Information AboutHamadryad (revelation Space) |
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The Hamadryad is a , native to the planet '' Santiago '' Peninsula of Sky's Edge in Alastair Reynolds 's '' Revelation Space '' Hard Science Fiction Space Opera Novel s. Most information about them is imparted in the novel '' Chasm City '', where much of the action takes place on Sky's Edge. Hamadryads are named for the Hamadryad s of Greek Mythology , for reasons which become obvious with an understanding of the animal's Lifecycle . As the Climate of Sky's Edge suffers no Winter season, there was no Ecological Niche into which creatures analogous to Mammal s could evolve. Similarly, the Vertebral Column never evolved there, so all Fauna are Invertebrate Poikilotherm s, with the largest being broadly analogous to Reptile s on Earth . Whilst the largest invertebrates on Earth are aquatic, such as Squid , large invertebrates Sky's Edge also populate the land, possibly as the result of a catastrophic event having caused the Ocean s to shrink. The hamadryad is the largest land-based lifeform native to the planet. The lack of a spine is handled, by Evolution by animals maintaining structural Rigidity "through the pressure of Circulatory Fluid s alone, pumped by hundreds of Heart s spread throughout the creature's volume". The lifecycle of the hamadryad is rather complex: juvenile and near-adult hamadryads are Snake -like Limb less creatures, of minimal intelligence, with a very simple Central Nervous System . The juvenile owned by Cahuella is described as being 12 Metre s in length and roughly as thick as an adult human's Torso for most of that length, weighing more than a Tonne . Being limbless, the creatures move like snakes on Earth. Their cold-bloodedness means that they generally move slowly, feeding infrequently, and are remarkably long-lived, with a Longevity of hundreds of Year s. Being the largest native land-based lifeforms, the hamadryad has no real Predator s. Juvenile and near-adult hamadryads have no external Eye s but, despite this, are capable of Camouflaging themselves to match their surroundings. The hamadryad does have eyes, however, with remarkably Visual Acuity , set inside the upper roof of the Jaw , spaced apart for Binocular Vision . Whilst hunting and preparing to ambush, prey are Triangulated with a host of other senses, such as Infrared vision and Smell . At the end of the near-adult phase, adult hamadryads bond with a hamadryad Tree , their bodies becoming part of the Bark . The first explorers on Sky's Edge didn't investigate the hamadryad trees very well before the planetary war began, so the nature of the creatures' lifecycle was not immediately apparent. The trees are relatively rare, bit distributed across a large part of the ''Santiago'' peninsula, rising to a height of 40–50 metres above the forest floor. They are broadly Cylindrical in shape, thickening towards the base, with an almost Metal lic-looking Helical structure wrapped around the length of the Trunk and a wide canopy at the top, tens of metres in Diameter . The first scientists to investigate these trees discovered unusual Cell Differentiation both Radial ly and around the tree's perimeter — animal Epithelial cells towards the outside, with soft, Lipid Membrane s, and plant cells further inwards, with Cellulose -like Cell Wall s and Chloroplast s. |
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