ET003C - Astrobiology

Theoretical Astrobiology Database
--->displayitem SpeciesWscoop

Lifeform name: Windscoop
Classification: quadropedalien, cocleaustus ("Air-spoon")
Phylum: quasi-reptoid by Earth standards, true classification undetermined.
Size: 4 ft. 3 in. high at the hood, almost as wide, feeding tentacles average about 2 ft. in length
Weight: average specimen weights in at around 170-200 lbs
Diet: filter-feeder
Notes: major external senses specialize in sonar and acute sensitivity to air currents

The Windscoop is a quadropedalien native to the fifth planet of the MG-71 planetary system, or "Leopold" after the astronomer Freddrick Anderson Leopold who first observed the system, that was first sighted and cataloged on 8/15/2178.

Native to the rolling plains of the world, the windscoop was named for the hooded structure located directly behind its feeding tentacles. This "hood" acts to direct air currents back over and through the feeding tentacles, which are pitted with hundreds of small grooves bristling with tiny hairs; it is these hairs that trap the minute particles and airborne microfauna and -flora that make up the windscoop's diet.

The tentacles also act as the animal's sense of smell, taking air in passively through microscopic pores that are linked to its brain where the chemical signals are interpreted as scents.

In place of conventional sight, windscoops have a series of pit-organs around the front of their "heads" that act as a type of sonar, giving them a non-visual sense of their surroundings.

This alien lifeform is inspired a lot by the creatures designed by Wayne Barlowe- the sonar sense is a total substitute for sight in his book Expedition, a fictional exploration of a distant planet. The windscoop, though, is a completely original animal designed by myself for the Astrobiology File, a branch of The E.T. Files[link]