Questions tagged [creature-design]
For questions regarding the viability of a life-form design. These questions should focus on biologically plausible creatures.
1,348
questions
6
votes
2answers
95 views
Would it be possible for my fantasy creature to have black blood?
A friend of mine has a race of creatures in her headworld and has been wondering about a biological answer to justify the color of her race's blood even though magic is a bit sprinkled in there.
One ...
22
votes
15answers
6k views
What organs or modifications would be needed for a life biological creature not to require sleep?
I mean literally not sleeping for the rest of their life, not like giraffes that only require short rests, or dolphins that can sleep with half of their brain at a time, or like otters and sharks that ...
5
votes
5answers
119 views
How Would Weightless Creature Steer Itself In The Air? (Can It Sail?)
Gravity does exist in this world, and so does air and clouds. But this creature only has enough weight to stay in the air without falling or being lifted up. It's big like a whale and it does have ...
7
votes
3answers
241 views
How could a charge-type breath weapon work?
Charge-type breath weapon: Creatures with this type shoot singular, high-damage, high-precision "charges" of (insert dragon's element here) that explode upon contact. Examples: Toothless from the ...
8
votes
1answer
115 views
Can a feathered wing be also compliant?
So, to quote pterosaur.net:
Unlike the wings of birds, the wings of pterosaurs would have tended
to change shape under aerodynamic load - something often referred to
as 'passive cambering'. ...
3
votes
3answers
273 views
Bioluminescent microorganisms in everything
Is it possible for a bioluminescent organism to be so pervasive in an environment, that creatures who eat it (because it's in plants for example) also start to glow? It doesn't have to be a bright ...
6
votes
4answers
175 views
Anatomy of a chinese serpentine dragon?
In our world there are two species of dragon that took different evolutionary paths due to environmental pressures. The first of them, called smaugs, are as large as a quetzalcoatlus, with a wingspan ...
7
votes
4answers
233 views
The right size for dragons
Note: size here denotes the physical dimension(s) taken up by the creature in a natural, idling posture
One of the many fantasy tropes that make me want to Fahrenheit 451 contemporary fantasy ...
4
votes
3answers
223 views
Is there a reason that females passing on more than 1/2 of their genetics to the child would be unlikely to evolve?
On the earth today most animals use a two sex mating system where male and female provide the same amount of genetics to the resulting offspring, despite the fact that in many cases the female ...
9
votes
4answers
171 views
How would a quadruped walk with one limb longer than the rest?
I have a (digitigrade) quadrupedal alien creature with one of it's front limbs having a longer metatarsals, I'm trying to visualise how it would walk with this deformity for an animation.
I'm having ...
9
votes
2answers
144 views
What metals other than calcium can be used to create alien bones that won't also engender a human-toxic environment?
Edit: Okay, truth be known that this question was part of a set of 5 related questions that I was recommended to break up into individual posts (in their original form, the comments had no trouble ...
17
votes
13answers
7k views
What would a biological creature need in order to see into the future?
Inspired by the Paycheck and Minority Report movies.
So far as I can tell, physical time travel is impossible for humans, and so I searched to see the future possible scientific or theoretical ...
4
votes
2answers
179 views
Anatomically Correct Dreel
The Dreel are a parasitic alien hive-mind from The Return of Nathan Brazil, book four in the Well of Souls series by Jack Chalker.
Specifically, they are described as viruses which induce ...
3
votes
1answer
197 views
what the aquatic creature need in order to live or survive in my acid water?
inspire by xenomorph acid blood from alien movies.
so the water either rivers, lakes, and oceans in my world or some of the regions is highly acidic because some of the dirt or stone minerals content ...
22
votes
13answers
6k views
How could a self contained organic body propel itself in space
How could an organic, plant-like, intelligent organism move around space?
Assuming that the body is inside a small meteoroid and that outside of the meteoroid is covered in tessellating leaves to ...
1
vote
1answer
146 views
Can I use a living organism as exotic matter for interstellar travel?
Would it be possible to use a living organism as unobtainium for interstellar travel? Would it make any sense?
The story I had in mind would use them as the main bad guys seeking vengeance on those ...
4
votes
2answers
101 views
Novel Alien Bacteria / Fungus Causing Rapid Mutations
We've seen it throughout media before, a crazy mutation that creates zombies, rabid people, giant spiders, etc. I'm spot checking how crazy I can get with this short story I'm writing about a bacteria ...
9
votes
4answers
520 views
Anatomically Correct Whomping Willow
The whomping willow is a fictional tree from the Harry Potter series of books. It is a magic willow that can move its branches to punch people who come close to it.
Small animals such as cats and ...
1
vote
0answers
112 views
What is the maximum equilibrium temperature that a mammal could evolve to tolerate?
Mammals live in some fairly extreme environments, but the most heat-tolerant ones all seem to cheat: e.g., they dig burrows to stay cool during the day and come out at night, avoiding the heat, or ...
8
votes
5answers
199 views
Why would a blind creature evolve display features?
I'm thinking of a predatory creature that lives deep inside large caves. Because this environment is so dark, the creature's eyes have disappeared through evolution since the creature relies on ...
10
votes
3answers
338 views
What would a Pegasus actually do with its legs while flying?
The question is just as simple as it sounds.
Would it tuck them under like a bird? make running motions like it does when running on the ground? some other movement that actually aids in flight ...
4
votes
3answers
123 views
Size of a litter for a carnivore with a high rate of death
So, I'm designing an alien race/civilisation of carnivore.
I was thinking of a very aggressive specie, who is both the alpha predator of his world and his own main cause of death.
Basically, a lot ...
4
votes
1answer
183 views
Pros and cons of having digitigrade and plantigrade legs?
I have created a humanoid that can switch between digitigrade and plantigrade legs. It is able to do this via special bones in its legs that it can lock in place without hindering its movement but ...
3
votes
4answers
163 views
Why would a venomous snake squeeze its threat non-lethally?
This is a key part of my snakebite mystery story, which I am thinking of making part of a medical mystery series. I have been told that it actually is more life threatening to the snake for it to ...
4
votes
4answers
200 views
Alien Mammal-Like Ears
So I’m trying to design my alien life around the pressures they might face just like earth’s wildlife, and most things I’ve made plausible life that is similar to ear but not giant dinosaur cats. The ...
4
votes
1answer
144 views
Anatomically Correct Modular Body Plan Animals
The fixedness of body plans varies widely across different types of Earthling organisms. At one extreme, you have things like tardigrades, for which every individual of any given species has exactly ...
11
votes
4answers
284 views
Anatomically Correct Slinky Worm
Despite the wide variety of movement strategies employed by Earthling animals, up to an including curling their bodies into circles and rolling, there is one mode of locomotion that is glaringly ...
5
votes
3answers
173 views
Anatomically Correct Hunter from Needle
Hal Clement's novel Needle was revolutionary in featuring a non-parasitic alien lifeform capable of inhabiting a human body.
Specifically, the Hunter in its independent form is a gelatinous mass ...
1
vote
2answers
144 views
What configuration would provide the most protection for a male dragon's reproductive organs against mechanical and chemical attacks?
Dragons awesome (that's why sub-par writers and DMs use it as a substitute for an actually engaging story/setting) but they're still just animals, animals that reproduce.
Besides it's painful to get ...
29
votes
19answers
10k views
Why do dragons like shiny stuff?
I like the classic trope of dragons loving gold and collecting it in their lair, yet it seems poorly justified. I know that it is often used as a metaphor for greed; "dragons disease" to show how ...
5
votes
2answers
148 views
What aquatic creatures would evolve in a world with ripped apart/chaotic oceans?
In this world, a progenitor has created a mass of order out of chaos, with the possibility of entropic fluctuations increasing the further out from the center you get. What do I mean by entropic ...
1
vote
5answers
318 views
Anatomically Correct Monsters, Incorporated
In the world of Monsters, Inc., the titular monsters have wildly varying morphologies and abilities, but they nevertheless all seem to be members of the same species; after all, if it was a multi-...
6
votes
6answers
321 views
Can a machine benefit from stored heat energy?
Setting Overview
My world suffers from an abundance of a particular type of energy. This energy can be safely absorbed and utilized by living cells, enabling, for example, a dragon's flight and fiery ...
23
votes
11answers
7k views
What clothes would flying-people wear?
If there were people with wings, who didn't want to be naked all the time, what clothing could they wear, without it interfering with their flying?
Note: I am assuming arm-wings, like birds, but you ...
9
votes
1answer
127 views
Creating an Anatomically Correct Lusca
The Lusca (its name meaning 'Octopus Shark') is a cryptid from the Bahamas, supposedly a 6-9 meter (or even 23 meter) long man-eating Octopus that lives within the blue holes, dragging victims down ...
7
votes
2answers
326 views
Anatomically Correct “Stranger Things” Mindflayer's Monster
Background, with potential spoilers:
In the Netflix show Stranger Things...
If we skip the psychic stuff, there's still a pretty interesting creature there. To qualify as a Mindflayer monster, an ...
2
votes
1answer
161 views
Requirements for race that lives close to a sun [closed]
I have an idea for a race that lives on a planet that is extremely close to a sun (similar to ours), just far enough away to not be pulled in.
So my question is, what would be the requirements for a ...
5
votes
3answers
689 views
The plausibility of a pack-hunting carrion-eating snake
I was thinking of a hypothetical species of snakes that join together for protection called Ladôni, due to their habit of mobilising in massive beds which make them resemble a large multi-headed snake....
1
vote
3answers
153 views
what is the proper physical build of a fantasy adveturer? [closed]
I am trying to make a game and I want the characters to look somewhat like they could actually be someone who goes around slaying monsters, fighting evil over lords and their henchmen, all while still ...
8
votes
4answers
645 views
How would thermophilic fish survive?
I'm designing alien creatures for illustrations, and I'm just sketching some that might live in areas with a lot of geothermal activity. So basically, animals that live around geysers and hot steam. I ...
2
votes
1answer
125 views
Anatomically Correct - (ONI) Hatch
My offering to the Anatomically Correct Series.
I came across a curious creature, the Hatch!
The Hatch is an adaptable creature whose wide-ranging diet allows it
to integrate easily into most ...
6
votes
5answers
467 views
The Giant Roc and Pulse Jet propulsion
I am currently in the process of making a world, and am trying to ground it in scientific fact as much as possible. The world is a hard magic setting, and while fantastical creatures exist, they are ...
12
votes
9answers
2k views
How would my creatures handle groups without a strong concept of numbers?
I'm thinking about a species that is at the intelligence level of proto-humans. They have limited language but can still discuss concrete things with a little bit of abstraction. For instance, their ...
9
votes
7answers
3k views
How to evolve human-like eyes that can stare at the sun without protection?
Imagine a species that is very much like humans in shape, size and physiology. But they are able to stare at the sun for long periods without suffering any harm, and without needing any artificial ...
5
votes
3answers
319 views
What would humans look like if their blood were silver?
I have a species in mind that I want to write about for a book I'm planning, and they look exactly like humans (minus the 'unnatural' hair and eye colors they can posses). However, they have silver ...
6
votes
2answers
282 views
Can one person do nearly everything to sail a 25 meter cog for a few hundred miles if that person is a tireless being?
In my fantasy world I have a humanoid species that can work pretty much non-stop. Assuming he has enough energy, can one of these creatures do most of the necessary things on a 25 meter long cog to ...
9
votes
4answers
664 views
What attributes and how big would a sea creature(s) need to be to tow a ship?
I'm trying to come up with ways as to how a ship could travel places with a very low number of people (like 4 crewmen). One of the ways I like for how to do this is to have large sea creatures ...
21
votes
4answers
5k views
Would a carnivorous diet be able to support a giant worm?
In my fantasy world there is a large valley. At the northern end lies the 'endless desert' called the "Sea of Glass" due to its shimmering sands. Within these deserts live great wyrms that swim ...
2
votes
2answers
109 views
Segmented Endoskeleton
I have a primarily marine creature that needs to be able to move around effectively outside of water yet still be extremely flexible. My idea is having an anatomy based largely on bony disks similar ...
13
votes
5answers
322 views
Where are all the non-aquatic mouthbrooders?
Some fish mouthbrood. Some amphibians mouthbrood. Crocodilians carry their babies in their mouths to water. Is there a reason why there are no instances (that I know of) of terrestrial animals that ...
