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Anonymous writes...

The Children of Oberon who are the gods of legends thus they must be the first race and they are made of pure magic. The gargoyles who are the second race have some magic in them since they can turn themselves and their equipment into stone. While humans who are the third race can't perform any feats of magic unless they have a spell book. So my question is the magic energy on the Earth diminishing?

Greg responds...

Faulty premise.

Gargoyles are the first of these three. That is, the oldest. They don't do any magic themselves. Turning to stone is a biological process. Turning they're gear to stone was a human magical spell, inflicted upon them.

Humans evolved second.

The Children incubated in magic and "evolved" third.

Response recorded on April 09, 2001

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Duncan Devlin writes...

In the Guatemala episode, Jackal carved his face into Goliath's in his dream. If a person were to do this to a Gargoyle and he woke up at dusk, what would happen?

Greg responds...

Nothing nice.

Response recorded on April 08, 2001

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matt writes...

so garg beasts reach adulthood by age 2, and live about as long as regular gargoyles? so, can they mate more often than regular gargoyles? i hope so cuz that could really save them from extinction given there are so few garg beasts left...

Greg responds...

Yes. Probably.

Response recorded on April 08, 2001

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matt writes...

would Zafiro and Una's lack of claws on their feet cause them to have alot of trouble climbing walls/cliffs? if not, is it because gargoyles mainly use their arms when climbing a wall/cliff?

Greg responds...

You use what you've got. And you find uses for what you've got.

Response recorded on March 29, 2001

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matt writes...

in response to "The One":

i've been thinking an awful lot about gargoyle genetics and biology lately and i have some theories, not ideas, personal theories.

in evolution, the weak do not survive to pass on genes, and the strong do. among other things this makes most beings of a species very similar in appearence, at least from outside that species. gargoyles are different obviously, even us humans can see major differences among them, like the ones you mentioned. the reason for this, i think, is because they have bypassed evolution by not raising their young individually, but communally. the strong gargs help in raising the weak gargs and vice versa, this means that strong and weak gargs make it to adulthood to have their own children, this also means that weaker traits arn't dying off and any physical mutations that occur are accepted and continue on. generally though, gargoyles are pretty similar if you look at bone structure or DNA, its like dogs, we've selectively breed them to look different or be able to do different things, but a Poodle is virtually identical to a St. Bernard in its DNA. the fact that gargoyles don't keep track of who's kid is who's also means that occasionally two cousin's or second cousin's will mate and this may cause mutations that further vary what the species looks like.

as for the rookery generations, as Greg as said, there are never actually biological brothers and sisters among a generation, the closest relation is cousins, i even did the math and found that an uncle and niece for instance can't be in the same generation. i have another personal theory that gargoyles, to prevent much inbreeding, biologically find gargoyles attractive that are very different looking from themselves. i know alot of people would say, "What about who they love?" and i agree, but don't we all have some biological prefrences?

i have no idea why the London gargs evolved the way they did, i'm anxious to see Greg's answer to that one...

ok, i'm done with my ramble, what do you think Greg?

Greg responds...

I like it. I like it.

There may actually be a cosmetic mutation gene in Gargoyle DNA.

I'm not saying there is, but I'm not ruling out the possibility.

Response recorded on March 29, 2001

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The One writes...

1) How do you explain the vast genetic difference in the Gargoyle gene pool? e.g. demon like appearance of the scotish breed, a lower half of the body resembling a snake in the South American, animal-like appearances in the english.

2) Why is there a particular convergance of traits in the English gargoyles to resemble animals? It seems to serve no evolutionary purpose.

3) Since the Gargoyles don't keep track on who are their biological parents and given the nature of their isolated populations, it's highly likely that the Gargoyles have inbred over successive generations. (Even in clans they refer to each other as brother and sister) Do the Gargoyles have the same stigma on inbreding that the humans do? If so, how do they avoid it?

Greg responds...

1. Check the archives. I'm tired of explaining it.

2. So you say.

3. I've answered this too. Sophisticated scent markers prevent inbreeding.

Response recorded on March 29, 2001

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Patrica writes...

Heya, was reading through the Garg Science section, when I came upon this thought, correct anything I say if its wrong. First I'll state what I found, then I'll sum it up with what I came up with.

Females can conceive every 20 years. It takes 6 months for the eggs to develop and be layed. Then it takes 10 years for the eggs to hatch.

Going by this, there would be eggs hatching and eggs laid every ten years. So, in the rookery, every ten years, on the Equinox (I forgot spring or fall... most likely spring) there would be eggs hatching, AND eggs being laid.

So, basically, every 10 years, a different set of females would be conceiving. It'd go every-other-10-years.

Example: Female A conceives and lays an egg. Female B hatches from that egg, 10 years later. At this same time, Female C would lay an egg. 20 years later, Female B conceives and lays an egg. Females A and B are on the same cycle, while Female C is on a cycle set off by 10 years.

Or, to put it another way:
Female A lays an egg. Female B hatches 10 years later. Female A lays an egg 10 years later. Female B lays an egg 10 years later.

Basically: Mother and Daughter alternate on the 10 years. If Daughter has a child, then that child, Granddaughter, would be on the same cycle as Mother. If Granddaughter has a child, Great-Granddaughter would be on the same cycle as Daughter, and so on.

I just looked at how many times I tried to simplify what I was saying... a lot!

I hope I got whatever point I had across.

Here's a note: It's almost midnight here, so if things don't line up well, let me know :).

Greg responds...

No. Because they are all on the same schedule. Half the females aren't laying while the other half are conceiving.

Eggs are layed every twenty years and hatch ten years later. Thus eggs hatch every twenty years too.

Mother's and Daughters don't alternate. For starters, because a ten year old gargoyle is only biologically five years old. Hasn't come close to hitting puberty yet. Even a twenty year old gargoyle is only ten biologically. Gargoyle females basically have three fertile cycles. At the ages of 40, 60 and 80 (biologically 20, 30 and 40). This puts them right in synch with their parents, cycle-wise.

Response recorded on March 29, 2001

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LSZ writes...

Do gargoyles need to bathe, or are body odours etc disposed of via stone sleep?

Greg responds...

Bathing helps periodically.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Pyro X writes...

Greg;
I am a little confused on Gargoyle Generations... let's see if this is correct.
Ex)
Hudson - Gen 1

Goliath/Demona Gen 2

Trio/Bronx Gen 3--|
| |- from same gen, but different hatching
Angela Gen 3------|

Samson (Is that his name?) Gen 4

1) Is this basically a correct assumption?
2) Does a Gargoyle ALWAYS find a mate in his hatching? IE) did all the Avalon Gargoyles pair off?
3) If the above is not true, then, would a Garoyle look to the next hatching, or would they be too young?

Greg responds...

1. No, not at all.

2. Not necessarily.

3. It depends when he or she is looking. Yama and Sora are from different generations. But they didn't get together when she was a kid.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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matt writes...

1. will Tom and/or Katherine live to see Gabriel, Opheila, and Boudikka and the other Avalon gargoyle's eggs hatch?
2. will the Avalon clan continue the naming of the hatchlings?
3. will they have a rookery or will they raise their eggs and hatchling's individually as humans do?

oh, and i was thinking about the Earth rythmn and its effects on gargs reproductive cycles on Avalon and i thought that maybe Avalon produces its own rythmn that may mimic or duplicate the rythmn of the Earth so that Opheila and the rest still lay eggs and hatch as if they were in the real world. afterall, from what evidence we've seen in the series and that you've given us, Avalon doesn't seem to be a place you can locate on Earth, just a theory...

Greg responds...

1. Not gonna answer that.
2. Yes.
3. Rookery. They know that much.

The cycles tie together. The math is excruciating for me, but I've managed it. I think.

Response recorded on March 12, 2001


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