#one of the only animals that can photosynthesize!!

[snailspng]

Sea slug PNGs

(source: seaslug.world)

[espionn]

LeafWing tribe sheet!

its over, i finally did them all. sorry this one took a while, ive been losing motivation, but at least its done!! honestly i love leafwings, so im glad i could get them out.

Physical Appearence + Traits:

-LeafWings are arboreal dragons, living in and relying on trees to hunt, shelter and sleep. Their talons are perfectly shaped to comfortably climb and hold onto branches, and their narrow wings allow them to swoop and weave through the trees without crashing.

-LeafWings’ colors, physical traits, and even demeanor shift and change with the seasons. During the summer, their frills and wings are rich green, and scales bright and glossy. They have higher energy and sleep less. During the fall, their colors shift to a warmer spectrum, their leafy frills start to flake off, and they start to prepare for winter. Once winter arrives, they lose their frills, tail-leaf and wing membranes, as well as turning duller and darker. They spend the majority of winter asleep, relying on the trees’ bare branches for camouflage, now rendered flightless. Finally, during spring, they wake up, their colors brighten, and their wing membranes return. The buds that grow along their backs open up and form their spine frills before summer begins.

-LeafWings are lithe and agile, and are very quiet fliers, especially when compared to HiveWings and SilkWings.

-During the summer, with their wings at their fullest, they can actually photosynthesize. They still need to eat food, but anytime they sleep during the day with their wings open to the sun, they wake up energized and not needing to eat for a while after. 

-The coloration and shape of LeafWings’ wings varies both by region and individual. Some LeafWings mimic specific types of trees.

-Some LeafWings also have Leafspeak, an ability which allows them to communicate with plants and even control them if powerful enough. 

Life Cycle:

-LeafWings hatch in clutches of one or two. They take around 5 months to hatch, and they are deeply reliant on their parents and their wider community. LeafWings are strongly protective of their dragonets. They also grow up somewhat quickly, reaching physical maturity quickly, but they continue to grow in size their entire lives.

-They partner for life, but often only raise one clutch of eggs (sometimes only a single egg) in their lifetime. The tribe is somewhat small as a result.

-LeafWings don’t have an official education system, instead relying on parents, peers and older, more experienced dragons to teach them what they need to know. LeafWings can then go on to pursue whatever tribe role stands out to them, using a sort of mentoring system.

Society and Culture:

-Before LeafWings were split into two groups, the tribe was quite peaceful and unified. The queen, by tradition, always had a council, and they lived nearby and alongside SilkWings. The tribe was known for being friendly and knowledgeable, and deeply dedicated to caring for the forest. 

-LeafWings are also very resourceful. From various leaves, grasses, bits of wood, flowers, and insects, they could create baskets and rugs, thin slats of wood to write on, dyes, storage objects, and various weapons and food preparing tools. Learning to make and control fire meant they could progress faster. They were also talented woodcarvers, weavers and artists, sometimes trading not only supplies, but also various art pieces to and from the SilkWings. 

-They were expert foragers, and had records of every type of tree, plant and animal in their forest. Many had  small gardens of their own - medicinal herbs, spices, and plants they simply found pretty. 

-Those with leafspeak were beloved and respected in the tribe, not dissimilar to animus dragons. Sometimes they would mould the shape of trees’ growth to create proper homes and nests for dragons to spend the nights, especially in winter.

-They have tribe-wide celebrations to mark spring, when they all wake from torpor, and the summer solstice, when they are at their highest energy and fullest lives. 

-The SapWings, after the tribe was forcibly split, remained very similar culturally, though they lost their ability to trade and had to concentrate on survival in the poison jungle. The PoisonWings, meanwhile, changed dramatically. They became distinctly aggressive and warlike, taking their understanding of plants and animals and weaponizing them. They used the many venoms, poisons and sharp, dangerous objects throughout the jungle to their full advantage. A number of dragons died in the process, but those who survived became stronger.

-LeafWings believe that plants hold some level of consciousness, and some believe that they are animated by fully conscious spirits, each with its own unique consciousness and opinions. Trees are unanimously believed to be extremely wise and benevolent, and as deserving utmost care and respect. They are treated as if they were tribe elders themselves. It was once agreed upon by all leafspeakers that if a tree resisted a request, they were not allowed to make any attempt to force it to do what they wanted. Leafspeakers would also be used to make requests before cutting off any part of the tree to use - if it refused, it would be left alone. (It isn’t hard to imagine the way they felt when the entire forest was cut and burned down by the HiveWings.)

Diet: Omnivorous. LeafWings eat meat (birds, rodents, sometimes large mammals and reptiles), sometimes raw, sometimes cooked, and also a wide variety of plants, fruits and nuts. Because of the versatility of their diet, they have a great number of meals they like to prepare, usually garnished with herbs, spices and sweeteners like honey and certain types of tree sap.

[genderfluid-info-blog]

What are some animals you associate with genderfluidness?

Omg this is such a fun question thank you for asking! I compiled a list (because I love making lists lol):

Snails. Most snails are both biologically male and female at the same time, the vibes just scream genderfluidity to me.

Platypuses. Literally everything about them is so funky and weird, do you really think they'd have a conventional gender? ✨️no✨️, genderfluid (also they're one of my favorite animals, so they're automatically genderfluid by association)

Leaf sheep. They're just like snails gender-wise, they can photosynthesize (and are the only non-plant creatures that are able to do so, which is incredibly cool imo), they're adorable and most definitely genderfluid. (i love them)

Clownfish. They are literally genderfluid! All clownfish are born male, and they live in small groups. When the female (who is the leader of the group) dies, the dominant male changes sex and becomes the female leader (which is irreversible). Quite literally a gender-bender genderfluid icon!!

Sea turtles. The sex of sea turtles is temperature-dependent while they're developing in the egg. On warmer beaches, more females hatch, while on colder beaches, there are more male hatchlings.

🩷🤍💜🖤💙

[dreamteammemes]

Extremely self-indulgent "Shit People Have Said" meme: warning for language and explicit content

"Photosynthesize on the haters."

"I miss ten seconds ago when I didn't see that."

"Why does Freddy Fazbear want you so bad?"

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but if you want to make out, let's make out!"

"I went to the museum in Animal Crossing and everyone there knew you."

"The only thing that should be going into your lungs is air????"

"I'm going to name my kids Slim Shady and Draculara."

"Sometimes you just have to do ketamine with a horse."

"What? You're not coming to my tea party? (Name), I made biscuits!"

"72 virgins? Doesn't that seem like a trap to you?"

"You look like you're forlornly reminiscing about a lost lover."

"I pity you fishless fool."

"I just became conscious in the middle of saying this sentence."

"I ordered 37 Baja Blasts to impress the girl at the counter."

"(Name) is a bitch. They're a bitch on wheels."

"Who needs sleep? I've been up for eight days!"

"All birds are ducks but not all shrimp are brownies."

"You may be able to rotate my tires but can you satisfy a woman?"

"I'm married to myself. Why? I'm hot."

"I've created a situation."

"Please, call me by your name."

"I'm two much for these bitches and three much for these hoes."

"Look, the sign says I can refuse service to anyone that violates our policies, and frankly... I just really hate your vibes."

"This isn't a comedy bar; this is a Starbucks. Get your shit and leave."

"I’ve done nice things like not murder you even when I really wanted to, and this is how you repay me?"

"My hobbies include showing up in people's dreams and being dead."

"I may be a dumb bitch but I ain’t fucking stupid."

"I'm alive for two reasons. One, I was born, and two, I haven't died yet."

"No human language can describe the disappointment I’m feeling right now."

"(Name), if you remember, I hit you with my Gucci car and I'm sorry."

"I was possessed by the devil when I said that."

"You are going to die because I'm going to kill you."

"You're nothing but a dip ass shit."

"You blacked out after laughing at your own joke."

"Sometimes you just have to let go of the steering wheel of life and drift for a while."

"My neighbors like this song so much they threw a brick through my window so they could hear it better."

"Ask your doctor if these hands are right for you."

"I'm hiding my penis because people are out of control!"

"Sure, blame the guy who's a huge idiot who causes a lot of problems again."

"You’re a liar, wow I’m getting tired of this!”

"One day I'm going to say "fight me!" and someone's just going to fucking deck me"

[slothpoth]

Uncanny Vash and Knives Hcs

I just finished TriMax like— today so now I feel more comfortable being Public with hcs

TW: Body horror and the like

I’m gonna format this by saying overall hcs and then getting specific on how both of them treat/adapt to these hcs and what personal differences they have

Duo Headcannons

Every time their voicebox reopens their voice takes on a different tone

Most of the time it’s imitating voices they’ve heard in the past, sometimes it’s a weird amalgamation of them creating a new voice.

For example when they only knew Rem their voices would sometimes go a bit too high pitched like it’s their original voice mixed with Rem or just straight up Rem

Their eyes are very glassy and doll-like

I won’t say life less because they can still emote but I think when they’re at rest it’d be very like IB/ Mad Father Doll Room Tease

I’m playing with the idea of them not blinking but I wanna make it freakier somehow so maybe they blink inconsistently? Like one eye will blink every hour and the other every two hours?

The surface of their skin is always feels like there’s an electric current underneath, like you touch their arm and they have buzzies

Independents in general start off looking very uncanny as a newborn, grow into a child that looks very human, and as they rapidly age they start to become more plant like again (got inspo for this from possuminatrenchcoat_27 on tiktok)

This could possibly be a newer adaptation after what happened with Tesla assuming that Tesla is the first instance of an independent/ the first instance of an vs independent getting brutalized like that.

When they get antsy or any high tension you’d be able to see their respective abilities kind of…..moving under their skin

When the tension or emotion gets too much they start to like leak whatever their thing is, think “Hikaru” from The Summer Hikaru Died

When they bleed it’s a mixture of blood of sometimes a feather or a leaf or two

Viewing their “human” visages as a sort of disguise, I’d like to assume they can change colors

And by change colors I mean change how saturated or unsaturated their skin, hair, nails, and other organic parts are

Like if they do choose they can have the brightest teeth none to man and plant

Speaking of teeth, they can choose how many, how little, how long, how short, and what order their teeth are in

Also!! Incredible muscle control, like thinks Fox in a trap, rather than knaw off their leg they simply move and contract the muscle (and possibly bone) until they can slip out

They can photosynthesize but when they do it’s very obvious and very ominous

Like imagine one of them standing looking up, neck limp head back, eyes wide and unfocused slightly rolled back, jaw slack, a rumbling coming from the top of their head and from the ground but nowhere inbetween

Their senses are heightened so in high traffic areas they can get overwhelmed easily, especially considering that they spent their developing and adapting years on the ships where the loudest thing was the machine hum

I think it’d be funny if they can make themselves smell like different types of foliage like one day it’s roses the next it’s honeydew the next it’s just grass

Vash Copes

so Mr. Deluxe-Life-Like over here is a hummer

Like he’ll hum and clear his throat and make noises to try a get his speaking voicebox to around a tone that somewhat sounds like him.

He can’t just start randomly talking and sound like Milly! That’d be rude!

So along with the rainforest animal sequence chittering and chattering he’s just, “hmm hrrmm huummm buh…how are doing? Do you feel okay?”

To make up for how his eyes are he wears glasses (of course) but also had figured out how to dilate his eyes in time with what he sees in other people’s emotions (incredible muscle control)

He’ll be purposely very expressive to take as much attention from his eyes as possible so none notices how his eyes look or the blinking issue

Sometimes he’ll make himself blink when he knows he’s being looked at

So when Vash is getting antsy under his skin youll see almost like vines wiggling about underneath, but very inconsistently

Like if you’re looking at his arm you’ll see a long thin vine, that could be mistaken for a vein, jerk around sporadically

When he’s getting very antsy the vine will sprout thorns that’ll push through his skin like water. It won’t leave a wound behind the skin will just fall back together

That’s why he likes the coat so much because you can’t see the things going on under his skin

So like imagine an almost worm like part of his skin being raised that’s jerking around and moving these thorns that just glide through his skin (freaky huh?)

I think Vash would use the color changing thing for comedic effect, like the usual tinting red for blush or embarrassment, stuff like that

Despite having all these options for self customization, I think Vash would keep it pretty human like.

Well— not exactly. He hasn’t been in a place to get the details right so he kinda…fills in the blank spaces with other things!

Like since he hasn’t had the time to peek into someone’s mouth, he has a dog mouth. He’s seen the inside of a dogs mouth lot of times what’s wrong with it? They look cool!

One time him and wolfwood were play fighting and WW had pinned him so Vash started to moved his muscles around to squeeze out and WW got so scared he jumped like a foot in the air and cowered in a corner

Vash doesn’t photosynthesize often because he typically eating so that’s how he gets his energy

But when he’s on the run and another town is a ways away and he’s sooo hungry he just gotta Yknow

one time Meryl and Milly caught up to him while he was doing it and when they approached (after passing once to try to taunt him with water) he jerked out of it in a blink all creepy like

Like they were a yard away from his back and they blinked and now he’s a foot away and facing them all “Hey Ladies!” fym hey ladies bitch move

For his senses I feel like he kind of enjoys being on the run so he’s not constantly overstimulated by all the sounds of towns

Don’t get him wrong he loves towns and people but 24/7 everytime he opened his eyes? He just needs a wee break is all

Smell wise I think he’d keep to a grass kind of scent, it’s all he really knows

So when Meryl or Milly or Wolfwood come up and get personal with him and ask “what are you wearing” after answering cheekily for a while he just goes “nothing, I just smell like this”

Knives Cope

Welcome to the stage Mr. I-Look-Like-This-For-The-Irony and his special talent How Far Can We Push The Human Assumption

One of Knives’ pleasures is seeing how far he can push what he looks and acts like until people start to think he’s not a human

He’s found it’s reasonably far if he’s careful

Voice wise, Knives’ voice really doesn’t change all that often

It gets more erratic based on the people around you and Knives is usually isolated, since he’s not constantly around voices and people like Vash he just has to deal with voice pitching up and down and less imitations

That doesn’t mean it’s never happened

When he and Conrad first teamed up and we’re talking more often about their plans and what’s possible, Conrad thought Knives was warming up and being playful by imitating his voice sometimes

He chuckled once and Knives was like “What’s so funny.” And Conrad brought the voice thing up and Knives was like “That’s unintentional, why would I wanna win your favor I already have it.”

Knives knows his eyes are off putting. He knows very well.

He intentionally makes an overt amount of eye contact until he knows the other person is freaked out

When Knives gets to a point of tension where you can see his blades poking under his skin, he just lets em out

To him it’s his base plant side telling him to free himself of this embarrassing flesh suit so he’s like ah just as nature intended

It could also be why he has the cloak of blades cause he’s always high tension

Back to his stage act, How UnHuman Can We Look Until They Start Actually Thinking I’m Not Human, when it comes to their customization options, Knives likes the keep it just about human

He wants to look like his sisters, but knows he can’t get people to do what he wants if they think he looks too sweet (in his opinion his sisters are adorable)

So he tries to balance both visuals. He’s crazy pale with platinum blonde hair because his sisters are also incredibly pale.

But on the other hand, he keeps himself looking somewhat human because what else to should humanity see at its end but itself?

When he isn’t in public, he likes to look ALOT less human, like biblical Angel.

Knives doesn’t get into situations where he needs to move his muscles around himself to escape anything, the only time he did was when he and Vash were younger and playing around

Unlike Vash, Knives photosynthesizes all the time

He doesn’t like eating, it overwhelms his senses. The sunlight? Oh the sunlight.

Knives feels the same way about the Sun like yearning gays and the moon

He will photosynthesize even if he doesn’t have to, he does it so often he can do it laying down (he looks like a corpse and if you come too close to him while he’s laying there you will get skewered right ways)

Knives remembers more about the flowers Rem showed them and how they smell so usually he’ll choose whichever plant he thinks of first

That’s the end, this took like two days straight there was more in the thinker and reading The Summer Hikaru Died mid way through making it. Can you tell how much I like figuring out how human is human?

[obscure-entity]

14 species to look at (i worked hard)

Drelym

Drelym are dexterous bipeds in spite of having 3-digits on each limb. They are the bold successors to humans, "inheriting" their use of technology and written-language. 

Drelym were the first to investigate a visiting spacecraft (under the knowledge that other hospitable planets were already found, and that this planet was a mere side-voyage for humans). After quickly learning how to use humans’ technology, Drelym began implementing it in to their own civilizations and wiped the group out. In short: this thing can use a computer!

Presently, they build dome-like structures and travel in groups to kill larger creatures.

Teppet

Teppets are quilled creatures with a dietary-preference for fruit, insects, and unattended eggs. They either burrow or reside in dense forests to keep themselves hidden. 

Their quills are specialized to stun attackers. Not only are they packed with minor shocks, but the microscopic barbs on the tips flake off similarly to fiberglass. Teppets that bide their time correctly escape often.

Tervine

Tervines are massive, disc-shaped, grazing animals that roam in the open. The rocky masses on their backs are both crucial to their protection as well as natural. Plant growth and rock formations can indicate age.

Their offspring retract in to their “shells” to appear like rocks, and they often hitch rides on their mothers’ backs. In more pressing situations, their mothers even allow them to hide beneath them.

Arthrid

Arthrids are skittish hooved mammals. Their split jaws move independently as mandibles. They eat plants and extract nectar with their thin tongues, sometimes using their jaws to tear in to tree trunks for hints of sap. 

Arthrids cover distances in lengthy jumps, and they even bounce around each other to play! The drelym usually tame them as steeds, using them for speedy travels across more difficult terrain. 

Baleon

As some of the most common predators, baleons are dreaded for their lengthy claws. Baleons tolerate each other in unorganized social groups, but they remain alone when raising offspring. 

Their body variations are hereditary, but traits of them can combine. “Masked” baleons have thick, dulled claws and a hard facial surface. “Bald” baleons have furred faces and hook-like, sharpened claws. 

Leorien

Leoriens are extremely solitary predators feared for their presence in trees, crushing bite force, and ambush-hunting nature. They are direct rivals to baleons and capable of killing any lone ones they can find.

They are rarely found in open daylight unless traveling, and they stick to the canopies or denser foliage. Leoriens steer clear of each other, as they are very conscious of territorial spaces.

Bushven

Bushvens are fully-aquatic sentient flora that can be found in swarms.

While feeding, they can appear to the unaware like flowers floating along the surface of the water. This is because they flare the leaves from their bodies and point upward to photosynthesize, only letting their flower-shaped snouts break the surface. They have no mouths. 

Mayskit

The mayskits are tiny, photosynthetic tree-dwellers that skitter along branches to evade threats, being one of the fastest terrestrial animals.

They rely on signifying dangers to each other through their antennae. In confrontations, mayskits can whip their lengthy tails with sharp speed.

Alamoth

An alamoth is a rare and devastating sight, being the most significant threat to all other species including their own. If an alamoth spots another of its kind, it will urgently knock it out of the skies or kill it on sight. 

Their extra pair of eyes are angled downward to improve their range of vision in flight. While they can use their thick jaws and massive talons, their favored method of hunting is quite literally beating their prey in to the dirt with their wings.

Piboa

Piboas are long, lightly-furred nocturnal predators from the trees.

Their limbs are nearly vestigial, but they still utilize them for both leverage and a grip in climbing.

Piboas have a sticky tongue for hunting insects, but for more moderately-sized prey, they use a drop-and-constrict method. 

Blade-Beast

Blade-Beasts were constructed by the drelym and employed to kill predators in the immediate surroundings of their towns.

They are able to run unlimited distances and draw out built-in razors for attacking sensed movement. Their bodies are also encased in hologram-like “force-fields” that keep them essentially waterproof.

In spite of their lethality, Blade-Beasts are easily dismantled, as their protective field can be torn with enough force.

Mavie

The mavies are among the largest herbivores. Their necks enable them to reach fruit and leaves from the trees, while their front limbs give them the extra leverage on branches to stand further upright for a better reach.

Their thickly layered fur and sheer force in a stomp makes them an unfavorable target to attackers.

Mavies tend to migrate to less-populated and colder regions for the sake of having offspring.

Tivid

Tivids are small flying omnivores that roost on trees in swarms.

They fly actively at dawn and dusk to search for fruit, insects, larvae, and carcasses.

Their wings each have a single hooked claw for gripping surfaces and reaching in to narrow spaces.

Urcan

An urcan is a large, mostly-aquatic carnivore. They can be found basking on the shores, but they never stray far from the water where they have more mobility.

It relies on ambushing whatever crosses or drinks the water, veiled by the surface.

Even with a sharp vision, urcans are compelled by motion.

Chart in order of silhouettes:

Tivid

Mayskit

Bushven

Teppet

Drelym

Arthrid

Baleon

Leolien

Piboa

Blade-Beast

Urcan

Tervine

Alamoth

Mavie

[copperpipes]

Speaking of speculative biology, I've been coming up with creatures for the alien planet of my friend

The creatures on the planet don't have mouths and photosynthesize and have three pairs of limbs so it's been fun trying to figure out how a predator works but I think I got it

They have a 'mouth' on their stomach and it's like a jellyfish that takes in food and expels waste with the same hole. The face is used for stabbing and the arms grapple prey and tear them to pieces

But honestly the best part is that I managed to make dragons like creatures!

The autotrophs are a magenta color instead of green, but funny enough they have green blood. They don't use their wings to fly, except the smol guys,but to capture sunlight!

There are humanoid-like creatures too that's the species of my friend, but the family is diverse!

I also have insects like creatures where the wings are from ancient gills like how this world's insects are thought to evolve them.

The first pair of limbs on the insect form and the huh, idk I don't have a name for the top row, can taste things

The dragon forms most likely lost that but still have taste receptors else where

And the bird forms have more taste receptors on their belly area because the first limbs are covered in sharp teeth-claws

Speculative biology is a lot of fun

Rad

But I do have an important note for you.

I'll start from ❗you don't have to listen to me❗

I am but a little nerd, this is just an issue I want to point out to maybe help improve your and your friend's work, do with this whatever you want :]

So, the issue i found is with your photosynthesizing life forms. I guessing you based this idea off the leaf sheep slug, which is the only animal that uses photosynthesis as one of its sources for energy(that's not a plant or a coral, or plankton), because just photosynthesis cannot be the only one. The only ones who can use just photosynthesis are algae, plant cells, and generally sessile organisms like sometimes dinodlagellates who live in corals.

Point is, photosynthesis works on a cellular level. Mostly only for the cell itself, even plants (single cellular and not single cellular, there are exceptions in both) can't live only off of the energy photosynthesis provides, they still need additional nutrients and minerals for everything to work.

For moving creatures, ones who have a brain and muscles and need to run from predators, it wouldn't be enough. Luckily this is fixable, and with no need to significantly change anything or cutting things out.

Some suggestions (again you can ignore this, but if you still decide to use it, you don't have to credit me)

1. Increase surface area and chlorophyll concentration;

You already covered them in little fur which is a step in the right direction and a very cool design point ;] but really don't be shy with it, look at the leaf sheep again

Look at those booshes

And the higher concentration of chlorophyll would be per spot the more energy would be produced, you can kinda see that in plants in areas with rare or little sunlight, they either have a very saturated green color or a dark one.

2. Give them an additional/other way of getting energy;

I would recommend filter feeding through their wings to keep the no mouth bit. or they could dig into the ground and get nutrients like plants do while they sleep.

3. Take a turn from biology;

You know what else uses sunlight to produce energy and does it better then chlorophyll? Solar panels.

Yes, the material is man-made and inorganic(95% silicone, common thing in the earth's crust), but have you ever heard of the volcano snail (or Scaly-foot gastropod)? Very cool creature, it lives around hydrothermal vents and is covered with iron scoots with iron compounds in its shell. And enzymes are a thing :]

-

One thing doesn't exclude the other, so go wild!

Also instead of wings I could recommend sails, but that's for you to decide and the reasoning is great

Now that that's finished, imma [explode]

Like, this is so cool, creative, fascinating shit, delectable. Love the fact the chlorophyll is pink, love the jellyfish stomach idea, love the mantis arms. About the taste thing tho maybe not taste but smell? Like ants

And yes, spec bio is a lot of fun, I wholeheartedly agree :>

[o-craven-canto]

What is your position on the debate between contingency and convergence in evolution? As a creator and enjoyer of speculative evolution, I imagine you might fall more towards contingency, but I'd still be curious on your overall thoughts on it, and on how different a separate run of evolution on an earthlike planet would really be.

Hmm.

Biologists usually distinguish two types of resemblance among organisms: analogy, which mostly regards general function and appearance and is driven by common conditions, and homology, which mostly regards deep structure and is driven by common ancestry.

All the limbs of land-dwelling vertebrates and their descendants are made of one long bone, followed by two parallel long bones, followed by a maximum of five (except in ichthyosaur flippers) series of digit bones. This you see from frogs to seagulls to horses to manatees to moles -- the descendants of proto-amphibians such as Ichthyostega -- but not in any other animal group. This is the canonical example of homology: there is no reason for such different limbs with functions so different to share the same 1-2-n pattern except inheritance from a common ancestor. On the other hand, the wings of birds and those of insects, or for that matter their eyes, are so different because they arose independently. The common features in the wings of a hummingbird and a dragonfly are due to the same physical constraints, and that is analogy.

Sometimes it depends from the level of analysis: bird wings and bat wings are analogous as wings -- their flight surface is achieved by different means, feathers in one and skin in the other -- but homologous as vertebrate forelimbs -- they have the same 1-2-n sequence of bones, and their development is regulated by the same genes.

There are, of course, physical reasons for structures to resemble each other: everything that moves quickly through water needs to be more or less spindle-shaped; everything that grows past a few hundred grams on dry land needs some sort of rigid support; photosynthesizers and filter-feeders need fractally branching structures; and so on. Compound eyes and exoskeletons really are more efficient at smaller sizes, camera-type eyes and internal skeletons at larger, so that's a reason other than ancestry for insects and birds to be so different; but the largest butterflies are bigger than the smallest hummingbirds, so it's not just a matter of scale; and the eyes of tunas are more like the eyes of eagles than like the eyes of squids, so it's not just a matter of environment.

Some classical examples of convergent evolutions overstate their case a bit: sharks, ichthyosaurs, and dolphin all started from the same aquatic vertebrate chassis, so their similarity is not pure environment-driven convergence. (But it is a bit: from the same chassis you can also make a turtle or a crane.) Similarly for marsupial mice and moles vs. their placentate equivalent, none of whom gets that far from the original mammal model to begin with. When you get a bit farther, you find that the Australian equivalent of a horse is not an almost identical "marsupial horse" but a kangaroo, for reasons that have to do with marsupial birth. It's the same for the now-famous case of carcinization, which only applies to decapod crustaceans -- it's not even universal for crustaceans in general! If you try over and over to make an open-water pursue predator out of the vertebrate plan, you'll get similar results: the shark, the tuna, the ichthyosaur, the dolphin. But try the same with the mollusk plan, and you get a squid.

Now, convergence is likely to occur on other planets, because anything recognizable as life will have similar requirements and meet similar challenges. But it will be much more subtle than making planets full of blue horses and humans with weird eyebrows (I can't overstate how complex and specific the history of our body shape is). Assuming an Earth-like planet, for example, I'd expect its surface ecosystems to be overwhelmingly based on photosynthesis, its "plants" to have branching shapes with flat light collectors, and its largest "animals" to be bilaterally symmetrical with eyes, intestines, and skeletons of some sort. But that still leaves an enormous amount of variety, based both on ancestry and on smaller-scale micro-environmental constraints: note that the description of "animal" I gave fits equally a tarantula, a giraffe, a snail, and an axolotl.

TL;DR: many important traits of living organisms are made necessary by physical and environmental constraints, but there's an immense variety of ways to develop them, and that is mostly going to be driven by contingencies in ancestry. In my opinion, that is.

As readings, I'd recommend The Equations of Life: How Physics Shapes Evolution (Charles Cockell, 2018) and Convergent Evolution on Earth: Lessons for the Search for Extraterrestrial Life (George McGhee, 2019) as summaries of the physical constraints and useful strategies that are going to arise over and over in living systems, as well as this brief paper on the evolution of complexity in alien life. Note how much similarity they predict, but also note how much they don't!

Thanks for the question! <3

[novemberthecatadmirer]

My dumb ooc headcanon about Ainur is at some moment when Arda was still unmarred and they just started constructing the world and Melkor hadn’t left them there must be some HUGE debates

The topics of the debates:

Should Arda be symmetrical (I think Mairon was actually in the symmetrical group. Do you think maybe his “eye” symbol was actually inspired by the map of Arda Unmarred?)

Should there be multiple continents instead of one and how about we make the land move from time to time (Suggested by an overenthusiastic Aule, who ironically got his wish granted when Arda was marred)

Should we get multiple seas and maybe a thousand more islands and some exciting whirlpools and beautiful square waves? (Petitioned by multiple Ulmo’s Maiar. Again, wish granted in Arda Marred.)

How many volcanos are too many volcanos and how often are they allowed to explode. (Those Maiar that later turned Balrogs were very active in the debate and were disappointed with the result)

Highest speed limit for winds and should we have tornados and how to plan their regular path.

Ice! We need some place for some nice ice!!

Extreme weather is actually nice and adds diversity to the plate

“Maybe we can have this portion of time very hot and another portion of time very cold and a portion of time in the middle. Create a rotation schedule to make everyone happy.” (Multiple groups were NOT happy about the suggestion for different reasons)

Anaerobic or Aerobic? (Some of Yavanna’s Maiar created photosynthesizing bacterium as an experiment, and accidentally caused the Oxygen Catastrophe, the first and only mass extinction not caused by Melkor.)

Lifespan of animals and plants and how fast and how many they reproduce. (Huge never-ending debate among Yavanna’s Maiar.)

Should we live together with the Children when they come? Do we share everything with them?

How much distance do we keep with the Children?

Do we deserve a place for our own? We are building all this world for them surely we deserve a piece of land for ourselves?

Should we keep a piece of land Children-free to conserve all the plants and beasts (Yavanna and her Maiar zealously supported the idea)

What does “Ruling the World” actually mean (Manwe and Melkor had drastically different interpretation of the concept and there were Valar and Ainur picking sides. Nienna & Namo: We are going to clean up your mess and somehow we suspect it won’t be easy.)

My headcanon is a lot of Maiar left with Melkor due to being unsatisfied with one or more results of these debates.

When they broke the world they genuinely believed they were doing the Right thing Eru always intended. It was the other ones that loved the work created by their hands too much and refused to change.

Melkor revealed his full interpretation of “king of the world” much later, and for many Maiar rebelled and fled with him it was a horrible moment. They got to learn what the sheer power differential between Valar and Maiar really meant. 

(My headcanon was most of the Maiar that used to serve Melkor and repented later refused to be directly associated with any Vala ever again.)

[bacteriashowdown]

Trophe (Greek): nourishment, food

Have you ever wondered what bacteria eat?

There are four main distinctions that are made when discussing the metabolism of bacteria. One is about whether or not they use oxygen for cellular respiration; those that do are called "aerobic", while those that use other chemicals are "anaerobic". But this is a matter for a different post: this post will be about the other three distinctions.

Often grouped together, these categories describe the methods organisms use to gain energy. They are all independent, and knowing where a bacteria falls on one of the distinctions is not nearly enough to tell you where it falls on the others. Also, all of these distinctions are spectra, and many organisms use methods from both sides.

Without further ado, I present:

Phototrophs vs. Chemotrophs

This distinction is about an organism's energy source: light, or chemical reactions? Phototrophic bacteria gain energy from photons, while chemotrophic bacteria gain energy through the oxidation of chemical compounds. In both cases, energy is gained through the transfer of an electron -- but in phototrophic organisms, this is triggered by light, while in chemotrophs it is triggered by the breaking of a chemical bond.

It's important to note that if an organism can do photosynthesis, it must be a phototroph, but not necessarily the other way around: photosynthesis requires a little something extra. All plants are phototrophs, and almost all animals are chemotrophs (and I'm pretty sure the phototrophic animals are cheating by using symbiotic bacteria).

Autotrophs vs. Heterotrophs

This distinction is about whether or not an organism can synthesize its own organic compounds. Life is carbon-based, and everyone needs to get that carbon from somewhere. Autotrophic bacteria synthesize organic compounds out of simple sources of carbon, such as carbon dioxide. Heterotrophic bacteria must source these compounds from the environment, and ultimately other forms of life.

Phototrophs can be autotrophic or heterotrophic, and likewise for chemotrophs. Remember that "something extra"? Photoautotrophs are the organisms that photosynthesize, because photosynthesis is the process of storing light energy (phototroph behavior) by converting it into chemical energy with the creation of organic compounds (autotroph behavior). Photoautotrophs form the basis of many ecosystems, with heterotrophic life relying on their by-products. They put energy into the food chain.

Organotrophs vs. Lithotrophs

This distinction is about whether or not the chemical sources of energy for an organism are organic or inorganic. Because cells get energy through electron transfer, even phototrophic organisms need chemicals to steal them from. Organotrophs source electrons from organic compounds, while lithotrophs use inorganic compounds. Both organotrophs and lithotrophs can be either autotrophic or heterotrophic.

Photolithotrophs are far more common than chemolithotrophs, and in fact, only microorganisms can be chemolithotrophs (i.e. capable of extracting energy from inorganic compounds, without the use of light). Plants are photolithotrophs; they get their energy from carbon dioxide, a simple inorganic molecule.

Lithotrophs are diverse, and while each species tends to be highly specialized, there is a wide range of chemicals on which they can feed. Various lithotrophic bacteria use ions such as sulfur, hydrogen, ammonia, iron, and carbon monoxide as their source of energy. Meanwhile, the energy sources for organotrophs are more familiar, including protein, fatty acids, and carbohydrates.

Bonus fact: human beings are chemoheteroorganotrophic! We source our energy, and our carbon molecules, from complex organic compounds that we consume.

Please enjoy this graphic that I made in MS Paint.

Keep an eye out for these terms when I make the bacteria propaganda posts!

[female-malice]

can you give me some tips on how to awaken your inner witch? my problem is that my inner reddit bro refuses to let me believe in things like astrology, witchcraft and palmistry. idk where to start because eveything comes off as phony to me. i want to do rituals and believe in something bigger than myself because the trauma of being raised in and escaping an Abrahamic religion will never leave me.

Start here:

Crann Bethadh. The Celtic tree of life. The green leaves photosynthesize energy from the sun to grow the tree. Then they fall to the ground. By covering the ground, they prevent certain weedy plants from colonizing the area around the tree. They also help the soil around the tree retain moisture. Over time, the leaf litter decays into humus. The rich nutritious humus creates a perfect environment for the interconnected tree roots and mycorrhizal network. The mycorrhizae store nutrients for the tree and gradually distribute them when the tree needs them.

Not only do leaves fall to the ground, but seeds, too. The tree of life shows them falling to the ground and growing into new trees.

This ancient tree of life symbol intricately illustrates these cycles in detail. The leaves growing, falling, protecting the roots, decaying into humus, and being managed and stored by mycorrhizae. This process happens over the course of a whole year. But in the tree of life, time is a circle and you can view the whole year at once. And you can see the symmetry of cyclical time. As above, so below. As the sun energizes the tree, so too does the soil.

The tree is a perfect holy being. She is a saint. She is an autotroph. She does not need to take life in order to live. Her relationship with the life-death cycle is fascinating and there is so much we can learn from her.

But we are very different. We are heterotrophs. We can strive to be like the tree saints, but we can never reach true sainthood. We must take life to live. Therein lies the great riddle of heterotroph life. All other heterotrophs have solved that riddle. And our ancestors solved that riddle, too. The answer to that riddle was ancient and loved and protected. And that answer was passed down from one generation to the next. It was passed down through animism and holy trees and heroic stories. It was passed down by midwives and scouts and druids. The answer was used to resolve conflicts between different people. And it was used to resolve conflicts between different forms of life. Our ancestors were never perfect. But they did solve this riddle.

But then they came across a different answer. A much simpler answer to the riddle from a far off land with brilliant cities and fierce armies. For this simple answer, you did not need to try and conceptualize time as a circle. You did not need to hold the whole cycle, life, death, above, below, all together in your head. This new answer was more linear. All you needed to know was that a heavenly father created nature and then gave men dominion over that nature.

But not everyone is charmed by simplicity. The ancient solution to the riddle still carried on alongside this Abrahamic solution. Christianity taught people to be farmers and to produce wealth for their holy feudal lords. But getting the pagans to do any kind of organized wealth production was like herding cats. They were a woodland headache for the lords who were supposed to turn their forest lands into gold. And then a plague came and many Christians died. But in the middle of the forest where people lived by ancient knowledge, they fared much better. And so suspicions grew. And the church capitalized on those suspicions.

The Hammer of Witches. After the bible, this was the second-most popular book during the renaissance.

Centuries of this. The ancient answer to the great heterotroph riddle was burned at the stake.

In the absence of that complicated ancient knowledge, men began trying to rebuild complexity.

Alongside men's mysticism and alchemy, the tree of life survived in various strange and altered forms. Eventually, Carl Linnaeus gave us this one.

Men are at the top of the tree because they are closest to a heavenly father. And all other life is below men. All other life exists to raise men up to that heavenly father. Although Carl's Christianity permeates his work, he did spend most of his life observing life. And his strange tree reintroduced an ancient question that many had forgotten how to ask. Is it maybe all connected? Are we maybe all cousins?

And a century later, Darwin answered that question with the brilliant science of evolutionary biology. Yes, it is all connected. We are all cousins. And there is a tree of life. And we can look at all lifetimes all at once. We can hold it all in our minds. And it looks like this.

And where are we? Zoom in on that tiny branch on the very far right. There we are. This tree is not symmetrical and perfect like the saintly Celtic autotroph tree. This is a wild chaotic fractal. The rings of extinction resemble the rings on a tree trunk.

Fast growth in spring/early summer. Slow growth in late summer/fall. And no growth in winter.

Just as there is annual seasons for trees, there is geologic seasons for biodiversity. There are springs that bring an explosion of biodiversity. There are summers where all that new life co-evolves. There are falls where some unfit variations of life fade away. And there are winters of mass extinction where entire branches of the tree of life crumble into dust.

Annual seasons follow the dance of the Earth around the Sun. And geologic seasons are influenced by the Earth's various personalities and moods. The Earth is alive, too. The trees of life refer to the biodiversity on her crust. But the Earth herself is like a giant cell or giant particle, with a core, mantel, crust, and atmosphere.

And every 100 million years or so, there's a gas leak or some volcanism or an awkward collision. And this causes a mass extinction.

The last one was an asteroid 66 million years ago. That winter gave way to a brilliant spring of mammalian biodiversity. But we're already back to winter again so soon. We were supposed to get another 40 million years of mammal paradise. But instead, humanity has summoned an early winter. And how did we manage to do that?

Well, the Abrahamic solution to the heterotroph riddle is incorrect. Men do not have dominion over nature. The world is not linear. It is cyclical. It's a complex system of mutual relationships. But for the last 600 years, the ruling class has killed and terrorized every human who understood that ancient knowledge. And now that knowledge is endangered. It might even be extinct but I hope it isn't.

Witchcraft is the process of rediscovering the answer to the heterotroph riddle. It's the process of conjuring the wisdom that our ancestors were prevented from passing on to us. It's about healing a 600 year old wound and preparing for winter.

[gramarye]

really really long post where i just talk about johan from yugioh gx thank you

im thinking about johan tonight bc i was drawing him and i wanna talk abt him. bear with me. I REALLY LIKE JOHAN . TO START THIS OFF WITH i have an official licensed johan "WHERE AM I" shirt and i adore it its really funny also i used to have like a johan pin i bought from a german anime store and it was like 8 euros but i shipped it off to my friend who is really really crazy about johan

^johan where am i shirt

anyway johan. jessejohan. i like johan so much believe me he is my nordic scandinavian brethen i just think his writing has issues mainly that he has like no real relationships outside judai and like. i know as a gay person -- i am literally a lesbian In A Lesbian Relationship In Real Life -- that characters will become more likeable when they're queer coded bcuz its Different and its relatable. however i think his writing is kind of really weak and i quote this thing my friend said in 2022 like a lot

HARD TRUTHS TO SWALLOW jesse is a beautiful damsel in distress and his personality outside jaden and crystal beasts is kind of nothing. i love him tho

but the most offensive thing abt it writing wise is like in season 4 when they duel against trueman sorry it was fujiwara. okay i was rewatching gx ages ago and my ex was watching it with me and it was her first time seeing it and shes a literature major and when the whole. "what is the darkness in johan's heart" scene, AFTER IT WAS ESTABLISHED EVERYONE, EVERY STUDENT INCLUDING MANJOUME SHO ASUKA O'BRIEN ETCETC has darkness in their hearts,

my ex goes "if they reveal that he has no darkness in his heart because hes such a special boy im going to be so fucking mad because hes already a mary sue" (HER WORDS NOT MINE she was so mad about johan its funny.) AND THEN THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DO

like he is literally too perfect. his only flaw is his one (1) time thing about getting lost which is never really brought up again (also its more of an endearing haha funny thing and yes i like it i have a shirt referencing that scene.) and the fact that.. he gets taken over i guess.

i do think the switch around where they bamboozle fujiwara is really funny. it is a funny scene i just wish they literally didn't do it at the cost of "johan is a perfect person without any mental weaknesses when literally every single other character has some flaws" I DONT GET IT!!!

maybe he can just photosynthesize his worries into strength i dont know. does anyone remember that meme

but really like WHAT IS JOHAN WITHOUT JUDAI!!!! why is he literally perfect and above other characters also. why could they not give him any darkness like What possible reason does that serve except me think he is BORING!!!! i do like johan btw as i said i really do. i just think his writing kinda sucks and people are way too nice on johan because he is queer coded but the fact is his writing is really weak. this isnt exclusive to johan ok i also dislike some aspects of jadens writing and asukas and so forth (naming characters i really like to prove my point) I AM CRITICAL this is just. about johan. ok.

and this brings me to the weirdo youtube essayists who only care about s3 and think its the peak of gx and yugioh in general and also. ONE SUCH YOUTUBER. WHO SAID IT IS "HOMOPHOBIC" THAT JESSE IS SOUTHERN IN THE DUB WHICH. WHAT?

you think all southern people all homophobic??? im sorry but i know so many goddamn queer people in thhe south. are you out of your mind. please blow up. LET HIM BE A GAY TEXAN you are just showing your own prejudice literally why did so many gx fans eat up "umm it was homophobic of 4kids to make him southern" they give like everyone accents. he has cowboy boots in his design. its not homophobia hes just southern and southern gay people exist. watch brokeback mountain or something

anway

i think johan is a much more interesting character if you incorporate his manga counterpart into it. like combine him with his anime self and it'd be really fun. his bug enthusiasm in the manga is fun like he has an actual hobby and personality. ADHD bug king

also i think personally they should lean into him being scandinavian more. ITS FUNNY. i think he should try to feed manjoume blodplättar because he looks anemic. he should open a can of surströmming around asuka (canonically very much hates food with strong smells) and she gets so upset she has to like leave the building entirely. she should get into a cultural dispute with o'brien because he thinks carola's swedish cover of mickey is better than toni basil's original

i think this and like. septembers mikrofonkåt is what he should listen to. swedish pop baby

anyway. i like johan i just think Some of his fans are insane and thats why i need to take him down a peg every now and then . in a loving bully way. also hes very gender to me dont worry about it. also TWO different people have said some variation of the "fuck danganronpa and its fans i hope komaeda marries a woman" post about him to me in different years which is so funny.

anyway yes i love jessejohan. send post

[script-a-world]

Submitted via Google Form: Vegetarian Planet (Double Question)

Mod Note: We received two questions very close together on the same topic, but aren't sure if they are from the same Asker. We answered them both in this post.

I want to have a world where the entire population across the planet is vegetarian. As if, it never occurred in all of history to make animals food. Perhaps the main religion is extremely adverse and that's one of the main tenets and for some reason has never changed even when people spread far and wide. Is that possible? Maybe the animals are seen as gods maybe so couldn't be considered food. Or maybe all the animals are like toxic and not fit for consumption or otherwise undesirable compared to plant food? Is that also possible? Perhaps a combination of these? But how about the early people long before proper civilisation?

Tex: Some clarification questions I have are 1) what species is your population, 2) what is your definition of vegetarian, and 3) how did your population evolve to the point of developing a stratified society where religion could be invented? The first question is due to the fact that heterotroph species contain herbivores (eat only plants), carnivores (eat only meat), and omnivores (eat both meat and plants) (Wikipedia), because they cannot photosynthesize (phototrophs) or sustain themselves via decomposition of dead plants or animals (detritivores) (Wikipedia). Even disregarding humans, the evolution of carnivorous, omnivorous, and detritivorous species is critical to maintaining a niche ecology.

The second question is due to the fact that the term vegetarianism includes a spectrum of diets which only preclude the consumption of meat, but may or may not preclude the consumption of dairy products or eggs, or in some cases animals that reside in water (Wikipedia). This is a diet that is not ascribed to herbivores, who by physiology often cannot eat meat, but to omnivorous species such as humans that may conditionally take up a particular style of food consumption on the basis of one’s personal beliefs rather than a pragmatic restriction of locally-available food sources.

The third question is related to the concept that the shift in metabolic processes and energy efficiency associated with cooking food - particularly meat - enabled humans to evolve for a higher and more complex brain capacity, which might have been a preliminary factor in the development of society (Wikipedia, American Museum of Natural History, NPR). The less time spent surviving, the more time that can be spent to, well, spending time with others.

With these questions in mind, how does your population come to the conclusion to culturally change their entire diet - if, in fact, they are physically capable of eating meat in the first place in order to voluntarily exclude it from conscious consumption? What are the main driving factors of this decision, and how is it reinforced? Is this something that will last for thousands of years, on a broad scale, or possibly something that will last for a few generations, or among a particular social class, or within a particular geographical boundary? In either direction, why is this so?

Following on those thoughts, who is it that propels this idea forth into your population’s society? How do they come up with this idea? How does it relate to pre-existing culture? How are they marketing it to those who disagree with them? How resilient is this idea, and what societal settings prompt it to become the dominant cultural relationship to food over the contemporary, pre-existing relationship?

Addy: To have a species that has never conceived of meat as a concept is an incredibly far stretch, if we're talking about things from an evolutionary standpoint (and culture does evolve – it's non-genetically transmitted behavior, and it develops similarly to (but faster than) genetic evolution to fit the needs/influences of a group). The smartest creatures tend to be social animals that work in groups (ravens, humans, dolphins, orcas, dogs), and many of those are omnivores or scavengers. You do get some herbivorous intelligent creatures (elephants, parrots), but they, too, eat meat when it's available.

To put it simply, meat is an easily-digestible source of calories that is available year-round. Even deer will eat meat if given the chance. So to have a species that has never conceived of eating meat, not once in their entire evolutionary history, doesn't have a good model for comparison in our world. But this is fiction, and it doesn't have to be perfectly "realistic."

Maybe there was an ancient empire that imposed a no-meat rule on its territories, so eating meat fell out of common practice after a couple hundred years. Maybe you had something like mad cow disease spread through domesticated animal populations, so meat gained a sort of instinctive revulsion, like the kind of horror that people would feel at seeing a roach crawling on their food, or at the idea of eating maggots. Give that some time, and a population could just move away from meat as a food source, especially if they've got enough agricultural technology to grow good crops. Could be that people don't know that their ancestors ate meat, and that scholars can't make sense of some of the implements they find. Or it's a historical tidbit most people don't know about.

Humans (and human-sized creatures) don't have guts complex enough to digest grass and the like, so food preservation is key. I'd recommend looking into historical food preservation methods, with an emphasis on grains, fruit, etc.

But also, look at other stuff in fiction. Psionics, cyberpunk, dragons, telepathy, Excalibur, basically everything about pulp science fiction aliens… it doesn't have to be perfectly realistic by any sense of the word. The basic concepts behind Star Trek teleportation don't work, not in any way we know of. But that doesn't matter, because it's treated in-world as just a thing. The characters act like it exists, so the impossibility of it doesn't break immersion.

Whatever you write doesn't have to be perfect. People don't need perfect. Just take the premise you've got and work with it. Maybe they never ate meat, ever (or even if they did, that's not the cultural narrative). Maybe animal consumption is completely alien. What else do ya got? Do they still use animals for labor, like oxen pulling plows or cats to kill mice in granaries? What about butter or wool? Do domesticated animals exist in any capacity, or is that just not a feature in their society? If not, how does that affect their transport (maybe look at Inca messaging systems)?

Second ask:  What would it take to have a world whose entire population (well almost - except aliens) of omnivores would actually be vegetarian? A world-wide religion? But even religion changes so much, it'll be difficult to regulate if the world doesn't have a single totalitarian government and that's one thing I definitely want to avoid.

Tex: Earth currently has an entire population of omnivores (humans) that aren’t vegetarian, and even with religions such as Hinduism, there still isn’t a hundred percent vegetarianism rate. This is likely because humans are omnivores, and even if they have easy, nutritious access to foods other than animal products, they will simply eat animal products because it tastes good to them. No population is going to be strictly uniform because people are not strictly uniform, and the stricter a religion, the less likely it is to survive more than a generation or so at a time because it devolves into a cult-like structure. Ergo, even a totalitarian government will not be able to force its ideas onto a population - you’re more likely to see a deposed government than someone voluntarily abstaining from, say, barbeque or fried eggs their entire life. I think it might be helpful for you to examine why you wish to build a world that is so uniform in its population’s diet, and why that diet is not the full depth and breadth of what a species can eat, and if there are other frameworks that will allow you what you wish in a more feasible manner.

[lavendarniko]

Plant things I headcanon about Vash #1 Basic plant things

A/N: @anyasathenaeum look I did it! I’m really sorry life’s been so mean to you lately, but I hope these help. And I hope you know it’s really through your encouragement and support of my silly submissions to your inbox that these get to see the day. I hope you can take a moment, sit down, and enjoy a drink and a snack.

While he does enjoy the act of eating, he doesn’t have to as he can photosynthesis. It makes him well fit for long road trips, only remembering to eat for the sake of his travel companions. If we were to go with Tristamp canon, he would only photosynthesize at night or on days the group camp outside so as to not reveal his plant markings to strangers. We do sort of see Vash do this already in the 1998 anime in the plant episode I couldn’t find an example but that scene in the plant in the 1998 anime in the lost July episode. You can’t convince me that's not him photosynthesizing.

I also think that in the 1998 canon Vash actually needs both food and photosynthesis. I think because he’s self conscious of his scars, he doesn’t photosynthesize opting to eat food instead. Only photosynthesizing at night alone when he’s camping

Like many plants he can communicate with other plant life. Just imagine how funny it would be for Vash to randomly just put his hands in some house plant to talk to it.

“No! Really, she said that to her HUSBAND?”, he says to the plant. He’s silent for a few minutes listening intently with his fingers buried in the dirt. He looks so odd nodding along to seemingly no one with a potted plant between his thighs. He gasps at the plant’s story.

Casually walking by some Sagebrush? He will stop for about 5-10 minutes and put his hands in the dirt just to chat with it. I think on nights he camps out he will find nocturnal plants to conversate with while the others sleep.

“Wow… they did that?”, Vash quietly gasps. He’s silent for a few minutes before he continues, “In front of you?! Oh that’s awful, that’s disgusting” Vash is silent for several more minutes as used one hand to draw in the dirt. Vash stares up lovingly at the sagebrush plant. He leans forward and presses his forehead against the plant causing him to glow. “No, no,” he says softly, “I’ll go to sleep soon. Thank you for spending some time with me.”

Vash, like many plants, releases scents to repel bugs and (like grass) when he gets cut or is in distress he releases a scent like grass. Why don’t bugs ever bite him? He repels them which leaves him smelling like lemongrass and pennyroyal.

I think Vash, much like sunflowers, on days he doesn’t feel good will press his forehead against trusted friends and other plants whether those plants are desert plants or not. I think he would only do it in private though so as to not freak out other townsfolk. I think he also does this with plants that spend some time with him, he knows plants take a lot of energy to talk to him directly and not through the mushroom system.

Speaking of the mushroom system, I think Vash accidentally touched into it once and immediately regretted it. Instantly becoming overwhelming by hearing every plant on Gunsmoke talking to each other at once. Some screaming, some whispering, but all are talking.

This is a real thing called mycorrhizal networks, it’s really cool!!

[embodiedfool]

WEEK 9

Over the last two weeks I’ve gradually read two chapters from Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. One chapter was Chapter 2 Living Labyrinths where Sheldrake discussed the nature of a fungus’ mycelium networks. This includes how a fungus grows, how it treats spatial problems, and the nature of fungus as a decentralized organism. The other chapter I read was Chapter 6 World Wide Webs, where Sheldrake talks about the ways fungus interacts with the natural world around it. 

CHAPTER 2: 

A fungus’ mycelium network is made up of a “swarm of hyphal tips” (in Sheldrake’s words pg . 53). This network is the true body of the fungus, with the stereotypical representation of them being the organism’s fruiting body, formed by a group of hyphae inflated with water. The fruiting of fungi has incredible potential force, with this growth being documented as capable of lifting up to 286 lbs (130kg). These hyphal tips control the growth of the fungus, with no central brain or body to control the movement of each hyphal tip. An experiment mentioned that helped me to best understand this was the Francis Alys performance, where a hole was poked in a can full of paint with Alys traversing a city with the paint trailing behind them. In this performance, Alys would be the hyphal tip, determining where the paint will trail to next, with all the paint of before trailing behind them. However, unlike the paint, a fungus can retract hyphal tips and reprioritize growth when it encounters greater resources in another direction or area. As said by Sheldrake, fungi are “flexible networks that ceaselessly remodel themselves” (pg. 76). 

All of these ideas are incredibly interesting to me. The intelligence of fungus is incredibly hard to conceptualize, as the organism itself is hard to understand. It has no central mind or central body, and yet it’s capable of making decisions on how to control a multitude of facets within itself. Each hyphal tip seems to manage itself, and yet is managed by the whole body as well. This body isn’t finite, and can grow almost infinitely, making the body inconstant. It’s also interesting that each part of the fungus is equally itself as another part. You cut off a section of the mycelium network and both parts are equally the same mycelium. However, you cut off the brain from the rest of the nervous system, and a human being is gone. It's interesting to think of a network with no center that can maintain itself without a center point for decision making. Rather, a fungus is a network purely for the transportation of information and, more importantly, resources; to take water from one area and distribute it throughout the whole organism. We explore this idea more in Chapter 6. 

CHAPTER 6: 

In this chapter, Sheldrake talks about how fungus interacts with the plant life around it. He starts by discussing Montropa, a plant that survives purely off of the resources provided by the mycelium network connected to it. When studied, scientists realized that mycelium isn’t only a network within itself; for sharing resources amongst its own body, and information along its own channels. It can also distribute resources amongst the plants it networks with. Fungal connections brought Montropa all the carbon it needed to survive, to the degree that it doesn’t even photosynthesize anymore, having lost its chlorophyll completely. This changes our ideas of plants completely. While plants can form root grafts on rare occasions, before it was thought that they all existed purely for competition, the same way animals live. This is true to a certain extent. Plants do compete for resources of light, space, and water. But despite this competition, fungal connections turn forests into communities. All these individuals fighting for survival begin to collaborate, a sign of intelligence that I’d only ever seen in animals before. It's interesting then that collaboration is such a universal part of the natural world, and such an integral part of intelligence on Earth.

[dipperdesperado]

One of the most important books of the past 15 years is Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher. The basic idea of it is that it describes the pervasive nature of capitalism. It seeps into our hopes, dreams, and thoughts, shaping how we currently understand the world and imagine what the world can be. It’s some spooky shit. Even so, the scarier thing in my mind is hierarchical realism. To me, that feels even more fundamental to our shared worldview than capitalism. Capitalism exists atop (or within) the hierarchy. Capitalism is a relationship of hierarchy. Instead of the top of the pyramid serving the bottom-most elements like in other complex systems (think of how the sun emits energy, plants photosynthesize that energy and animals eat those plants) the base of the pyramid toils for the sake of the top. In nature, the ant colony doesn’t “serve” the queen like we tend to think. It protects the queen because that means that the population can continue to exist. There are no orders being given. The colony efficiently self-organizes into emergent forms that efficiently solve problems. Simple sets of abilities and impulses combine to create elegant solutions.

In our social systems, with capitalism being one of the clearest examples, our hierarchies exist for the opposite reason. We protect kings not because it benefits us, but because it benefits them, at our expense. They then socially engineer consent and mindsets to reinforce their position. This impoverishes our imaginations and prevents us from seeing social possibilities outside of domination and coercion. This is the negation of autonomy and abolition.

This arrangement seems to be taken for granted in most folks’ minds. In our social, political, and economic realms, there is a tacit assumption that those relationships have to be vertically integrated. Orders have to come from the queen, carried out by the colony.

Unsurprisingly, this is a very undemocratic and un-egalitarian way to organize society, but it’s been the dominating mode of organizing at least since civilization has been a thing. This is because it allows for power to be unevenly distributed, and for that distribution to be reinforced over time. Authority is king (and kings are authority). Human value isn’t intrinsic. It is proportional to class position. This also makes it difficult to change social relationships. This arrangement stifles our progression as a species, and our ability to be in community, period. Whether that’s connecting with other humans or other natural beings, this foundational relationship of domination is very toxic for us.

For us to break free from this, we have to go in a different direction. We have to reorganize society using bottom-up approaches so that we can not only have all of the benefits of being in society but are able to provide those benefits for everyone, sustainably. By taking a horizontal orientation, we can take steps to model our societies off of the ecosystems that they reside in, making them resilient, adaptable, and ecological.

Understand that we don’t need a pyramidal structure to run society. Holding all of the decision-making power at the grassroots level allows for autonomy to flourish.

If you take nothing else from this, understand that realism does not equal reality. The pervasive nature of something, especially something man-made, does not mean that it was always this way, and it always has to be this way. Know that we can do something different and really reach the ideals of equality and freedom. We just have to be willing to put in the work.