artifical eye and the optic nerve would be replaced by a electrode, is it possible? Ignoring the rejection and ...
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Anatomically Correct Telepath [closed]
I know that in the real world there is nothing similar to telepathy, so there is very little to compare with. That being said, how can a telepathic being be anatomically designed to allow for ...
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Can my organism see? [closed]
The aliens on my book have two human like eyes but instead of a retina they have a layer of bacteria with the proteins that cones and rods produce! Could my aliens see?
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Universal Phonetic Alphabet
In the story I am developing, there is an intergalactic community with a plethora of different sentient species, each with its own languages that vary depending own its vocal anatomy.
There are ...
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Symbiosis centaur male?
My previous question Sexual parasite centaur? was about a symbiotic relationship where the males and females of the species are conjoined in such a way that they form a centaur shape. They start in an ...
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Sexual parasite centaur?
I have this idea for an alien centaur species which goes through an aquatic juvenile stage looking vaguely like this:
Then the males attach themselves to the females and they're able to leave the ...
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Anatomically Correct Cherub [closed]
The cherub is a strange sort of angel with a strange sort of form. They are overall humanoid, with 2 pairs of wings. These wings also bear hands on the underside. Furthermore, they have 4 heads, each ...
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What are the implications of gorilla anatomy on medieval warfare? [closed]
Let me know if I need to break this into smaller questions...my preference is to keep it as one.
I have a sentient species that has intelligence indistinguishable from humans, but with the body of a ...
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Can these fanciful lizardfolk shoulders properly fit together?
One unique way of making a reptilian humanoid is a rather fanciful joint in which human-like shoulders, including the extension of the shoulderblade, are seemingly stapled to the sides of the ventral ...
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30 g kick to an entire planet, but only for extremely short duration [re-scoped]
I plan to subject an entire earth-like planet to about 300m/s^s acceleration, what is the shortest duration I can get away with for non-scientists to realize something has happened, without everyone’s ...
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Anatomically Correct Dullahan's Horse [closed]
The Dullahan is a spirit that rides on a rather unique type of horse
This horse, like the rider, does not have its head attached to its body. Instead, the head floats behind the body. Furthermore, the ...
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What sounds could these dragons make? [closed]
The firedragons are a sort of dragonic hybrid that mixes many aquatic and amphibious forms
Their mouth is like a snake, with a sheathed tongue in the chin and a glottis. The glottis, however, is ...
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Low gravity planet, insect niche design [closed]
I am trying to think of alternatives to arthropods as the small critters for the planets I am designing but I am unsure how gravity will affect their design.
These creatures will fill the roles that ...
user96631
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Anatomically Correct Avatea [closed]
Avatea is a deity of Cook Islands Mythology. They display a mixture of human and piscine traits:
They have two heads, the left one like a fish and the right one like a man. Their body is half fish and ...
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Is there a most efficient number of arm-like appendages?
I have a number of intelligent alien species with a high number of limbs (from 6 up to 18) some with radial symmetry and some bilateral, in most cases the creatures can crawl using all limbs but when ...
user96146
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How Tall Can Flightless Birds Plausibly Get?
These flightless birds are under strong selective pressure to be able to feed on high up conifer needles, and avoid predation from T-Rex sized predatory flightless birds. The forests the birds are ...
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Would tentacle like appendages along limbs aid in daily life activities?
I am working on an alien species which have tentacle like appendages along their limbs, based on the range of appendages used by marine suspension and filter feeders.
On land, many of the species have ...
user96146
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Anatomically Correct Marine Griffin [closed]
The marine griffin is a variety of griffin found in heraldry. It has the foreparts of an eagle, with 2 wings and 2 talons as forelegs, and a limbless hindpart like a fish or serpent.
It should be ...
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Can a big creature have a flagellar-like motor for flying?
The flagellar motor of bacteria seems to be a perfect way to have a biological motor but since no complex multicellular creatures have used that method for flight or other uses, it must be harder to ...
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Anatomically Correct Winged Kappa
The Winged Kappa, or Hane No Haeta Kappa, is a type of Kappa with Wings
They have a mixture of avian and chelonian features. They have a pointed beak like a bird, with the eyes and nostrils high up ...
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A creature has one heart per bodily extremity. How large does each have to be?
The creature has several hearts, each supplying blood to one limb. For all other intents and purposes the creature is human. Of the six smaller hearts, one supplies each arm and leg, one supplies the ...
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Could papillae or another muscular protrusion act like tube feet on a land-dwelling creature?
I am designing a starfish-like alien and I am wondering if a tube feet like design would work for a large land-dwelling creature?
The creature unlike starfish has strong muscles in its limbs which ...
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Does this creature have good head and neck balancing? Final(?) Draft
I feel bad and guilty for doing this one AGAIN, but I've improved and want to further perfect my hyperfixation character. I've learned more of how things work from previous iterations, now I wish to ...
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Anatomically Correct Oannes [closed]
The Oannes is a being from Mesopotamian Mythology. It is a hybrid of a human and fish, with a unique anatomy
They are are humanoid in posture, with a body, tail, and head like a fish, and the arms and ...
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Suitable chairs for hunched, digitigrade lizard people?
My humanoid lizardfolk are 6-7 foot tall digitigrades, some have a slightly hunched posture like Gollum/Smeagol. I'm wondering what kind of chairs that be suitable for these characteristics as well as ...
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Anatomically Correct Hellmouth
The hellmouth is a great bizarre being that guards the entrance of hell. While only the face has been recorded, it is quite a face
They have two mammalian head, with the two maxillae opposing each ...
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Which bear would be the best weapon for a necromancer's army: Kodiak, Grizzly, Polar?
Background:
My question would be: which bear would be the most useful for a necromancer who raises one from the dead. Since the bear is dead, temperature, stamina, injuries, aggression, all of that ...
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Anatomically Correct Abysmal Locusts [closed]
The abysmal locusts are a race of creatures described in the Bible. They are the inhabitants of the abyss
As the name implies, they are locusts. However, they have some anatomical distinctions. They ...
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Cursorial Adaptations in Tentacled Quadrupeds
All animals in this world are derived from an anatomy involving a tetrapod-like foreleg with tentacle-like hindlegs. This means that the hindlegs are substantially weaker than the forelegs, especially ...
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Feasibility of an "albino" in a species that has color-changing capabilities?
I have an alien I am designing and I want there to be an individual to be a play off of my main character (who is albino.) The aliens are, unknown to the human settlers, an enigmatically intelligent ...
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Chameleon harpoon tongue - plausable or not?
My future “chameleons” have evolved a harpoon-like tongue as an adaptation for catching larger prey as their own body size has gotten significantly larger over the milions of years. I drew a simple ...
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