Thanks.
I did mention the octopus/squid idea needing a POD way back. A hundred million years? The Permian Extinction period?
Somebody on the net had an alternate evolution with cephalopods instead of vertebrates dominating the land, occupying all the niches, and some were fairly large.
And there have been reports of giant squid dozens of feet long,
EDIT: No, I guess that big an invertebrate would stay in the water. Sorry. But there's still that alternate evolution scenario...
An alternate land-going squid the size of a horse wouldn't be a squid any more. And the folks riding it wouldn't be humans. Oh, well.
How would the squid's hide handle rough roads or traveling cross-country?
Here's another really outre idea. During the dinosaur period, one species becomes sentient. They're man-sized, or a bit smaller. At the same time, you've got species like Ultrasaurus, a hundred feet long and almost a hundred feet tall. How wide were their backs? How sensitive was their skin?
Would they notice these relatively tiny creatures crawling up their tails and legs, and setting up encampments and whole villages on their backs? Maybe these would only be temporary villages for special ceremonies...or is that too outrageously ridiculous??



EDIT: The equivalent would be a half-inch bug on my foot. But Ultrasaurus didn't have hands to brush the bugs off their legs, so they might just learn to ignore such trivia...? They might have gotten used to seabirds landing on their backs looking for bugs to eat.
I did mention the octopus/squid idea needing a POD way back. A hundred million years? The Permian Extinction period?
Somebody on the net had an alternate evolution with cephalopods instead of vertebrates dominating the land, occupying all the niches, and some were fairly large.
And there have been reports of giant squid dozens of feet long,
EDIT: No, I guess that big an invertebrate would stay in the water. Sorry. But there's still that alternate evolution scenario...
An alternate land-going squid the size of a horse wouldn't be a squid any more. And the folks riding it wouldn't be humans. Oh, well.
How would the squid's hide handle rough roads or traveling cross-country?
Here's another really outre idea. During the dinosaur period, one species becomes sentient. They're man-sized, or a bit smaller. At the same time, you've got species like Ultrasaurus, a hundred feet long and almost a hundred feet tall. How wide were their backs? How sensitive was their skin?
Would they notice these relatively tiny creatures crawling up their tails and legs, and setting up encampments and whole villages on their backs? Maybe these would only be temporary villages for special ceremonies...or is that too outrageously ridiculous??
EDIT: The equivalent would be a half-inch bug on my foot. But Ultrasaurus didn't have hands to brush the bugs off their legs, so they might just learn to ignore such trivia...? They might have gotten used to seabirds landing on their backs looking for bugs to eat.
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