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Anurans
Provolved and highly tweaked amphibians | |
 Image from Steve Bowers | |
| Many Anurans resemble giant frogs and toads, often with a vaguely humanoid stance | |
Description
Provolved terragen frogs and toads. Their pre-uplift ancestors were both predators and prey. This gives them a degree of caution and a degree of boldness. Frogs and toads were small animals that were extremely vulnerable due to environmental changes because of their permeable skin. But they were also very diverse and highly adapted to different environments. This has led the clades likewise adapting to countless different lifestyles and locales, spreading out as much across the galaxy as possible to safeguard their continued existence.History
Many species of frogs and toads were independently provolved by several different groups sometime after the Federation era.Early on in their history, when the Anurans were still finding their place in the larger galactic community they settled in places that were the most comfortable for their physiology. Generally warm, humid, forest or freshwater environments. Communities were frequently found living in Akilaspek Trees since they were perfectly suited environments for them with much need to modify their environment or themselves. At this point the Shepbra Clade had already started to make its mark on the galaxy.
Anurans are often found in Shepbra creations like Noovleann trees and Akilaspek trees, as their base environmental needs were similar. This led some to say that the Anurans were following behind the Shebra or living in their shadow. While most Anurans paid no attention to these comments, some were less than happy about them. An unknown etity, belived to be a rogue transapient Anuran, destabilized several of the Shepbra's Noovleann Trees, presumably in retaliation, causing the trees and the planet beneath them to evacuate until they could be destabilized. A few were permanently decommissioned. Then in 10,352 there was a nuclear attack that destroyed the oldest Akilaspek tree, Shakti the Great Mother. It was suspected that Anuran groups were responsible but none ever took credit and perpetrators were never caught.
It was after the downturn in public opinion related to these events that the Anurans began to move outward and adapt to new environments.
Habitat
Even though utilizing modern technology, like utility clouds or moisture-retaining nanotech fabric, allows them to live in whatever environment they desire, many still live in places with larger amounts of accessible freshwater, often with warm temperatures and high humidity.This is considered more of a psychological need than physical. Though there are groups intentionally defy this expectation and choose to live exclusively in dry climates, using genemods and/or technology to facilitate this and remain comfortable.
Early on, a number of specially tweaked Anurans settled on planet Trees. Different varieties of Anurans live in different vertical ecosystems on the skywrack trees.
As their clades grew in size and diversity they continued to expand into different habitats and environments.
Presently, Anurans may be found inhabiting artificial biotech structures, often organic ones, such as Orwoods (especially tree frog derived groups), yggdrasil bushes, large Noovleann trees, a range of other Dyson tree variants and under canopy plants. They are also found in Bishop rings, various dyson megastructures, and superjovian and suprastellar rings and shells.
Some groups have expressed interest in colonizing the deepwoods.Another group has traveled inward and downloaded themselves into the gridwood virch world.
Anurans are rarely found in entirely artificial environments that are strictly drytech, like and always prefer to be surrounded by living organisms.
Physiological Adaptations
Bipedal vs Quadrupedal
Most Anurans walk upright on two legs, though some smaller specimens(<50 lbs) have remained quadrupedal. These individuals usually come from high-gravity worlds. The denser atmosphere allows for skin based respiration and reduced lung function. They often have branching, prehensile tongues and utilize hand tech. They're handtech perfected designs are robotic insects(synsects), often flies(diptera). They typically store them in recessed nodes in their large mouths. They find this to be a humorous play on their ancestor's past depiction of eating flies.Integument
While many Anuras keep their ancestral water-permeable skin and use utility fog, moist environments, and/or water-tight nanotech garments to keep their skin moist, some clades have opted for biological solutions. These options are popular with prim, low-tech, or Luddite communities.Many Anurans have chosen to forgo standard amphibian skin for something more waterproof. These individuals are often referred to as Dry Frogs. A popular choice that is not truly 'dry' is an exterior resembling the tough rubbery skin of a terragen cetacea. The skin still needs to remain moist but greatly limits the risks of dehydration.
Second most popular is to borrow the body coverings of a close evolutionary relative, the reptiles. Many Dry Frog clades choose the soft flexible skin of a gecko, this allows for the flexibility and dexterity they are accustomed to. On the other hand some choose an armored crocodilian hide for greater protection.
A rare few chose mammalian skin, complete fur or hair. They derogatory term Fur Frog is sometimes used to describe them. All of these options prevent individuals from respiring through their skin, as all amphibians are able to do. So the lungs must be upgraded to meet the body's needs without being supplemented by oxygen diffusing across the skin.
Respiration
Frogs can naturally respire through cutaneous respiration, allowing gases to diffuse across their damp skin, supplementing breathing with their lungs. The larger the individual, the less useful this skin respiration becomes and more dependant on their lungs. Frogs do not have ribs or a diaphragm, so they do not breathe by the expansion and contraction of their rib cage but instead engage in buccal pumping. This requires them to use their mouth and throat to pump air into the lungs. This is not an efficient system for a large individual. So many groups have simply opted to have ribs and diaphragms added for ease of respiration and protection of organs.Others have a wide band of muscles around the lungs that contracts and relaxes to force air in and out of the lungs, similar to a ribcage. These tough muscles also provide a degree of protection.
Vocal Sac
A large expandable pouch of skin under the mouth used as a resonating chamber for vocalizations in baseline ancestors, they are now a popular form of visual expression. Smart tattoos and chromatophores are used by some individuals to display colors, patterns, pictures, symbols, and words when inflated.Vocalizations
Anuran variants generally use their vocal sac as a resonating chamber to create a loud call, sometimes called a croak. In larger individuals this call can be so loud and high frequency that it can be used offensively or defensively. It can cause injury, disorientation, and/or loss of consciousness in unshielded individuals.Torpor
Anurans typically have their baseline ancestors ability to enter a state of hibernation called torpor, when environmental conditions were unfavorable, during cold or dry weather. Suspended animation is easy to accomplish through a variety of modern technologies but most Anurans require only minimal physiological adjustments to do it naturally.There are entire cultures that enter torpor during cold seasons instead of trying to store enough supplies and remain warm. Those living on the planet Trees generally bury themselves in the group and enter torpor during the dry season to avoid forest fires.
Long Sleeps
Individuals or groups who will enter torpor for extended(non-travel) periods of time with technological support are called Long Sleeps. They will awaken from their hibernation, spend several years learning about the state of the world, then return to torpor. They can remain in torpor for decades, centuries, or potentially millenia. They live like time travelers who can only move forward, acting as living depositories of their people's history.Reproduction
Anuras mostly reproduce externally through a mating process called amplexus where one individual lays the gelatinous eggs then another individual fertilizes them. The eggs are kept in a moist environment until they hatch into tadpoles. Some groups use natural or artificial bodies of water while others keep their eggs in an incubator creche. The tadpoles are non-sapeint continue to grow until they metamorphosize into froglets.Some Anuras have a physical structure to transfer genetic material into the female's body, fertilizing the eggs internally. The eggs are then retained within the body until they hatch, giving life birth, known as ovoviviparity.
Though some groups skip the tadpoles stage and hatch as froglets.
Some groups can carry their eggs and tadpoles around on their backs in-between depositing them in water or even wear their eggs as a necklace, protected by a clear, durable exterior.
Eggs
Most groups retain the gelatinous eggs of their baseline ancestors but some have chosen to use leathery reptile eggs or hard avian eggs to give their young additional protection against the environment if they are not incubated in an artificial environment. Some take things a step further and use carbon nanotube eggshells. These eggs must either be removed by the parent or dissolved by nanotech when it is time for the offspring to hatch.Reproduction Customs
An interesting case is a community that has deviated quickly a bit from their ancestors and taken a strategy from Terragen salmon. They lay their eggs in birthing pools that are separated from the river by an earthen dam. When the eggs hatch into tadpoles, the dams are broken and the tadpoles are released into the river. They will live and grow larger in rivers and lakes until after several years the surviving tadpoles return to the pools they hatched. Then they complete the change into froglets and join their community. Individuals do not know who their biological parents are and the method of distributing the young frogs to be raised and cared for varies depending on the community. This allows for a degree of natural selection/survival of the fittest in their offspring, who are not yet sapient.The Great Pollywog
In one community, a tadpole returned one year that did not metamorphosed into a froglet. Thinking that perhaps it simply returned a year too early it was released back into the river. It returned each year, growling larger and larger each year. It was several times as large as the other tadpoles. When it was given a medical examination to determine the cause of its condition it was discovered that it had been injured during its first year, possibly by a predator. The injury had damaged its hypothalamus, which produces the hormones necessary to trigger its transformation.With its increased size it had gained pre-sapience and the Anura decided to re-release it.
It continued to return every year and continued to grow. It was observed defending young tadpoles from predators and helping to dislodge ones that became stuck or trapped. This entity adopted the name Great Pollywog. It was decided to adopt the 'Great Pollywog Model' to help increase the number of offspring that returned successfully.
Genemods were introduced to the population that denied about one in every thousand tadpoles the hormones necessary to metamorphosis into a froglet. These individuals were also provolved to be fully sophont and given a maternal, protective instinct. Functionally, they were a drone caste. Eventually they decided to have to give themselves the ability to reproduce without metamorphosing into frogs, and became their own distinct, neotenous clade.
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Development Notes
Text by JoshTaylor
expanded in March 2025 from an original short article by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 08 October 2001.
expanded in March 2025 from an original short article by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 08 October 2001.
