The Yeerk Brain

[Terenia]

Something that has always fascinated me is the capacity for learning that Yeerks have. I mean, think about it. Within thirty years (earth years) they went from building basic tools to building space ships that could rival their Andalite enemies. True, they had a basis of Andalite and other ships to steal from, but the fact that they were able to comprehend it all and apply it to creating new technology is amazing to me.

It's kind of like taking a caveman, giving him an airplane and thirty years later they're building their own airport, with a full fleet.


We always talk about how adaptable humans are, but I think Yeerks are infinitely more adaptable than us.

[Chad32]

Well if that caveman could take the memories of its teachers instantly, then it would be quite easy. Don't forget that whatever those pilot hosts knew, they knew too. That's the reason why they were able to comprehend it and utilize it so well.

[EmberGryphon]

But only one Andalite was ever a Controller. Alloran, way after the Yeerks had already built Bug Fighters and Blade ships- they never had access to their teacher's minds and memories. The only hosts the Yeerks had when the Andalites were first showing them spacecraft were Gedd, and it's implied through the series that they're pretty useless with technology...

I agree, the fact that the Yeerks could comprehend, engineer and build that fast is pretty impressive. =o

[Chad32]

I'm not sure how they handled the Andalite craft they first stole, but then they moved on to capture some Onganchics, and some other creatures before they came to the hork-Bajir Homeworld. They had some help.

[EmberGryphon]

...Alright, I s'pose that's true enough. ^^() Touche~

[wildweathel]

Ax mentions, repeatedly that Yeerks have trouble with innovation.  Now that might just be his wounded Andalite pride talking.  But, judging from Visser 3's failed research fiascoes, it seems like he has a point.

But: the Yeerks never captured an Andalite before their rebellion.  They flew Andalite ships off their home world with Gedd hosts.  They use Taxxon hosts for most piloting duties, even though Taxxons had no experience with space flight before joining the Yeerk empire.  So at the very least, Yeerks are able to teach each other.

[CDJV]

Taxxons were hardly ever sued as hosts, so I think their capacity for learning is another issue to be discussed.

Now then, who here has read War of the Worlds? Seeing the movie doesn't count, you have to have read the book. Anyways, the aliens in that book were basically giant brains with eyes and tentacles.

I think the yeerls are similar: They're small brains in the form of slugs, with little falanges to propel them around. They're alloud to not have a stomach or other similar organs, since everything they need is from the kandrona. So perhaps that's why they could learn so fast: Their brains had nothing to do but learn and learn and learn. it might also be why they could actually take over hosts brains: they were already mostly brain themselves.

[morfowt]

Now there's an interesting thought...

[Phoenix004]

Yeerks are highly intelligent as a race. That's what fascinated Prince Seerow to begin with. The only reason they hadn't advanced before the Andalites came was due to the fact that they were handicapped by the lack of a functional physical body. There only real option for infestation was the Gedds, who were stupid and physically unfit for performing complex tasks.

Once the Andalites arrived, all that changed. Seerow taught the Yeerks more then they could have learned by themselves in over a century, and that's before they rebelled and stole a decent amount of Andalite technology for themselves, along with the vast computer data bases on board the Andalite ships.

Despite this, the fact remains that almost everything the advanced technology the Yeerks have is stolen, or at the very least based on stolen knowledge or technology. Sure they've come up with their own ideas and inventions, but they only got that far because of all the knowledge they've taken from the races they have enslaved. And yet at the same time they have the nerve to claim they're better than humans! 

[Gafrash]

Yeah, the Yeerks are definitely fast at adapting. Regardless of their knack for reverse-engineering or copying to their own. But Nohensen does bring a good point. They don't just acquire technology and abilities, they uncover skills and memories of every host they molest.
Before the Andalites, all the Yeerks had was their own social government system, beyond their parasitic life. And their world provided them with a habitat for that.
I like CDJV input as well. I never thought about the fact of a being that never evolved spending energy in digestion and so on. Maybe this is precisely what Nature made them evolve into the sentient race.


As long as we are talking about Yeerk's brains, what about how the long-term ingestion of instant ginger and maple oatmeal releases them from the Kandrona dependency.
HOW does a substance REPLACE a brain cell?! They can get away with the fact that they are aliens and have an unknown physiology, but HOW would that work???

[morfowt]

well it would help if we knew what was in instant ginger and maple oatmeal... does that even exist?

[Hunter]

well it would help if we knew what was in instant ginger and maple oatmeal... does that even exist?

ya know, i really don't know morf...

[Gafrash]

Does a Yeerk???

[Phoenix004]

Thanks for bringing this up, I just thought of an interesting idea that I might use in my fic later on...

[JFalcon]

well it would help if we knew what was in instant ginger and maple oatmeal... does that even exist?

It doesnt. At least it didn't when I was a kid because I tried like crazy to find it, if it was ever a flavor of oatmeal it's gone the way of the Unicorn . . . killed by Homer Simpson--erm I mean extinct. Maybe I could mix two different flavor packages together? Then I'd have twice as much oatmeal to eat and that's just wasteful . . . still it's for science right? I dunno.