Aisu (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aisuyoukai) wrote2008-05-14 08:26 pm
aisuyoukai) wrote2008-05-14 08:26 pm
Split-Lip
So I was watching this show on snakes today and I started thinking about Sangheili (Elites from Halo). It's odd, but it made me think. See, they have a few similarities. You can laugh, but please here me out first--then call me crazy for coming up with these ideas.
A snake's jaw bone is very unique; they have two separate bones rather than one connected jaw. They have a "split-lip." This allows them to stretch their lower lip wide enough to swallow large prey whole. Sangheili are commonly called "split-lips" by human personnel because they have mandibles for jaws.
Now, I've always wondered about what Sangheili eat. In the Halo graphic novel it is shown that Sangheili ships possess a hunting grounds on board. Mostly it's to honor the hunt, if I've read and interpreted correctly, but I wonder if they also eat their downed prey. Seems to me that would also be apart of honoring the hunt. (Like Native American beliefs.) Some of those animals... are quite large.
I realize the Sangheili have a benefit that snakes do not: hands. So they can rip pieces of meat apart similar to the way humans do. Cutting, slicing, ya know. But chewing? That doesn't seem very likely considering their mouth structure. So I imagine they eat huge chunks of meat in one large go. Looking at the snake, and their intricate mouth system, I can see where these similarities could in handy.
A Sangheili's split-jaw structure would make it easier for the alien to swallow large pieces of meat whole. But that isn't all the Sangheili have similar to a snake. If I remember correctly, in Halo 3 the details of the Sangheili mouth are a little easier to discern--and they were given another snake-like quality: an extra row of teeth. This extra set of teeth are in the top of the mouth, not connected in any way to the mandibles as the other two sets of teeth are. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this.)
In a snake these extra set of deadly teeth help the snake swallow its prey, literally walking up the dead animal's body inch by inch. In a Sangheili's mandible jaw structure I'm not sure how this would work, or if it would even help (quite frankly when I first saw this my first thought was "wouldn't those get in the way?"--but I'm beginning to wonder), but it is still a similarity. More or less. Perhaps they're just vestigial? Maybe they were more snake-like fifty-million years ago or something like that. You never know. On the off chance that they're not, maybe they do, somehow or another, work in a similar fashion to a snake's extra row of teeth. Maybe somehow they can be made to move in a fashion that would help a Sangheili swallow, moving in concession with the mandibles.
It's just food for thought. (Ha. Bad pun, sorry.) I find the Sangheili a very interesting species. I would love to learn more of their society, especially anything before the ages of the Covenant. But biology can be fun, too, apparently. At least in the theoretical sense. Sometimes I wonder why I like science in the abstract, but can't focus nearly as well when I'm studying it for school. Anyway, there's my little rant about Sangheili physiology concerning their mouth structure compared to a large constrictor snake. Enjoy~? XD
By the way, the episode of Criminal Minds that's on right now is pure love. The part with Hotchner on the stand? Awesome incarnate. He pinned that guy exactly. :D
Wordsworth.
A snake's jaw bone is very unique; they have two separate bones rather than one connected jaw. They have a "split-lip." This allows them to stretch their lower lip wide enough to swallow large prey whole. Sangheili are commonly called "split-lips" by human personnel because they have mandibles for jaws.
Now, I've always wondered about what Sangheili eat. In the Halo graphic novel it is shown that Sangheili ships possess a hunting grounds on board. Mostly it's to honor the hunt, if I've read and interpreted correctly, but I wonder if they also eat their downed prey. Seems to me that would also be apart of honoring the hunt. (Like Native American beliefs.) Some of those animals... are quite large.
I realize the Sangheili have a benefit that snakes do not: hands. So they can rip pieces of meat apart similar to the way humans do. Cutting, slicing, ya know. But chewing? That doesn't seem very likely considering their mouth structure. So I imagine they eat huge chunks of meat in one large go. Looking at the snake, and their intricate mouth system, I can see where these similarities could in handy.
A Sangheili's split-jaw structure would make it easier for the alien to swallow large pieces of meat whole. But that isn't all the Sangheili have similar to a snake. If I remember correctly, in Halo 3 the details of the Sangheili mouth are a little easier to discern--and they were given another snake-like quality: an extra row of teeth. This extra set of teeth are in the top of the mouth, not connected in any way to the mandibles as the other two sets of teeth are. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing this.)
In a snake these extra set of deadly teeth help the snake swallow its prey, literally walking up the dead animal's body inch by inch. In a Sangheili's mandible jaw structure I'm not sure how this would work, or if it would even help (quite frankly when I first saw this my first thought was "wouldn't those get in the way?"--but I'm beginning to wonder), but it is still a similarity. More or less. Perhaps they're just vestigial? Maybe they were more snake-like fifty-million years ago or something like that. You never know. On the off chance that they're not, maybe they do, somehow or another, work in a similar fashion to a snake's extra row of teeth. Maybe somehow they can be made to move in a fashion that would help a Sangheili swallow, moving in concession with the mandibles.
It's just food for thought. (Ha. Bad pun, sorry.) I find the Sangheili a very interesting species. I would love to learn more of their society, especially anything before the ages of the Covenant. But biology can be fun, too, apparently. At least in the theoretical sense. Sometimes I wonder why I like science in the abstract, but can't focus nearly as well when I'm studying it for school. Anyway, there's my little rant about Sangheili physiology concerning their mouth structure compared to a large constrictor snake. Enjoy~? XD
By the way, the episode of Criminal Minds that's on right now is pure love. The part with Hotchner on the stand? Awesome incarnate. He pinned that guy exactly. :D
Wordsworth.