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Darwin IV

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Darwin IV is a fictional planet that was the subject of Wayne Barlowe's book Expedition and the television special, Alien Planet, based on Expedition. Although the details of the discovery and exploration of Darwin IV differ in the two presentations, both are essentially the same in their depiction of the planetary environment and its native lifeforms, whose abundance and variety prompt the name Darwin.

Expedition describes Darwin IV as the fourth of six planets orbiting a binary star system approximately 6.5 light years from the Sol system. Darwin IV is discovered by a benevolent and technologically superior alien race known as the Yma. The Yma also provide suitable transportation to the planet for a number of human observers by means of an unspecified faster-than-light drive system. This technology reduces the travel time to a much more manageable 2 year journey, during which the explorers inhabit "sleep-pods." Barlowe notes that the Darwinian day lasts 26.7 hours and that its gravity is 0.6 times that of the Earth. Darwin IV's most notable surface feature is "Mare Amoebicus," the Amoebic Sea.

In Alien Planet a less fantastic scenario is presented where a ship called the Von Braun is sent to explore an alien world outside the solar system. The Von Braun is sent to a binary star system about six and half light years from Earth. At 20% of the speed of light (.2c), it takes over 40 years to travel to this system. Upon arrival it goes into orbit around Darwin IV, the Von Braun deployed the Darwin Reconnaissance Orbiter to scan the planet from orbit. The Von Braun also dispatches three identically shaped lighter-than-air probes to the planet surface. These three probes are:

  • Leonardo da Vinci (nicknamed "Leo" and colored blue).
  • Isaac Newton (nicknamed "Ike" and colored yellow).
  • Balboa (named after Vasco Nuñez de Balboa and colored red). Balboa did not survive entry into the Darwin IV atmosphere. (Balboa was evidently doomed from the start--the screenwriters of Alien Planet never proposed a nickname for it.)

In both stories, the low gravity and dense atmosphere allow aerial organisms that would be impossible on Earth.

List of species

Below is a list of the species found on Darwin IV. NOTE: Species marked with a "†" are featured in both the Alien Planet TV special and the book Expedition. Unmarked species are found exclusively in the book.

Animals

  • Arctic Sedge-slider - Around ten feet tall, the arctic sedge slider is perfectly adapted for life in the cold. The arctic sedge slider's name comes from the furrows it leaves in its wake. This creature has an ingenious adaption for the cold. When temperatures drop low, or a fierce arctic storm comes, the sedge slider has the ability to retract it's head deep into its warm body cavity. When conditions are favorable again, its head reemerges again and it resumes its activities. The arctic sedge slider has what may be the biggest sonar bulge of any animal on Darwin IV. This massive organ produces sonar pings in, not one, but multiple frequencies. And, since the bulge is on the sedge slider's back, it gives the animal to "see" in 360 degrees. It takes quite a clever predator to catch an arctic sedge slider by suprise. See a pair of sedge sliders here.
  • Arrowtongue† - Averaging about eight feet tall, an arrowtongue impales its prey with a 26-foot-long flicking, serrated, arrow-tipped appendage. Like many spiders on Earth (and like most predators on Darwin IV), arrowtongues are liquivores, injecting digestive juices into their prey and then sucking out the food. They also are fierce, solitary hunters found across the planet.
  • Azarns - The Azarns are medium bug like sentients that live in darwin IV's forests.
  • Bladderhorn† - It is bipedal and bright blue, with two antlers extending out of the sides of its head. Bladderhorns use bellows for communication, which, in Alien Planet, makes Leo think it is intelligent, and he shows the Bladderhorn a symbol puzzle. This spooks the Bladderhorn into running away. Then the mystery creature attacks and deactivates Leo. Ike sees Bladderhorns near the conclusion of the exploration. Bladderhorns fight with their antlers, too, using light shows to scare enemies. Image of a Bladderhorn here.
  • Bolt tongue - Though it resembles a small arrowtongue, the bolt tongue has some key features that distinguish it from its larger relative. Its skull is longer and narrower than the arrowtongue's, and it lacks the small fleshy spines of its savannah counterpart. Its back lacks biolights and has a large patch of grey running from the tip of its skull to the end of its tail. The bolt tongue inhabits sub-polar regions of the northern icecap, where it preys upon several species of arctic herbivores. Image of a bolt tongue here.
  • Butchertree† - Many species prey on the numerous, fast breeding prismalope, but the butchertree is the only species that has the prismalope come to it. Dotting the plains of the northern hemisphere, the butchertree kills just about anything unfortunate enough to come within attack range. It is unknown just how this species reproduces. One possibility is that the small flyer it associates with transfers eggs and sperm between individuals. Another possibility is that the flyer itself is the second gender of the species, a sexually dimorphic extreme. Either way, young butchertrees are found close to their "parent", and are connected to them through a umbilical cord similar to that of the "growths" that mimic the flyers. The "cord" disappears once the young are capable of nurishing themselves. See the butchertree, as well as the unamed flyer and prismalope here.
  • Daggerwrist† - The daggerwrist is a human-sized tree-dwelling carnivore: possibly Darwin IV's version of a leopard. It glides from tree to tree with the assistance of skin flaps. Its hands are large daggers designed for clinging to plaque-bark trees and killing prey. Unlike most of Darwin IV's predators, the daggerwrist has what can be classified as a jaw. It is actually part of the skull that detaches to stab its prey and inject the needed digestive enzymes. Daggerwrists are gregarious predators that hunt small animals - specifically Trunk-Suckers.
  • Diskflyer - Diskflyers live in the Amoebic sea and operate within very distinct four square kilometer territories. It is not known whether young diskflyers stay within the territories in which they were born or if they leave to establish new territories of their own. Diskflyers are hermaphroditic, and mating impregnates both partners. It is not known whether diskflyers give birth to live young or eggs, but it is probably the latter.
  • Ebony Blister-wing - The ebony blister wing is a large reptile with hard and bumpy wings.
  • Emperor Sea Strider† - The emperor sea strider is the one of the largest known creatures on Darwin IV. In Alien Planet, the Sea strider is around 80 feet tall, but in the book Expedition, it is more than 500 feet tall! Sea striders walk on the surface of the Amoebic sea with their two massive feet. Sea striders are found only on the Amoebic Sea for two reasons: the sea's gelatinous surface is the only material that can support the striders' great weight, and the sea is the only source of nutrients big enough to support such creatures. When sea striders are born they are capable of flight, but as adults they are bipedal.
  • Eosapien† - The eosapien is one of the sentients of darwin IV. The eosapiens apear to be highly mobal and airborn. Leo was asulted by one while trying to comunicate with a bladderhorn. When Ike launched a camera disk the eosapiens carried him away.
  • Fin Leg - Fin Legs are under water serpents that feast on the sea striders that come into its territory.
  • Finned Snapper - The finned snapper is an amphibious creature that waiks on its fins. They feed on jetdarters.
  • Flipstick - Flipsticks are long snakes with tiny legs. To avoid danger they flip.
  • Follow-wing - Follow-wings are fanged insects that follow their leaders.
  • Forest Gulper - Forest gulpers are camoflaging snakes that feed on daggerwrists
  • Forest Slider - forest sliders hang out with trunk suckers and also feed on plaque bark tree sap.
  • Gelsucker - The gelsucker is a quadruped, but also has a pair of clawed arms, giving it a total of six appendages. Gelsuckers are so called because they feast on the flesh of the jelly bladder plant, which grows in small groves on the outskirts of pocket forests. They use their clawed arms to rip the "bladders" open, and then use their extendable proboscis to suck down the semi-solid flesh.
  • Grove-back† - The groveback is the largest of the creatures of Darwin IV, with the possible exception, depending on definition, of the Ameobic Sea. Fully mature they are large enough that entire stands of trees grow on their backs during the long periods of dormancy they spend burried in the ground. Once mobile they travel on two large front legs and a rear appendage shape much like a sledge or runner. The feeding habits of the grove back differ between the book and the film. In the tv special Alien Planet, the grove-back feeds by absorbing nutrients from the soil through the skin of its underbody. But, in the book Expedition, the grove-back is a filter feeder, feeding on the microscopic plants and animals that number in the thousands in Darwin IV's air currents. Considering the grove-back's size and speed, the former lifestyle is probably more realistic.
  • Gyrosprinter† - The antelope of Darwin IV. Unlike our antelope, the gyrosprinter has two legs: a fusion of the forelinbs and the fusion of the hind limbs. Unfortunately such a placement of legs can be cumbersome, and with no tail for balance, the gyrosprinter uses only two thick prongs for balance. It has two hearts and its nostrils grow from its shoulders.
  • Hopper Cone - Hopper cones are scavengers with 6 legs and a cone like shell.
  • Icecrawler - The ice crawler is a sloth like creature that lives in ice holes on Darwin IV.
  • Ipergar - Ipergars are a brain like sentients with tentacles. They live under the amebioc sea.
  • Jetdarter† - One of Darwin IV's bizarre aerial life forms. The Jetdarter is a scavenger whose compact body assumes a jet-like shape. It has no wings to aid in flight. Instead it has a biological version of a ramjet engine - complete with a turbine of bone and gristle. It has two legs, which fold up during flight. The jetdarter forms nests in the pocket-forests and fear many creatues, such as eletrophyte plants and finned snappers.
  • Keeled Slider
  • Littoralope† - The littoralope is an ungulate witha head like tail. the mainly hang out with gyrosprinters.
  • Mummy-nest Flyer - These are large blue and gold wasps that nest in large waspsnests.
  • Praire-ram - Prarie rams are horned animals that live in darwin IV's prairies. Their small paws help them dig burrows.
  • Prismalope - An numerous triped of Darwin's plains, prismalopes often travel in herds. The first thing one notices about this creature is its massive cranium. Though it appears ungainly, it houses the prismalopes grasping tentacles, which it uses to capture small prey. This fast-breeding creature is preyed upon by a multitude of predators, both terrestrial and airborne.
  • Prongheads - Prongheads are pack hunting animals that mainly feed on gyrosprinters and littoralopes.
  • Rayback - An agile predator of Darwin IV's grasslands. This creature gets its name for its four prongs that project from its back. Unlike most other predators with specialized features to suit specific prey, the rayback has no specializations. Its only weapons are its lightning-fast speed and a dagger-like tongue. It is fierce and attacks anything that moves. Like all of Darwin IV's creatures, it uses sonar to sense its surroundings.
  • Rimerunner - The rimerunner is one of the bizarre one-legged animals on Darwin IV. Supported by only one leg, the rumerunner can only hop along its icy arctic home like a kangaroo. It eats only aerophytes and other microscopic aerborne organisms. At the front of its head the rimerunner sports an umbrella-like organ. This organ, suspended by thin neural cables, is a sophisticated sonar system along with a primitive eye (which most likely is atrophying).
  • Rugose Floater
  • Sac-back - The sacback lives at the edge of the Amoebic Sea, where it feeds on the sea's gelatanous covering. The sacback gets its name from the sac on the males back. The sac is used to store pre-digested "sea" material which is later fed to the females. Male and female sacbacks live completely different lives. Males live on the surface, walking around on their three legs. Female sacbacks dig "tombs" in which they bury themselves. Once buried, the only part of the female that sees the light of day is her mouth and tentacle. Image of mating sacbacks here.
  • Scavenge-wing
  • Skewer† - the deadlies predator of Darwin IV. It is an enormous flying creature, with a wingspan of 15 meters - larger than any flying creature that ever lived on Earth. Its wings do not flap but squeeze, shifting shape to shift flight. It is actually propelled by combusting methane gas in four jet-pods on its back. This allows the skewer to travel at speeds of 200 miles per hour. Its killing tool is a hollow lance that impales its prey, injects digestive enzymes, and suck the corpse dry. The skewer also hunt in groups, each skewer dropping the spoils and another swoops in to feast.
  • Springwing
  • Stripewing
  • Symet
  • Talv's - The Talv is a preindustrial alien with wite skin and black eyes.
  • Thornback
  • Trunk-sucker† - The trunk-sucker is a small animal that glides through Darwin IV's forests and clings to plaque bark trees, sucking their sap.
  • Tundra-plow
  • Unth† - The Unth is a mountain creature that resembles a warthog somewhat. It is first encountered by Leo, but Ike meets up with this peaceful herbivore near the end of his journey. The Unth is so named because of the sound it makes when it exhales- uuuuuunnnth!!!! Unths live in herds. The Unth herd was apparently spooked by either the Bladderhorn duel nearby, or a mystery creature, which deactivated Leo. Its tusks are asymmetrical, which means they look different.
  • Unamed Flyer - As of yet, this species has no common name. This flying creature is the main food source of the prismalope in the northern plains. This species has developed an intriguing relationship with the butchertree. Within a 15 ft or so radius of a butchertree are a dozen or so small growths. The growths are actually part of the butchertree, connected to it by underground tentacles. These growths are physically identical in appearance to the small unamed flyers, and should a flyer land next to one, it would be virtually impossible to tell which was which. This camouflage is often so good it can deceive prismalopes into coming inside the butchertree's attack range, where they then find themsleves skewered and drained of fluids. See the unamed flyer, prismalope, and butchertree here.
  • Volks - Volks are energy beings that float in the air.
  • Yogo's - The Yogo is a worm like sentient.
  • Zongs - Zongs are pod like sentients.

Plants

  • Plaque-bark tree† - These trees are tall with straight trunks, regular side branches, and sparse leaves. The trunk suckers feed on them.
  • Tube grass - Long grass which are hollow like a tube which gives them their names tube grass.
  • Aerophyte
  • Fodderball weed
  • Jelly-bladder plant
  • Float ball
  • stickball plants - The stickball plant is part sponge and part virus. the only creatures that eat them are the gyrosprinters.
  • Beachfinger
  • Hillvine
  • Cliff-polyp
  • Red mountain-spike
  • Arctic polar-vane
  • Snow-bulb - snow bulbs are large white bulbs that live in darwin IV's icecaps.
  • Electrophyte† - These mushroom like plants shoot any jetdarter then eat it.
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