Animal Powers
Keep the old armor.
Animals grouped here express a similar power through their behavior in nature. Each species still has its own principle, lesson, meaning, and field-guide page.
13 species
Species principle: Ancient Strength
Keep the old armor.
Old designs endure when they still solve the world in front of them.
Alligator Gars are ancient-looking predatory fish with long toothy jaws, ganoid armor-like scales, air-breathing ability, and slow-water ambush habits.
Species principle: Ancient Magnitude
Cruise like a relic.
Some old designs carry immensity because they have crossed ages and waters.
Beluga Sturgeons are ancient, long-lived, large-bodied fish that migrate between seas and rivers and carry armored scutes.
Species principle: In-Between Design
Glide between forms.
Hybrid forms can work beautifully when they fit the edge between worlds.
Bowmouth Guitarfish have bodies combining ray-like and shark-like traits, gliding near sandy seafloors while feeding on bottom-dwelling prey.
Species principle: Ancient Belonging
Let old armor belong.
Old designs still belong when they know where to hide, wait, and return.
Chinese Alligators are small alligators that use wetlands, ponds, and burrows, representing an ancient crocodilian lineage surviving in highly altered landscapes.
Species principle: Falling Flight
Turn falling into flying.
The right design can turn a fall into a crossing.
Greater Gliders use a membrane of skin between limbs to glide from tree to tree, moving through forest canopy without true powered flight.
Species principle: Marsh Design
Walk the wetland.
An unusual design can belong perfectly to its place.
Magpie geese have partly webbed feet that support both wetland swimming and walking through marsh vegetation.
Species principle: Body Reimagined
Take the body upward.
An old design can find a new direction when it learns the trees.
Matschie’s Tree Kangaroos are arboreal marsupials with strong forelimbs, gripping paws, and long tails that help them climb and move through cloud forest trees.
Species principle: Primitive Fit
Fit the old ground.
An old design survives when it still fits the ground perfectly.
Mountain Beavers are primitive rodents that live in burrows in moist forests and feed on vegetation using strong teeth and digging ability.
Species principle: Odd Thriving
Thrive strange.
A strange shape can thrive when it stops apologizing for its design.
Ocean Sunfish have huge flattened bodies, swim with dorsal and anal fins, bask near the surface, and feed largely on gelatinous prey such as jellyfish.
Species principle: Curation
Arrange the blue.
Desire is shaped by what you choose, arrange, and make unforgettable.
Male Satin Bowerbirds build bowers and decorate them with carefully selected objects, often blue items, as part of courtship display to attract females.
Species principle: Ancient Design
Keep the old design.
Old designs endure when they keep solving present problems.
Senegal Bichirs are ancient-looking fish with lungs or lung-like air-breathing capacity, armored scales, and dorsal finlets, allowing survival in low-oxygen waters.
Species principle: Acceleration
Cut the water.
Sharp design turns stored force into sudden speed.
Shortfin Makos are fast open-ocean sharks with streamlined bodies, powerful tails, and warm-bodied physiology that supports high-speed pursuit.
Species principle: River Smoothness
Glide without a fin.
A smooth design can move through pressure without making noise about it.
Yangtze Finless Porpoises lack a dorsal fin and use streamlined bodies, echolocation, and agile swimming to live in freshwater river systems.
