tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post8129875678110451811..comments2024-03-25T09:31:36.926+01:00Comments on Furahan Biology and Allied Matters: Between the Morae River and the Red ValleySigmund Nastrazzurrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16449461215427527447noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-16010267324928536632011-08-31T01:52:39.139+02:002011-08-31T01:52:39.139+02:00>as they are.
so, little hope (pre-book, at lea...>as they are.<br />so, little hope (pre-book, at least) of seeing relatives of the Grouillard?<br />:(<br /><br />about Ballonts:<br />Maybe it isn't a problem...because while they're born big, they grow up to be enormous.<br /><br />...or they are like Earth grasses: if they break apart (or even just in two), that counts as a "birth" in the sense of two beings able to survive on their own.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-26964553295837081732011-08-31T00:24:59.454+02:002011-08-31T00:24:59.454+02:00Evan: You expressed that well, as usual. There is ...Evan: You expressed that well, as usual. There is a balance in deciding what you leave to the imagination and what you divulge. In my 'sales pitch' on the books on Furaha and Nereus on the 'New Hades' page I emphasised the differences in approaches: you work from body schemes and cladistics, whereas my own creations are less well established cladistically. I thought on that some more and decided to present bits of evolutionary history here and there, such as for the descent of hexapods, but other groups will be presented as they are.<br /><br />The analytical approach is fun, but so is just accepting what is there, and Brynn's work falls more in the latter category. <br /><br />As for 'impossible' in the 'elegant Hunter', I only meant that the body plan could not fit in an Earth Fish scheme; biomechanically it could work, I think. <br /><br />Rodlox: thank you. One day I will have to sit down and think of something to solve the ballont problem of 'being born big'.Sigmund Nastrazzurrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16449461215427527447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-56554747715105346382011-08-30T23:43:11.710+02:002011-08-30T23:43:11.710+02:00Agreed: Brynn is one of the best real- and creativ...Agreed: Brynn is one of the best real- and creative-wildlife artists I've seen...one of the trinity of great ones: Brynn, M0ai, and Sigmund Na...the owner of this blog.<br />(Mr. Black is well on his way to joining them if he continues)<br /><br />Umm, Evan, imho, there's a time and a place for ambiguity - and a limit to it as well; unless half-covered by a burrow or foliage, Nereids could not pass for Earth organisms...just as some of Brynn's fauns and creatures couldn't - its not a bad thing, it just is what it is.<br /><br />and the Wipoo may be too large to have a problem with predators (unless the predators get big too)...but big animals have to grow up.<br /><br />...unless they're ballonts. ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5821098719340852065.post-8266041204899727192011-08-26T23:27:04.142+02:002011-08-26T23:27:04.142+02:00The kind of ambiguity Brynn Metheny has employed i...The kind of ambiguity Brynn Metheny has employed is certainly a foreign concept for those of us who are accustomed to putting things in neat little categories, but it's done an interesting thing for me: when I look at her work I tend to just enjoy the art and design of the animals on an immediate level rather than trying to figure out the ecology. Her projects are almost totally right-brained in that respect, and when I keep that in mind I find I can give the left side of my brain a rest and just appreciate her work for what it is.<br /><br />And that ambiguity is a real protection for projects in general, I think. By stating details explicitly then those details are subject to scientific scrutiny, but by leaving more to the imagination then not only are the problems of biological categorization avoided but the world surrounding the specifics of the project is one of potent possibilities. I sometimes wonder if I've done my own project a disservice with my more comprehensive approach.<br /><br />I too enjoy the convergent speculation of the esorifleu and your marblebill. I especially think the whiskers of the esorifleu are an appropriate adaptation given the apparently cramped arboreal environment shown in the picture. Also, there seems to be a membrane along the upper brachating limbs; I wonder if this is the atrophied remains of wing membranes in flying ancestors, or perhaps Darwinian innovations leading toward a traditionally draconic bauplan.<br /><br />I wonder about the front limbs too, and how they seem to be atrophying, too. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems to me that in such an environment those extra limbs would be an advantage.<br /><br />Why are the two pairs of pectoral fins on the 'elegant hunters' impossible? Doe they cause some sort of hydrodynamic interference?<br /><br />I agree about the artistic expression of the 'Mamma' image. It reminds me of a <i>vérité</i> style, as if this was an image captured candidly and on location. What little it may lack in clarifying illustration it more than makes up for in character and charm.<br /><br /><i>Do the spikes serve to impress other wips, or do they provide tactile stimulation during procreation?</i><br /><br />Or maybe both? And if they live, as you suggested for 'wiptoo', in steaming swamps, then might they they be heat regulating fins too?<br /><br />And the other dark spots on the head-- nostrils and ears-- could also double as distracting eyespots? But the 'wip' seems too large to really have a problem with predators.<br /><br />That's probably enough geekery for me. I've always enjoyed Brynn's work; as you can see, it excites my imagination.Evan Blackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10493966209787828900noreply@blogger.com