Speculative Biology - Blog Posts

Have I strained my wrist? yes. Should I be resting and yet haven't for a week? Also yes. However - Storm Hawks. It was cool, I missed it, and I wanted to make fun things with the under-explored concept of Merbs and Terra Merbia.

Holy fuck a full break down hell yeah!

Love a good quirk breakdown and Tail Splitter is such an interesting one.

hello everyone. sometimes i make this mistake called "thinking too hard about bnha" and then setsunas quirk torments me for two months and next thing you know im knee deep in scientific papers about tunicates. many such cases. horikoshi really made me have to work to integrate the lizard portion in, because her regeneration is nothing like lizard tail regeneration at all, actually

please forgive me if my science is off, im a paralegal looking to go into art history, everything i know is just from my bio 102 class and my love of reading scientific journals i barely understand 🙏😭

A Closer Look: Vertebrates

The Vertebrata clade can be split into 3 main groups: neomammalia (new mammals) and brachipteryxus (wing-armed) - the tetrapods; as well as polypodus (many-footed) - their distant six-legged cousins.

Examples of chordates: Dolichocerca leo, the ocelot (neomammalia); Lepidoscelus igneamantis, the strider (brachipteryxus); and Neopolypodus flavitta, the bee (polypodus).

Neomammalia and brachipteryxus are both notable survivors of Primordial Death, the mass-extinction event that eliminated the majority of life in the realms prior to the players’ entry. Neomammalia in particular had many surviving members, and has since continued to diversify.

A chicken (Myriapinna polynativas) and a sheep (Lanatumorphus myriachroma), both survivors of Primordial Death.

Polypodus is considered a lazarus taxon - a group of organisms that was considered extinct, but reappeared later. Bees were discovered first - long after the players’ emergence - and defined the previously unknown polypodus taxon. It was believed they were the only extant polypod, until ancient sniffer eggs were discovered - and miraculously hatched.

A snifflet (juvenile Anchipolypodus aeternovis).

Return to full tree.

Neomammalia.

Brachipteryxus.

Polypodus.

tired: mermaids are all women

wired: much like elves, merfolk are mistaken by sailors for being all women because they have long hair and are very pretty

WOO I MADE ANOTHA HYBRID!! (takin suggestions for more!) >:D Axorg (axe-org) (axolotl + multiple frog species lolol)

The axorg is a very talented species, equipped with both lungs and gills. their eyelids have see-through-like abilities and whiskers to navigate the muddy waters that they thrive in. most species of the axorg come with a strange fin that they can lift up. researchers think that this may be either a way to impress others, for speed, or to communicate. there have been only 2 species recorded at this time that do not have said fin. a rare mutation can occur at times where the axorg is seen with more than one fin, but this doesn't seem to affect the creature in any way though.

they are most commonly found in swamps and marshes where they eat small fish and bugs as they can leap out of the water by using their tail to carry them into the air. most tend to dwell in the water for their lives, but those who also wander on land seem to develop protective-like lizard scales. we are still unsure of how they do this as sometimes the same species will have skin that is practically entirely different.

the axorg tend to hang out in groups of the same sex and have a tendency to wander and vary from each group. it is seen that if theres not enough members of the opposite sex, they will turn hostile and fight.

me resisting the urge to draw and make speculative worlds with literally any animal i see

iwuhidu7ngwhbnioodgakulvjhdsnm,vkwuyiavbkhj I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS BUT LIKE ATLEAST 30 MINUTES OF ENERGY

Rivulet fandesign quirk I just kinda find funny

its the nature of spec bio worldbuilding for this thing to eventually show up

“Captain's log, stardate 41153.7. What the fuck is that.”

space leviathan sketch ::3

I've been thinking a lot about Euclydian biology lately, specifically in regards to pigmentation thanks to this awesome ask I got on a side blog, and wanted to illustrate some of the ideas I had. Super quick lazy sketches but hey, maybe some of you will dig this! Nerdy stuff under the cut, will make a bit more sense if you read the aforementioned post

Euclydians have a genetic predisposition towards a "resting" color (in Bill's case, yellow). The opposite of this state (full "flexing" of chromatophore-controlling muscles) is also predispositioned, which is what's seen in the threat display. This rapidly stimulates the individual's metabolism and gets their blood really pumping in preparation for conflict, but is also somewhat costly in terms of energy, so is typically only flashed rather than maintained as Bill does it

"Teeth-peeking" is the cute zoology term I came up with for when a Euclydian displays a couple teeth overtop their eye without fully switching into mouth-function, usually as a threat but sometimes a sort of stim when they're hungry

Communicative flashing ("Chromatic") has a few languages. The most primitive is Simplified Emotive which is a quick display of mood, while the most modern is Traditional Chromatic, wherein patterns of color serve as words. Words in Traditional Chromatic are not ciphers like they are in TBoB and there aren't always direct translations into English

There are a couple accepted ways for a naturally colorful Euclydian to signal an emotion or "syllable" that matches their color, typically either by a subtler change in value along the edges or by changing everything BUT the edges

It's probably worth noting that Chromatic of any variant is considered a secondary, uncommon language in modern Euclydian society. It's simply more efficient and easier for most to speak, though I think Simplified Emotive probably stems from the natural threat display and so it's more intuitive. It's not unheard of for someone's edges to flash "angry/surprised" (◼) for a second if you bump into them on the sidewalk

A memetic blush is a learned behaviour in which individuals appear to fluster by a reddish shift in color along the face, edges and vertices. This might just be something Bill (or hypothetically other Euclydians who come into contact with humans) does I'm not sure yet but it's cute so

Given the body needs to conserve more energy when fighting illness, it's not uncommon for chromatophore muscles to weaken or spasm in order to lessen metabolic strain, giving the individual a patchy look that often reveals the naturally white skin below the chromatophore layer

When rigor mortis occurs in a dead Euclydian, all the minute muscles in control of chromatophore dilation contract all at once, rendering the entire body white. Because of this, white is considered a bit of a grim color in Euclydian culture; you know emos are wearing all-white instead of all-black

Conversely, a perfect, non-tinted grey is a regal shade because it's seen as a sign of fitness and strength. Maintaining a neutral grey requires very precise control over one's chromatophores to get the balance right and hold it there

Euclydians are capable of training the muscles that control their chromatophores like any other, and as a result can change their resting color with enough discipline! They can also use this technique to give themselves markings. Haven't decided the cultural implications of this entirely, but I think the idea of someone training themselves to match their threat display so nobody can tell when they're angry, for example, is a cool idea. Possibilities!

My Brain, for no goddamn reason: You know what would be funny? Me, up too early to drop my car off for maintainence: what? Brain: What if Wookiees and Kaminoans shared a recent common ancestor? Me: ... Me: *rapid mental theoretical xenobiology montage* Me: LOL. LMAO.

Credit to Jurassic Park as a fictional work, they at least added the DNA from an unrelated species to the existing DNA, regardless of how unrelated it was.

I mean, it's stupid to use frog DNA but at least they STARTED with the original creature.

I've thought since the late 2010s, start with what you have, see how it can be combined to create the most complete sample and extrapolate the rest to try and create a decent approximation of enough genetic data to grow the sex cells.

People who have a better grasp of biology could certainly improve on this rough idea, I don't know how to create the conditions to grow the egg and I'm not convinced doing so in a live surrogate as with cloning is entirely possible for a long-extinct mammal.

To anyone who follows me, I don't care about nor trust Colossal Biosciences anymore (The people behind the "Wooly Mice"). They have proven themselves to be headline-chasing grifters after this latest stunt. They are claiming to have de-extincted *Aenocyon dirus*, aka the Dire Wolf, by editing just 20 genes from the the DNA of a Grey Wolf (*Canis lupus*) to make this thing:

If it wasn't clear from their scientific names, Grey Wolves and Dire Wolves aren't remotely related to one another aside from being Canids, despite what pop culture like Game of Thrones would have you believe. If they did look like each other, it would have had to be via convergent evolution, as they only shared a common ancestor over 5 million years ago.

This distinction, however, isn't found in the publicized articles about this so-called resurrected Dire Wolf and makes their claim that they brought the Dire Wolf back by simply editing *20* genes from the genome of a Grey Wolf laughable. A Dire Wolf would have shared more in common genetically with a Maned Wolf (*Chrysocyon brachyurus*) or Bush Dog (*Speothos venaticus*) than it would with a Grey Wolf.

Bottom line, don't fall for whatever this company is trying to tell you. If the Dire Wolf were to be brought back, it wouldn't be via something like this, and certainly wouldn't *look* like this. If you want an idea as to how a real Dire Wolf would look like in life, here is some fantastic paleoart by artist Mauricio Antón:

Addendum: I seem to have partially miscalculated Dire Wolf genetics. They were not closer to Maned Wolves or Bush Dogs, but they were still not closely related to Grey Wolves. They were basal members of Canini, related to canids like Jackals (genus Lupulella) but distinct from them. I am sorry for this misinformation in my attempt to correct other misinformation. My main point, however, is still correct.