Real world animal, meet D+D monster

[JimAde]

Birds often deficate before they take flight, this lightens their body weight and helps them fly.

Some birds also defecate as a weapon. If another bird is approaching the nest, the parents will dive-bomb it with feces, which can foul the other bird's feathers so badly it interferes with flying. Don't remember the species I saw this with, but I think it was a sea-bird (gull or something).

This thread rocks.

 

[DMH]

For yick factor, how about the sea cucumber?

That has been done in Monsters of the Boundless Blue (and I totally forgot the spider eater when I mentioned the cicada-killer).

There are several ways to divide insects and the most basic is by their metamorphosis. The most primitive insects, the order that contains the silverfish, has no metamorphosis at all. The primitive winged insects, such as mayflies and dragonflies, has an aquatic immature form called a naiad that is similar to the adult in form- adaptations to living underwater determine the differences. Grasshoppers, termites and their kin have gradual metamorphosis, where the immature form is called a nymph (most look very similar to the adult). And finally there is the complete meatmorphosis of flies, moths, bees and beetles, the immature form is called a larva.

Some termites use their nymphs as workers (males and females) and adults as soldiers. Others have a seperate caste called the nastute that use chemical warfare by spraying sticky or toxic fluids (Antz had these).

Unlike most vertebrates, insects have little or no inbreeding depression. A single fertilized queen yellowjacket is the ancestor of all yellow jackets on New Zealand.

Immature spiders of many species travel by ballooning- they climb something tall near their hatching spot and emit a line of webbing. The wind catches the webbing and floats the spider away. Islands that have been devastated by volcanic eruption will have spiders before any other terrestrial organism.

Thrips are a order known mainly by gardeners. They are tiny insects with feathery wings that can kill large plants with very few numbers. A treant infected with dozens of 1/8th inch long thrips could die from them.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

For yick factor, how about the sea cucumber?



Also interesting: hagfish (ultraprimitive jawless fish - like a lamprey) can (a) tie itself into a slip knot to break a predators grasp and (b) exude fibrous slime

A hagfish beats the sea cucumber hands down in regards to 'yick'. trust me on this, I've handled one - I swear they produce almost as much snot as there is fish!

And sea cucumbers don't taste too bad at all. (A bit like salty watermelon, with a hint of fish.)

Land planaria raise and lower themselves on a thread of mucous. I have only encountered one, it died of dehydration instantly upon touching my sock. Leaving nothing but a lump of tissue and a disgusting stain.)

There are flies that lay their eggs in the skin of mammals, including man. A treatment was found a few years ago at Mass General Hospital - a slab of bacon is placed over the maggot infested area, and the maggots, preffering real pork to long pork, chew their way into the bacon, abandoning the human host. (How is that for yick factor? Last year or so there was a person in the news who had flies emerging from an intimate part of his anatomy - it appears that something had laid eggs in there...)

The Auld Grump

 

[DMH]

A hagfish beats the sea cucumber hands down in regards to 'yick'. trust me on this, I've handled one - I swear they produce almost as much snot as there is fish!

Try handling an American eel- lampreys have nothing on their mucus production abilities. Fishing line will draw some of it away from the eel and people just cut the line so they won't have to throw gloves away.

There are flies that lay their eggs in the skin of mammals, including man. A treatment was found a few years ago at Mass General Hospital - a slab of bacon is placed over the maggot infested area, and the maggots, preffering real pork to long pork, chew their way into the bacon, abandoning the human host.

Bah- medical maggots are used to remove dead flesh. That species can only consume dead flesh and will die of starvation after cleaning the wound. And medical leeches are back on the rise- they are very good at destroying clots and preventing strokes.

 

[DMH]

When most people hear the word worm, they think of earthworms, which isn't suprising since those are what are found near people all over the planet. But there is a lot more to worms than that. Worm is a generic term for any long bodied, soft skined inverterbrate. Earthworms, leeches and bristleworms are the 3 main divisions of the segmented worms. Bristleworms are of interest because of their complex forms- many have jaws, eyes and sensory tentacles on the head. Round worms are made up of nematodes* and some parasitic forms like ascarids (which can be very large parasites of humans). The phylum of worms I would consider most useful for monsters are the bearded worms- they have a "tongue" covered in spines that it can emit for prey capture.

Next up, aliens among us- the echinoderms.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Try handling an American eel- lampreys have nothing on their mucus production abilities. Fishing line will draw some of it away from the eel and people just cut the line so they won't have to throw gloves away.



Bah- medical maggots are used to remove dead flesh. That species can only consume dead flesh and will die of starvation after cleaning the wound. And medical leeches are back on the rise- they are very good at destroying clots and preventing strokes.

These I am well aware of (and posted threads on ). There are also flies who's maggots consume dead epedermal tissue, which is to say skin. Not so good. Not particularly harmful, but plenty disgusting.

Hagfish are also called blenfish, (blen means slime). River eels on the other hand are delicious! I have a few recipes for them. And unfortunately while looking up hagfish a bit I found this site, which led here, which has how to use hagfish slime as an egg substitute... Bleargh!

I believe that by weight hagfish have the edge in slime production vs. the eel.

The Auld Grump

 

[Tonguez]

just another one - I've always liked the fact that Starfish have no mouths and thus push their stomachs out their anuses to consume food. I'd love to see an Otyugh do that

oh and Starfish also have no brain and of course starfish can regenerate (imagine a otyugh doing that)

 

[Soel]

There is a parasite that infests slugs and "zombifies" them. This parasite also gives a beacon-like appearance to their antennae and makes them climb up plant stalks, in order to make the antennae appear like a worm for birds flying over. When birds pluck the antennae, it transmits the parasite into the bird's system, which the parasite uses to "ride" to new areas and pass out through the birds waste, starting the cycle all over again...

 

[DMH]

The amphibious template in AB can be used to create beach breeder- aquatic animals that lay eggs or protect pups on shore like turtles and seals.

Other than obovious animals like sharks and tuna, I thought of gummi worms- sea cucumbers that are so gooey that they gum up predators' mouths.

Of course it could be used for mottled worms, kraken and dragon eels- these would be on large islands without any large predators.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Tactics anyone..

Ants ambush prey from foxholes around traps, Once insect is snared, other ants swarm in for the kill

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7575928/