The Mighty Batypus...or is it Platybat? No, its Batypeople

[Dvandemon]

Topic based on a quote from this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151859) thread


The platypus has reason to laugh at any argument regarding characteristics of mammals. If it weren't for the platypus, all information regarding mammals could be taught to third graders. There's only been one mammal to even attempt to match the logical conundrum of the platypus, and that's the bat. Needless to say, it did not in any way succeed.

Of course, if we managed to COMBINE a bat and a platypus, and create a being with webbed feet, mammary glands, wings, sonar, AND an egg-laying reproductive system... It would be the most illogical thing the world has ever seen! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Discuss it here

[Mando Knight]

You should also throw in a wombat or kangaroo into the mix. Just for the marsupial lulz.

[Shas aia Toriia]

Marsupial seems far too mammilian for this discussion though. Maybe if it was scaled and had gills as well. . .

[Reinboom]

The platypus is not that original (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna) and other mammals mess up the generalities (see marsupials, as mentioned above) nearly as much.

Really, I consider the naked mole rat to be a much more interesting creature. It is nearly impossible for a naked mole rat to develop cancer, they breed in an extremely strange manner (shared only by another mole rat iirc), and they have eusocial colonies (unique to this and the aforementioned other mole rat for as far as mammals go. Otherwise, see ants.)


Also, I'm not sure many of the features of the platypus would be beneficial to a bat. And vice versa.



Edit: Also, whales. And humans. Mammals are a varied bunch.

[Maximum Zersk]

So now we've got a Naked Bat Platypus Wombat Kangaroo Fish Mole Rat.

Don't forget the Space Whale.

[Dvandemon]

I'm not sure this is on topic. Can someone give a fairly thought out ecology of one?

[MartytheBioGuy]

I love the batypus! And SweetRein, why don't we add just a dash of mole rat to the mix?? Give it the immunity from cancer and the eusocial habits! The queen batypus controls all worker batypuses? Batypi? Batypodes?

They would live in caves or trees (caves more likely if we make them eusocial) near river banks, and they would fly out of their caves every night to use a combination of their sonar and electro-sense (the platypus has it, look it up!) to find fish, invertebrate, and insect prey. They would mate while hanging upside-down and lay eggs which... they...

How does a perching-upside-down flying thing keep its eggs from falling to the ground and cracking?

AAAAaaahhhhhh.... Got to use my biology nerd-ness for fun... :smallbiggrin:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

How does a perching-upside-down flying thing keep its eggs from falling to the ground and cracking?



Marsupial-like pocket. Except it doesn't keep it's live young in the pocket, it keeps it's eggs in the pocket. Which is, of course, upside down, so that it can hang upside down.

[MartytheBioGuy]

[...I]t keeps it's eggs in the pocket. Which is, of course, upside down, so that it can hang upside down.

So mama Batypus can't fly out at night to go hunting? I guess that if they're eusocial, then that would fit, and she (queen batypus) would have a gigantic pouch for all those batypuggles, and all of the worker batypodes? Batypi? Batypuses? ... anway, all the workers would bring her food. Yeah...

But if they're not, they'd have to be pair-bonded, with daddy batypus bringing back food for mama as she hangs upside-down with the egg.

Hooray for my nerdy-ness! :smallcool:

[Dvandemon]

Hooray for everyones nerdy-ness. Now a how would its poison spurs play into this society? I feel it would make it similar to bees

[John Cribati]

batypodes? Batypi? Batypuses?

Batypeople.

[megabyter5]

Reading this makes me feel like I've accomplished something. :smallbiggrin:

I wonder what V would say about a Batypus... It might be even weirder than an Owlbear!

[MartytheBioGuy]

[...H]ow would its poison spurs play into this society? I feel it would make it similar to bees

Hmm.... Well, that's a great question, especially since, IIRC, the males are the only ones that have them, and only during mating season. Since the platybat seems to be tending towards eusocial at this point (mostly because SweetRein and I seem to like the concept), "mating season" would be year-round. Maybe the males would be the soldier-types? Females, with the exception of the queen, would gather food, males protect (and mate with) the queen, queen makes babies like nobody's business?

And as to Herpestidae (who has an awesome name), yes, I like Batypeople! :smalltongue:

[Thajocoth]

"Mammal" is an antiquated term for dividing animals into groups, just as wind is antiquated as an element. Matching up DNA, we've been able to chart a much more complex, but far more accurate tree than we used to know. We still use it because the old classifications are often correct, but there are a lot of exceptions. Sorta like how we still teach the Bohr model of the atom, even though we now know that electrons around a nucleus are nothing like planets around a sun, because it helps beginners get a sense for what they're studying before they learn the truth.

[MartytheBioGuy]

"Mammal" is an antiquated term for dividing animals into groups, just as wind is antiquated as an element.

It's not that antiquated. The term is still an accurate term to describe all tetrapods that bear fur or hair (at some point in development) and have mammary glands, whether those take the form of teats or not. This includes everything that we call a mammal, from echidnas & platypodes to whales to deer, etc.

[Reinboom]

Now this is a creature I can get behind.

Eusocial doesn't necessarily mean (usually even) the queen is in control. Nests where there isn't a central are more interesting as well. It's harder to remove.
Also, eusocial creatures usually try to build their own habitat. I would be interested in seeing what an animal that gets to play around with 8+ senses does.


If only water was more oxidized so that it could stay a mammal and still breath underwater. Oh well.



Also, I'm reminded of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[Dvandemon]

Maybe instead of a queen there can be an alpha pair of mates and a seperate group of breeding females. Just a thought

[MartytheBioGuy]

Certainly an interesting idea...

I understood eusocial to mean the kind of society that ants & bees had (that's how it was first described to me), and since you used the term to describe naked mole rats, who I know have a queen system, I thought that it was just the same term. ::shrugs:: Yeah, there could be any number of possibilities for batypus society, then...

[Felixaar]

Platypuses are pretty cool, and not just because they're Australian. They can also poison things.

Oh wait, that is just because they're Australian.

[Dvandemon]

Australian wildlife is hard core

[Amiel]

I heard you like poison in your poison, so I put Australian animals in your thread so you can go back to your fear while you're going back to your fear.

[Coplantor]

I, as a platypus enthusiast aprove of this thread, but I fear that giving wings to an otherwise non flying australian animal would pretty much cause the end of the world as we know it.

[Amiel]

Also, you are not safe where you are going. Here, take this with you.
This=
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/Ash_Mantle/6131_118983912304_621127304_1956061.jpg

[Coplantor]

How come that now I want to DM a campaign based entirely out of this map?

[Dvandemon]

I'm wondering on its winter activities, maybe a brumation period where selective groups retrieve water every now and then. And a question: Would the duck bill affect the echolocation in any way? I'm thinking like vocal folds striking against the hard surface

[Cleverdan22]

How come that now I want to DM a campaign based entirely out of this map?

I was about to post this just to find that you already had.

We still sure we're not the same person?

[Coplantor]

Well, maybe we are different instances of the same person...

Are you posting from the past? Cause I'm sure I'm living in the present

[Dvandemon]

your going off-topic :smallannoyed:

[Telonius]

I'm shocked that the noble pangolin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin) has not yet been mentioned.

http://homesickamerican.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/pangolin.jpg

[Dvandemon]

This thread isn't about the Pangolin. If you want to talk about the Pangolin here, then try to describe an interaction it would have with the Batypus and post it. Go in depth about the ecology

[Bouregard]

Also, you are not safe where you are going. Here, take this with you.
This=
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v512/Ash_Mantle/6131_118983912304_621127304_1956061.jpg

Don't forget the big red rock in the middle you can fall down from.

[Dvandemon]

*tapping my foot, looking annoyed*

Is that all?

[MartytheBioGuy]

Obviously, Telonius was looking for a way to armor the batypus. Little does Telonius know, The batypus needs it not.

[Dvandemon]

Hey, I just had an idea, how about the batypus collects insects in its pouch to carry back to the hive? Seriously, I sketching one out and someone shoud stat it for sessions

[MartytheBioGuy]

The Batypus clearly belongs in the epic level handbook, though. Challenge rating in excess of 20. Just saying.

[Cealocanth]

The Batypus would be nocturnal, but would often stay awake during the day in order to breed. It'd lay hairy eggs, so they stay warm even when the mother's not there, plus with hidden poisen spurs on it's beaver like tail. It sleeps in caves, but spends most of it's time awake in water, coming up for air occasionally. It flies like a penguin underwater, but is also a surprisingly good climber.

What else? It lives in almost anywhere where there is a source of still water and a moist place to hang overnight during the day. The hairy eggs are kept in nests made out of the rotting corpses of other Batypi, so there is plenty of grubby food for the babies when hatching occurs.

The Batypus will replace the place on the world's ecosystem as a way to say, Hey Darwin! [Censored due to vulgarity], a position once held by the Platypus.

[Dvandemon]

You have single-handedly made me both disgusted and amazed. This is very hard to do. I applaud you

[UndeadCleric]

THE EPICNESS IS TOO MUCH TO TAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Now, we add echidna for the spines. Maybe the poison spreads to the spines instead of the spurs?
If not the spurs would definitely grow bigger and be used as jousting tools. :smallbiggrin:

[Coidzor]

Oh man. What if it implanted its eggs into some of its victims so that they'd eat their way out? Like one of those... wasps or something.

[Dvandemon]

No more additions. 1/2 Bat and 1/2 Platypus is perfectly fine. Laying hairy eggs inside its prey? Maybe.....[hr]EDIT: Exactly what I mean Ceal

[Cealocanth]

I did the hairy eggs as a mixture between the live birth of bats and the egg laying of Platypi. Plus, the first reptile/birds to start laying hairy eggs would ensure survival because the mother doesn't have to constantly watch them because they stay warm on their own.

Inside the corpses is smart for survival because it makes sure that the offspring have a source of food as they come out, but with both hairy eggs and corpses, I'm afraid the babies would overheat.

[Rainbownaga]

THE EPICNESS IS TOO MUCH TO TAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Now, we add echidna for the spines. Maybe the poison spreads to the spines instead of the spurs?
If not the spurs would definitely grow bigger and be used as jousting tools. :smallbiggrin:

Don't echidnas have poison already? I thought poison was a common characteristic of monotremes