didymos1120 wrote...
lobi wrote...
Do volus have lungs?
They clearly have respiration since we hear them do it, so I'd say they do. Though there's no way to tell what type of lung it is or even if they have more than one.
Do we associate the noise with breathing because that is how a wheezy mammal sounds. That may in fact be the noise they make when taking in or producing nutrients. Ammonia rich atmosphere remember.
Could Volus colonise Titan?
The Cassini data shows complex surface chemistry but missing certain expected elements– acetylene and hydrogen in particular. Such results always carry the cautionary sentence that “non-biogenic processes yet unknown” could cause these anomalies. But organisms feeding on the missing chemicals is definitely on the list of these processes, something that several astrobiologists (Chris McKay, Derek Schulze-Makuch, David Grinspoon) suggested five years ago by speculating that acetylene would be tasty to Titanian life (and thus I infer, to Volus).
Titans lakes of liquid hydrocarbons (methane and ethane) are poor solvents because they’re non-polar, unlike water and ammonia. Nevertheless, they do act as solvents for the rich organic soup churned by Titan’s thick atmosphere of ammonia and methane (Carl Sagan’s “tholins”, from the Hellenic word for murky). And although chemical reactions will be slow in Titan’s ambient temperature of –190 Celsius (room temperature is 24 Celsius), all bets are off once enzymes are involved. The Volus in the Citadel described it's Homeworld as hot and inhospitible for humans.
Life forms could (and have) evolve(d) that take full advantage of such an atmosphere rich in nutrients.
References:
Copy pasta from Astrologer's Logs Blog
www.starshipnivan.com/blog/ with personal additions for relevaence to current discussion.
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Modifié par lobi, 29 juillet 2011 - 03:34 .
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