Post by Subtext Mining on Dec 20, 2021 17:06:17 GMT
One of the big things that draws me into Star Wars, especially when I was a kid, is the vast array of aliens and monsters. Cleverly crafted by the designers, they're endlessly fascinating while also grounded in plausibility. I like how they are ingenious combinations of traits found in creatures here on Earth which have gone through the crucible of evolution, while still capturing a sense of the unfamiliar, other-worldly imagination and fantasy.
The one thing that makes me sad is that we don't have any Rodians, Gran, Taun Tauns or Dugs here on Earth.
Or do we?
Earth is teeming with rare and unique creatures oozing with so much bizarre and eccentric whimsy it can be hard to believe their not aliens that somehow crash landed here.
For starters, here's one I recently learned about, the Mantis Shrimp, aka the stomatopod.
One of its most notable features is it's punch. Delivered with it's two "hammer clubs", it's the fastest and strongest punch in the animal kingdom. The strike is so fast (equal to a .22 caliber bullet), it momentarily increases the water temperature around it to that of the surface of the sun. It uses this to stun and de-shell prey as well as fight competitors and ward off predators.
They also have the most complex eyes of any creature on Earth. While we humans have three color photo receptors, they have twelve! They're also able to view the world in polarized light.
Each of their mobile eyes has three pupils, and is therefore trinocular, making their total vision hexnocular. Not only that, they work independently as well as together.
A living Swiss Army Knife of the sea, they have 34 appendages. Including spears, claws, clubs, two sets of antennae and eye brushes, which are thought to both clean the surface of their eyes and coat them with a sort of sun screen which helps them refract the light going into their eyes to better see the polarization.
This video explains how they even create their own unique form of polarized light that bounces off them in a circular helix pattern, which they use to communicate with each other.
They also have some formidable physical abilities, such as their "Force sprint" as I call it, and their threatening warning pose called the "Meral spread", which reminds me of General Grievous.
The Mantis Shrimp is so exceptionally equipped, it has inspired not only armor technology, but also camera technology. In fact, the structures of the Mantis Shrimp eye has inspired medical camera makers to design cameras which are much more efficient at detecting tendon injuries and cancer cells.
A Mantis Shrimp with eggs.
The one thing that makes me sad is that we don't have any Rodians, Gran, Taun Tauns or Dugs here on Earth.
Or do we?
Earth is teeming with rare and unique creatures oozing with so much bizarre and eccentric whimsy it can be hard to believe their not aliens that somehow crash landed here.
For starters, here's one I recently learned about, the Mantis Shrimp, aka the stomatopod.
One of its most notable features is it's punch. Delivered with it's two "hammer clubs", it's the fastest and strongest punch in the animal kingdom. The strike is so fast (equal to a .22 caliber bullet), it momentarily increases the water temperature around it to that of the surface of the sun. It uses this to stun and de-shell prey as well as fight competitors and ward off predators.
They also have the most complex eyes of any creature on Earth. While we humans have three color photo receptors, they have twelve! They're also able to view the world in polarized light.
Each of their mobile eyes has three pupils, and is therefore trinocular, making their total vision hexnocular. Not only that, they work independently as well as together.
A living Swiss Army Knife of the sea, they have 34 appendages. Including spears, claws, clubs, two sets of antennae and eye brushes, which are thought to both clean the surface of their eyes and coat them with a sort of sun screen which helps them refract the light going into their eyes to better see the polarization.
This video explains how they even create their own unique form of polarized light that bounces off them in a circular helix pattern, which they use to communicate with each other.
They also have some formidable physical abilities, such as their "Force sprint" as I call it, and their threatening warning pose called the "Meral spread", which reminds me of General Grievous.
The Mantis Shrimp is so exceptionally equipped, it has inspired not only armor technology, but also camera technology. In fact, the structures of the Mantis Shrimp eye has inspired medical camera makers to design cameras which are much more efficient at detecting tendon injuries and cancer cells.
A Mantis Shrimp with eggs.
