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Part One -- The Shostak Institute
Entry
Systematics
Species Time Frame:
Current Status:
Known Worlds:
Impact on Sol System:
Classification:
 pending
Biochemistry: Carbon and water-based.
Morphology: Bilateral symmetry and internal skeleton,
round six-legged
body, no spine and jawless, single forward-facing compound eye.
Environment: Originally woodland and open plains but have
since come
to inhabit nearly every terrestrial biome on their homeworld.
Reproduction: Sexual reproduction, resulting in at least
one egg is
laid by the female but reared and nursed by either parent.
Intelligence: Highly intelligent, at least equal to
humans.
Overview
The Puggle-Na is a seemingly
whimsical and almost comical looking species. The first impression a
human might get of a Puggle-Na is that it is some kind of cross-breed
between a hedgehog and a star-nosed mole. This however couldn't be
further from the truth. Though some features of its anatomy resemble
somewhat familiar terrestrial faunaforms its actual biology is quite
different. The fist apparent difference is the fact that instead of
four limbs like terrestrial vertebrates the Puggle-Na has six limbs.
When in motion the typically use all six legs in a surprisingly quick
scuttling motion. The Puggle is capable of standing and moving on four
or two
legs though and using its two or four front limbs as hands if necessary.
The limbs themselves are structured quite differently from terrestrial
organisms. All of the digests of the limbs are arranged in a radial
fashion making them quite adept at grabbing or clinging to objects and quite
skilled climbers. The front-most pair of limbs both posses a venomous
barb that can be used as defense or to hunt prey. These are not
dissimilar to structures posses by the females of the
Devasnid. Indeed there are historical record on their world which
indicates they were visited by the Sivata and Lost Civilization.
The next obvious difference is that the face possesses only a single forward
facing eye. The eye itself is compound more similar to a terrestrial
arthropod's, though much of the structure and visual range is different.
The eye is located directly above the mouth of the Puggle-Na which is
surrounded by a ring of fleshy finger-like extensions. These
extensions are sensitive to touch and serve another vital function as well.
They are connected to ducts that lead to the organism's "crop"
where a thick milk-like substance is produced. Both sexes posses these
structures and are capable of producing the puggle crop-milk for the
offspring. The mouth itself is a single muscular ring lined with teeth
that the Puggle-Na uses to chew its food, which usually consists of root
structures, smaller burrowing animals and a truffle-like floraform.
The mouth and eye are both surrounded by long electro-sensitive whisker-like
hairs. The ears are not external and
located on the sides of the head. The Puggle-Na body is round and
covered in soft velvet like fur and long quill-like spines. Each spine
posses its own set of muscles and can be individually controlled by the
Puggle-Na. The complex patterns of motion that can be generated by the
spines are their primary form of communication, usually reinforced by
vocalizations. When communicating the "speaker" will arch
its body towards the "listener" and produce complex
spine-patterns. Given this trait it's physically impossible for two
puggle to speak to each other at the same time. The reproductive
system a process of the Puggle-Na is in fact quite confusing to Humans.
The internal anatomy of the Puggle-Na is very different from a terrestrial
vertebrate. In fact although they posses a bony internal skeleton they
do not have a spinal column. Instead of a nerve cord they have a
secondary ganglion in their upper chest and in place of a spine and rib cage
they have a jointed and flexible bony "cage" incasing their body
to which their "hips" and "skull" are directly attached.
Though they have two distinct biological sexes they have no definite social
gender role and there appears to be no physical dimorphism between the
sexes. Both sexes have internal reproductive organs and there is no
apparent difference until mating actually occurs (provided it's actually two
members of opposite sexes mating). The reproductive organs are located
in an orifice in the center of the Puggle-Na's underbelly. Mating
occurs with both partners standing on their
hindmost legs facing each other. After a "successful" mating
the female will usually lay a single egg, though twins or more are not
unheard of. Then one of the two, it doesn't matter which partner, will
sit on the egg, while the other goes out to provide for the family.
The caretaker Puggle-Na is seen as "female" and the provider
Puggle-Na is seen as "male" regardless of the biological gender of
either. In life both partners may choose to reverse roles several
times, so that the father of three might be the mother of four. The do
not posses any common cultural term for specific biological gender and
instead rely solely on social role as the determining factor.
Given this aspect of their society humans find it impossible to gather
"useful" information of mating habits or sexuality among the
species, though the human concept of such terms has no meaning or value the
Puggle-Na.
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Introduction and Notes
It is somewhat difficult to both design an alien
species objectively, and to provide the reader with information on them
while preserving the mystery. Indeed, the two halves seem to be
mutually exclusive. Therefore, the general format of this page
will be to provide information from two different point of views.
The first part of the page will deal with what a dedicated member of
the Shostak Institute of Earth would know. These two views can be
shown concurrently, without a redundancy of information, for one will be
largely a historical overview, while the other will deal almost
exclusively with the impact that such a species, or even the simple
knowledge of such a species, will have on "modern" Humanity.
The second part is a history of the species written
from an omniscient point of view, in order to provide a full spectrum of
information. Even items that a dedicated scientist from the year 3501
CE, the "present year", would not know shall be presented here, or in
future updates to the site.
Updates
August 4, 2007
November 7, 2006
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