Yora
2014-02-08, 04:47 PM
One interpretation of evolution that commonly pops up is the assumption that pretty much everything that's possible has already been tried in some way at some time. So there's a huge amount of weird and even bizare things found over the world made by animals. Not to mention all the unusual features created by countless geological processes in all kinds of different geological and ecological environments.
And if it can be done in nature, it can always be scaled and dialed up for fantasy worlds!
- Large mounds build by certain types of termites include complex internal air conditioning. By using air shafts and moist underground chambers, the mounds are kept cool during the day but retain enough heat to keep them warm during cold nights in the desert. And the whole things can even be regulated by blocking or unblocking some ventilation shafts to ensure optimal performance during changing outside weather conditions. Which is neccessary, because the mounds not only include the colony, but also lots of chambers that hold fungus farms, which are the termites primary food supply.
The physical principles work on any scale and have already been used to aircondition a shopping mall. With fantasy insects of sufficient size, there's nothing from stopping such a colony being made large enough for humans to walk inside.
- While spiders are usually not social animals, they sometimes cooperate in times when there's huge amounts of prey, like hot and wet summers where floods might force all insects into the trees. In such cases, they not only build lots of nets, but actually connect them into massive giant nets that can get thick enough to keep sunlight from getting through. That's usually coin-szed spiders, but you could also do that with spiders the size of hands, and of course giant spiders as well.
- Some birds build nests that are almost fully enclosed and only leave a small hole as an entrance. And in certain species, they will make these nests in clusters that can get to massive size. And at some point there's need to build internal passages because the whole thing gets too big for each individual room to be open to the outside. Reportedly there are nests big enough for over 400 birds. Like a huge ant hive, but with birds instead of insects.
- It's well and commonly known that the amzon is the largest river on earth. But given that it's in a tropical jungle that experiences regular monsoons, you really would expect it to see significant flooding when you think about it. And it does. Water levels can raise up to 20 meters and since much of the area is relatively flat ground (caused by millions of years of such floods leveling everything) the flooding even covers areas up to 80 km away from the normal shoresides. For lots of people who live there, the whole ground gets covered in water and together with all the animals they move to the top of the trees. Every year, and just the same way their great-grandparents have always done. That's not even the forest turning into a swamp. It's turning into an endless ocean with trees.
And if it can be done in nature, it can always be scaled and dialed up for fantasy worlds!
- Large mounds build by certain types of termites include complex internal air conditioning. By using air shafts and moist underground chambers, the mounds are kept cool during the day but retain enough heat to keep them warm during cold nights in the desert. And the whole things can even be regulated by blocking or unblocking some ventilation shafts to ensure optimal performance during changing outside weather conditions. Which is neccessary, because the mounds not only include the colony, but also lots of chambers that hold fungus farms, which are the termites primary food supply.
The physical principles work on any scale and have already been used to aircondition a shopping mall. With fantasy insects of sufficient size, there's nothing from stopping such a colony being made large enough for humans to walk inside.
- While spiders are usually not social animals, they sometimes cooperate in times when there's huge amounts of prey, like hot and wet summers where floods might force all insects into the trees. In such cases, they not only build lots of nets, but actually connect them into massive giant nets that can get thick enough to keep sunlight from getting through. That's usually coin-szed spiders, but you could also do that with spiders the size of hands, and of course giant spiders as well.
- Some birds build nests that are almost fully enclosed and only leave a small hole as an entrance. And in certain species, they will make these nests in clusters that can get to massive size. And at some point there's need to build internal passages because the whole thing gets too big for each individual room to be open to the outside. Reportedly there are nests big enough for over 400 birds. Like a huge ant hive, but with birds instead of insects.
- It's well and commonly known that the amzon is the largest river on earth. But given that it's in a tropical jungle that experiences regular monsoons, you really would expect it to see significant flooding when you think about it. And it does. Water levels can raise up to 20 meters and since much of the area is relatively flat ground (caused by millions of years of such floods leveling everything) the flooding even covers areas up to 80 km away from the normal shoresides. For lots of people who live there, the whole ground gets covered in water and together with all the animals they move to the top of the trees. Every year, and just the same way their great-grandparents have always done. That's not even the forest turning into a swamp. It's turning into an endless ocean with trees.