Last night on Discovery, there was a show which featured the following:
A shrimp that could punch with the force of a .22 calibre bullet (it feeds on crabs, and uses the trick to crack their shells).
Another shrimp which uses a modified claw to compress microscopic bubbles of air in a special chamber. When these bubbles are released, the pressure change means that (very very VERY briefly) they reach the same temperature as the surface of the sun! This causes a tiny explosion as the surrounding water boils in a fraction of a second, and the shockwave stuns the shrimp's prey!
A thing called a velvet worm (which looks like a fuzzy red centipede), which has a directable nozzle on each side of its head, through which it sprays a very sticky glue all over passing prey.
The point is, these are REAL animals. Makes some of the things in SF movies, books, games, etc, look positively... normal.
So what features of real animals are so bizarre that you've used them in alien creatures?
A shrimp that could punch with the force of a .22 calibre bullet (it feeds on crabs, and uses the trick to crack their shells).
Another shrimp which uses a modified claw to compress microscopic bubbles of air in a special chamber. When these bubbles are released, the pressure change means that (very very VERY briefly) they reach the same temperature as the surface of the sun! This causes a tiny explosion as the surrounding water boils in a fraction of a second, and the shockwave stuns the shrimp's prey!
A thing called a velvet worm (which looks like a fuzzy red centipede), which has a directable nozzle on each side of its head, through which it sprays a very sticky glue all over passing prey.
The point is, these are REAL animals. Makes some of the things in SF movies, books, games, etc, look positively... normal.
So what features of real animals are so bizarre that you've used them in alien creatures?