This isn't 100% related to spore, but it is about extraterrestrial life and what some scientists and illustrators thought it would look like if it had evolved on other planets. If this post is in a wrong spot, feel free to move it, mods.
The following images are from the National Geographic Picture Atlas of Our Universe, by Roy A. Galant. I will type the caption below each picture in case they are unreadable. Sorry about the glare in some of these photos, I don't have a working scanner at the moment.
What if......there really were creatures on other planets? Scientists now suspect that in our Solar System only Earth cradles life. We cannot yet rule out Mars, but so far our spacecraft have not detected anything obviously alive. Some experts still hope to find life elsewhere - perhaps under the ice of Jupiter's moon Europa, or even floating in the atmosphere of a gas-giant planet - but chances are slim. Yet we can still try to imagine how life might adapt to the environments of other worlds. Just for fun, let's go on an imaginary safari to real places faithfully described, and see some creature that never were.
TitanOn dim, cold Titan, Saturn's giant moon,
stovebellies might live - perhaps by the icy shores of a methane sea. To avoid freezing, they keep fires burning inside their bodies. How? Stovebellies eat ice, which forms much of Titan's surface. Their fuel is made up of oxygen from the ice and methane from the dense atmosphere. By squirting flame like a rocket, they can make long leaps in Titan's low gravity. Amphibious
fishimanders like to crawl out of the sea and cuddle by a handy stovebelly for warmth - until their host blasts off, sending its guests flying.
MarsWhisper-thin winds hiss along a dry, dusty canyon. Deadly ultraviolet radiation pours from an unshielded Sun. Nighttime cold reaches -80ºC. Perfect weather for a fellow like the
Martian waterseeker. Its parasol tail can lift three meters in Mars' low gravity, shading it from ultraviolet sunburn. The long snout can probe for pockets of ice under dried-up channels. And the giants ears, needed to hear well in the thin air, also serve as blankets: In Mars' frigid nights the waterseeker stays snug by clamping its ears tightly around its whole body.
EuropaFlat ice covers the second of Jupiter's four major satellites. Europa may be the smoothest globe in the Solar System. And here,
brinker-roos might frolic, on feet shaped like skates. They lead a carefree life, living on pure energy as they zoom across the endless frozen plains. Since there's no air to breathe and no food to eat, brinker-roos need no mouths or noses. Their green skins can carry out photosynthesis in the sunlight, as plants do. And the coils on their backs pick up energy from Jupiter's strong magnetic field, which Europa must travel through as it orbits the giant planet.
Two images here to account for the glare.
PlutoElectrical, crystal beings like these
Plutonian zistles would find -250ºC too hot for comfort. At night, when it's colder still and electricity flows perfectly, zistles feel best. Highly intelligent, they spend most of their time radioing great thoughts to each other. When zistles do get going, they can spring 20 meters high in Pluto's feeble gravity. Zistles think Pluto is the only planet with life - it's too hot everywhere else!
VenusTo survive Venus's heat - lead would melt here - you might need a body that feeds on rock and metal. This
oucher-poucher snacks on a space probe from Earth. Venus's surface is so hot that oucher-pouchers keep shifting from one foot to the other. They travel by inflating their pouchlike bodies and bouncing along the ground. Every rime one lands, it utters its customary cry, which sounds remarkably like "ouch!"
JupiterFrom birth to death, any life in Jupiter's wild atmosphere would have to stay airborne - there's no place to stand. Hanging from their gasbags, floating
jellyblimps would be easy prey for hungry
swordtails. A swordtail uses Jupiter's strong gravity and its own pointed body to dive right through its victim. All creatures here must avoid winds blowing toward the freezing layers above and the scorching pressures below.
Well, there you have it. I hope it was an enjoyable read for those who decide to read all the captions. The images are at least entertaining, and an insight on what some people thought E.T's might look like if they existed in our Solar System. I think they could have done a little better work on naming the critters, though.
