> "Stephen" <mcavoysAT@aolDOTcom> schreef in bericht 
> news:e5e2b51sds81a4d1bp76j3s050ili94vcf@4ax.com...
>> No! I live on it and coffee :-)
> 
> He He! No. Stress is bad company for me ;-)
> 
> Ok. Totally OT this, but in line with the thread: I was thinking 
> mischievously about krill / blue whale evolution. Krill being not so 
> defenseless in the *arms race* after all, and following the strategy of 
> numbers to survive; answered by the size strategy of blue whales (nature 
> could also have chosen numbers for them, but size was probably more 
> convenient and had other positive side effects).
> 
> Hmmm... so, back to Mike's creature: stereo vision + crystals on its back 
> could mean two things at least: (1) Defense: predator (insects, grubs, look 
> at the digging horns and the absence of large teeth) being hunted by bigger 
> predator, or (2) display: predator (or not) bearing crystals as display for 
> females.
> 
> Fascinating: the evolution of imaginary creatures... :-)
> 
> Thomas
> 
> 
Another view:
Those crystals growths can makes for a very effective armor.

Or that creature lives in an area where there is a LOT of crystaline 
formations. In that case, it would be a kind of defencive mimetism.

For the horns, among terestrial creatures in our world, it's almost only 
herbivores that have them, and mostly, the relatively large ones. Among 
carnivorous creatures, the only ones that have some, use them to DIG 
ther meals out. Maybe because, most of the time, horns can be an hadicap 
when hunting, but can be used as an agressive defence by the hunted.

Alain

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