Darkat - Designer Species by Liliana Echeverria
To study evolution and how organisms adapt to their environments and habitats, we’re creating a completely new organism. The project is to choose an alien planet from the chart and create a new animal that would survive under the circumstances on the planet.
The planet that I chose to go with was the first one. The first planet is cold and dark all the time, and it rains almost all day, every day. The terrain is very mountainous, and the only organisms that can survive are fish, insects, mice, cats, moss and fungi.
Our organism could not be at the top of the food chain. It had to eat something, and something had to be able to eat it as well. The picture above is a rough sketch of my organism, the Darkat.
To make an organism that would fit into the food chain and would be able to survive on the planet, we first had start by finding out how it was going to find food, what it’s going to eat, how it cared for its young, etc. We could mix traits from different organisms to give the animal unique senses that could help it live.
Since my planet was so dark all the time, the animal needed to be able to see in the dark or have some way to make light for itself. I was thinking about using sonar to help it locate food in the dark.
Sonar works when the organism emits a noise or screech, like a bat. The sound echoes off of organisms or obstacles near the organism and gives them a picture of where the things are. However, my animal was going to be swimming through dark lakes to catch fish for food, and it can’t be underwater and make the noise at the same time. I decided on bioluminescence. The Darkat has two antennae in front of its face that have bioluminescence on the ends, which emit light even underwater, helping the Darkat see.
Anglerfish have bioluminescence in front of their face that help them lure prey in the darkness of the midnight zone, the same way that the Darkat does. It also uses the lights to see where it’s going in the darkness.
The Darkat also has traits from a housecat. Cats have flexible paws that help them climb. Though cats usually climb furniture, the Darkat uses its wide, flexible paws to climb the rough, steep terrain. It has claws to catch mice with and thin teeth to pull apart their prey.
To stay dry in the constant rain, the Darkat has oil glands above its tail like birds. When the Darkat grooms itself, it spreads oil over its fur, making it waterproof to keep it dry and warm.
S&EP: SP8 Obtain, Evaluate and Communicate Information
Mixing traits from different organisms to make a whole new one that can survive on an alien planet helps me to see how evolution helps organisms adapt to survive in their environments. Seeing how new traits are evolving across generations in different species to benefit the way they live relates to creating a new organism. Taking traits that would help it survive from a few different animals show how organisms adapt to their habitat. If I, say, had chosen the desert planet, there would be no need for thicker fur or antennae with light because of the heat and sun. Maybe the tail would shade the organism, or it could survive for longer without water. Maybe its paws would be tougher so it won’t feel the heat of the sand or wouldn’t have claws to help it climb.
While researching for this project, I was also creating a presentation to teach the class about how I created my organism and what traits it has/how it survives. Researching traits that could potentially help the Darkat survive in a cold, rainy place was helpful because there are many places that are cold and wet where organisms thrive. Collecting information on this topic gave me multiple options for traits that could help the Darkat. For sight, I was debating sonar or bioluminescence. I weighed the pros and cons of both options and settled on the one that would benefit the Darkat more.
XCC: Structure and Function
When I was creating this new organism, I had to think about how I would structure its body and which traits would help it function. If I placed eyes further up on the head, would the organism see higher? Would the change benefit it, or would it make no difference? Does it matter where its tail is, or if it even has a tail at all? I took lots of these questions into consideration to see how the creature would benefit from my decision about its structure.
Having flexible paws means that the Darkat can climb the mountains that make up most of the planet, thus helping it reach the caves higher up where it lives and catching prey up on the mountain. Having flexible paws helps it climb steeper areas or places where there are hardly any footholds. This part of the Darkat’s structure helps it function better, because lots of its life is in the mountains, so it needs to be able to climb.
However, the tail doesn’t really do anything to help it survive. It isn’t bad, but it doesn’t do anything to benefit it. I’m still trying to decide if I want to remove the tail or not. I want to make sure that every piece of its structure helps it survive and doesn’t make a negative impact.
Our organism could not be at the top of the food chain. It had to eat something, and something had to be able to eat it as well. The picture above is a rough sketch of my organism, the Darkat.
To make an organism that would fit into the food chain and would be able to survive on the planet, we first had start by finding out how it was going to find food, what it’s going to eat, how it cared for its young, etc. We could mix traits from different organisms to give the animal unique senses that could help it live.
Since my planet was so dark all the time, the animal needed to be able to see in the dark or have some way to make light for itself. I was thinking about using sonar to help it locate food in the dark.
Sonar works when the organism emits a noise or screech, like a bat. The sound echoes off of organisms or obstacles near the organism and gives them a picture of where the things are. However, my animal was going to be swimming through dark lakes to catch fish for food, and it can’t be underwater and make the noise at the same time. I decided on bioluminescence. The Darkat has two antennae in front of its face that have bioluminescence on the ends, which emit light even underwater, helping the Darkat see.
Anglerfish have bioluminescence in front of their face that help them lure prey in the darkness of the midnight zone, the same way that the Darkat does. It also uses the lights to see where it’s going in the darkness.
The Darkat also has traits from a housecat. Cats have flexible paws that help them climb. Though cats usually climb furniture, the Darkat uses its wide, flexible paws to climb the rough, steep terrain. It has claws to catch mice with and thin teeth to pull apart their prey.
To stay dry in the constant rain, the Darkat has oil glands above its tail like birds. When the Darkat grooms itself, it spreads oil over its fur, making it waterproof to keep it dry and warm.
S&EP: SP8 Obtain, Evaluate and Communicate Information
Mixing traits from different organisms to make a whole new one that can survive on an alien planet helps me to see how evolution helps organisms adapt to survive in their environments. Seeing how new traits are evolving across generations in different species to benefit the way they live relates to creating a new organism. Taking traits that would help it survive from a few different animals show how organisms adapt to their habitat. If I, say, had chosen the desert planet, there would be no need for thicker fur or antennae with light because of the heat and sun. Maybe the tail would shade the organism, or it could survive for longer without water. Maybe its paws would be tougher so it won’t feel the heat of the sand or wouldn’t have claws to help it climb.
While researching for this project, I was also creating a presentation to teach the class about how I created my organism and what traits it has/how it survives. Researching traits that could potentially help the Darkat survive in a cold, rainy place was helpful because there are many places that are cold and wet where organisms thrive. Collecting information on this topic gave me multiple options for traits that could help the Darkat. For sight, I was debating sonar or bioluminescence. I weighed the pros and cons of both options and settled on the one that would benefit the Darkat more.
XCC: Structure and Function
When I was creating this new organism, I had to think about how I would structure its body and which traits would help it function. If I placed eyes further up on the head, would the organism see higher? Would the change benefit it, or would it make no difference? Does it matter where its tail is, or if it even has a tail at all? I took lots of these questions into consideration to see how the creature would benefit from my decision about its structure.
Having flexible paws means that the Darkat can climb the mountains that make up most of the planet, thus helping it reach the caves higher up where it lives and catching prey up on the mountain. Having flexible paws helps it climb steeper areas or places where there are hardly any footholds. This part of the Darkat’s structure helps it function better, because lots of its life is in the mountains, so it needs to be able to climb.
However, the tail doesn’t really do anything to help it survive. It isn’t bad, but it doesn’t do anything to benefit it. I’m still trying to decide if I want to remove the tail or not. I want to make sure that every piece of its structure helps it survive and doesn’t make a negative impact.
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