Real world animal, meet D+D monster

[TheAuldGrump]

And let us not forget the platypus.

One of a very small number of poisonous mammals the platypus has poisonous spurs on its back legs. (Good when fleeing into your burrow.)

And the thing eats giant earthworms! What's not to love?

The Auld Grump

 

[Pure Puppet]

Manticores have two unusual traits 1. They are able to change gender (like Hyeana) 2. they are marsupials

Whoa. Hyenas can change gender? Where did you find this out? Does that mean Gnolls can, too?

 

[Macbeth]

Awesome, awesome ideas. This thread should give some great ideas to anybody writing a monster book.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

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

So I ran a game one time where a dragon attacked the PC's village.After looting it and eating its fill, it took to the air and flew away. But just as it did so, it left a massive pile of toxic feces in the middle of town, which rendered the area near unihabitable. No one could even get close to it without failing their Fort. saves and vomiting helplessly. So they had to help their villagers migrate to a new living space.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

1. They are able to change gender (like Hyeana)

This is actually a myth, not a fact - it is merely hard to distinguish the two genders in regards to the spotted hyena, the female produces enough testosterone that their 'wedding tackle' has a similar appearance to that of the males.

*Google* An article about hyenas. A hyena has cantilevered jaws, and can bite through a 3 inch lead pipe! Scary, scary animal, and very aggressive.

The Auld Grump

 

[Thaniel]

Whoa. Hyenas can change gender? Where did you find this out? Does that mean Gnolls can, too?

He's likely refering to the fact that the female spotted hyena has an imitation penis. This is purely a social-inclusionary trait. It shows the status of the female against other females. It is still female and has no ability to 'change gender' or anything of the sort.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The beetle's trick, of course, is to not mix both reactive fluids within its body. It would kill it. Instead, our cunning beetle spits them both at the same time, and let them mix in mid-air.

If I might correct you, it is even cleverer than that... it has a combustion chamber into which it mixes its chemicals along with enzymes to speed up the reaction, the mixture is so volatile that the beetle would explode if it happened all at once so it actually has a machine-gun effect - the 500-1000 pulses per second appear as a continuous stream and a single 'crack' to the unaided human observer. It can also aim the boiling liquid in pretty much any direction it likes.

The D&D bombardier beetle is paltry in comparison.

Useful links for more info:
http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20031208/beetle.html
http://www.animalfact.com/article1008.html

Cheers,

 

[Plane Sailing]

For yick factor, how about the sea cucumber?

Expelling internal organs is common practice in sea cucumbers. Another defensive ploy is to eject the body organs—intestines, respiratory trees and gonads—which gives the predator something to feed on while the sea cucumber escapes and regenerates its missing parts.

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

The hagfishes are renowned for their ability to produce vast quantities of slime when provoked. The aim of my research is to describe and understand the mechanical properties of hagfish slime in terms of its molecular structure, as well as its functional significance for the animal.

Hagfish slime is produced in numerous glands that line both sides of the hagfish's body, and is usually released when they are stressed or provoked. The slime comes out of the glands in a concentrated form, but quickly swells when it contacts seawater. It is believed that the resulting cocoon of slime protects the hagfish from predatory attacks, and may even threaten to suffocate fish predators. A hagfish doesn't suffocate in its own slime because it has a clever trick for extricating itself it when danger passes - it simply ties itself in a knot and passes the knot down its body, thereby wiping the slime away.

Hagfish slime is unlike other slimy secretions in that it is reinforced with very fine fibres. Our data show that these fibres lend tensile strength and toughness to the slime. Subsequent research will investigate the mechanical properties of the mucus component of the slime, as well as the properties of naturally-produced slime cocoons.

 

[Gez]

Male Angler fish are tiny parasites on the females. They just attach themselves and atrophy, becoming little more than parasitic sperm producers.

You know, I want to use that for Aboleths. Aren't they hermaphroditic? What better way to be hermaphroditic than being actually a compound being?

 

[Tonguez]

And let us not forget the platypus.

One of a very small number of poisonous mammals the platypus has poisonous spurs on its back legs. (Good when fleeing into your burrow.)

And the thing eats giant earthworms! What's not to love?

The Auld Grump

You know there is a theory that Platypus (ie monotremes) are in fact not mammals but Therapsids. Everything about them is reptilian except the fact that they produce milk (but have no teats) and have fur.

(NB yes I knew the Hyeana change gender thing was myth but couldn't be bothered explaining - alpha females do have a 'penis' though)