The Planet of Mirkys

In my other class, "Stories", the first action project was to create, describe, and draw your very own planet. At least three features are needed and the sketch is to visualize the worlds we make, this was a practice for descriptive language and sensory details. My planet is named Miryks, which I will go more in depth on the actual project, but I'm definitely proud of how I was able to develope the planet mentally. Throughout the week of making it, I learned a few different things, such as using adverbs on things that don't normally make an action, like mountains... they kind of just stay there, but I've managed to say to the best of my abilities what my world is like, hope you get sucked into the adventure. Below you can see the hand made visual.

VG, original piece, The Land Known as Miryks, 2014

The Planet of Miryks

The planet of Miryks is an odd world, filled with a plethora of wondrous creatures. Most beings are of a high intellect… that is, they can adapt to culture and civilization. This fascinating planet received it’s name by it’s creator; Miryks. This god was ambitious, and wanted to show off his abilities to the other gods who doubted him. Now it is said that a little bit of these deities’ jealous may seep to the life on that planet, adding up to an immense power. At times, the gods will directly attack the planet’s land yet their intentions are their own undoing, with the magma lava covering itself up as soon as it is exposed. That is how the vast mountain ranges came to be.

Like a scar of endurance, the tall, snowy mountains stand tall, towering the plains, deserts, and other wastelands of Miryks. And speaking of landscape, the many types on this world include plains, deserts, prairies, and many more. The land is expansive as the heavens themselves and truly represent the heart and soul of Miryks’ work. Serine, quiet, fresh, a luscious environment for all to enjoy. Calmly blowing in the wind, the green lands vibrantly shine in all of its glory. Miryks ambitions truly made a wonder as he was sculpting this masterpiece.

Then there’s the skies. Purple, like the ripest of grapes, being our watchful protector. Bright and colorful, the purples skies are said to be one with the gods, for Miryks is depicted with violet eyes, so he is always looking at his creation, slowly changing, for what we call night, is when Miryks slumbers. Glorious heavens shine down upon the civilizations, including what you may call humans, elves (which you are already familiar with), oketins (what you may recognize as humanoids for many of these “mammals” you go on about), gorks (the brutish cave dwellers), grogs (the hairy cousin of gorks who prefer outdoor weather), nailitpers (the scaley warriors), shiviks (the elusive thieves of the west), and the legendaries, who have a story of their own.

Essentially, you may believe Miryks to be similar to your Earth, and in that practical sense, it would be, but there are many lifeforms that you do not know of. The legendaries are a legend themselves, but the myth speaks of those with a color of hair that is unnatural, relatively impossible to obtain. These people appear to be “human” yet they have extreme abilities beyond compare, even the mighty dragons can be slain by a twitch of these beings. It is said they are the result of the gods jealousy, for it is not limited to the world itself, corrupting it’s people… or at least, that is the intent, but the result is an addition to power, a legendary power if you will.

New school year, and echidnas

   Another year has arrived, with that, another Action Project too. My first sophomore project for unit one was to choose an animal from a list, to then research it and create a project about it. The main purpose is to practice taxonomy, which is how creatures are scientifically classified (such as the kingdom animalia, or how a Canis Familiaris is the genus and species for a dog) and goes by the assessment of;

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species

This is how animals are now categorized today, but there was once a time in which the only way to do this was by just looking at them. Before modern taxonomy, we used a comparison of phenotypes (or physical traits) to identify any relations, yet this wasn't the most effective method... If bugs and birds both have wings, would that make them the same? That's why the modern version is much more accurate, because back then, we couldn't look at a single hair, feather, or scale, and determine what animal it currently is. Analyzing genotypes makes the classification all the better, because if you have an exotic short hair (cat) and your top of the line lion, by appearance you probably wouldn't expect them to be related.

Throughout the project, I'm proud of my collage, especially considering all the spiky spines and quills on an echidna. Yet I learned many interesting facts that I hadn't already known before, like the fact that echidnas can lay eggs, indigenous to Australia, and that their... ahem, reproductive organ for the males has... one shaft and four heads. Why is that so? I really can't even fathom, but it's there...

Below, you may find the full report, which contains this information, and more.

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The echidna, it has quills, it has claws, it lays eggs, and it rolls up into a ball. So what exactly is an echidna? Well there’s a special way to determine this using a method that scientists use all the time, taxonomy. Taxonomy is how we genetically list things to identify who’s related to what and so on. General taxonomy goes by a categorization of; Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species (scientific names of creatures is the genus then the species, such as canis familiaris for a dog). An echidna is an odd animal, in the kingdom animalia, it does indeed have a spine, which makes its phylum chordata. In a more in depth visual, I have here a table representing an echidna’s taxonomy.

Taxonomic Level	Your organism’s group	Key characteristics of group
Kingdom	Animalia	It’s multicellular
Phylum	Chordata	It has a spine
Class	Mamalia	It has warm blood (and fur)
Order	Monotremata	It lays eggs (and has a pouch)
Family	*Tachyglossidae	It has quills
Genus	*Tachyglossidae	Classification for echidna
Species	*Tachyglossidae	Classification for echidna

*only results for those criteria of an echidna

Oddly enough, as if an egg laying marsupial wasn’t strange enough already, tachyglossidae is the only classification for the categories of family, genus, and species. In the evolutionary line, an echidna was determined to have split from a platypus from around 19-48 million years ago. Though the borrowing *spiny anteater may be unique as it is, I’ve compared it to 2 other organisms; and potoo bird and an axolotl.

On the left is a venn diagram of the three creatures and the other picture is of an echidna. Similarities between an echidna and a potoo bird include the fact that both have lungs, claws, and are insectivores (a diet of bugs and insects).  Between the three, they all come in brown, lay eggs, and are animals with a spine. Echidnas and axolotls have nothing in common when it comes to just those two.

Another representation for the echidnas, whom of which are indigenous to Australia, is through math. Yes, math can be used, as it is commonly used anyway, to represent taxonomy in a different manner. The follower are terms used to describe an echidna and will have an explanation underneath it.

Echidna e U {mammals}

Echidna is an element of the “universe” which currently consists of mammals.

{Dogs, Weasels, Dolphins, and Humans} n U

Other animals in the “U” of mammals include dogs, weasels, and dolphins.

Echidna≠{reptiles}

Echidnas are not in the set of reptiles.

Echidna e {marsupial, quadruped}

Two other defining elements are the fact that an echidna is a marsupial and a quadraped.

V=echidna X=chordata B=Amphibian

V U X = {echidna, potoo bird, axolotl}

An echidna is in unity with chordata, as well as potoo birds and axolotls.

V (is not an element)≠ B

Yet an echidna is not an element of an amphibian.

Overall, this concludes the report on the fascinating echidna, I hope you enjoyed learning more about this truly intriguing ani-- hm? What’s this… I seemed to have left out some *extra* information. Well there is of course no time like the present, so when it comes to reproduction, the females lay eggs, these  eggs will hatch inside of the pouch that the mothers have. As of the male, their reproductive organ consists of one shaft, like most mammals, but 4 heads. The purpose of this has still yet to be clarified, but it is present, so take that as another, possibly useful, piece of information revolving around the echidna.