Questions tagged [creature-design]
For questions regarding the viability of a life-form design. These questions should focus on biologically plausible creatures.
2,684
questions
1
vote
0
answers
30
views
How plausible is my bioengineered alien?
I want to use a bioengineered intelligent alien in a story. The exact details will differ for the alien, but for the purposes of this question we should assume basic human biochemical processes with ...
- 38.4k
9
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How much can I expand human color perception by adding new photoreceptors?
Normally, the human retina contains four types of light-sensitive receptors (opsins): three types of cones and one type of rods. Receptors contain proteins-chromoproteins - iodopsin in rods, ...
- 81
4
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is this host and 'parasite' interaction feasible?
So I have an idea for this relationship between bloodsucking and flesheating creatures and a massive host. It should be noted that this will probably take place in my more alieny world, but basic ...
- 2,966
27
votes
6
answers
9k
views
Is it biologically plausible for a land animal to drink saltwater and not drink freshwater?
I'm trying to come up with a land animal that can drink saltwater but for some reason cannot drink freshwater. The advantage of drinking saltwater would be that they can get drinking water straight ...
5
votes
2
answers
170
views
Plausibility of the Yale
So, recently I've been struggling to create a bestiary that includes mythical medieval creatures, but trying to make them as plausible as possible.
Recently I've been struggling with one in particular,...
- 30.7k
0
votes
2
answers
107
views
What would an animal living and migrating with a perpetual storm look like? [closed]
Basically, I got these things called Stormstokers, which, by way of magic, maintain and inhabit storms. They migrate with these storms, guiding the storms along ley lines so they don't run out of ...
- 27.3k
17
votes
4
answers
1k
views
What would a hexapodal skeleton look like?
Having looked at some of the questions regarding creatures with more than four limbs, I've found some useful info, like the idea that additional limbs increase stability while requiring more brain ...
- 64.2k
3
votes
2
answers
105
views
What could justify a fantastic amphibian?
The fantastic amphibian is a 2-metre-long generic herptile which has both lungs and gills. Curiously, it can breathe underwater indefinitely without ever surfacing for air, yet can also survive ...
- 101k
4
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How would a creature adverse to solar energy (ie, a wraith) get energy and what would it do with it?
Wraiths are an animal kingdom, radiating cold, and living off of the inverse of the solar energy other animals live off of. I do have blue cottony moon-trees, technically, so that might be an option. ...
- 544
0
votes
0
answers
102
views
How would an animal see with a cross shaped pupil? [duplicate]
I have this omnivorous crepuscular arboreal alien species, and I gave them a somewhat unique iris structure, that I would love to hear your thoughts on.
Here is an image that breaks down how it works (...
4
votes
2
answers
177
views
creature pupils, iris color, and eye shape. What would they look like?
There are several species I've thought up for fun. Pure entertainment.
One species is 4-5 feet tall, and lives in very dark caves where the only light source is the luminescence of fauna, the glow of ...
- 2,202
1
vote
2
answers
172
views
How would combat with war beasts but no cavalry look? [closed]
The setting I have in progress lacks horses and horse analogs (with the exception of reindeer, but they are a limited resource), but has many larger beasts capable of being tamed, i.e. war elephants, ...
- 101k
1
vote
0
answers
38
views
How big can a sea turtle get? [duplicate]
So, I'm working on a bestiary and I want to fill the oceans of my world with big greatures, but keeping plausibility by respecting the square cube law, the ecology niches the beasts might occupy, etc.
...
- 155
4
votes
2
answers
218
views
Would it be biologically possible to have a species that use a photochromic material instead of an iris to control light intensity?
So in real life there are glasses that use photochromic lenses to adapt to light intensity
Would it be biologically possible to have a species that uses a photochromic material instead of an iris to ...
- 32.4k
4
votes
4
answers
733
views
Bicolor/double-sided feathers as part of a thermoregulatory apparatus?
The project I'm working on right now has a much longer day than ours, which would result also then in higher thermal swings. Looking at earth and humans, depending on the solar radiation an area gets, ...
- 704
1
vote
1
answer
297
views
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 ...
CommunityBot
- 1
2
votes
2
answers
152
views
Can mammal hypothetically evolve their own version of unidirectional breathing?
As the title suggests, can mammal evolve unidirectional breathing? Not the same as in birds but still qualifies as a unidirectional breathing.
(I was trying to make a future mammalian species ...
- 94.3k
7
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How could breastfeeding/suckling work for a beaked animal?
I've started working casually on a project with psuedo-dinosaurian animals (not really related to earth life, but I'm using very tetrapodal body plans) and its come up that a claude of grazers would ...
- 3,667
-2
votes
2
answers
104
views
Adaptations for Anthropophagy [closed]
Let's say there are quadrupedal mammals close to around 100kg that have adapted to live in a typical medieval city and feed on predominantly human beings. The city and the animals therein have existed ...
- 16.9k
16
votes
9
answers
1k
views
Species that can create magnetic fields
I am trying to come up with an explanation for how a creature could create strong magnetic fields with a high level of control. I'm thinking that their 'writing' would be similar to how computers ...
- 7,508
-1
votes
1
answer
122
views
How could small animals survive a decade in this world?
Short version:
Living beings in this world take a decade to reach true diversity; how could the beings from rat to fox size live long enough for this? Is hibernation viable?
Long version:
In this ...
- 26.9k
2
votes
2
answers
98
views
Role of mouth size in ability to replicate human phonemes
(If you're uninterested in any of the background info, boiled down question is in the second paragraph)
As part of my worldbuilding, I have become very interested in conlanging; of particular interest ...
- 6,940
7
votes
2
answers
236
views
Could an azhdarchid pterosaur take off and fly while being ridden by a human?
Could humans theoretically ride any of the largest azhdarchid pterosaurs, assuuming a wingspan of about 10.5m and weight of about 200-250kg for the largest azhdarchids such as Hatzegopteryz or ...
6
votes
1
answer
737
views
Can a Tidally-Breathing Animal Possess a Syrinx?
I have been imagining/designing a reptile-like animal that breathes tidally, but possesses a syrinx for complex vocalization. Is this biomechanically possible, or is unidirectional breathing a ...
- 94.3k
3
votes
3
answers
374
views
How much energy could be stored in an average human body using electric organs?
I have been playing with the ideas of electricity generating/attacks for my characters using either electric organs similar to electric eels or some sort of bio battery using bacteria that produce ...
- 327
10
votes
5
answers
5k
views
How big can a chicken get?
I'm working on a Spec Evo project and I'm wondering if there's a possibility for domesticated chickens, the closest living relative to the T-Rex, to regain those massive sizes.
How did these chickens ...
- 1,259
13
votes
6
answers
597
views
How to not hurt yourself with very sharp spikes on tail?
The creature I'm designing has a tail with spikes on the end of it. The material of the spikes should be strong/durable (not break easily), and very sharp (the edge as well as the sides, being able to ...
- 6,940
6
votes
4
answers
818
views
From mice to men ( series )
A team of alien researchers get bored one day, and decides to conduct an experiment.
Seeing that the great ape Homo sapiens sapiens turned out so well ( in terms of technological development and ...
5
votes
3
answers
905
views
Is it medically possible to give someone super strength with gene editing?
I'm trying to find a reasonable medical explanation for a normal-looking human having around 10x the strength of the general population, defined for the sake of easily-measurable goals as the amount ...
- 4,876
6
votes
3
answers
831
views
Could alien microorganisms "infect" our own microbiome clouds and then "pollinate" us?
I'm trying to make my idea make sense. I wanted to create an parasitic/symbiotic alien species which reproduces/breeds by air or touch, which they are unaware of. They do not understand why their ...
- 1
11
votes
2
answers
407
views
Can a human-sized organism survive eating only textile fibers?
Since there are living beings (like moth larvae) which feed on textile fibers (wool, cotton, silk, et cetera), I was planning to introduce a human-sized creature with such feature, plus the ability to ...
- 41
2
votes
2
answers
356
views
Under what circumstances could this dragon-like creature carry a human? [closed]
Can a draconic or pterosaur-like flying creature weighing about 1-1.5 times that of an average human carry a human through the air for a distance of about 10 miles? If not, what atmospheric and/or ...
- 171
4
votes
1
answer
92
views
Could chromatophores function suspended in fluid?
just wondering if there's any way chromatophores could function while suspended in fluid (maybe something similar to hemolymph?) I'm basing this off of mollusk chromatophores in particular, which as ...
- 47.8k
1
vote
5
answers
204
views
Could a Creature Evolve to have a BUILT IN terrarium/nursery [closed]
In my world there is a species (who's name Im still working on) but this species has a built in nursery or terrarium.
This "Terrarium' is found in the stomach where you can actively see the ...
- 17.4k
0
votes
0
answers
42
views
Can the hemoglobin be fed something besides iron to make blood a different color? [duplicate]
A bit of context here. A species of Fairies in my world have silver-colored blood, and while researching for that, I learned that hemoglobins essentially require blood to be red because they need iron ...
- 163
2
votes
2
answers
137
views
What is the optimal number of fins for maximum maneuverability of an aquatic organism?
I am deciding how many fins to give a race of aquatic "humanoids" for maximum maneuverability in the water. It is a given that they would have tail and pectoral fins because they have very ...
- 16.3k
5
votes
1
answer
102
views
Insect like muscles for a human skeleton that is alive, would it be able to move in a "snappy" capatult way?
Many insects overcome the issue of limited space for muscle growth by developing "bow" muscle-tendon systems. In this system, a muscle contracts against a lock, building up energy, and then ...
- 65k
5
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Is a four-armed humanoid body-plan as realistic as a centaur-like body-plan?
Many designs for sapient aliens and sapient fantasy races alike - including one of my own - resemble four-armed humanoids; As covered in other questions on this site, a six-limbed vertebrate-analog is ...
- 2,100
3
votes
1
answer
179
views
Is my concept for Writhing Ones viable? [closed]
My idea for an ent-like species is as follows.
The Writhing Ones are a race of giant eusocial nematodes. They evolved to collaborate for the benefit of the collective and over time, colonies grew into ...
- 113
5
votes
9
answers
2k
views
Aliens with an extra-set of ears- any possible benefits?
While doing some concept drawings of an alien species for a project of mine I somehow wound up drawing a head with two sets of ears, one pair on the top of the head and the other lower with one on ...
- 11.4k
2
votes
1
answer
119
views
How does a bipedal amphibian use its legs in water?
Ok so I'm writing a story with humanoid animals that developed in water but adapted to instead live near large bodies of water like lakes. They have legs and arms as well as a tail (About 5'8feet (...
- 16.3k
2
votes
2
answers
217
views
How plausible is a Cryovenom?
In my science-fantasy world there is a creature that secretes a venom (called a cryovenom) whose proteins catalyze a spontaneous crystallization of the water inside the interstitial fluids and ...
- 4,869
5
votes
3
answers
235
views
True living fossils?
Could there be a living creature that is so old that part of it has fossilized? Here are some criteria I have for the thing to be described as a fossil:
It has to be over 10,000 years old.
A portion ...
- 6,940
2
votes
1
answer
199
views
book lungs on a human?
I want my character (a human spider hybrid) to have book lungs along with human lungs, would there be any glaring disadvantages to this, would they be fragile be sensitive to smells? .
- 16.3k
3
votes
1
answer
185
views
Designing giant space creatures becomes a popular fad in a super advanced post-scarcity society. How large can space creatures get?
This is a completely post-scarcity society. Robots and automated systems run the economy and most research. AIs are commonplace, and available to all in the human-like, completely obedient, and super-...
- 31
7
votes
6
answers
3k
views
How would a predator adapt to prey on sapient species?
In this case, I am referring to my orc-equivalent species who are closely related to the true elves, adapting to the intelligence of the elves with camouflage and mimicry, as well as tusks that are ...
- 65k
3
votes
4
answers
629
views
multiple retinas in one eye
is it possible to have multiple retinas, would there be advantages to this? Or would it just not work at all? I have a diagram (a shitty one) and more explanation if needed
Edit: sorry for the ...
- 81.9k
11
votes
10
answers
4k
views
Is this super soldier viable and grounded?
Below is a excerpt of a set of notes that I have compiled that is the basis for a science fiction story that I am writing. I have spent a fair amount of time trying to come up with a close/hard/sci-...
- 57
7
votes
6
answers
4k
views
No stomach, how do I eat?
Imagine a creature that through congenital diseases and mutations starts slowly losing its digestive system as it becomes less and less efficient and smaller until it is vestigial and eventually ...
3
votes
1
answer
137
views
Gene-smiths creating super warriors. They need a secondary digestive system with a new super food
Got a faction that's making super warriors.
The gene-smiths of my story managed to biologically engineer a far better human body. That's easy. This includes a far more developed digestive system, ...
- 65k