Re: Armalligator was: Email

Beth.Fulton@csiro.au schrieb:
> G'day,
> 
> > Mechanically, it would be more efficient if 
> > the legs were vertical rather than spread 
> > out to the sides.  
> 
> However, there may be no need to lift if they develop 
> tech, tools etc that can be used in a dorso ventrally 
> flattened position. Many crabs are good at manipulating 
> stuff with little requirement for lifting up 
> as they do it this and while not analogous to the creature in 
> question octopus are brilliant at using tools without being in
> a "lifted position".

Here, I am not so much concerned with tool use as with locomotion. 
Unless the athmosphere/fluid where it habitually lives is dense enough 
to provide significant buoyancy, moving with splayed legs implies 
significant energy costs.  
Among the largest splayed-leg creatures are crocodiles. They develop 
high sprint speeds but are not good endurance runners, AFAIK. From the 
time of Dinosaurs to today, all larger land animals had vertical legs. 

> > Sounds pretty weird. If the athmosphere is aggressive, 
> > where do pure metals come from ? 
> 
> They don't need to be pure, just accessible. The metals 
> we use biochemically aren't in pure forms.

Naturally, metals will tend to corrode to the lowest-energy chemical 
state, especially in a high-temperature environment. They may be 
available but will need energy to change to usable forms. 

> >Are there any "plants" that photosynthesize them ?
 
> Don't need plants as such, bacterial (sulphur based) 
> chemosynthesis is more than enough for the vent fauna etc
> of Earth and would be more than likely in 
> a planet (like Venus) where there is little if any direct 
> sunlight. 

Would that be sufficient to maintain continent-spanning ecosystems for 
very long time spans ? 

Overall, I find the postulated biochemistry the less credible aspect of 
the Oitjuan. Something similar to hot-vent animals operating at 100+ 
degrees celsius  and high air pressure requires fewer leaps of faith 
and would be equally plausible for an environment that is uncomfortable 
for humans. 

> > 
> >> Musculature is mostly steel cable,
> > 
> > Hard to see how this could evolve from primitive 
> organisms 
> 
> Well steel maybe, but I could live with analogous 
> structures (seeing some of the stuff really used on earth is 
stronger). 

I'm not so much concerned about the material as about the functions. 
First off, cables would not be analogous to muscles as engines for the 
movement, but rather to sinews, which link the muscles and moving limbs 
and that re-direct the movement. In the postulated electro-chemical 
organism, the analoge to muscles would be electric motors or linear 
electromagnetic actuators. 

Greetings
Karl Heinz