My generation ship aliens have several weird characteristics. Here they are in a list from top to bottom:
These are just external characteristics that you would see. Internally it is even weirder but let's ignore that since it isn't important.
They have a cycle similar to ours except they don't menstruate. Ovulation is different though. Instead of our 1-3 eggs ovulating, when they ovulate, it is 5-15 eggs. Twins and even triplets can develop inside a single egg and successfully hatch.
Now here is what happens past ovulation if the eggs are fertilized:
The fertilized eggs have a placenta-like structure within the amniotic sac. Infertile eggs pass through at their normal post ovulation date. But let's focus on the fertile eggs.
Like I said there is a placenta-like structure within the amniotic sac.
So if you imagine the placenta in this picture being at the inner edge of the amniotic sac instead of being right outside it, that is where it is indeed.
Just like in a pregnancy, the egg implants but this is much more temporary. Once the egg implants, shell formation begins. As this happens, the egg grows as the baby grows until it reaches its maximum size. The nutrient supply of the yolk also increases. Once the shell has almost reached the top of the egg, the placental blood supply from the mother stops. I mean the placenta is still there but the blood in the placenta is decreasing to 0. As placental blood supply decreases the ischemic tissue breaks off and this ischemic tissue supplies protein to the embryo for a while. Now that the placenta is becoming ischemic this triggers the mother to push the egg out.
A mother alien pushing an egg out is like a woman pushing a baby out, excrutiatingly painful. And this happens 5-15 times with only a few minutes of relief in between eggs before it starts again. Each egg can take anywhere from 2 hours to 5 hours to come out, partly determined by whether there is a single baby, twins, or triplets inside the egg.
That is anywhere from 10 hours to 75 hours of egg laying. So that means that a mother alien could be laying eggs for 3 days and 3 hours + a*x minutes(x, minutes between eggs, a, number of eggs - 1)
So yeah, labor type pain is to be expected for up to 75 hours. These moms must have an incredibly high pain threshold. That and the ability to do fine without sleep for several days.
Now the abdominal egg pouch is used to keep all the eggs warm and safe. But the added weight does make it more likely that a mother alien will fall and break her eggs. It is like being pregnant in every sense except that the eggs are outside the body, not inside. This incubation period lasts for 2 months and then the baby aliens hatch. Once they hatch they are inside the pouch for up to 6 months and then for a few more years,outside the pouch but still needing milk.
But I am wondering if the way I made them reproduce is reasonable.
I mean the internal placenta(placenta in amniotic sac) would mean that there would have to be microscopic villi going between cells of the amniotic sac in order to get blood and nutrients from the mom during the temporary implantation and that calcification around the amniotic sac would have to somehow break those villi without causing the amniotic sac to leak.
I don't know how there could be enough villi squeezing between cells to supply the placental tissue with enough oxygen.
And 3 days of labor type pains when laying eggs seems like a long time to be in pain with no sleep.
Other than those things it seems perfectly reasonable the way my aliens reproduce.
- 3 antennae for hearing
- Cat eyes but not a cat
- No noticeable nose, just nostrils
- 2 thumbed hand, thumbs being on opposite sides
- Abdominal egg pouch
- Milk supply in the abdomen
- 6 toed feet, same shape as ours
- Shedding skin all in 1 go, despite not completely reptilian(reptilian skin, reptilian metabolism(at least as adults), but mammalian instinct)
These are just external characteristics that you would see. Internally it is even weirder but let's ignore that since it isn't important.
They have a cycle similar to ours except they don't menstruate. Ovulation is different though. Instead of our 1-3 eggs ovulating, when they ovulate, it is 5-15 eggs. Twins and even triplets can develop inside a single egg and successfully hatch.
Now here is what happens past ovulation if the eggs are fertilized:
The fertilized eggs have a placenta-like structure within the amniotic sac. Infertile eggs pass through at their normal post ovulation date. But let's focus on the fertile eggs.
Like I said there is a placenta-like structure within the amniotic sac.
So if you imagine the placenta in this picture being at the inner edge of the amniotic sac instead of being right outside it, that is where it is indeed.
Just like in a pregnancy, the egg implants but this is much more temporary. Once the egg implants, shell formation begins. As this happens, the egg grows as the baby grows until it reaches its maximum size. The nutrient supply of the yolk also increases. Once the shell has almost reached the top of the egg, the placental blood supply from the mother stops. I mean the placenta is still there but the blood in the placenta is decreasing to 0. As placental blood supply decreases the ischemic tissue breaks off and this ischemic tissue supplies protein to the embryo for a while. Now that the placenta is becoming ischemic this triggers the mother to push the egg out.
A mother alien pushing an egg out is like a woman pushing a baby out, excrutiatingly painful. And this happens 5-15 times with only a few minutes of relief in between eggs before it starts again. Each egg can take anywhere from 2 hours to 5 hours to come out, partly determined by whether there is a single baby, twins, or triplets inside the egg.
That is anywhere from 10 hours to 75 hours of egg laying. So that means that a mother alien could be laying eggs for 3 days and 3 hours + a*x minutes(x, minutes between eggs, a, number of eggs - 1)
So yeah, labor type pain is to be expected for up to 75 hours. These moms must have an incredibly high pain threshold. That and the ability to do fine without sleep for several days.
Now the abdominal egg pouch is used to keep all the eggs warm and safe. But the added weight does make it more likely that a mother alien will fall and break her eggs. It is like being pregnant in every sense except that the eggs are outside the body, not inside. This incubation period lasts for 2 months and then the baby aliens hatch. Once they hatch they are inside the pouch for up to 6 months and then for a few more years,outside the pouch but still needing milk.
But I am wondering if the way I made them reproduce is reasonable.
I mean the internal placenta(placenta in amniotic sac) would mean that there would have to be microscopic villi going between cells of the amniotic sac in order to get blood and nutrients from the mom during the temporary implantation and that calcification around the amniotic sac would have to somehow break those villi without causing the amniotic sac to leak.
I don't know how there could be enough villi squeezing between cells to supply the placental tissue with enough oxygen.
And 3 days of labor type pains when laying eggs seems like a long time to be in pain with no sleep.
Other than those things it seems perfectly reasonable the way my aliens reproduce.