“Stop!” Wheat tilted his head. “Why transverse?” he mused, “For earth animals the next incision is longitudinal. Run it back a little.”
Ell ran it back through the skinning.
“Watch the body as he bumps it around during the skinning. It looks pretty stiff as if it has a skeleton or ribs or something all around the entire body cavity instead of only parts of the cavity like Earth animals. If so it would be hard to cut longitudinally because of the ribs and cutting transversely between them would be easier, eh?”
Ell narrowed her eyes as she watched the video again, “I see what you mean…”
“Then there’s some kind of bony structures at the front and the back that are joining the two halves he’s created. Something going from one rib to another. I would be guessing a spine except you’re working so hard on me to keep me from ascribing Earth vertebrate structure. Slow it way down , zoom in… let’s watch the transection part of the video over a few times… Stop! Back up a little. There’s a circular bone like a rib exposed there for a second. Oh! And a little joint visible there at the back, see he pops it loose with a claw there? And a little bone going, presumably from the rib ring above to the rib ring below? Not hollow like our spinal columns. Ho! And look, another little jointed connector bone in the front, opposite the one in the back.”
Ell had paused it with Goldy popping the front joint loose. “They look like they would let the ribs twist and tilt relative to one another, thus providing some rotational and lateral bending motion?”
“Exactly!” Run some more video,” Wheat said excitedly. “No! Wait. Pause it. Let’s just look at the head of the dissector alien for a moment. Hmmm, it looks like there are some big forward facing eyes below the mouth and smaller backward facing eyes above and behind the mouth. Wait… is that the mouth? I’m realizing I haven’t seen it open.”
“Yeah, we have just a few seconds of ‘Goldy,’ as we’ve been calling it, eating in front of the camera. Definitely a mouth. Here…” Ell had Allan play the video of the few moments Goldy appeared in frame while eating the neck of the burrower after it had been cooked .
“Ooh, black teeth! Hard to tell much about the dentition with black teeth in the dim lighting . But… look at it bite right through the neck. Can’t be any spinal column in that neck if Goldy can chomp through it like that! Back to the eyes.” Ell jumped the video back to where it had been. Wheat leaned forward as he stared at the eyes. “ Maybe… high quality forward binocular vision for hunting and low quality backward facing eyes to warn of impending predation? And those holes look like ears. I know you’re wondering if we can assume that similar appearance means similar function but notice the translucent appearance of the edge of the one eye focused on the dissection? Translucency is a pretty compelling argument for a light receiving structure. The trumpet shape of the ear holes is also a compelling argument for a structure intended to focus acoustic energy. Again notice, forward and backward facing earholes. I’ll bet when we go back and zoom in on the animal he’s cutting up , we’ll find some similarities in the eyes and ears. ”
“Yes sir,” Ell said, “the eyes of the smaller animal are more equal in size and more evenly spaced, I’m thinking to provide near 360 degree warning of predators like herbivores here on Earth.” The head of the small animal popped up on the screen.
“Yep, even better with four eyes I would think. Oh, and look the backward facing eyes are oval and the tops extend up higher on the head. It can see above itself pretty well , I’ll bet. That would be important on a world with a lot of flyers. Wait, I’m assuming a lot of flyers , but haven’t seen them. Have you seen others? ”
“Yes sir, we have a lot of video of Goldy and Silver walking through the forest and there are
Ell ran it back through the skinning.
“Watch the body as he bumps it around during the skinning. It looks pretty stiff as if it has a skeleton or ribs or something all around the entire body cavity instead of only parts of the cavity like Earth animals. If so it would be hard to cut longitudinally because of the ribs and cutting transversely between them would be easier, eh?”
Ell narrowed her eyes as she watched the video again, “I see what you mean…”
“Then there’s some kind of bony structures at the front and the back that are joining the two halves he’s created. Something going from one rib to another. I would be guessing a spine except you’re working so hard on me to keep me from ascribing Earth vertebrate structure. Slow it way down , zoom in… let’s watch the transection part of the video over a few times… Stop! Back up a little. There’s a circular bone like a rib exposed there for a second. Oh! And a little joint visible there at the back, see he pops it loose with a claw there? And a little bone going, presumably from the rib ring above to the rib ring below? Not hollow like our spinal columns. Ho! And look, another little jointed connector bone in the front, opposite the one in the back.”
Ell had paused it with Goldy popping the front joint loose. “They look like they would let the ribs twist and tilt relative to one another, thus providing some rotational and lateral bending motion?”
“Exactly!” Run some more video,” Wheat said excitedly. “No! Wait. Pause it. Let’s just look at the head of the dissector alien for a moment. Hmmm, it looks like there are some big forward facing eyes below the mouth and smaller backward facing eyes above and behind the mouth. Wait… is that the mouth? I’m realizing I haven’t seen it open.”
“Yeah, we have just a few seconds of ‘Goldy,’ as we’ve been calling it, eating in front of the camera. Definitely a mouth. Here…” Ell had Allan play the video of the few moments Goldy appeared in frame while eating the neck of the burrower after it had been cooked .
“Ooh, black teeth! Hard to tell much about the dentition with black teeth in the dim lighting . But… look at it bite right through the neck. Can’t be any spinal column in that neck if Goldy can chomp through it like that! Back to the eyes.” Ell jumped the video back to where it had been. Wheat leaned forward as he stared at the eyes. “ Maybe… high quality forward binocular vision for hunting and low quality backward facing eyes to warn of impending predation? And those holes look like ears. I know you’re wondering if we can assume that similar appearance means similar function but notice the translucent appearance of the edge of the one eye focused on the dissection? Translucency is a pretty compelling argument for a light receiving structure. The trumpet shape of the ear holes is also a compelling argument for a structure intended to focus acoustic energy. Again notice, forward and backward facing earholes. I’ll bet when we go back and zoom in on the animal he’s cutting up , we’ll find some similarities in the eyes and ears. ”
“Yes sir,” Ell said, “the eyes of the smaller animal are more equal in size and more evenly spaced, I’m thinking to provide near 360 degree warning of predators like herbivores here on Earth.” The head of the small animal popped up on the screen.
“Yep, even better with four eyes I would think. Oh, and look the backward facing eyes are oval and the tops extend up higher on the head. It can see above itself pretty well , I’ll bet. That would be important on a world with a lot of flyers. Wait, I’m assuming a lot of flyers , but haven’t seen them. Have you seen others? ”
“Yes sir, we have a lot of video of Goldy and Silver walking through the forest and there are
Similar Books
