Making bipedal aliens more "alien"

Actually, starfish don't have five (for example) arms or legs; at least not in the way we have arms or legs**. (One might say they have arms in the same way that large buildings may have wings.) Starfish use many tube feet on their ventral surface for locomotion.




** - Okay, some starfish may use their arms for locomotion.
 
Ursa major said:
Actually, starfish don't have five (for example) arms or legs; at least not in the way we have arms or legs. (One might say they have arms in the same way that large buildings may have wings.) Starfish use many tube feet on their ventral surface for locomotion.
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Of course :) you are absolutely correct re: locomotion.

But it appears to be common usage to call their 'radial appendages' arms. I however freely state my ignorance on this issue - and if there is a marine biologist who knows best, please tell :p
 
Yes, I was caught too much in thinking only of locomotion. In terms of manipulation, starfish arms can be used for this.
 
Bowler1 takes out a RAY GUN and zaps (just a little zap) JonH. That's for making me think about starfish on a Thursday afternoon, of all things.
 
Bowler1 said:
Bowler1 takes out a RAY GUN and zaps (just a little zap) JonH. That's for making me think about starfish on a Thursday afternoon, of all things.
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You see Bowler now you've given me the image of a starfish holding 5 ray guns. (surely no bad thing in your books???)
 
Bowler1 said:
There we go, a Scorpion with an odd number of arms/limbs now feels right. Once a logic of some sort has applied and I/we the reader believe you, then anything is possible.
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Bowler1 said:
There is loads more fun to be had, an all this before Captain Kirk turns up and tries to mate with your freshly minted alien.
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I would love to see Kirk try and mate with my aforementioned sentient quinpedal, heptapod scorpisect.

There's a short story in there...
Give me a few weeks! :)

I'd decided long ago that I was going to revisit most of my more sci-fi-ish ideas in my 'less serious' fantasy work (that I'm going to do something properly on after I get my 'serious' project to at least the end of the first book in a state that I'm happy with.) Almost all of them can easily fit into the world I'm envisaging for that.

I could easily come up with a lecherous prince with the name Kirk... :)
 
Hi,

Yes the tragedy is that there is a story there. The story being that he would probably try! (Damn there were some issues with 70's tv and the main one was that the hero bagged every woman in sight!)

Cheers, Greg.
 
Laeraneth said:
I've spent whole evenings before trying to think of sensible environmental/biological reasons why a race might evolve with an uneven number of limbs
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Spoiled women. :p

In all seriousness, I could envision an odd limb as a kind of propulsive spring mechanism (like a frog or toad's rear legs)? Maybe the opposite: an appendage like a chameleon's tongue that latches onto things and pulls the creature forward (or its prey to their demise)? Or like you said, for balance, or as a prehensile 'tail' that can grip things? Maybe even a 'proboscis' of sorts, or a means by which it expels gas (for propulsion I mean, not as a fart joke).
 
When you say "bipedal", the answer would seem to be not to make them humanoid. So they could have two very long, spindly legs (perhaps more like ropes anchoring their floating torso to the ground) or a whole load of upper limbs, like insects rearing up. Or they could have the shape of a predatory dinosaur, the back and tail being pretty much parallel with the ground. None of those would be mistaken for a human, but could interact pretty well with human technology.
 
Bowler1 said:
Convergent evolution is what I'm going to hang my hat on, seeing all the coats have been taken.

Eyes have developed as eyes a number of times, so evolution likes eyes of a certain model. They may look different, but in general eyes are usually in eye balls, with a hole to let light in on one side. You get the idea.

Anyway... when dreaming up your alien try and keep them functional. The Blob (I loved the movie, but didn't really believe the idea) being a jelly mass on land may have worked for Hollywood, but I'd expect better of the members on this forum. Functional however takes many forms and we've had birds in New Zealand fill a lot evolution gaps on that island, so there is a massive scope for being creative. However, I think most advanced aliens will have evolved from hunters, as hunters have to use the grey mass to stalk pray and will be a more clever animal (a rule, but not a golden rule I'd say). I also think there has to be some spare limbs (our arms) to use tools and weapons to advance our aliens from the stone age onwards. This is why we walk on two feet, as we had found another use for our arms (carrying infants across grasslands to start with, but later spears and other weapons). Naturally of course, fairly large so they can support a large brain. So apply a logic to your alien and think about how they may have developed. The rest is up to you.

By the way, I have large Birds, a Kangaroo/Dog mix and my Many (on four legs, with trunk like arms and about the size of a pig) as the first of my aliens. Only two of the three are bipedal here, so go play and have fun.
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A kangaroo/dog mix? There's definitely a joke in there somewhere!
 
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