I'm part of the team working on Sagan 4 (
http://sagan4.com/) and i've been lurking here for a bit too, so i figured it was about time i joined in and worked on some original creatures. I'm no biologist, so some of my critters may be 'impossible' and i'll probably use the wrong words to describe body stuff.
Heres what i'v got so far:
Kuorym
PhysiologyThe Kuorym are an omnivorous sapient species that recently advanced from the tribal stage on a planet they call Ki'yee'iyl'jwiilei. They have a rather unique build consisting of a large 'foot', a serpentine midsection, two arms and a long head. They have two brains to control different functions of their body. The brains are connected by a network of nerves which run down the length of their body.
The head carries most of the Kuorym's sensory organs along with their larger main brain.
The Kuorym have two large eyes on either side of their head which each have three pupils which float independently across the surface of the eye. This allows them to have a wide angle of vision, and also allows them to focus on up to three separate objects in three different directions at one time. Using their excellent vision along with their tall stature, Kuorym have a commanding view of their surroundings.
In the front of the Kuorym's head, between the eyes, is an indentation which holds six large infra-red sensing pits. This allows them to complement their eyesight in darkness and other situations where their vision would be less useful.
On the top of their head plate the Kuorym have a groove which runs the length of the head. This is actually the Kuorym's ear. They use the plate on the top of their head and the four antennae at the back of the plate to pick up vibrations which are directed to the groove. An organ just underneath the groove processes the vibrations and relays the information to the brain, which is just below the ear organ. This allows the Kuorym to pick up a very wide range of sounds and to respond very quickly to those sounds.
Basically it's really really hard to sneak up on a Kuorym.
The Kuoym also have a construction of bone attached just below their heat sensing pits which looks like two long prongs. This is actually a solid piece which is not directly connected to the rest of the head, but is instead attached by a dense forest of fibers. The fibers contain muscles and nerves which the Kuorym can use to vibrate the prongs. The prongs act like a tuning fork and the Kuorym can control their vibration to produce sounds across the scale. This is their chief form of communication and it allows them to communicate of long distances. They can also use this ability of theirs to shatter glass or crystal, or to produce a sonic 'punch' which they can concentrate at a threat or make other creatures nauseous.
The head plate and prongs actually sit on a layer of flesh over their skull, which contains their first and larger brain. This brain controls everything from their arms up, and also handles higher thought.
Their serpentine body is smooth and sinewy except where the arms attach. A cartilaginous chord runs down the length of the body. This protects the rope of nerves which connect the two brains. They have chitinous plates around their shoulders and the area between their shoulders, their arms are also covered with stiff chitin, as are their 'hands'. There are four breathing holes on the Kuorym's back which connect to two small lungs in the 'chest'. This supplies some air to most of the upper body.
The Kuorym's 'hands' are actually rather like a snail in its shell. They each consist of a chamber made out of chitin, and three appendages rather like long tongues. The Kuorym can actually retract these 'fingers' into these chambers when they are not in use. The chambers seal themselves which small plates of chitin when the 'fingers' are retracted in this way. These chambers also contain the Kuorym's sexual organs.
The bottom section of the Kuorym contains all of their other vital organs, including their mouth and is covered with more hard plates of chitin. The mouth sits between the two projections of the Kuorym's 'foot' and is a simple hinged jaw with crushing and cutting teeth. The mouth also contains a long prehensile tongue which they use to pull food into the mouth. The placement of the mouth allows the Kuorym to easily graze on plants and other organic material close to the ground. The Kuorym emit waste products through an orifice at the back of their 'foot' hidden by a flap of chitin.
The mouth is surrounded by six patches of scent sensitive skin. These act as a primitive olfactory sense, and allows the Kuorym to identify food or other substances directly in front of their mouth but no further.
There are four large lungs in the Kuorym's 'foot' which breath out of eight breathing holes between the plates of their natural armor. These provide air for the whole body, as their upper set of lungs is not adequate to completely provide air for their upper body.
The base of the Kuorym's 'foot' works the same way the base of a starfish does, with millions of tiny feet which pull the Kuorym across the ground.
A Kuorym's 'foot' is capable of living independently. If a Kuorym is chopped off at the base of the foot, the upper part of the body will die, but the 'foot' will live on as a blind, deaf, mute non-sapient grazing animal as it has all the necessary organs to survive.
Sexual and Social BehaviourThe Kuorym have two genders, male and female. When mating, the two sexes 'hold hands' and the male uses his 'fingers' to push packets of genetic material into the females hand chambers. This fertilizes the eggs contained in the females hands and the female will later stick the tiny eggs to the chitin plates on her 'foot'. The chambers in the female's hands each only contain up to one egg. These eggs are similar to frog spawn and the female will take care of the eggs until they hatch into small Kuorym.
Hatched baby Kourym are raised by the mother and any of her unburdened female relatives. Since the Kourym can communicate over vast distances, the mother can call these relatives from very far away.
Kourym are actually quite solitary and will usually roam alone or in pairs across the huge plains of their homeworld, except for the groups of related females raising young Kuorym. All Kuorym across the face of the planet all actually belong to the same 'nation' and there are no wars of any kind. Being chiefly grazers, the Kuorym are quite peaceful. They are actually organized and they follow their natural leaders. Kuorym from across the planet will gather together to tackle problems which they cannot handle as individuals, such as protecting a group of females and young from a particularly bold pack of predators or to build bridges over a river.
Kuorym do not actually build dwellings or other structures besides bridges and some monuments which they write on. Sadly, this means that the Kuorym will never actually build a space program. This is particularly ironic as Ki'yee'iyl'jwiilei's moon (the Kourym call it Ywe'ieyeeyi) actually has life of it's own, including another sapient race.
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