• RuBisCO@slrpnk.net
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    3 months ago

    Sarlac that lost the ability to grow ‘roots’ and instead worked out venom and energy storage (fat and muscle) would outcompete and supplant the sarlacs still producing energetically-expensive, overly-complicated stasis bellies.

    What happens if they momentarily fail to keep their meals alive, do they starve or become poisoned by the rotting meat? Do they have issues keeping a varied diet alive? How do they maintain a net positive energy balance after producing all that is required to keep organisms alive? Why not stun them and stash them, like wasps and spiders? Why not fatten up like -gestures broadly at all life-. Fat requires very little maintenance.

    Could one, in theory, rescue one’s friends were they trapped in a sarlac?

    Sounds like an organism that would quickly be out of business were there any competition at all.

    edit: How do they handle the waste produced by the meals-in-stasis?

    • metallic_z3r0@infosec.pub
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      3 months ago

      As long as we’re coming up with overly convoluted reasons that a minor plot device from a fantasy space opera makes sense in a rigorous scientific way, why not assume that they were genetically engineered specifically as a torturous punishment for the Hutt syndicate? Bioengineering is apparently canon, so there’s in-universe justification.

      • RuBisCO@slrpnk.net
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        3 months ago

        Wouldn’t Jabba being ‘stupid as fuck’ and making erroneous claims about nature be the less convoluted answer here? Bioengineering, canon or not, sounds like the more complicated explanation.

        • Klear
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          3 months ago

          This is what I hate about Star Wars lore. Same with the parsecs gaffe (I think it’s even pointed out in the screenplay that Han is transparently bullshitting them).

          Both of these make sense, but no. They had to make super convoluted explanations in secondary sources and everyone treats that as gospel for some reason.