Questions tagged [fauna]
For questions about animal life in general.
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What animals in North America are rideable?
I thought of this question when I heard Einstein's statement on WW3, and I wondered if humanity was setback, would North Americans have any mounts that would rival those of the rest of the world? (...
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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,...
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How bad would near constant dreary/gloomy/stormy weather on our or an Earthlike world be for us and the environment? [closed]
So I have this idea to have the world(or maybe just a country/continent) be covered in gloomy and stormy weather with maybe only moments of sunny weather here and there in lieu of having it be post ...
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Climate and ecosystems of Zealandia [closed]
As per the title, I have not been able to locate accurate information regarding what the climate of a surfaced Zealandia have. For the purpose of the question, we will suppose that the continent ...
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What happens when an unidentified organism is discovered on Earth? [closed]
The scenario: An unidentified organism (Let's call it T) that originated from Earth is first discovered while some dudes were researching the geological formation of (insert location). It is ...
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Humans are Gone: Do the Chickens Make It?
Some hundreds of years ago, all humanity was removed from the Americas. In fact, most humans are gone from the world altogether. In the intervening time, nature has overrun the formerly human ...
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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 ...
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Is rotary motion on an organic being possible? [duplicate]
One huge advantage that machines have over animals is that they can efficiently perform continuous rotary motion, which allows for things like wheels, drills and so on.
In fact, rotary motion is so ...
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Plausible evolutionary path from modern birds to "dragons"
I'm interested in how you could get a creature that is broadly "dragon-like" to evolve from modern-day birds. Considering that some extinct early birds or proto-birds looked pretty reptilian,...
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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 ...
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Could a species that is intelligent, but non-sentient, be able to create advanced technology? what would the ideal type of civilization be?
I took a single psych class in HS that I just barely passed, so the difference between intelligence and sentience is a little hazy to me. As best as I can understand it, intelligence is the means to ...
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Practicallity Check of Floating Fish Enclosure
Introduction
I would like to start off by saying these are normal fish. The fish are just fish. The fish are not genetically engineered with the exception of say a GloTetra. The fish can be fresh or ...
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Why would someone ever want a horse as their animal companion? [closed]
This is something I've been brainstorming for months now. While Horses would obviously have their uses as cheap labor and other non-combat roles, in a world where it's not uncommon to domesticate and ...
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What fauna can survive a permanently dark sky?
A few days ago I asked this question. In it asked about flora that could survive under a permanently dark sky.
In this regard this regard this question is quite similar. Though now the question is ...
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Feasibility of cold-blooded Livestock
The research I have done recently (searching through Wikipedia) has yielded that generally cold-blooded animals (Ectotherms) are able to survive on less food that their warm-blooded counterparts, and ...
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Life on a planet with never-ending rain
I'm intrigued by the notion of life on a planet where rain is a constant presence. Imagine a world where precipitation never ceases, where the skies are perpetually gray, and the sound of raindrops ...
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Would a futuristic civilization still use animals for ground transportation?
I'm building a fantasy/scifi world, that is set in the distant future,probably in the 10,000's with extremely advanced, basically reality warping technology that allows for things like FTL travel and ...
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How would an extremely long winter affect an area?
In my world, a specific area of land has been cursed into an eternal winter. The story takes place in a kingdom that is surrounded by deciduous forests similar to ones in north america, and the ...
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Does prey necessarily have to be bigger than predator when it comes to larger animals?
I am trying to create various fictional animals and monsters to inhabit my world. Many of the animals I am creating are huge, and some are even bigger than elephants. Some of these include the ...
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How to make animal husbandry the only agriculture possible
This world is inhabited by carnivorous humans, how they came to be remains a mystery. The geography is typical of a post-glacial world (fjords, lots of lakes, valley steppes, all that good stuff) and ...
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Designing the best Meat livestock [closed]
I have been wondering what would be the best animal to produce meat, excluding insects and artificial meat.
The following questions are meant to provide ideas:
Would it be better for it to be an ...
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Alternative methods of blood circulation?
So, I've got a parasite, which adapts and grows to keep its (human) host alive. One of the hosts in question has lost their heart, and since the parasite itself, taking the form of vine-like ...
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What kind of shell would protect against a a stabbing/piercing weapon on a predator's tail?
I'm making a fictional planet with a realistic ecosystem and I'm making a herbivore that is a shelled herd animal and is a main prey target for a carnivore which uses a barbed tail as a weapon. Its ...
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How can psychic truffles keep humans from eating them?
Psychic truffles are a variety of truffles which have psychic powers to alter the feelings of animals in order to get them to eat them. This allows them to spread their spores through the animals ...
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What sort of mount would a naga use and how? [closed]
Is there any sort of animal (living or extinct) that would be a practical mount for a naga? And how would they be able to ride it? Or is this not a workable idea at all and should I throw out the idea ...
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Which environment would favor sequential sexes as default? [closed]
A couple of years ago, I posted my idea of diachronic hermaphrodites as an answer. In brief, an alien or fantasy species of sentient humanoids goes through up to five phases in life: presexual kids, ...
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What are the factors/conditions that develop blindness in organisms?
I plan that the creatures of my world are usually blind, so they possess sensory organs (barbels) in several variants.
The planet where they are found is cloudy and the peat swamps they inhabit are ...
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Does a deep sea electric ray creature sound plausible?
I was making a species for a school project and would like to know if my idea is plausible. It is kind of barebones though.
I was thinking of a deep sea electric ray that uses its tail as a sort of ...
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How could an ecosystem remain stable for millions of years?
I am trying to create an isolated microcontinent where Cretaceous era dinosaurs/and maybe flora (specifically somewhere like Hell Creek) continues to survive with relatively little evolutionary ...
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Could Elk or Reindeer be ridden by human or humanoids?
One of the countries in my world, Izisbesi, is located in the far south and is home to Reindeer and Elk. I was thinking it would be really neat if the locals there traditionally rode those kinds of ...
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What is the size of the largest possible flying animal? Realistically speaking?
I’d like to create fantasy creatures that can fly using their own realistic physiology without magic or any kind of supernatural power. Many references on the internet mention that popular dragons ...
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In a setting in which South American megafauna and current African animals coexist, which if any could be suitable for domestication?
In my book series, there is a large area of the Planet Aurea called Zebusylvania with a similar climate, flora, and (some) fauna to the Cerrado and Caatinga regions of Brazil in our world. ...
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How steep a road could a horse/horse-and-cart travel?
I'm in the early stages of designing a city, and would like some advice about to structure its roads realistically for transport.
The city is circular, with large roads entering the city at north/...
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Is there any plausible way that my fictional island could be inhabited by animals from African and Indonesian origins?
Okay, now this question is a bit random.
But, I'm planning for a possible book project about a 2019 expedition to an undiscovered island. The island is near the northern tip of the Ninetyeast Ridge ...
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How would sensible waste disposal be accomplished for terrestrial creatures in a primitive society? [closed]
Necessary context: Various real animals like birds, foxes and snakes plus fictitious ones like qilins/kirins, gryphons and gloomstalkers (raven-like birds with some minor serpent features) possessing ...
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Would intelligent humanoid carnivores start a civilization?
Let's say in an alternate world, Homo Sapiens died out but another Homo species evolved. Homo Carnivorous is very similar to Homo Sapiens with one big difference. Homo Carnivorous can only digest meat ...
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Which animals do nocturnal humans prefer as livestock? [closed]
Imagine humans as predominantly nocturnal, save the occasional day lark. They have eyes like strepsirrhine primates that grant improved low-light vision but inferior day-vision. For the purposes of ...
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Designing barrier to stop only non-hooved animals
We have barriers that stop hooved animals by taking advantage their hooves fitting into slats between metal bars/rods, meaning they refuse to pass the barricade because it limits their mobility. ...
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Living in natural satellite having an orbital period of 90 earth-minutes to a gas giant that covers all light. How would animal hunters thrive?
Imagine a earth-like planet where life is beginning to thrive at the bottom of the ocean. So far it is an elegant carbon-based lifeform, not different than the one that has burst in our earth.
But ...
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Birds flying or swimming in space
I had a dream. Imagine the Moon as a bird nest the size of a dwarf planet. Flocks of adult birds travel through space to Earth in order to hunt their prey. (imagine gannet birds swimming in space)
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Would crab-cavalry work? [closed]
Basically, giant crabs ridden by humans as cavalry, I just don't know if it's a good idea, and I could use some answers on how to make it work.
The setting is medieval fantasy.
The Giant Crabs won't ...
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Can I have a world without females?
In this world, most things that could be considered animals or animal-like reproduce in a genderless, sexless, or asexual manner, primarily through processes like apomixis or other means excluding ...
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How would life, that thrives on the magic of trees, survive in an area with limited trees?
In my fantasy world, there's 'magic' which is produced by trees; flowing from the roots up to the branches, which send out the magic into the atmosphere, allowing it to flow through all life. Humans ...
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How does a Blood Shaman gain his power?
Background
There exists a continent on the scale of Eurasia, which spreads from tropical regions to polar. It has the full range of biomes that we find on Earth. On this continent, there are many ...
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What could lead to an ability to “share instincts” to evolve? [closed]
So there’s a small animal species that live pretty simple lifestyles of eat, don’t be eaten, reproduce, and that’s it. They live in forest/jungle or swampy environments, eat a wide diet of insects or ...
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What features will make this creature OP? [closed]
I'm designing several alien worlds, I want each to be very unique. One idea I had (thanks to an online alien fauna generator) was a planet where one species has wiped out all other creatures. It ...
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Can this animal glide?
I'm designing an animal that's kind of like a draco lizard that has evolved to be semi-bipedal like a theropod but is still maintaining its ability to glide. On the real draco, the wings are elongated ...
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How effective would this spider's technique be in getting it food/shelter(for its young)/transportation/protection?
So I have this idea for this unique species of jumping spider.
Basically it is around a foot long/medium sized hat size and has pretty big fangs for its size. It jumps on to people's heads and uses ...
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How might this creature evolve?
The creature is an amphibious creature that lives in and near lakes. It is very large, being about 1.5m high at the thickest part of the body, and 7.5m long in total. Its neck is about 3.5m long and ...
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What kind of animals are my trolls?
Edit: I've written an answer of my own now, and I'd appreciate it if any of you informed on the subject of evolution could review it, then inform me of its plausibility, via the comments (Of the ...
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