A simple question, could a placental develop a pseudopuch, something like skin or leather fold or something like that, that could be used for transport and guard the babies, I know that placentalia new borns are notoriously bigger than marsupial new borns, but looking at images of kangaroos, possums and other species you can see that they are capable of resguard their youngs until they are quite large, in addition to the fact that there are placentals of very small sizes at birth, such as a panda to which for example they could use a "pouch".
https://preview.redd.it/0pnz2292nyk61.png?width=194&format=png&auto=webp&s=770193891298e17765118418f5d8980ece5bf988
https://preview.redd.it/getdnq4tnyk61.png?width=630&format=png&auto=webp&s=5cc9a2f7809f7d4df96c4cf1730bcdebb85a43fd
And other curious and less related use for the pouch in the yapok, in which males have a reversed pouch in which in which they put their genitals and seal by muscles when they are swimming, practically is a genital sac.
Present day amphibians like the marsupial frog and pouched frog have a pouch where they carry their eggs and tadpoles.
The first synapsids were tiny, just like the amniotic ancestors they evolved from. And like them they laid eggs that were losing water in a dry environment, and absorbing water when they were in contact with a moist substrate:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/animal/article/div-classtitlethe-evolution-of-milk-secretion-and-its-ancient-originsdiv/B4E27A6A394CB0C53F1CF4FD6B247409
Quote: "Milk originated as a glandular skin secretion in synapsids (the lineage ancestral to mammals), perhaps as early as the Pennsylvanian period, that is, approximately 310 million years ago (mya). Early synapsids laid eggs with parchment-like shells intolerant of desiccation and apparently dependent on glandular skin secretions for moisture."
"By the late Triassic period (ca 210 mya), mammaliaforms (mammalian ancestors) were endothermic (requiring fluid to replace incubatory water losses of eggs), very small in size (making large eggs impossible), and had rapid growth and limited tooth replacement (indicating delayed onset of feeding and reliance on milk). Thus, milk had already supplanted egg yolk as the primary nutrient source, and by the Jurassic period (ca 170 mya) vitellogenin genes were being lost. All primary milk constituents evolved before the appearance of mammals, and some constituents may have origins that predate the split of the synapsids from sauropsids (the lineage leading to ‘reptiles’ and birds)."
The ancestors of marsupials and placentals mammals may have lost all three vitellogenin genes 170 million years ago, but monotremes are said to have split from the other present group of mammals about 210 million years ago, and they only have a single vitellogenin gene (the genes controlling the yolk proteins), having lost the two others. As a consequence, their eggs are tiny.
https://mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk/aww/monotremes-platypus-and-echidna-dr-henrik-kaessmann/
Quote: "The platypus and the echidna are the only two survivors of a group of mammals called the “monotremes”.
The most extraordinary feature of all is one that no other modern mammal has retained. They lay eggs. The echidna eggs are tiny, only about the size of a marble.
These are newly-hatched platypus young, filmed in their mother’s burrow.
They are only about the size of jelly beans. The early mammals must have laid eggs in the same way, and they inherited this trait
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This occurred to me after seeing this drawing of a koala on a Slurpee machine.
GO! Saturday post.
What happens today? And who's not getting paid?
Fun stuff today, So I hope you all enjoy and big thanks for continuing to ready my words in arranged order!
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After having finished with subjecting the alien diplomats to a lengthy question and answer period, General Feògh led the ambassadors off the stage and away from the yelling audience, their cries and chants attempting to get one last answer to the many questions still left unasked. "Perhaps another day we may have a more relaxed sit-down with my people." He noted, walking through a double door being held open by armed soldiers. "But for now, the real meeting room has been prepared, and we need to get down to the unfun part of this monumental meeting."
Michael stood tall as he followed behind the General, noticing the soldiers only snuck side-eyed peeks at him but studied the other ambassadors rather closely. " This whole thing is strange. It's like a bunch of middle schoolers trying to avoid eye contact with their crush." Michael said, looking around at the other ambassadors who were busy chuckling at the idea.
"Maybe they're just confused. I remember watching that one documentary with the large white mammals... Bears, If I remember correctly." Srettia admitted. "They're cute but extremely dangerous. Perhaps it's a similar situation as I would also not want to watch one up close either." She continued, walking through a door and into a meeting room with a long table and many new faces. "I see everyone has finished gathering then."
Yirphayen announced its entry with a chime of amusement as it advanced into the room. "Perhaps it is the lack of fur they find enjoyable? But then would both you and I not be cute?"
"I find Mau'lmon cute, though." Ankiah replied. "Michael is just handsome like any fit male would be."
City Leader Lúirlé watched as the group enter the room and could hardly contain her excitement. At first, she was wary of these aliens, getting into quite the shouting match with General Feògh over his reluctance to se
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Most High Va'armo'os nervously clopped out of the elevator and into the parking garage. It didn't matter that there were dozens of ExecSec moving around the garage in full armor carrying plasma weapons, that there was even armed drones moving through the garage.
What mattered was that outside the garage the fog had descended upon the city with nightfall and gripped the entire city in its gentle grip. Visibility was down to the point that opening the door of a domicile or vehicle had the mist billow inside, extending chill tentacles into the space.
The beings working at the Planetary Weather Control Center were helpless to stop it. There was no error in the programming, no fault in the satellites, no defect in the control systems, but still night brought thick fog across the entire planet.
Va'armo'os knew he should have felt safer than the majority of Most Highs, as he did not live in the capital, but instead on one of the large islands opposite of the mega-continent.
He didn't feel safe trotting to his personal vehicle. Unlike the rest of Most Highs, he had stopped using grav-lifters or hover vehicles, choosing to rely upon ground-effect vehicles only. His personal vehicle was a large black wheeled vehicle, comfortable and roomy, heavily armored, with light battlescreens that could be found on recon vehicles.
As he climbed into his vehicle and settled down he still felt nervousness. A glass of wine did little to ease his discomfort as the vehicle was examined by his private security guards. After a long period of time the guards got into the front and rear seats, the rear seat crew unlimbering a heavy plasma cannon.
Finally the vehicle started moving again.
Fog shouldn't have affected radar or any of the other advanced systems but for some reason that nobody had been able to identify everything, every type of sensor system, was blocked and obscured by the fog.
Which meant the vehicle had to travel slowly. Even time/distance systems, or inertial navigation systems, were always off, always blinded somehow.
Va'armo'os wrung his lower hands nervously, his tendrils curled tight and his crests inflated, as the vehicle slowly moved down the street.
The night before last the v
... keep reading on reddit ➡Hello everyone, I’m new to this worldbuilding community (and to Reddit in general) and I like the ambience, so I’m glad to join you. I will first introduce myself: although through very variable ups and downs, I’ve been conworlding since about 15 years (mostly conlanging, to be honest, and I’ve been member of the ZBB for years, for those who know). I’m not a native English speaker, so forgive potential grammar mistakes.
In my first post, I will briefly present you the most long-lasting conworld project I’ve ever created. So, in order to give you a flavour, here’s a general overview of geography, biology and human presence.
It is an Earth-like planet, still unnamed so I with just call it the Planet. The planet is more or less the size of Earth, rotates in the opposite direction (that is East to West, so the “Sun” raises at the West), with a day of 24 hours and a year of 328 days. It has two moons, each smaller than our Luna. The Planet contains water. A lot of water. Most of the surface of the Planet is covered with oceans, leaving room for only one large land mass and other minor islands no larger than Terrestial Australia scattered throughout the Planet. The large continent compares more or less to Eurasia in size, measuring around 12 000 km on the East-West axis and 7 000 km on the North-South. Here is an incomplete geophysical map of the continent (Rivers and lakes are still missing, sorry).
Geophysical map of the continent
Technically speaking, the biology of the Planet is very similar to the Terrestrial one: life is carbon-based, biochemistry works in the same way, there are plants, animals, fungi and so on, each including a number fo phyla representing a huge diversity produced by the process of evolution. Just... only “humans” are identical to their Terrestial equivalent: a human from our planet would not recognize anything but other humans. Although, the environment would not seem completely alien: you will not find a dog or a cow, but a category of animals displaying the same features than Terrestial mammals do exist (and of course include humans). A biologist from our planet would just think to have run into new species belonging to the class of mammals.
However, certain categories do not have any ecological or biological equivalent: they do not share any specific features that could be used by a Terrestrial
... keep reading on reddit ➡The funeral director was asking us what we think Mum should wear in her casket.
Mum always loved to wear sarongs (fabric wraps that go around the torso and drape downward a bit like a long skirt would), so my uncle suggested that she wear a sarong in there.
The funeral director looked a bit confused, as did some of our family members, to which my uncle added:
"What's sarong with that?"
I started laughing like an idiot. He was proud of it too. The funeral director was rather shocked. We assured her, and our more proper relatives, that Mum would've absolutely loved the joke (which is very true).
His delivery was perfect. I'll never forget the risk he took. We sometimes recall the moment as a way help cushion the blows of the grieving process.
--Edit-- I appreciate the condolences. I'm doing well and the worst is behind me and my family. But thanks :)
--Edit-- Massive thanks for all the awards and kind words. And the puns! Love 'em.
I would have a daughter
This Sunday we're showcasing the mod's token mammal: the Didelphodon vorax of Hell Creek. Didelphodon was a metathere, a mammal which carried its babies in a marsupial pouch, but diverged before modern marsupials (meaning it falls outside of the group Marsupialia). Though it famously appeared as a scavenger in Walking With Dinosaurs, Didelphodon was more likely a critter that spent its time around water, with Tasmanian devil-like jaws perfect for crushing shellfish. In the Cretaceous dimension, Didelphodon will dive into rivers for their favorite Crassostrea oysters, which you can feed to Didelphodon to breed them or you can craft into a delicious Oyster Soup. When killed, Didelphodon will drop their pelts, which you can turn into leather much like rabbit hide.
https://preview.redd.it/fbc27zzm6ev61.png?width=1952&format=png&auto=webp&s=14272005088a906d71424f9a7bcdb5b376337b16
But Bill kept the Windows
True story; it even happened last night. My 5-year-old son walks up behind me and out of the blue says, "hey."
I turn to him and say, "yeah, kiddo? What's up?"
He responds, "it's dead grass."
I'm really confused and trying to figure out what's wrong and what he wants from me. "What? There's dead grass? What's wrong with that?"
.
.
.
He says, totally straight-faced, "hay is dead grass," and runs off.
