Re: Armalligator was: Email

> >Preliminary concept sketches of newfound allies.  Started with
"turtle"
> >design, then segmented the body to give flexibility.  Ended up
looking
like
> >a robot alligator, or an armadillo who's been tortured on the rack.

Not a bad idea in general, Some details:
It is not obvious from the sketch whether the Oitjuan have any "hands"
(manipulative organs). Any organism that develops technology must be
able
manipulate things with a fair degree of dexterity. No sensory equipment
or
mouth is visible. Mechanically, it would be more efficient if the legs
were
vertical rather than sperad out to the sides. Vertical legs support the
body
directly whereas spread legs need energy or some special blocking
mechanism
to maintain the body in a lifted position.

> >Biology:
> >Metal-based biochemistry.  Eats various kinds of metals and breathes
> >sulfur.  Chemical interconnection between metals (such as iron,
lithium)
> >and sulfuric acid produce electricity to power biological functions.

Sounds pretty weird. If the athmosphere is aggressive, where do pure
metals
come from ? Are there any "plants" that photosynthesize them ?

> >Exoskeleton is titanium/ceramics laced with crystallized carbon. 
Remains
> >rigid in extremely high temperatures.

How high are the temperatures supposed to be ? Wouldn't ceramics be
overkill
even for a few hundred degrees ?

A major problem with an exoskeleton is growth. A stiff exoskeleton
restricts
the size of organisms. On Earth most animals with a ExS regularly shed
the
skeleton to grow a new, bigger one. During this time, they are extremely
vulnerable. Another option would be to have a skeleton composed only of
shapes that can be expanded: flat plates (the triangular design of
Oitjuan
looks good for this), cones, snail/seashell shapes.

> Musculature is mostly steel cable,

Hard to see how this could evolve from primitive organisms

> >perhaps mercury for the circulatory system.

> >2) the digestive process efficiently and effortlessly removes the
"useful"
> >portions of metallic diet, then spits back out the "waste"
products(bodily
> >excrement=pure, refined iron and steel ; respiratory waste=oxygen).

??? This will need more explaining. Which metals of the diet are used ?
Why
is iron not a useful item ? why is Oxygen a waste product ? Extra energy
might be gained by combining iron and Oxygen to form rust. Steel is not
a
"pure" product. Why should waste products be "pure, refined" ? Note that
on
Earth animal waste products are hardly "pure, refined".

> >
> >3)slow thinkers:
> >  combination of metallic biochemistry and high body temperature
would
mean
> >that their neurons could not be as densely packed together as ours.

Electronic (metal/semimetal based) switches are much faster and smaller
than
Neurons. Any electric switching would need insulation elements. High
temperature may indeed need sturdier channels. However, "Slow thinking"
is
not an obvious result of the combination.

Greetings
Karl Heinz