| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Oct 7 2021, 07:20 PM) |
| I'm not sure sure if a 2 meter-long ectotherm with long legs would be particularly at risk of overheating. It's hard to guess the climate of Sagan 4 now judging by its level of ice caps: Earth maps tend to distort the size of Antarctica, after all, and it's surprisingly hard to find a map formatted like Sagan 4's that also includes ice caps. It's also hard to figure out the exact latitude of the map relative to Earth's landmasses, but, assuming the same average climate as Earth (not guaranteed), Fermi Temperate is probably roughly between -40 to -50 degrees latitude, or 40-50 degrees south. The climate of Fermi Temperate now might be close to that of the city of Rio Gallegos in Argentina. If so, the hottest temperature would be 68 degrees. (Rio Gallegos was selected due to having being fairly cold, temperate, and semi-arid.) Judging by a hard hat test (as a back-of-the-envelope calculation, of course) its black coloration would raise its interior temperature by about 9.1 degrees Fahrenheit, for an internal temperature of about 75.1 degrees Fahrenheit (~23.94 Celsius). For comparison,savanna monitors. (large reptiles: dinosaurs would be a better comparison, but we don't have as much data) die at about 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius). It's possible that its tolerance of hot temperatures is lower than a savanna monitor's, of course, and if it just ran from a predator in the hottest day of summer it might be extra-hot. Still...the description says it's the young that tend to flee, and being smaller, they would probably cool down faster. There's also the fact its body wrinkles and big skin patch, which seems dewlap-shaped, would disperse heat. |
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Oct 7 2021, 10:54 PM) |
| I believe another member once stated to me, in the comments for a submission, that Fermi Desert isn't that hot, but it is very dry. However, that was last Week, I believe. I figure the beach would be cooler than the desert, if it has sea breezes. It likely has greater moisture levels than Fermi Desert, which should surely support more extensive tree cover and therefore shade. Still...Fermi Desert, assuming the previous assumptions, would still be fairly cool. On the other hand...Fermi Beach and Fermi Desert do have black sand. That might affect temperatures, at least on its feet. |
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Oct 8 2021, 01:23 AM) |
| So far as I can guess, the black sand wouldn't affect temperatures so greatly it would be at risk of overheating, again assuming previous assumptions. I doubt that, even if the assumptions were slightly off, this fauna would get to a body temperature of 107.4 degrees. It would probably just be 80-90 F if the calculations were off, which shouldn't be deadly and in fact overlaps with savanna monitors' maintained active temperatures. So, in short...yes, edit it. It wouldn't risk overheating unless it prefers cooler body temperatures than a savanaa monitor, so there would be no purpose in the stated cooling-off behaviors. It could still go to the shade if the UV levels are very high, I suppose, and it could go into the water sometimes just as a change of pace if it's smart enough to be curious about things. Incidentally, there should also be a parenthesis after the "occasionally" for the Cleaner Borvermid. |
| QUOTE (Coolsteph @ Nov 7 2021, 11:44 AM) |
| I suppose it could get uncomfortably hot if it fought off a predator on a particularly hot day, warranting that detail. "temperature beach" Temperate. I briefly considered bringing up whether there were even enough bug-equivalents in a temperate beach or desert to sustain a 2-meter-long herbivore, but then I realized sloth bears (one of the biggest insectiores), grow to that size, and being an ectotherm would probably reduce its energy needs. It probably helps that much of Fermi Desert and Fermi Temperate Beach's large fauna diversity was before some of those genus groups showed up, so the resource might be relatively untapped. This could be a useful consideration if you intend to make a larger or warmer-blooded descendant, though. |