#BIOLOGY IS SO FUN TOO!!!

[chickenchirps27]

hello denizens of tumblr i come with humble offerings

they wish to romance you

[extrajigs]

lil diagram for a pentapod lung! this is the basic settup for all terrestrial pentapods, Whorls included! More detailed info below!

First off, the lung is located right against the shell atop the back and is about the same length as the bone girdle that supports the other organs and leg anchors. The lungs basic structure has two bone pieces at either end, a 'nozzle' which holds open the airway, and the 'butt' which just helps maintain structure. The main support comes from four rings of cartilage, which prevent the lung from fully sucking closed on exhale! This is because the lung is open and closed by way of tendon! Four main tendons are anchored to the girdle and bottom wall of lung, the muscles associated with these tendon contract to pull open the lung and draw in air. Running through the lung itself are smaller tendons also connected to that bottom wall. These anchor to the shell and pull upwards to push air out of the lungs. While both sets are able to fight against the other, the lower tendons have a lot more tension and so the 'default' position of the lung is open.

But for Whorls, breathing is a pretty much involuntary process, think how you can choose to hold your breath but most times don't even think about needing to manually breathe. Aside from right now! At least they don't have to worry about manual blinking, could you imagine?

All in all though, this is just the basic layout and I'm thinking secondarily aquatic pentapods may even be able to fully collapse the lung. And that many pentapod species (not whorl) make noises by contracting different portions of the lung and making weird honks and barks. Much to think about!

[b1asho]

Sundyne fullbody

2nd to last, the big nasty bug lizards!! (Aka sundyne, if you dont want to get kicked across the room)

Here's the evil exposition dump:

Sundyne are under the Cerest label umbrella with Dorest and Rox, but are genetically distinct enough that they aren’t really the same thing.

It’s a commonly held theory among other species that they’re some kind of artificially created Cerest offshoot that went wrong and overtook their creators, but that’s crazy talk and bringing that up around a trad Sundyne is a great way to get snapped at.

They share some things with their Drecu cousins and I would suggest reading their stuff to get the general vibe, but the gist is that Sundyne also have serviceable but poor temperature regulation, their eyes aren’t spherical and are housed in bony cones in their heads, they can see colors that we can’t, they lay eggs and have a similar life stage development cycle,they have extremely sensitive antennas, and they have a mix of endo and exoskeleton/shell.

Their differences are a lot more distinct (obviously) Sundyne are obligate carnivores, for one, and have a lot harder time processing plant matter than Drecu. Their lower mandibles and beak are very sharp and are used to both tear into and hold prey.

When their mouth is closed, these two are pressed together tightly by internal muscles. Along with their little bit of lip and their other mouthparts that fold closely along their face, it gives the impression of their jaw being more like ours (especially when I stylize it and remove all detail >: ) ).

Those internal grabbies are about as strong as a human thumb, and are used to make speaking noises by vibrating them together along with the apparatus in their throat. Those also help to hold/maneuver food without opening the mouth too much (which they see as a threat)

Another difference in their mouth is their tongue, which is housed in a hole along their lower jaw, and its length retracts down their throat.

They use it to strip meat from bone and lick yummy goop out of shell and bone holes.

Their huge eyes function much better at night, and they usually keep them lidded to avoid sensory overload or looking like theyre upset (again, their eyes aren't full spheres in there, and instead are more like weird cylinders that taper as they go back in the skull.)

Like Dorest, all 6 of their fingers on their main hands are separated, though now they are all much larger and longer (at least on this top pair of arms).

Only the claws on their larger top arms are retractable, operating by sliding in and out of a pocket of endoskeleton in their end knuckle.

The smaller bottom arms have a thumb claw like Rox, and none of the shorter and duller on the other fingers are retractable.

Also like Rox, they have a special claw on their foot for kicking stuff, though theirs is much more pronounced and mobile (their other toes are relatively short and also have retractable claws.)

Male Sundyne also have a third pair of 'limbs' that are actually gonopods that fold on their back that they use to carry eggs, another indicator that their genus as a whole may have once had 8 limbs that have since fused or retracted.

Speaking of male, sundyne are not hermaphroditic, with *adults* being distinctly male or female. It's impossible to tell until the first molt after pupation, though.

Sundyne dimorphism is based on this sex difference and it decides their service role in their familial/ societal clans (rather than with Drecu, whose role in the colony decides their sexual role)

Their family units tend to be single dominant reproductive male and female pair, their children, and nonreproductive members.

Traditionally, that dominant pair is decided by whichever is the strongest female and whichever male catches her attention, but modernly and in higher classes there is a lot more linking of clans and inter/extra political and legislative to consider.

The dominant male and female are monogamously bonded, but often switch their single partners a lot for politics etc (though long-held bonds are seen as better) nonreproductive members can have multiple partners and do, but the privilege of eggs is only for that special pair bond.

The closest thing from earth i can say is they're structured a bit like a lion pride or meerkats, though females are the ones who defend the territory while males hunt and rear children once the eggs have been laid/hatched (which is where Rox and Dorest got their child raising roles from)

In any clan, females outnumber males because at a certain age most males are meant to leave and go join another clan. Because of this, the nonreproductive females often assist with resource gathering/some ither male roles (though they're given their own pronoun for this since males are their own special thing)

Males are smaller in height and sleeker, and have more markings on their face/ body (while they look very flashy to us, it helps break up their shape to their colorblind prey).

They also retain one more set of limbs than females: gonopods like Drecu on their back that also help hold their females eggs in place (once the female is ready to lay them, they give them to the male with an ovipositor) .

Females are much larger and more muscular, with fewer markings but often more impressuve crowns of horns. They also don’t have the same external genitalia structure.

The horn things on a female will drop and regrow more based on hormone signals from their social status and/or their environment. On a male, they will not (but they do keep growing constantly)

I keep saying "things" on their head because they're structured sort of like horns but not quite.

Theyre more or less hollow/spongy bone on the inside with a thin sheath covering , more or less permanent, and sort of vascularized and growing for the whole year. BUT they can branch, don’t have a single living core, and they can drop and regrow if damaged enough by the root (kind of just a spongy thing growing out of a bone shoot idk).

Horn damage on a male is seen as extremely unattractive and disgraceful (the long continually grown unbranched ones are the beauty standard since it exemplifies how precious they are)

Females use them a lot more for combat, territoriality, and social status (whereas males use them for defense and social status) so they get cracked more often. If this happens, theyll regrow with some deformation around the sheath. If they get access to a better food source, they’ll also drop and then regrow better and stronger (but smooth and with no tines). For the few reproductive females, they will shed and regrow bigger/stronger horn things with more branches yearly the longer they’re the dominant female as a status symbol. Any horn branches are looked at very favorably on females, but the crooked/unnatural spurs and bumps caused by damage is looked at as a low status symbol since the only reason they’d still have it is if they aren’t dominant enough to get the signals to drop and regrow them the right way.

As for their life cycle, its a lot like Drecu. Egg, little gloopy grub thing, bigger goopy grub thing, prepupa, chrysalis, juvenile adult stage.

However, during pupation adults can’t ‘choose’ the final form of their offspring like Dorest and Rox can. Males are considerably more favored because they leave their home clan to build ties and status in other clans, ultimately expanding the influence of the family and more freely rising in the ranks (they leave, marry in with a female of equal or greater status, and can move up by taking out other males there. a female doesn’t typically leave their birth clan, and could never become the dominant female of their own clan because incest and patricide taboo, and the only way they’d be able to in another clan is if they enter as a nonreproductive and maybe get lucky enough that the dominant female falls out of favor so you can yake her place)

If they had the chance most clans would cull many of the females in their clutches, but since they can’t tell the difference until the age where their kids are legally considered people, it’s harder to do that.

Succession rites for females follow a matriline from the dominant female, but they have their own internal pecking order established through literal and social pecking. If you’re a better fighter or just smarter/more useful, you’ll have a higher status. But if you were born in that clan, you'll never be the dominant female unless the male gets taken out of the equation too, making an opening for a new leader.

Males get their initial status from their pair with a female upon entry to a new clan, but they can actually move up to the dominant position by killing or otherwise removing the previous male. After this, they can choose a new female.

Their biological roles of hunter/nurturer for male and protector/fighter for female translates to their modern sociopolitical roles pretty literally. Males hold power as lawmakers, media makers, educators, and leaders due to their more 'intellectual' domestic role and ability to bridge clans in alliances.

. Though they are physically superior, females become the males protection once they are paired. They hold power within a clan and often in the military or as lower government officials, but outside of the clan their reach is pretty much carrying out and enforcing the orders of their male.

Their dynamic is like a sword and its wielder, or a speaker and their voice, though it is also referenced in their own culture as a male/female pair being “the sun and its moon.” They also take great pride in this binary, seeing it as something that sets them apart/ male and female completing each other to form the perfect whole.

Straying from this is a one way ticket to being either kicked out of the clan, jailed, or killed depending on where you are and who you’re dealing with.

They will enforce it onto any other species they meet (which is part of why Dorest and Rox are rigidly separated by a gender role along with their biological role in the colony, even though they are both sexes)

Sundyne clans are at the tippy top of Cerest society’s order (wirh Seru being the tippy top of the Sundyne exclusive caste, represented by a circle). They oversee their Drecu colonies and use their resources and manpower to expand their territory. This hierarchy is deeply entrenched, with any Drecu within a trad Sundyne structure believing that the Seru are immaculate and powerful beings.

Another conspiracy theory is that back in the early days of Sundyne development they probably preyed on Drecu and infiltrated their colonies through pheromone manipulation, overtaking that territory for their clan. The pheromone thing allows them to influence the general emotions of Cerest around them and give loose instructions, and to stop the instinctive swarm swarm swarm kill kill kill responses Drecu get when they see them (To Drecu, Sundyne look like creepy elongated nightmare versions of themselves, and though this response has largely been bred out most Dorest and Rox still feel an uncanny effect from looking at them. ) again, that's crazy talk though and never happened.

One more to go, and its the funny parasite worm ones

[harbingersecho]

grif's surgery but just a little more... obvious?

I actually rly rly ADORE frankengrif but I don't have an in-show reason why he'd have extensive long-term allogeneic skingrafts on his face 😔

[beeb-oob]

i like to imagine that when i'm not using oc's as much i'm sending on a lil vacation so they can forget the horrors i chase them through

[garfieldcultist]

if i had a nickel for every person that fell into the underground id have eight nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it happened eight times right?

[kilalulu-elsie]

My UNprofessional opinion on The Last Ronin: Lost Years' new turtle team's species

because no one else is doing it WHERE ARE THE EXPERTS???

Warning: I didn't read the comics, all I know about the little 1's comes from au's, fanon contents, the snippets of comic pages I collected across the internet, and analysis videos (I can't read The Last Ronin comics, my heart can't take it), so don't take me too seriously, these are just guesses. Also, I don't know much about turtles, I just read a book one afternoon to find out more about the Rise turtles' species and take a look around the other turtles out of curiosity. And I read somewhere that they might not be just one species but a special combination of turtles to make the perfect soldiers? But I don't know, I still wanna do this so here we go (forgive my bad english):

So for starters, the first time I saw Uno I was automatically like "oh they used a Diamondback Terrapin hell yeah" and I'm pretty confident about my first guess because look at this:

just look at it:

I don't think I need to explain myself here. Sure he doesn't have the diamond shape in his shell and his shellshape doesn't exactly match but I believe those are more of artistic choices rather than eliminating factors. Also I've never seen any other turtle species that has this color scheme (and again, I didn't see many) and I've seen so many Diamondback Terrapin designs for Venus and it's awesome, so

My first guess is Uno is a Diamondback Terrapin.

For my second guess, Moja, I have a lot of leads because her colors are more of brown tones rather than green and well, most turtles are green. So I looked up brown, light spotted turtles and I found a species called Eastern Box Turtle. Maybe not exactly spot on but I think its pretty close:

Ornate Box Turtles have various spots on their bodies so that would kinda match with her spotty skin and face markings.

But the shell is bugging me. Because Box Turtles have a very bumpy and round shaped carapace but Moja's shell is flatter and has an interesting shape that I think should be considered.

But I don't know so I'll leave it at that.

My second guess is Moja is an Ornate Box Turtle.

Now,

for Odyn,

I have no clue.

I don't wanna say Snapping Turtle because Rise Raph is already a Snapping Turtle and Odyn's shell is not spikey anyway. But I couldn't find any turtles that has spiky skin and smooth carapace so I went with vibes. And I found the Loggerhead Musk Turtle. Just look at how silly it looks:

I think their sillines match and that's all I need.

My third guess is Odyn is a Loggerhead Musk Turtle.

Lastly, for lovely little Yi, I have a pretty good guess. Now if we look at her the most obvious clue that we have is her yellow markings across all of her body. They're not like Moja's spotty and round shaped markings tho, they're more stilty and linelike. Also her plastron is yellow enough to get my attention. And she's small. My guess doesn't really support that but at least they're smaller than my other guess, Florida Redbelly's. So, I propose: Yellowbelly Slider Turtle.

I'd say that's pretty close.

My fourth guess is Yi is a Yellowbelly Slider Turtle.

Maybe I should've considered their name's origins like Uno is Italian for one, Odyn is Ukranian or Russian for one, Moja is Swahili for one and Yi is Chinese for one, but I'm lazy.

Now please science side of Tumblr, turtle nerds, certain autistic fellas, TMNT fans, and all who's interested, correct me and my mistakes so that I can know their species I need to know I tell you I need to know.

[foolishfoolsgold]

Ok this was just gonna be a cell type showcase but I think I’m keeping these guys as OCs lol. Not too sure how I feel abt the outfit, I tried to go with “liver colors” and got this. Might design some more in the future

I’m calling them JT-4845 (she/her for each head, they/them for the whole cell). The left one is a waitress and the right one is a freelance DJ for parties, so they’re always running around from place to place to go do stuff, showing up to gigs in the restaurant uniform, and just being annoying to each other. For example:

Left: “and would you like to try today’s special?”

Right: *pretending to mind control the customer* “oOOOOOoooOOO, you want to try the speciaaaaalllll!”

[Start ID: Colored and shaded digital drawing of a two-headed cell (hepatocyte) on a grey background. They have a brown membrane and bright salmon patterns. Each head has dark hair/flagella with blonde highlights, but the left head’s is straight and parted to the side, were the right head’s is in messy dreadlocks. Both heads have brown eyes, and the left one has earrings, eyebrow piercings and straight stripes, where the right one has no piercings, headphones around her neck, and more splotchy patterns. Their shared body is wearing a dark read suit with a floppy bow tie. The right hand is making a “rock on!” Gesture, and the left is holding a notepad. They have a single red tail with dorsal lobes along its length. Notes talk about how hepatocytes have a close relationship with immune cells, and how they can have either one or two nuclei/heads. Binucleated cells are psychologically and legally two different people, and also that the tail can secrete detoxifying chemicals. End ID.]

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

When you have to take off your socks to change into clean socks and your bare feet touch the floor for exactly fifteen seconds and the dry, smooth sensation makes you want to chop your toes off

[mysicklove]

I LOVE BIOLOGY!!!!!

[creepyscritches]

At least twice a week since July I've had people thanking me for my neuroendocrine cancer education and telling me how often they use the resources I built them :') idk imposter syndrome is ever present and in healthcare you can even have thoughts of "Man, am I spending too much time educating/researching on poorly understood cancers?"

I'm still struggling to decide on format, but I'm currently compiling my research and resources to make a self-guided cancer education resource for my team. I really enjoy my job rn but I think focused cancer education would be nice to springboard into later in life once I finish learning about the inner guts of the ACA. I'm finally healthy enough to consider higher education, but the catch is my employer insurance is the only reason I can get my medical care...and leaving for school to be able to focus more officially on cancer education means I'd lose that medical care security :(

[lets-try-some-writing]

The Grim Dark Archives: Statement #002 Symbiote

[Statement taken from [Redacted] on the 5th of September 2004, one year and a month after the Autobots have made their presence known and begun corresponding with human personnel. So far there have been no issues with [Redacted]'s presence in [Redacted: Classified information] aside from their occasional bouts of paranoia.

[Redacted] has proven useful in compiling information and cataloging data for government agents when not having their statements taken. There has been little for us to ask them as we have been processing their prior statement and doing our best to apply what useable information came with it. However the Autobots recently requested access to high caliber machinery and vehicles. They claim it is so that they can scan the vehicles in question and take on their form as they have already shown possible with their acquisition of alternate modes in the form of civilian transports.

This request caused some concern amongst high command, and so to gain greater insight before we offer a response, [Redacted] was asked to explain in greater detail the process by which Cybertronians take on their vehicular modes and what it entails. As usual, their statement is concerning but fascinating.

Statement begins.]

══════════════════'

Ah yes, our ability to adapt yet again rears its helm, or I suppose head would be the proper term for you organics... Whatever the case, it is a fascinating subject. Compared to the mental adaptation we Cybertronians undergo when associating with a new race, our physical adaptations are less... prominent. Well, at least to you organics.

We didn't always have T-cogs you know. In the very beginning, when the first of us were forged... we had no such ability. Only one of the original Thirteen possessed the ability to transform, and it was from his great gift we have the ability now. But of course, with all gifts from gods, there is a price attached to it.

Nothing is ever without consequence.

Are you confused yet? I suppose you would be. You don't even know who the Thirteen are do you? That is a story for another time. For now all you need to know is that the Thirteen are the minor deities that serve our creator, and each of them had gifts and powers, some of which have been granted to us. Enough of that though, I should get back on topic.

The T-cog is one of our most vital organs when it comes to surviving on other worlds. However it is not a natural part of our biology, at least not when we are first forged. The T-cog is a symbiote that we infuse into our beings. With that said, it is not an easy symbiote to obtain for all sorts of reasons. Aside from the plethora of medical complications that come from attempting to swap T-cogs or infuse a mech with a symbiote from one of the dead, T-cog symbiotes only come from the Well with the newly forged. A grown mech cannot go down to the Well in search of a new symbiote and hope to survive. The symbiotes down there would simply avoid or devour the mech in question, sucking them dry of power and serving no purpose without the vital co-dependent growth that our young and the symbiote undergo together.

Yes, yes I will explain the specifics of what the T-cog does in a moment. Do not rush me. The history is just as vital as the function.

Now, as I was saying, the symbiote attaches itself to a developing protoform long before the spark of it is fully connected. The symbiote leeches off the energy being used to grow the protoform and so to survive and continue feeding, it adapts. The immune systems of our young can sense an invader once the spark fully settles, so to avoid being destroyed, the symbiote changes to match our biology as much as it can. It reads our innate preference for adaptation and it shifts. It looks into the code of our newsparks and deep in the dark of our maker's frame it merges with the body of its host.

That concept must be terrifying to you humans, right? Such a leech would kill you, but for us? No, for us the T-cog is a blessing that comes with a few... downsides.

The T-cog constantly feeds off us in a steady drain. Thus to remain stable we consume energon more frequently as we age until our systems settle and the symbiote fully merges with our biology and receives energon as much as the rest of our frames. It can be rather painful during those early vorns as the symbiote settles and energon is siphoned from other organs. We always take great care to watch over our young during that time. While it is undesirable and quite possibly a death sentence, an overactive T-cog can and often is removed during this stage. If the mech is lucky, they may be able to acquire another due to their youth, but as a general rule, mecha who fail to bond to their T-cog are bipedal for life.

That whole bonding process takes up to ten vorns, roughly two to three hundred years for you little things. Once complete, the T-cog finally brings some benefits. The symbiote has no intelligence, but it has enough of a mind to be able to force our innate ability to adapt into overdrive. It merges with our already present minor transformation capabilities to grant us the ability to take on the vehicular mode of machines. Of course what we can transform into depends on the symbiote, how fully it integrated, and how large the mech in question is.

There is a great deal of biological lingo involved that I neither know or care for, so to put it simply, the T-cog attaches to our sensory and processing systems. It gains a certain degree of control and we gain the ability to take on the forms of other vehicles through mass displacement and simple reformatting. By the time the symbiote settles there aren't usually any issues, but if damaged it can begin acting strangely. There have been cases where removed T-cogs have been returned to their hosts only to then fail to allow the mech to replicate an alternate mode properly. Those situations... are often rather disgusting to see, even for our kind.

The forms those poor mecha bear due to the damage sustained to their symbiotes... it is safe to say they often forgo transformation unless required, hoping and praying that it fixes itself.

To conclude this statement, I would guess that the Autobots are asking for higher caliber vehicles simply so that they need not waste energy obtaining more alternate modes. It consumes a great deal of energy and the symbiotes are more likely to... cause great bodily distress if pushed too far with too many new alternate modes. I personally wouldn't worry too much about it. Alternate modes are merely our way of blending in, at least on a backwater world like yours. If your technology was more worthy of note, I would say hide your vehicles, but as it is, my kin are more dangerous in their root modes than in their alt.

══════════════════'

[Statement ends.

It was rather concerning how calm [Redacted] was when giving their statement compared to their prior experience. It seems that [Redacted] is most comfortable discussing topics of old history and biology and panics when asked to answer questions relating to more recent history or events.

This information is useful, but it does raise a few concerning questions.

How often have these aliens altered their forms and biology? What even are they at their core? Its obvious by interacting with [Redacted] that not all Cybertronians are as [Redacted] claims, but that makes me wonder... Do these aliens even know what they are? Or has it all been lost with time, war, and constant adaptation?

Whatever the case, it is currently irrelevant. [Redacted] will reveal more with time, and eventually I am sure these questions will answer themselves.

Agent Witwicky signing off.

Recording ends.]

[buggbuzz]

lemonade leak just updated so we are celebrating with another bit of art!!! i was gonna wait to post til my account got unshadowbanned but screw it here we go

(fanart of the lemonade leak by @turtleinsoup!!!)

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

GMMM!!! now that u are a little bit into worm & have had the first instance of the word being used & such, im curious as to what u think the title means! why do u think it's called worm so far? :333

I DONT ACTUALLY KNOW. BUT THAT IS SOMETHING IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT !!!!!!! i always think the "OUAHGH THEY SAID THE TITLE IN THE THING" type jokes are really funny so i locked onto the word right away LMAO. catch me keeping track of every use of the word worm in this million word long story . its a good word !!!!!!

ANYWAY. my first thought now is obv like... something to do with taylors powers??? but im not sure if she can actually control. worms. not to get too biology brained about it but the vague knowledge i have so far is that she can control BUGS but that is not specifically limited to *insects* . because she can also control spiders which are arachnids (though they are also usually lumped into "bugs" which is not a real classification it just kind of refers to things that people find creepy crawly) HOWEVER . the thing that arachnids and insects have in common are being *arthropods* which is like. the overall classification of Things With An Exoskeleton. WORMS are not arthropods they are . well it depends actually. worm is kind of like bug in the fact that its a general word for things that are kind of similar and not the name of a specific group. bc youve got earthworms which are annelids and . like. mealworms which ARE insects but still called worms. so maybe she can control worms also!!!! i really like this sort of . playing with the meaning of the word i guess. some people colloquially will call worms bugs as well even though theyre not. so it becomes a rhing like. are her powers based in LOGIC or science or whatever or are they based in. perception. i guess. because taylor is Bug there can also be Worms. does this make any sort of sense. this might be absolutely nothing bro is burning the food bro is not cooking the kitchen is empty 🔥🔥🔥

it could also be like... worm as a word not meaning the animal. like a cartoonishly evil guy referring to his minions as worms. or like the context in that sentence i posted like. worming your way in somewhere. which now that i think about it makes a lot of sense considering taylors whole plan to join a villain group undercover. wait. i may have just . rendered my whole biology paragraph useless. sad! well there are other insane things i could talk about i guess

all this to say i think shes gonna do something super fucked up with worms in the bug way. i hope <3

THIS IS A FUN QUESTION THOUGH because i know the other story is called ward. and i already have somewhat of an idea of what THAT means bc of armsmaster. so i can assume at least a little bit of what that story is about. but its cool that i dont have that same context for the one im CURRENTLY READING

[caninecordyceps]

A few doodles of birds from the universe im making, and the different groups of them

[treecakes]

lol i shouldn’t have rbed that neanderthal post bc now whenever it shows up in my notes i get teary eyed. so many of the capstone projects this past year in my program were on neanderthals so i’ve been seeing so much abt them but they were humans just like us. they made art and cared for their sick and elderly and made good food and made clothing like us. we have no records of their languages but they are so genetically and physiologically close to us that it would make little to no sense if they didn’t have languages like us. and clearly we cared about them enough and found them similar enough to us for their dna to be carried on in us today.