Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: wolfev on August 08, 2009, 07:15:00 PM
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I was trying to figure out how Yeerks use Kandrona for energy. Then it occurred to me that they were probably using it to synthesize sugar which they store up and use for energy. The reason it last three days is because Kandrona is a high energy particle so Yeerks can make a lot of energy from a very short exposure. I came to this conclusion because the council of thirteen are able to just stand in Kandrona and receive its energy. This means it passes through the hosts skin. Only higher energy particles can do that.
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they may be gastropods with photosynthetic abilities
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Hmm, I'm not sure about that. Can the Animorphs even morph plants, anyway? Because Cassie morphed Illim in The Sickness. That would also mean that the Yeerks would have plant DNA, which I'm not is morphable. Yes, I realize I said "morphable." I don't know. Interesting topic.
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Hmm, I'm not sure about that. Can the Animorphs even morph plants, anyway? Because Cassie morphed Illim in The Sickness.
http://www.earthsky.org/faq/dna-animals-plants
maybe (doubt it), but would they be able to morph back?
i wouldn't classify yeerks as plants, probably just animals with a unique feeding method.
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fine, they are photosynthetic. And I think morphing requires that a nervous system be present to work. Technically all the alien species are new all from new kingdoms since they all have different evolutionary lineages.
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True but what if they morphed a jellyfish they don't have a central nervous system
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then they can't morph jellyfish, but they do have a very basic nervous system so they actually can.
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fine crap all over my theory lol
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then they can't morph jellyfish, but they do have a very basic nervous system so they actually can.
well technically they can. it's whether or not they can demorph that's the question.
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I'm not sure if the technology would work in that case. It might just prevent that from occurring if there was no DNA for a nervous system. I always imagined it was kinda screwy after book 32. Biology is too unpredictable for morphing to predict.
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Yeerks are clearly some type of photosynthetic life-form, but I don't think they are plants. Of course we can't really classify any of the alien species in the series because they evolved on other planets and therefore probably don't fall into Earth's categories for identifying plant and animal life.
For example: Andalites have fur and resemble certain Earth mammals, but as far as we know they don't have mammary glands. Hork-Bajir are implied to resemble reptiles, but they don't appear to be cold-blooded.
It's never said for sure, but we can assume that they can't morph plants or microscopic organisms such as bacteria (not that they would ever want/need to). It's possible that there is a safety mechanism built into the morphing technology to prevent the acquiring/morphing of certain creatures.
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mammals
- mammary glands (female)
- sweat glands
- hair
- three middle ear bones
- neocortex region in the brain.
yeah, they're probably just similar to mammals.
while we're on the subject of yeerks, i've always found it curious that the kadrona feeding schedule was exactly 3 earth days. doesn't it seem a little TOO convientent?
(an explanation could be that it was greater than 3, but less than 4)
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Maybe they could put in something like, a time that translasted into three Earth days. It would be different at other planets, but Elfangor came up with three days to help the Animorphs. That would make sense.
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Guys... plants aren't the only organisms that photosynthesize.
Think of algae, phytoplankton, and euglenas!
Those are MUCH closer to animals than plants are.
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Agreed.
On the question of jellyfish and other simple organisms. I have a theory on morphing: the human brain controlls the body from Z-Space through the animal's nervous system. So in order for the animorphs to be able to morph jellyfish the morphing technology would have to create a psuedo nervous system. I think the andalites may have thought of that though.
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this is really interesting, I used to have a theory that the yeerks tasted like mushrooms, but then since mushrooms don't move or photosynthesise the yeerks are basically the opposite of mushrooms.
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the yeerks aren't exactly like plants, they can only suck in Kandrona when it's in the yeerk pool, and don't plants get it directly from the sun?
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Yeah, the key word in Photosynthesis is "Photo", meaning Light. The Yeerks absorb the Kandrona-enriched nutrients in the sludge, not the rays themselves.
So, would they even be considered Photosynthesic(word?) then?
If the sludge isn't necessary, then why wouldn't they just have a big ol' pool under there?
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on their home world, the kandrona rays come from their sun.
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Yeah, the key word in Photosynthesis is "Photo", meaning Light. The Yeerks absorb the Kandrona-enriched nutrients in the sludge, not the rays themselves.
It had taken a year to organize the trial. The
biggest problem was how to have the accused be
present and involved in the proceedings. There
was no way the visser could be allowed to take a
host body. I mean, how does a court order one of
the very things it considers a crime?
Fortunately Ax's people were willing to help.
Very willing. Andalite technicians created a Yeerk
box.It was about the size of a hardcover book. It
contained a miniaturized Kandrona source, a
computer-interface, and a voice synthesizer. The
visser could hear and "see" and speak. The box,
painted lavender for some obscure Andalite reason,
sat on a pedestal facing the curved judges' bench.
was it was implied that there was sludge in the box, or did the visser absorb the rays directly?
[spoiler](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SfGpcFa2-70/TWRt528UkJI/AAAAAAAAAEk/zlMGLCaGXuo/s1600/bats1b.jpg)[/spoiler]
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I assumed they would've let him swim in the sludge. They would've simulated a Yeerk Pool the best they could.
A bit off topic here, sorry, but Yeerks would be the easiest race to imprison. You could just put 'em in a ziploc of sludge, and they'd be securely contained. ;D
Alas back to the topic:
Yeah, I think it's safe to say that they couldn't be quantified by human terms, or catalogued in any of our "Animal Kingdoms".
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There are plenty of organisms on earth that derive energy from the sun that are not considered plants.
Anyone ever heard of a euglena?
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We get Vitamins from the sun's light, don't we?
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So you're saying that Yeerks are Protozoa? They're like bacteria?
Remember though, they didn't absorb the rays directly, they absorbed the Kandrona enriched nutrients in the Yeerk pool sludge-stuff.
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So you're saying that Yeerks are Protozoa? They're like bacteria?
Remember though, they didn't absorb the rays directly, they absorbed the Kandrona enriched nutrients in the Yeerk pool sludge-stuff.
No, just saying deriving energy from light directly doesn't necessarily make something a plant. I was just humoring the argument. The explanations we got about kandrona rays are entirely unscientific anyway, so it seems silly to try to argue them in those terms.
As others have mentioned, they weren't exactly getting energy from the rays anyway. Despite this, it seems like they did need the rays directly, they couldn't just bathe in things that had been exposed to the rays and survive.
Then again, the need for kandrona rays could also be eliminated by instant maple flavored oatmeal (at the cost of sanity), so that seems to fly in the face of them being photosynthetic anyhow. :)
Like I said, totally unscientific.
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Now I'm about to make an a$$ of myself, but I'm still gonna do this because I'd like to see the response.
Yeerks are not plants. Yeerks are not animals. This is all conditional on one unproven condition I'll get at later, but if it is correct, Yeerks are not either of these, and-because I know them better-I'm going to use animals to try and show why.
Definition of animal, obtained from merriam-webster.com :
any of a kingdom (Animalia) of living things including many-celled organisms and often many of the single-celled ones (as protozoans) that typically differ from plants in having cells without cellulose walls, in lacking chlorophyll and the capacity for photosynthesis, in requiring more complex food materials (as proteins), in being organized to a greater degree of complexity, and in having the capacity for spontaneous movement and rapid motor responses to stimulation
What's important here is that kingdom Animalia part; the rest refer to characteristics that are generally used in the common notion of describing animals (e.g. complexity is a relative term, and sponges aren't exceeding rapid at most things).
Animalia is an evolutionary group: the things descended from an ancestral organism. It's not whatever traits they do or don't have that places them in the group-that truly make them "animals"-it's a more of a heritage thing.
Point is, since Yeerks are alien, they are not a part of this group-no relatedness to any of Earths creatures, animals or plants, no matter how they are alike.
Same goes for the other aliens.
I think of it easiest with the Leerans: They are amphibians-they live on water and land.
They are not Amphibia (like frogs and newts and such) because they are not an evolutionary relation to the Amphibia of Earth. And unless you are a taxonomist, you say amphibian to refer to Amphibia.
All of this rest on the condition that no one went around planting things from one world on another: a condition unproven and slightly ruptured by the Pemalites. But there's no direct evidence that the anything had a hand in generating any of the intelligent life forms we see in the series in this manner e.g. no skrit na took a frog, dumped it on a new planet, and then got Leerans.
*Except the Iskoort and (arguably) Garatrons (possible Andalite kin)
Assuming this is true, whether or not Yeerks photosynthesize, or have cell walls, or anything else that is plant-like, they are not, in the biological since plants. Nor are they animals
They are aliens, evolved and much more interestingly (imo) arisen independently of life on all other worlds-their commonalities with others superficial and coincidental.
Fascinating sure, but a real mark on the limits of human imagination that any other life inescapably resembles the Earth scheme of plant, animal, and the occasional germs and fungi.